I was born and
raised in Mexico City. This is a very large city with millions of
people, occupied by many houses, buildings and unfortunately not many green areas. There were not many
places to run in the city. There is a park with a running track in
Colonia Lindavista, "deportivo Miguel Aleman". I remember going there and running around the track
when I was in Jr-High and High School. I do not remember how many laps I
used to run, but they were many laps. I admired runners and wanted
to become an Olympic runner. I asked my mother to take me to CEDOM (Centro Deportivo Olimpico Mexicano) to train with the Olympic runners. This place was really far from my house, but my mother took time to take me there. I soon realized I was not fit/talented
enough to train with them!
I joined the track team at La Salle High School. La Salle had no track and not enough room to exercise. We used to do some exercises in the large patio of the school. We used to go outdoors and run on the streets from La Salle all the way to Chapultepec park, and climb the hill to Chapultepec Castle. We were about twenty runners and we had a coach (Justino Hernandez). My friend Edgar was also a runner. We got to compete in one or two races (at the most). I never kept record of my times.
I got to practice other sports, such as squash, racquetball, tennis and a little bit of basketball. I was not very good at team-sports (like soccer). I preferred individual sports the most.
In December 2007, I gained some weight and I was about 195 pounds. I didn't like the fat around my waist. I decided to start running on the treadmill in the basement of my house. I started by running about 25 min to 30 min about five times a week. I got an iPod touch which had a running application to keep track of my workouts. I bought a pair of Nike tennis shoes with a pod, where I could put in a sensor. I enjoyed keeping track of my workouts.
There was a running group that run once or twice a week from RunningWild, a tennis store, in Coralville. Some of these runners wore Garmin GPS watches to record more accurately their runs. I purchased a Forerunner-305 and it was my best running companion.
Running has become not a habit but an obsession. I run almost everyday, and I compete about ten races a year. I spend an endless amount of time looking at my times and watching running videos on youtube. I have incorporated different running workouts during the week. One or two speed interval workouts and one long distance run a week with recovery runs the other days.
I ran my first marathon in April 2012. My family traveled to St Louis with me and I finished it in 3 hr 50 min. People tell me it is a pretty good time for a first marathon. I am currently training for the Quad Cities marathon in September 22, 2013. My goal is to complete it in 3 hr 30 min.
I joined the track team at La Salle High School. La Salle had no track and not enough room to exercise. We used to do some exercises in the large patio of the school. We used to go outdoors and run on the streets from La Salle all the way to Chapultepec park, and climb the hill to Chapultepec Castle. We were about twenty runners and we had a coach (Justino Hernandez). My friend Edgar was also a runner. We got to compete in one or two races (at the most). I never kept record of my times.
I got to practice other sports, such as squash, racquetball, tennis and a little bit of basketball. I was not very good at team-sports (like soccer). I preferred individual sports the most.
In December 2007, I gained some weight and I was about 195 pounds. I didn't like the fat around my waist. I decided to start running on the treadmill in the basement of my house. I started by running about 25 min to 30 min about five times a week. I got an iPod touch which had a running application to keep track of my workouts. I bought a pair of Nike tennis shoes with a pod, where I could put in a sensor. I enjoyed keeping track of my workouts.
There was a running group that run once or twice a week from RunningWild, a tennis store, in Coralville. Some of these runners wore Garmin GPS watches to record more accurately their runs. I purchased a Forerunner-305 and it was my best running companion.
Running has become not a habit but an obsession. I run almost everyday, and I compete about ten races a year. I spend an endless amount of time looking at my times and watching running videos on youtube. I have incorporated different running workouts during the week. One or two speed interval workouts and one long distance run a week with recovery runs the other days.
I ran my first marathon in April 2012. My family traveled to St Louis with me and I finished it in 3 hr 50 min. People tell me it is a pretty good time for a first marathon. I am currently training for the Quad Cities marathon in September 22, 2013. My goal is to complete it in 3 hr 30 min.
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