Friday Spotlight: OblongPlatypus
Hey all! Happy Friday to you. We're leaving the US and flying over the ocean this week to highlight today's Spotlight runner. Still a fairly new name to the subreddit, I enjoyed learning more about him and his running. I hope you all enjoy reading about him as much as I did getting to know him. Ladies and gentlemen... u/oblongplatypus!
Let's do this...
###The Runner:
First Name?
Jon
Age?
36
Where are you from?
Norway
Occupation?
Software Engineer
###Running Q&A's:
What are your PR’s?
5k - 20:45
What is your distance PR?
9.6 miles
What’s your highest recorded weekly mileage?
30 miles
What’s your comfy pace?
8:00-8:30 min/mile for easy runs, 9:00 min/mile for recovery.
How long have you been running?
Occasional treadmill running in 2016, "serious" running since January.
Tell us why you began running?
I was a complete couch potato from 2001-2016. My wife joined the local gym in 2015, and in the spring of 2016 they were doing a promo thing where an existing member could challenge a friend to earn a free month for both or something. The challenge I selected was to run a 30 minute 5k - mostly because I felt running was something I knew how to do whereas the other available challenges involved scary exercises or equipment I was unfamiliar with. Turns out I didn't really know how to run - the first time I got on the treadmill I set it to 10 km/h and had to walk after 4 minutes.
Fast forward to November and I'd lost 20 pounds and my 5k time on the treadmill was below 23 minutes. I wasn't really a "runner" at this point though - I would run a 5k time trial every few weeks and nothing else, the weight loss and fitness coming mostly from careful eating and strength work at the gym. But by November my 5k time was plateauing so decided to sign up for a 5k race in the spring to give me motivation to work harder on getting faster. My wife gave me a GPS watch for Christmas, I found r/running, and in January I started running 3 times a week. Six months later I've lost another 20 pounds.
Most memorable running moment?
Inevitably the two races I've done so far stand out here, probably due to the adrenaline involved, but a more recent one is from a long run two weeks ago:
I'd looked at a map and found a 1.5 mile trail loop to add to the previous week's route in order to hit the desired mileage, but once I got there I discovered to my dismay that the loop started with a long and steep uphill trail with lots of twists and turns and roots and rocks. By this point I was already pretty exhausted from going out too fast on a hot day, so I struggled hard to make it to the top without walking, all the while dreading having to stumble my way down a similarly technical downhill before getting back to the dirt road I'd been running on before.
Then I turn the corner after the last bit of uphill and instead the second half of the loop is a long almost perfectly straight path of smooth soft gravel. I flew down that hill with a huge smile on my face.
Do you have a running mantra?
Tall and straight, tall and straight... I have a weak right ankle and probably some muscle imbalance issues to go with it, so if I don't focus on staying balanced my form can get fairly bad. The mantra helps me keep my head up, chest forward, arms pumping equally parallel to my body.
What time of day do you prefer to run?
Right before lunch. I've never enjoyed running before eating in the morning, so this gives me time to digest my breakfast while still being early enough that I feel awake and alert and energetic.
Any big races coming up?
5k and 10k in September, HM in November.
What are your short-term running goals?
20 minute 5k, 41 minute 10k, 90 minute HM. (I love round numbers, so a 40 minute 10k would be great, but even 41 is probably very optimistic for this upcoming race.)
What are your long-term running goals?
See how fast I can get before I inevitably start getting slower again due to age.
What’s one piece of running advice you’d give to the younger version of yourself?
Start running! I feel like I would have loved (and benefited from) being a runner much earlier in life.
What is something you need to work on to become a better runner?
Mental fortitude. I tend to lose both focus and nerve during the "hard parts" of races and workouts.
What is your current shoe choice?
Nike Pegasus 34.
Trail? Road? Track? Or Treadmill?
Can I go with something between trail and road and say dirt road? My body isn't happy if I have to put in all my weekly mileage on pavement, but I prefer smooth runnable surfaces to "proper" trails. I actually love running on the track, I just wish there was one closer to me than a 20 minute drive.
What is your ideal running weather?
10C/50F, sunny, little/no wind.
Do you have any social media accounts you’d like to share? [Facebook, Strava, Twitter]
###Just For Fun:
What’s your spirit animal?
The platypus, of course. This was originally just a flippant non-answer, but then I googled platypus spirit animal and the first hit contains this description which fits me perfectly:
"You enjoy your solitude and have never really fit into mainstream society. You are comfortable with this because you revel in your own uniqueness and strength of character. You lean toward career where you spend a great deal of time alone – usually with some sort of sensitive electrical equipment (Programmers and Analysts). You work well on your own, are not afraid to use your imagination and logic to manifest what you desire in life. You are adept at examining your life experiences and know how to subtly share the lessons your glean from them without preaching."
What hobbies and interests do you have besides running?
These days my other hobbies are chess (mostly as a spectator but also with the chess.com app on my phone - trying to break 1600 rating there) and boardgaming (weekly sessions with a group of old friends). I used to play video games quite a lot (WoW mainly), but now I'm channeling those particular obsessive/competitive proclivities into running instead.
Do you have any hidden talents?
I can juggle well enough that I seriously considered taking up joggling when I read about that guy who joggled the Boston Marathon. Maybe when I get older and start slowing down I'll actually try it.
Dream job! What would it be?
I honestly feel like I already have it. If we're fantasizing I would have liked to have the experience of being CTO of a big and successful start-up, but in reality I would probably have overworked myself and burned out.
Favorite Quote or Poem?
"If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them." - Henry David Thoreau
What is your favorite movie?
The Princess Bride
What is your biggest character flaw?
I tend to get single minded and obsessed with hobbies, to a potentially unhealthy degree. Running may be the first example of a thing I've gotten obsessed with that's unquestionably healthy, but I still have to be careful not to let it distract me too much from other more important things. (It helps that my wife has also gotten into running.)
What songs have you been listening to recently?
Lately I've mostly been listening to music while running, using Spotify's "your running mix" feature, and for some reason it seems to pick almost exclusively female solo artists - some of my favorites are: Sia (Never Give Up), Robyn (Cobrastyle), M.I.A (Paper Planes), Björk (Crystalline - Omar Souleyman remix).
What are some of your favorite non-running subreddits?
None; I'm on reddit exclusively for running. I tend to do this, apparently - I'm on twitter exclusively for chess, for example.
###One Last Question:
What is the origin of your username?
Very random - I had to pick a username for some site where every choice I could think of seemed to be taken, and I was hanging out in some IRC channel at the time so I just asked for ideas there and some random stranger said OblongPlatypus. I liked the sound of it, but I didn't even talk to the person so I'll never know if it was just the first thing that popped into their head or if it had some deeper meaning to them.
That's it folks! Have a great weekend and enjoy the miles.
####Thanks for reading everyone!
#Please tag u/OblongPlatypus 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 Jul 14, 2017, 11:53 AM UTC