Miles are just miles, time is just seconds and days. We create and assign meaning to every minute and every mile. Choose to spend your time with people, trails and things that give your training and life meaning! To that end, I run with the Excelsior Running Club, a co-ed running club based in the Bay Area that competes in the PAUSATF Road, Mountain/Ultra/Trail, and Cross Country circuits. I’m also a member of the Dolphin South End Runners in San Francisco— come out to a weekly DSE race! They’re only $5 for non-members! I’m lucky enough to be coached by SWAP running and I volunteer with Back on My Feet, an amazing organization that combats homelessness through the power of community and running. I’m Road Runners Club of America (RRCA) Level 1 Certified Coach, although not actively coaching— mostly just completed the course out of curiosity/wanting to learn more!
When I’m not sitting in front of a computer, you can usually find me on the trails in and around San Francisco, CA. Running has become a huge part of my life—especially all the amazing communities that I have the pleasure and privilege to share miles with:
- I race in the PAUSATF Road and Mountain/Ultra/Trail series with the Excelsior Running Club
- I volunteer with Back on My Feet, an amazing organization that combats homelessness through the power of community and running
- I’m super, super lucky to be coached by David Roche and be part of the amazing Some Work, All Play (SWAP) team with David, Megan Roche, and Addie Dog
- I am an ambassador for AtlasGO, which leads the fitness for good movement
- I’m a member of the Dolphin South End runners club, which puts on races for as little as $3 and $5 every week
Can't remember exactly where it was taken during Skyline 50K 2019, but it was early enough that my smile still looks somewhat normal. PC: Jay Boncodin
Race results
2023
- Fourmidable 50k - 14th overall in 4:05:58 ⌇ Results ⌇ What a course! Pretty much nailed all the splits how I wanted to. Super faaaast field out there!
2022
- Christmas Relays - Excelsior Open Men A - 4th overall in 1:34:35 ⌇ Results ⌇ Ran 3rd and accordingly ran the slowest leg on the team for the day, but ran a small PR on the Lake Merced Loop and we ran the fastest Christmas Relay time in team history and got 4th overall!
- California International Marathon - PR (2:35:27) ⌇ Fell a little short of the goal I was chasing, but can’t complain about 3 marathon PRs in a year!
- Berlin Marathon - PR (2:36:08)
- Skyline 50k - 3rd overall in 3:59:21 ⌇ Results
- Quicksilver Endurance Runs 100K - 3rd overall in 10:14:12 ⌇ Super proud of this one! Ran with Jon and Jason for many of the first 15-20 miles. Amanda was the world’s best crew, and Karl was an amazing pacer—wouldn’t have kept it steady through the 90+-degree temperatures without them!
- Folsom Lake Trail Run Half Marathon - 2nd overall in 1:27:41 ⌇ Results
- Chevron Houston Marathon - PR (2:37:37) ⌇ Results
2021
- Clarksburg County Half - 11th overall and a half PR in 1:13:52 ⌇ Results ⌇ Wow, this just blew away even my wildest expectations for a really good day. Almost a 4-minute PR in the half distance, which is wild.
- Skyline 50k - 9th overall in 4:43:32 ⌇ Results ⌇ Race site ⌇ Third time running this race, and it just wasn’t my day. Sat at the last aid station for a good 10-15 minutes with some amazing volunteers encouraging me to get to the finish.
- Golden Gate Trail Run 30K - 3rd overall in 2:20:59 ⌇ Race was discontinued, but Coastal Trail Runs has a Winter edition of this + many other races
- Canyons 100K - 37th overall, 27th male in 11:41:11 ⌇Results ⌇ Race Site ⌇ First 100K and first time experiencing my quads not working
2020
- 🐸 Way Too Cool 50K - 11th overall in 3:42:36 ⌇ Results ⌇ Race Site
- ⛰ Mt. Umunhum 14K - 3rd overall in 1:00:57 ⌇ Results ⌇ Race Site
2019
- 🐻 California International Marathon - Personal Best in 2:41:32 ⌇ Results ⌇ Race Site
- 🦃 Oakland Turkey Trot - 🥉 3rd overall, 1st AG and 1st 🥧 costume ⌇ Results ⌇ Race Site
- 🌲 Skyline 50K - 6th overall in 4:08:14 ⌇ Results ⌇ Race Site
- 🇮🇹 Statuto 8K - 🥇 1st overall in 27:32 ⌇ Results ⌇ Race Site
- 🐃 Jed Smith 50K - 🥇 1st overall in 3:33:21 ⌇ Results ⌇ Race Site
How I started running
I love hearing how everyone got their start running. We’re all born knowing how to run, but running as a sport is still kind of funny when you think about it. “My sport is your sports’ punishment” was always something we joked about in high school XC proudly. But here’s how I got into running in case you’re curious!
Growing up, I loved watching and playing basketball. I was never great at it, and getting picked last made me super anxious whenever I stepped on a court. My parents dropped me off on their way to work an hour and a half before school started, so I started shooting around every morning. I loved shooting. When I went to try out for the team in ninth grade, Coach Blakeley told me that maybe basketball wasn’t my sport, but that it looked like I never really got tired out there, so maybe I should consider going out for cross country. Doing a sport meant that I didn’t have to take PE, which meant room for another AP or elective, so my high school self was very motivated to get on a team. That’s how I got started running cross country. My first practice, my mom dropped me off in the wrong part of Joaquin Miller Park, and I ran around the park, got super lost, and never found the team. The second practice went a little bit better, but even at a small school, running was definitely never really my thing. I enjoyed being on the team, but I never really enjoyed running. I would hear words like “tempo” and workouts, but I never thought to ask what they meant all three years I ran cross country.
