Friday Spotlight: Sloworfast
##[Note: Today's Spotlight runner has notified me that she may be in and out on occasion for portions of this Spotlight. I'd like to apologize in advance as she may not be able to respond to your questions immediately. She's informed me that she will do what she can to get to your comments in a timely manner. Thanks!]
Well well. Looky what we got here! A Spotlight. And a good one at that.
Today's featured athlete is one of those people who you'll always see active within our subreddit. If she's not discussing one thing, she's commenting on another. Always willing to help when she's around, today's highlighted runner is no stranger to our subreddit or this thread. Coming to us from the other side of the world let's get to it and learn a little more about ... u/sloworfast!
Let's roll...
###The Runner:
First Name?
I'm happy to tell you guys my name once we've interacted a bit, but am not really comfortable posting it (it's not that common). I'm a girl though!
Age?
35
Where are you from?
I'm from Canada; I live in Germany now.
Occupation?
Tech support. I sit at a desk all day and answer people's technical questions by phone and email. Without getting into specifics, my company makes some advanced electronic components that other companies integrate into their stuff, so most of my customers are engineers.
###Running Q&A's:
What are your PR’s?
Track:
800m 2:22 (1999)
1500m 4:59 (2003)
Beer mile 13:25 (2005) (including penalty lap because of puking)
Road:
5k 19:40 (2005)
10k 41:49 (2004)
Half marathon 1:38:40 (2016, yay!)
(I only started doing HMs recently. Good thing too, because it's kind of depressing to know you haven't set a PR in 10 years. Geez.)
What is your distance PR?
Who knows!!! As I write this, it's 25.1 km, but I came up with the brilliant idea that I'm going to go running and break it on the very day this is published.
What’s your highest recorded weekly mileage?
Smashrun says 50.5 km. But I think I've done 60 km in a week at some point in the semi-distance past. I've never really done a lot of mileage. I was always firmly in the "faster, not further" camp.
What’s your comfy pace?
About 5:20-5:30 min/km I guess?
How long have you been running?
21 years!!!
Tell us why you began running?
To give a bit of backstory, I was really really really really really bad at sports as a kid. I know this is hard for normal people to understand, but I am literally the worst person I know at ball/team sports. I've never caught a ball, or scored a goal, or thrown something accurately in my life except possibly by accident. I unfortunately had to be on every sports team ever from age 11 to 13, because there were very few girls in my class, and if we didn't all play, we wouldn't have a team to compete against other schools. Our principal and teachers were very athletic, so sports were very important at school. Being the obvious worst at something is no fun at all.
So the summer I was 14, I was at summer camp. We had the option of going jogging in the mornings before breakfast. I'd never jogged before and decided to give it a try. I don't know why I did, because I "knew" I was terrible at sports, but it turns out this is one of those random decisions in life that ends up having a major, life-changing impact. I got up early and went jogging with the group, not really expecting much. What happened during that first run sounds quite simple, but for me was absolutely shocking: I was able to do it. I was, for the first time in my life, competent at something athletic.
When I got back to school in September I joined the cross-country team (I didn't really know about cross-country, but the girls at camp told me about it) and ended up meeting a track coach from a local club at one of the races and joining his track club. By the time I'd finished high school, I'd set a few school records. I can't possibly overstate the effect running has had on my self-perception, identity, and self-esteem.
Most memorable running moment?
Probably my first run ever, but I've already described that. Here's something more recent:
I've never really done much mileage, like up until a few years ago I basically thought 10 km was kind of a stupidly long race. About 3 years ago I went for my regular "long run" (usually 12 to 15 km), but I got lost in the woods, and ended up doing 18 km. It blew my mind that I could run that far. On the spur of the moment, upon finishing it, I said to my husband "hey, that wasn't so bad, maybe I should do that 1/2 marathon you're doing, instead of just watching you." He of course went ahead and signed me up for it.
Here's the actual entry from my training log for my first HM: "It was slower than I was hoping for and more difficult than I expected. It was also way more fun that I ever would have expected, and contrary to my expectations, I did not hate it at all!"
Do you have a running mantra?
Most of the time it's a simple "good job, keep it up!" which also doubles as my general life mantra. I also find myself muttering this out loud to myself whenever I have to do something I don't like.
What time of day do you prefer to run?
Despite me often dissing morning running, I actually really like running in the morning. I just need to be awake for about 40 minutes first, so it never really happens except maybe on Sundays. I love it if I'm well-rested enough to wake up early, let my body wake up a bit, and still be out when everything's still all peaceful and everything.
Normally I run on my lunch break, or directly after work.
Any big races coming up?
I'm doing a HM in just under 3 weeks.
What are your short-term running goals?
- To be out running a mileage PR while the rest of you are reading this.
- To set a PR in my HM in a few weeks, because so far I've PR'd in every HM I've ever run (this will be my 4th one ever...), so I'll try and keep up that streak.
