Friday Spotlight: TheReelKanyeWest
Happy Friday runners! I'll be heading out to Ohio here shortly for another race so this is getting posted a bit early. I'm excited to highlight today's featured runner. He's been a mystery to me for the last few years. Popping in and out of the subreddit with witty comments and great responses, he's been one of those people I'd been hoping would be nominated. Now the time is here and we finally get to hear more about him. Ladies and gentlemen... u/thereelkanyewest!
Let's roll...
###The Runner:
First Name?
Michael
Age?
26
Where are you from?
Florida
Occupation?
Bio. Scientist
###Running Q&A's:
What are your PR’s?
5k - 17:28 (2017)
10k - 37:43 (Trail; 2017)
Half - 1:24:43 (2015)
Full - 3:31:xx (2016)
What is your distance PR?
26.2
What’s your highest recorded weekly mileage?
82.9
What’s your comfy pace?
In FL this is highly dependent on the weather! If it's a nice cool day, 7:15 can be really comfy. If it's really hot sometimes running 7:50 feels hard. I'd say on average 7:30 is a nice easy pace for me.
How long have you been running?
I've been "running" since 2013, but I'd say I really only started running well/seriously and consistently since Fall 2015.
Tell us why you began running?
I played club rugby in college, which was a very questionable choice for someone who is 5'6" and weighed about 150 lbs at the time, and also completely ridiculously out of shape. I was probably the worst rugby player to ever join in the entire history of the club. I'm forever grateful to the coach who let me join though; he had me in a position which involved a ton of running so over those two years I really built up a great base just from running around at practice. I distinctly remember being tackled in a game and then literally picked up and thrown out of bounds with the ball; I stood up and thought "man, this is really not the sport for me." After I quit I had become accustomed to being active, and thought maybe I'd be a decent runner since I always enjoyed that aspect of the sport and was a lot better at it then most other guys on the team.
Most memorable running moment?
Crossing the finish line of my first half in 1:33:xx was really memorable. I was going through a tough time personally, in the process of quitting drinking (which ended up being a much longer process), and was a current smoker. I did all of my training without a watch or anything and had such a lack of direction it's really humorous in retrospect. I had no time goal or anything, just wanted to go out and put myself through as much pain as I could handle. When I saw my time I was absolutely shocked, and with all the other things in my life it gave me a sense of "hey, you can actually do something" that is really indescribable.
Do you have a running mantra?
Not really... I guess my favorite "mantra" is a call and response from summer of malmo:
"What if I get tired?"
"You will get tired, I can guarantee it. IT WILL PASS. Trust me."
Overthinking running is something I've never done. I love the simplicity of thought here, and I think running is a simple sport.
What time of day do you prefer to run?
Early morning, preferably starting and ending well before the sun comes up. This is mainly because I live in FL though, I really prefer to run in the sunshine.
Any big races coming up?
Not really... some marathon when it's colder.
What are your short-term running goals?
Absolutely smashing my soft marathon and (less) soft half marathon PRs. I blew up bigtime in my marathon and know I can improve it a lot, and my half was set almost two years ago and I know I've improved so much since then.
What are your long-term running goals?
Hmm... I don't generally think in the long-term so none really. Just keep running consistently, stay healthy, and be happy.
What’s one piece of running advice you’d give to the younger version of yourself?
Stop smoking. Stop smoking, stop smoking. Stop smoking. And stop smoking. I wasted so much of my running life being bad because I couldn't really stick to it.
What is something you need to work on to become a better runner?
I think my form is horrific. I try so hard to have good form but like all things related to running it's such a frustratingly slow process.
What is your current shoe choice?
5k/10k: Nike Streak LT
Half/Full/Everyday: Saucony Kinvara 7
Trail? Road? Track? Or Treadmill?
Can I answer "road-like trail"? My favorite trails are those wide paved trails that run through forests, etc. I don't like the technicality of true trail running; I like running as fast as I can. I don't like going up hills. I do all of my interval training on the track though.
What is your ideal running weather?
Cloudy and 50s is my perfect running weather. Don't get that much here, unfortunately!
Do you have any social media accounts you’d like to share? [Facebook, Strava, Twitter]
Nope : )
###Just For Fun:
What’s your spirit animal?
Sloth. Sloths know how to live the life, man. Aside from running I'm probably one of the lounge-iest people you will ever meet. You can find me sprawled out on the couch watching baseball, eating, or asleep.
What hobbies and interests do you have besides running?
I love fishing; when I was living in North Dakota my perfect fall/spring day would be waking up and driving to the lake around 4:30. Catch some big fish, come home and run later in the morning. I also play a lot of video games. For a while I was obsessed with LoL (Gold II/III S1,2,3) and I've raided off/on in WoW since MC and through almost every expansion. Nowadays I just play hearthstone, since I'm an adult with responsibilities who had to choose between running and video games as my main hobby : (
Do you have any hidden talents?
I don't think so. Maybe throwing small food items high in the air and catching them in my mouth, I think I'm surprisingly good at that.
Biggest pet peeve?
Man, this is a tough one. It really takes a lot to annoy me. I guess the thing that annoys me the most is people who are convinced they're right and refuse to listen to other sides of an argument; maybe I'm just reflecting issues I've had with my PI. I guess people who drive really big cars annoy me too.
Dream job! What would it be?
Well I'll first say: anything involving running, in any capacity. Next, I've always dreamed of being a farmer. I constantly tell my fiance that I want to be a farmer. I fully realize that in actuality I would probably hate it, and it's incredibly hard work, but it seems like it would be really nice to wake up early every morning and be outside, growing some actual organism and harvesting it. Probably the most boring dream job ever.
Favorite Quote or Poem?
Never remember this word for word, but I always remember this passage from Cannery Row:
“And everywhere people asked him why he was walking through the country. Because he loved true things, he tried to explain. He said he was nervous and besides he wanted to see the country, smell the ground and look at grass and birds and trees, to savor the country, and there was no other way to do it save on foot."
What is your favorite movie?
The original Star Wars trilogy and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I have seen each of these probably 50+ times.
What is your biggest character flaw?
Procrastination, definitely. I never procrastinate running, but I will put off pretty much everything else in my life until I can't put it off anymore.
What songs have you been listening to recently?
Lots of mad people yelling.
Choked out - the mountain goats
Free pizza for life - ghost mice
F*ck everything - ramshackle glory (wow. such angry. very angst)
Last days - ramshackle glory
What are some of your favorite non-running subreddits?
/r/listentothis
This is where I find almost all my music. It's a great place to get exposure to some more obscure music that I would never find/think to listen to myself.
###One Last Question:
What is the origin of your username?
Another grad student and I were reddit lurkers and decided to have a 24 hr. karma contest. I just made this up real quick, because Kanye West is about the most polar opposite person to myself in all of history. We had a good laugh, years later I'm still stuck with "eeeeh yeeeezy!" comments flooding my inbox. Thanks a lot for reading!
That's it folks! Have a great weekend and enjoy the miles.
####Thanks for reading everyone!
#Please tag u/TheReelKanyeWest when asking a question in this thread.
Previously Featured Spotlight Runners:
ATTENTION READERS!
I've been getting some more messages recently 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 of people. 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. Quite frankly, you're wrong. Just browse the table of previous athletes above and you'll see that a wide variety of runners have been on display. Being chosen 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 23, 2017, 10:05 AM UTC · edited