News & Tribune Sports May/June 2025 | Page 19

A: I think it’ s a very strong running community. There’ s all kinds of pockets of people who gather. I know a group that meets at 6 a. m. every single Saturday morning at Cherokee Park. So there’ s always people to run with. Sometimes finding those people can be challenging, just making sure you find a group that fits you, because everybody has different goals and things that they’ re working toward. In Southern Indiana, in particular, obviously we have a history of people who’ ve run and been competitive. We’ ve got the Fast Freddie’ s( Festive Five Mile Foot Feast), where everyone goes out and goes to the Thanksgiving race. You always get to see familiar faces there. I’ ve been going to that since I was in high school, so that’ s a really great way for people to come together.

A: I’ ve always wanted to qualify for the Olympic Trials. It’ s a little difficult, as the pace gets faster and faster and the challenge gets higher. But right now, currently, I’ d like to qualify and get myself under the 2-hour and 25-minute mark for the marathon. If I can do that I can probably qualify for the Tokyo Marathon, which would be a really exciting thing for me to go compete in. My family is from Japan. My dad is from Japan and I’ ve visited several times. My main goal right now is, I would love to run the Tokyo Marathon. Boston is kind of an opportunity to get my feet wet. I’ ve ran Chicago. And eventually I’ ll probably make my way around the world and get to see all the majors. I think if I can get under 2:25, that’ ll get me there.

What do you think is the peak age for a marathon runner?

A; I would say, take it slow. I think a lot of people who try to jump into it, maybe they come from a different sport, they really want to excel very quickly. But I think for me and my experiences, just what I’ ve seen, it is hard. It’ s not going to be easy quickly. So taking it slow and building up that endurance, building up that strength( is key). Use strength-training, doing core work and doing weight-training if you need to, to help strengthen those muscles that you’ re not used to using, will help you stay injury-free the longest. Because I think what happens is people get going too fast, they feel good, then they get injured and then it sets them back so much further. That’ s the main philosophy I take into coaching as well. We’ re not going to overwork ourselves. We’ re going to maintain and try and make sure and strengthen in places we can. And I do that for myself as well. Because I find that when I’ ve taken a break, it’ s hard to just not try and go, go, go and try and build up that strength really quickly, because you’ re used to being in shape, you’ re used to feeling good. But sometimes you just need to make sure you’ re healthy, that’ s the No. 1 thing. My coach also preaches that. He’ s very, very focused on making sure we get to the line uninjured. Because if you don’ t get to the line uninjured then you don’ t get to race and it’ s all for nothing. It’ s worked for me so far. I’ ve been able to avoid the worst of injuries. Hopefully that helps also, with the mental aspect of how challenging it is to get into this sport. If you take things slower, understanding that progress comes with time, it can keep you more engaged in it. I know a lot of the issue with recruiting( runners) is, running is hard and running does not feel good. For most people, it is just not naturally something they want to do. So getting them to really enjoy the building up, and the process of it, it’ s the only way to get somebody to stick with it.

A: That’ s a great question and it’ s often debated. A lot of people will say 30. Right around 30 is when you’ re at your peak. But I know runners that continue on into their 40s and they’ re just as fast, if not faster. It is surprising how resilient people are when it comes to running, how long they can keep that going. They say 30s, and I’ m right here. Well, I don’ t think I’ m in the best shape I’ ve ever been in now, but it’ s still possible. It’ s funny seeing people who don’ t run, or don’ t do this kind of intense activity say,‘ Well, I’ m turning 30, I’ m getting old, I can’ t do the things I used to do.’ And then I also feel some of those aches and pains in other parts of my body, but then I’ m like,‘ OK, I can still try to run under a 2:30 marathon.’ We’ re not as old as some people think we are when we hit 30. I’ m a firm believer and I hope to be doing this for a long, long time. It’ s really cool. A lot of people that even start later, they start in their 20s or even 30s, they have so much room for improvement that they still improve 20 years later. It’ s an interesting sport, because some people would say, biologically, we’ re built for it. Which is a very strange thing, because people do not like running, generally speaking. But as a biology teacher I like to support the theory that we’ re hunters and gatherers. We run, we move and long-distance running is the one thing that humans do better than any other animal on the planet— largely because of being able to sweat, not having fur and being able to be on two feet, all those things. The biological part, obviously, interests me, because that’ s what I majored in, But it is a really unique sport. It’ s a lifestyle too.

MAY / JUNE 2025 NEWS AND TRIBUNE SPORTS MAGAZINE PAGE NO. 19