The purpose of this blog is to record my running journey over the years so that my family, especially my sons, can understand what their father went through to achieve his goals. Maybe some of the stories will even inspire them one day.
I’m not a writer and never aspired to be one, but I felt like this could be a good way to capture my memories in a structured way.
My name is Miguel, and I’m the father of two wonderful sons!
As I start this blog, I’m 50 years old and have been running for the past six years. So, running hasn’t been a part of my life for that long.
Before I discovered running, my main sport was going to the gym. I took it very seriously, maybe a bit too seriously, looking back, and I was lifting weights almost every day. Eventually, that led to a herniated disc and a couple of surgeries. But that’s a story for another post, especially how it affected my running later on.
I guess you could say I’m a runner who started later in life, but once I did, something clicked. I began running as an alternative to the gym. Yes, I did return to the gym after the surgeries, but this time with more care and always a bit of fear that the injury might come back. I was getting bored with the gym routine and wanted to try something more fun.
That’s when I decided to try running, and I knew I needed a short-term goal to stay motivated. So, I challenged my youngest son to train with me for a 10K race in Lisbon that takes place around Christmas. It’s called the “São Silvestre” and it’s a beautiful race at night, with Christmas lights decorating some of Lisbon’s main avenues.
Our goal was a bit random: finish the 10K in under an hour. We had no idea what that meant in terms of training, but we gave it a shot. We started with short runs – 1 km at first, then 2, and eventually made it up to 8. There was no real training plan. We just ran whenever we were both available.
We were all in, until I discovered a small problem: my son was only 14, and the race was for 18 and up. So much for our big team debut! Naturally, he lost interest and dropped out.
I kept training, with that race always in the back of my mind. I honestly thought it would be a one-time thing, something I’d do and then move on from. At that point, I was also losing a lot of weight, which was starting to bother me.
But something unexpected happened. I ran the race, finished in under an hour and it completely changed everything. I felt so happy and proud that I never stopped running after that!
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