My Life’s Trail…
Thomas Van de KieftMy Life’s Trail to the ARC.
So many many years ago, after watching my dad and uncle participate in marathons and ultramarathons in the 70’s and 80’s, and following in my older brothers’ footsteps, I got into running around age 10.
I joined the cross country and track teams in junior high and high school, and we ran the hills and bluffs of the northern shore of Long Island, sometimes up to 35 or 40 miles a week. I got pretty good back then, posting a 5k in the 17:30’s and in the last race of my high school career I posted a 2:03 in the half mile.
I got pretty good back then, posting a 5k in the 17:30’s and in the last race of my high school career I posted a 2:03 in the half mile.
And that was it for my running career.
After that I went to a small college in NYC that had almost no athletic programs, and although a friends dad told me I could join the NYC Road Runners Club, I kinda gave him the side eye and let it slide.
After all, I really hated running.
I mean, before a race you’re nervous, because for the next 18 or so minutes you were going to be in excruciating pain, gasping for breath while your legs were on fire. And the faster you ran the more it hurt, it was a delicate balance between pain and sanity, the ultimate man versus himself challenge.
Anyway, that was my running career, or so I thought.
25+ years later in spring of 2016, a friend of my wife was coaching the Seminole Triathletes Couch to 5k program. My wife signs up, nudges me to sign up and I give her the side eye (again the side eye.) But out of curiosity, or a competitive urge, the fear of missing out, or something, I showed up that night and joined the club.
I ran a bunch of 5k’s that spring, posting pretty decent times and collecting a medal or two, and after the Couch to 5k program ended, I promptly gave up running again.
I ran a bunch of 5k’s that spring, posting pretty decent times and collecting a medal or two, and after the Couch to 5k program ended, I promptly gave up running again. (Marcia had to quit much earlier in the spring as we found out she was pregnant with Andrew.)
Then the next spring, I again joined the Couch to 5k program and again ran a bunch of 5k’s and stopped, and that went on for a few more years, running for 3 months in the spring and (I guess I’ll call it) resting for the other 9 months.
Then covid hit a few years ago and there was nothing going on. A huge part of running for me is the camaraderie, getting up off the couch and getting out there and running with other people. I knew if it was just me getting up off the couch and running, I wasn’t getting up off the couch. After all, that’s what made the junior high and high school teams so encouraging, that there were others out there suffering enjoying themselves along with me.
So, as my wife mentioned in her article, she urged me to get out and go do something. I found two run clubs that day, the Wolf Branch Run Club, and the Apopka Run Club. I signed up for both.
It’s a pretty random thing that I chose ARC over WBRC though. The only deciding factor was that WBRC met on Wednesdays, the same night as the kid’s soccer practice, so Tuesdays at ARC it was.
I showed up and amazingly there were other folks there willing to suffer right alongside me, a friendly bunch of folks.
I showed up and amazingly there were other folks there willing to suffer right alongside me, a friendly bunch of folks and a very enthusiastic and energetic run club president, and the camaraderie I needed was back. (A quick aside, the first day I showed up, some guy named Steve also showed up for his first time, and I thought that was pretty cool there was another newbie. He talked about running around Lake Apopka or something and I was like, I think I’m going to stick to the 5k’s. To this day he is still trying to get me to run a half marathon.)
Anyway, we finished running and while I waited to meet my wife for lunch I sat at the bar and had a few beers, and I thought man, I could get used to this, nothing better than a running camaraderie, and a cold beer after a hot run.
We finished running and while I waited to meet my wife for lunch I sat at the bar and had a few beers, and I thought man, I could get used to this, nothing better than a running camaraderie, and a cold beer after a hot run.
And a few weeks later, one morning I invited my wife along to the club to take Ella and Andrew for a walk, and not long after she was the one getting up before the crack of dawn to go running with the club, signing up for 5k’s and volunteering my running services to others.
So this is my closing and I promise you no one put me up to this. Finding this club has really been beneficial in our lives, adding friends and seeing familiar faces week after week, as well as the obvious benefit of getting to run a few miles. In the past year since joining, I’ve logged about 300+ miles running, which is more than the combined total I’ve done since high school.
On the other hand, it has also added a great deal of frustration and pain to my life in that I think I’m still 18 but my body certainly reminds me often that I’m 50, but I’ll take the good over the bad.