What are your long-term running goals?
I'd like to try running a bit higher mileage than I've historically done and see if I can get my times down for the longer distances.
I'd love to break that old 10 km PR. I'd like to get my HM time down. Maybe... maybe one of these years I'll even consider a marathon.
I've also been doing triathlon for a couple of years, and I'd like to do a 70.3 (half Ironman distance) some day. I'm pretty sure an actual Ironman distance is out of the question.
What’s one piece of running advice you’d give to the younger version of yourself?
To be honest, nothing comes to mind.
What is something you need to work on to become a better runner?
I think running more mileage will help. And prioritizing weekly track practice better, so I have fresh legs instead of always doing that workout on tired legs.
What is your current shoe choice?
I really don't care about shoes at all. I guess I'm not injury-prone (unless getting blisters counts) and have no biomechanical issues, so shoes are never really an issue. I just go to the store, try on a few pairs, and buy the ones that feel the nicest. I have 3 pairs in rotation right now: Asics GT-1000, Asics GT-2000, and Mizuno Wave Inspire 10.
Trail? Road? Track? Or Treadmill?
Yes, yes, yes, preferably not. Most of my runs are a road/trail mix (easy trails with nice paths, nothing technical) and I try to do a workout on the track once a week. I think my last treadmill run was in 2013 when I was in Canada for Christmas and it was just so cold out.
What is your ideal running weather?
Anything between 12ºC and 20ºC is nice. Preferably not raining.
Do you have any social media accounts you’d like to share?
I use Strava and Smashrun, but again, I don't want to just post it here... I'm happy to connect with people I've interacted with a bit though :)
###Just For Fun:
What’s your spirit animal?
A cat! There is nothing more awesome than a delicious afternoon nap next to a window with the sun streaming in. Too bad I'm horribly allergic to my spirit animal.
What hobbies and interests do you have besides running?
- Triathlon - I took this up since I was sad about not having PR'd in running for so long....
- Singing - I sing alto in a choir; we have a concert this weekend :)
- Reading
- Board games (answer to the obvious question: Blokus)
- Napping
Do you have any hidden talents?
I sure hope so. I keep hoping they'll present themselves.
Biggest pet peeve?
When people smoke somewhere I can't avoid. E.g. in the underpass at the train station, in the doorway to my building, etc.
Dream job! What would it be?
I'm pretty happy with my current job. It's interesting, I work regular hours, no one cares if take a long lunch to go running, the location's great, I get to travel sometimes but not "too" often... I can't really complain.
Favorite Quote or Poem?
Pretty much anything from Catch-22. Here's one that's vaguely running-related:
"To Yossarian, the idea of pennants as prizes was absurd. No money went with them, no class privileges. Like Olympic medals and tennis trophies, all they signified was that the owner had done something of no benefit to anyone more capably than everyone else."
For some reason this makes me laugh every time. It's so true! I still want to win though.
What is your biggest character flaw?
Freezing up if I'm stressed and don't have a plan. E.g. if I have a lot to do and haven't made a prioritized to do list in advance, I will kind of freak out and freeze up and not be able to do anything.
What songs have you been listening to recently?
The ones I've been practicing for my choir concert this weekend :)
The past few days I've also listened to a lot of Sportfreunde Stiller, which is a German pop band with a few really catchy songs.
What are some of your favorite non-running subreddits?
Sport ones: r/xxfitness, r/advancedrunning, r/swimming, r/velo, r/cycling, r/triathlon
Non sport ones: r/askreddit, r/talesfromtechsupport
###One Last Question:
What is the origin of your username?
I like Star Trek, so I really wanted to hide a Star Trek character in my name. I stared with "worf" and then sprinkled some random letters around it.
Just kidding. (Well, half-kidding. I do like Star Trek.) I don't have a good story. I was trying to come up with something clever, and everything was already taken, and this was the first thing I typed in that was available. I don't even remember if I was thinking about running when I wrote it.
That'll do for today guys and girls. I was quite shocked to hear of u/sloworfast's weekly mileage compared to her PR's. Definitely has some talent in the run department that's for sure. It goes to show that you don't need to crank out massive runs to get good over time. All it takes is a little dedication, love for the sport, and some consistency. I really appreciate u/sloworfast taking time out of her day to let us in on what keeps her moving along. It's always nice when the Spotlight bounces around from country to country shining on runners of all caliber. And it's even nicer when it makes it way to a person who's patiently waited for their time to shine. As always, I give big thanks to sloworfast for answering the questions and taking the time to respond to everyone who comments below. Class act from a classy lady! We salute you.
####Thanks for reading everyone!!!
#As usual please tag u/sloworfast's username when asking her a question in this thread!
If you don't the running Gods will give you incurable shin splints for the rest of your life and you'll die a sad lonely wanna-be hobbyjogger.
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.
Previously Featured Spotlight Runners:
Posted Sep 23, 2016, 12:04 PM UTC · edited