Friday Spotlight: 57001
It's that time of the week again where we point the beam of light directly into the eyes of our featured athlete and bombard them with every question we've got. Today's highlighted runner makes me feel old and her sense of humor is beyond her years. I'm happy to get to know this Reddit runner because she's frequently keeping our threads on their toes with great questions and hilarious comments. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you... u/57001
Let's roll!
###The Runner:
First Name?
K!
Age?
19, going on 4-and-a-half
Where are you from?
I’m from Philadelphia, but I go to school in DC.
Occupation?
I’m a student majoring in political science with a minor in environmental science. I want to be the first astronaut Vice President. I also do freelance illustration and character design and by that I mean you can totally--coughcough--pay me to draw things for you!
###Running Q&A's:
What are your PR’s?
My 5k is about 26 minutes, with a 10k of about 55 minutes. I was never consistent with tracking my runs, but I've definitely started to remedy that. My fastest mile is 7:58, with a speedy ½ mile of 3:43.
What is your distance PR?
The farthest I've gone on a treadmill is 13.7 miles; the farthest I've gone in real life is 8.8 miles--just Saturday actually! I didn't mean to go that far, but I got lost on the way back from the city.
How long have you been running?
I’ve been running for 2 years, with only the past 8 months seriously.
Briefly explain why you began running?
I’ve told this story before but it does define me to me: I was always the slow and fat kid in gym class. When Shihan told me I was a candidate for my black belt, my stomach dropped. Sure I was excited, but I would have to run a 9 minute mile without walking. I always walked part of the third and fourth laps in gym class. Now I can run for over an hour at a time. Don't matter how slow you go as long as you don't stop. And for some added fun, Shihan is an ex-boxer from Philly with a bent nose from matches, and he says things like “youse” and “acrosst.”
Most memorable running moment?
In DC, an older jogger smacked me on the ass as she passed me and told me to keep up the good work. At that moment I was no longer a hobby jogger.
Do you have a running mantra?
Often I say aloud to myself “conversational pace, conversational pace” to make sure I'm, well, running at a conversational pace. “Almost at almost to almost there!” keeps me from stopping since I always have some sort of short benchmark coming up.
What’s your highest recorded weekly mileage?
51 miles… I want that to grow!
What time of day do you prefer to run?
Bright and early! I head out the door before 6 am. I like to start my day in my zen zone. I also use it to watch Way Too Early/Morning Joe when I stretch. Especially now, since the summer sun rises earlier but no cars come zipping down the road until I’m almost done anyway.
Any big races coming up?
My firsts actually! A 5k at a local park this Sunday and then a sunset 5k the following Wednesday. This is me officially committing to running them since now all of you can hold me liable!
What are your short-term running goals?
Race my first races, for sure. I would also like to even out my splits more. They hover around 9-flat on the hills of my hometown, and 8:15 on flatter land.
What are your long-term running goals?
I intend to race a half-marathon or ten-miler within the next few months. After that, I plan to prepare for a marathon, but I have yet to choose a goal race. I think my most long-term goal is to just keep it up. Sure, I could always run an ultra or something one day, but I'm young! I got time!
What’s one piece of running advice you’d give to the younger version of yourself?
You should've joined the XC team with your best friend in 11th grade!!! But, you're still running and she isn't, so who knows…?
What is something you need to work on to become a better runner?
Probably everything! I've only recently begun running on the road from the dreadmill. I try to be mindful of my form and cadence, but I could use some motivation to do speed work. I get so caught up in my distance I rarely think about my pace.
What is your current shoe choice?
Brooks Ghost 8--with another pair in my Amazon wish list begging for my father to buy them for me--COUGHCOUGH.
What’s your comfy pace?
6.6 mph is pretty comfy, perfect for high-fiving the other runners I pass. I’m that kind of runner.
Trail? Road? Track? Or Treadmill?
Treadmill no more! I'm a road baby now, who wants to try trails sometime.
What is your ideal running weather?
The past few days haven't been terrible--high 60s, dew on the grass.
Do you have any social media accounts you’d like to share? [Facebook, Strava, Twitter]
Strava! Also, I need Fitbit friends. You can add me on Facebook too if you're in the group and can figure out who I am! Oh, and SmashRun.
###Just For Fun:
What’s your spirit animal?
