Managing your time. True running story.

Managing your time. True running story.

Hey friends and readers,

In this post I’ll reveal a few more things about me that I have not written about yet.

You know me as a writer and a photographer, but I will tell you about running.

My first experience with running came when I was still a kid in Ukraine. I constantly ran and played outside and didn’t realize how good my endurance and speed have become until our PE teacher made all of us do timed runs and I ended up number 1 in sprinting and top 5 in 1 mile.

This resulted in them taking me to a regional competition as part of the team of 10 guys.

There came my first valuable running lesson, however, perhaps a lesson that needed repeating.

First event was the 1 mile. I sprinted like crazy and was in the lead, but after 1 lap I was burned out and slowly many guys passed me. I finished 9th. I was so tired that I ended up not winning my best event, the 100.

Years passed by and I moved to US. Here I became a team captain of my high school sprint team. I was very disciplined in my training and won several events as well, but I lacked true dedication, as I ended up skipping several events which created a problem with the coach.

Nevertheless, I got a scholarship to a college and there I also became sprint team captain. During this time I wasn’t in a good place spiritually and filled my hours with extra training. I drank red bulls and cokes and would train up to four hours in the gym BESIDES the two hour track training each day. After a year and half of abnormal training hours, my body crashed and I was full of injuries.

Once back home I began to get better, eventually met my wife and was on a healthy pass for a while. I was now running long distance and was doing 5k runs at about 17-18 minutes and 10k runs at around 40 minutes. At one point I steered away from healthy habits and ended up very sick.

Upon healing and getting super disciplined with my health I felt like running again. My goal was simply to get below 20 again in 5k, yet my very first run, due to great nutrition and supplements, I ran 18:30. I was amazed, however, following run I was at 17. The crazy thing was that I felt that I wasn’t pushing at all yet.

A month passed and I was getting below 16, which was feeling surreal to me. At the point when I hit 14:50 I started making big plans in my head. I was thinking of how I’ll go to an event, hit 14:30 and qualify for my first pro event. I was pushing like crazy, not minding any warning signs.

Remember, God’s plans for us are always more important than our dreams.

A lesson was once again in order. A lesson about managing time, meaning…managing our body, spirit, thoughts, having patience.

On my final fast run I injured my knee and hip, later the lower back was affected for a whole year.  Having flat feet did not help.

It took a year for me just to get back to jogging.

I don’t tell this story with a “what if” attitude. I am grateful for the lesson as I know now how to manage myself, my health and my time much better. So, I tell this story as an advice.

It’s best to learn from mistakes of others, instead of your own. So, if you’re a runner, take care of your health first, truly manage your time. In fact, this goes for every profession, doesn’t it?

I write this sitting in a car after I just finished a slow 48 minutes 10k run. I’m happy with it and I still feel pretty tired!

Hope you enjoyed!

Blessings.