5/15/08 My First Post

Well, this is officially the first entry in my blog. For starters, credit for the title goes out to Danny Brome. Danny Brome loves the Boss. Danny Brome also loves streaking and Chinese Downhill, but those are different stories.

Now I will answer two questions you may have at this point.


1) Who am I?


I’m 24 years old and live in Arlington, VA. I graduated from college in 2005 and moved down with my girlfriend (we went to school together in New Jersey near where I grew up). We got engaged last fall and are getting married in September.


I’m a consultant with a small company called APT. I really love my job, but it’s not the kind of thing that sounds really exciting, so I won’t bore anyone with any more details.


2) Why do I like running so much?


Well, I hated running for most of my life. I was also really bad at it. Running a mile in gym class was a terrible, painful experience for me.


Sometime during sophomore year in college, my girlfriend convinced me to go on a run with her. She kicked my ass. I don’t know if it’s my general competitiveness or specifically getting beaten by my girlfriend, but it seemed to be a powerful enough motivator to get me running. I had been lifting weights every day for years but started layering in 2 miles runs a few times a week after lifting. I basically ran just enough to get faster than my girlfriend (yeah, I was a real gentleman).


Well at the end of sophomore year I just got tired of lifting. My dad was a professional weightlifter, so I always tried to follow in his footsteps. I just wasn’t built for it, though. I basically said screw the lifting and upped the running to 5 days a week with my distances getting more towards 5-6 miles.


I lost 30 pounds pretty much immediately and started to actually get respectably fast (or at least not embarrassingly slow). I started running road races in the fall of 2004 and really loved it.


My Type A personality really started kicking in, and my training got very regimented. Speed workouts, long runs, tempo runs, all that fun stuff. I got my 5K time down to 18:33. Not crazy fast, but I was really happy given that my first 5K was 21:07.


Next I started pushing the distance. I started running marathons, and my first two did not exactly go smoothly. I finally got it right on the third try in 2006 and ran a 3:04 at Philadelphia. After following it up with a 1:23 half marathon, I’d again gotten to the point where I was happy with my times.


What would I do next? Go longer of course! In the fall of 2007 I took my first shot at an ultramarathon, the JFK 50. I started training more on trails and really loved it. JFK went really well (7:51), and I was hooked on trail running and ultras.


Now I’m gearing up for my first 100 on July 19th and getting really excited for it. More to come about that soon.

Comments

Dylan said…
Will provides one of the best autobiographies that I have ever read. He covers all of the major events of his running career and delves into the deep emotional impact that his training and races have had on him. The narrative is at times gripping and dramatic while at times so humorous that Will appears to be the world’s first stand-up runner. The inspiration that Will draws from beating his girlfriend (‘s times) and improving upon his own performances grip the reader through the climax on his triumphant 3:04 marathon that inspired children everywhere and begat the concept that the third time is the charm.

For a first time blogger and autobiographer, Will shows incredible prowess over narration. Although I feel that Will should have devoted more time the Run for the Tiger, this is a truly gripping narrative that will surely be on everyone’s top ten lists. In fact, Will does not run, he simply slows the rotation of the Earth as he walks, such is the power that he commands – both with the foot and with the pen.