I just took a quiz so I could figure out the answer to this and it told me tiger! I can buy it--I used to study karate and on our ceremonial gis we had this sick embroidered dragon and tiger yin-yang thing.
What hobbies and interests do you have besides running?
I love to draw I had to start a new blog because reasons, all my older stuff if here and animate; animation is a lot harder than it looks! I’m a bit of an American Presidential history junky, but a history buff in general. I can recite my fair share of Shakespeare (my favorite plays are Titus Andronicus and Much Ado About Nothing). I like pickles a lot, too. My favorite video game is Sengoku BASARA: Samurai Heroes.
Do you have any hidden talents?
Not sure if it’s a hidden talent but rather a skill: I have a second-dan black belt in kenpo. I was the captain of my dojo’s performance team. I’m also really good at Jeopardy!
Biggest pet peeve?
I think and make connections very quickly. My brain never stops. I don’t know if everyone feels this way or if I do have something else going on, but other people have observed that about me, so what I’m trying to say is the pet peeve is more that I get annoyed with others “getting” things slower than I do, when I know I should not be annoyed at all! Oh, and when people comment on how much I can eat. I run seven miles a day just so I can eat that much, dang it!
Favorite Quote or Poem?
I love Sappho, with Blame Aphrodite being my favorite work of hers. Such a shame most of it is lost to history. I like a few of Marcus Aurelius’ koans from his Meditations.
What songs have you been listening to recently?
I don't know the last time I listened to a song, no kidding! I listen to news radio and podcasts more often. My favorite band is Andrew Jackson Jihad just so you can see I’m hip with the times!
What are some of your favorite non-running subreddits?
I love r/SubredditDrama, r/BadHistory, r/WorstOf, r/TopMinds, well, all the meta ones that pick out drama and some of the goofiest things on the internet.
###One Last Question:
What is the origin of your username?
57 is my favorite number, not sure why! 57001 looks like some cool sci-fi spaceship serial number that’s rusting off since it’s one of the oldest and most ignored in the fleet but eventually the crew of the ship has to save the galaxy or something.
I really appreciate u/57001 taking the time to let us know a bit more about her. I find her pretty interesting and I hope you guys do too.Plus she can totally kick your ass. I wish her the best in becoming the first astronaut vice president. Also, fun fact, the area code 57001 is found in a town directly between Sioux Falls, SD and Sioux City, Iowa called Alcester. Alcester is found in the southernmost and easternmost county in the entire state of South Dakota.
As usual, please tag u/57001's username when personally asking her a question in this thread! Also, if I see that you've failed to tag her after asking her a question, I'll try my best to respond to your question by tagging her myself. So be aware. Tagging her username alerts her that her attention is needed. This way, she doesn't have to sift through all of the comments one by one, which can be a rather daunting task when there is a lot of traffic to the thread. Please don't forget that all of our Friday Spotlight athletes may need time to respond to your comments and questions so give them some time to reply.
####Thanks for reading everyone!!!
Previously Featured Spotlight Runners:
ATTENTION READERS!
I've been getting messages weekly from a lot of people asking to be featured in the Friday Spotlight Thread. My response to them is the same every time. I do not get to personally choose who is chosen for each thread. With exception to Palindrome27 (which I randomly chose to get this started), every runner thus far has been selected by the person before them. It's one of the perks of getting nominated. There is no list of names. No spreadsheet with columns and columns of usernames. Nothing. So for those confused, users like Philpips was chosen by Despoena. Despoena was chosen by Craigster38. So on and so on. You get the idea. Doing it this way eliminates the hassle of having to personally pick someone every week. This keeps me neutral. Some of you have expressed your opinion (via PM) on who's been featured this far claiming that I have only chosen runners who are fast, have been running for a while, or compete in longer distance races. This is simply luck of the draw. There is zero favoritism here. Each featured runner gets to personally pick someone they find interesting. I apply no pressure to the runners to pick a particular skill level of runner. This is the beauty of the process. If you want to be featured, you can up your chances of being chosen by being an active member of the subreddit. Comment as much as possible. Submit quality content. Provide as much as you can as a runner to help keep this community growing and I'm certain your efforts will not go unnoticed. Just keep tuning in and making friends and eventually it'll pay off if you want to be featured. Thank you.
Posted Jun 3, 2016, 11:20 AM UTC · edited