I remember coming in second DFL at the NCS meet. When I got to Stanford for undergrad, despite the amazing weather, I stopped running and got really into weight lifting and basketball now that I had access to an amazing gym and basketball courts for free. I didn’t quite put on the freshman fifteen, but I definitely gained some weight. I was also putting on muscle from all the lifting, so I didn’t think too much of it. But by junior year, I felt really heavy and unhappy with my weight, so I started up running again, mostly just running campus loop and eventually the dish a couple days a week.
The big breakthrough for me came when I discovered Runkeeper and later Strava. The pace information, automatic tracking, goals, personal bests on segments—I was hooked, and these all helped form a running habit that I wouldn’t break. Once I could track all my runs and see the day-to-day, run-to-run improvement, I started to enjoy running a heck of a lot more. When I started my startup, I didn’t have much of a budget for a gym, and while I could still access the Stanford gym for a year or two after while I was on leave from my Masters, when low on time, lacing up my shoes and getting out the door for a quick run quickly became my preferred stress relief, meditation, therapy, and break from coding. Later, I met lots of friends and a great running community and running club that reinvigorated my love for running. Since then I’ve run nine marathons, including my first Boston Marathon in April 2018.
Follow me on Strava, Instagram, or Athlinks, and hopefully I’ll see you soon at a race or on a run around SF!
Favorite Running Blogs/Weekly Columns
- Wayne aka SF Runner’s Blog: Amazing history about SF Francisco races from my friend Wayne!
- AJW’s Weekly Column in iRunFar
- And of course, my coach, David Roche’s column in Trail Runner Magazine: Here are some of my favorites:
- 8 Dirty Little Secrets of Trail Running, See discussion on Reddit
- “So believe through the crappy days. It’s the only way to get anywhere close to your potential.”
- “What can be so transformative and transcendent about running is that it’s a lot like life, but the stakes aren’t quite the same. So let’s use it as a trial run for everything else.”
- What “Talent” Means And How We Can Use it
- “Sometimes magic is just someone spending more time on something than anyone else might reasonably expect.” -Teller
- My friend Frank Chan’s awesome running Strava art! The Pizza slice 🍕 run was EPIC
Recent running posts
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Burnout and Basketball Dynasties
An exploration of burnout, personal growth, and how lessons from the Golden State Warriors dynasty relate to long-term goals in life.
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How to work like elite athletes train
How might we apply athletic training principles to train our productivity, do our best work, and reduce burnout?
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Abbott World Marathon Majors 2019/2020 Important Dates and Qualifying Standards
2019/2020 Important Dates and Qualifying Standards for the Abbott World Marathon Majors: How to get into the Berlin, Boston, Chicago, London, New York, and Tokyo Marathons
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Weekly Live Chat with Back on My Feet San Francisco: How I got involved with Back on My Feet and Running Happy
Chatted with my friend Amanda for the weekly Back on My Feet San Francisco live chat about how I got into running, Back on My Feet, and Running Happy!
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March Forward: small projects I worked on this month
In the last few weeks, Ricky and I have worked on a few different experiments that I'd love your thoughts/feedback on!
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It's important to do things for the right reasons
Similar to running, others may not be able to tell the difference between founders doing it for the wrong reasons vs. the right reasons. But it'll matter during the lowest valleys. I think those that are doing it for the right reasons will tend to make it through the dip more often.
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California International Marathon 2019: From 3:41 marathoner to 2:41 marathoner
If I were to tell my 2013 self that one day I’d not only qualify for Boston, but improve on that first marathon by AN HOUR and average 6:10 minutes/mile, I would have assumed that in the future, we all became enhanced cyborgs or that they perfected body transplants. As coach Roche says, DREAM BIG!
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The Chicago Marathon: Run like a puppy unicorn
I blinked twice at my watch in disbelief: 07:18:03, 04... I was still stuck waiting in the port-a-potty line with all of my gear and my assigned starting Corral at the Chicago Marathon was closing in a minute and 56 seconds.
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One year ago, two years ago, three years ago
If progress ever feels slow or miles ever feel mundane, just think back to where you were a year ago, two years ago, three years ago. We always underestimate what we can do in the long run with daily consistency.
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Skyline 50K Endurance Run Recap
I've had the Skyline 50k circled on my calendar as one of my important goal races for the year. This race has a special place in my heart because it was my first 50K last year and I remember running (and struggling) in Redwood Regional Park during high school cross country. And I've now had the pleasure of running in three races put on by Adam and Scena Performance and I'm a huge fan!
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Race Recap of the 49th Annual Double Dipsea
The beauty, or barbarous brutality of the Double Dipsea, is that you're never quite in control. You can never quite zone out or you'll trip over a root, stumble on one of the bad stairs, or literally run into one of the other 700 runners along the narrow single track.
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My 2019 Race Calendar and Recaps
Planning to run quite a few races in 2019 including the Boston Marathon, Chicago Marathon, and New York Marathon. Hopefully I'll see you at some of them!
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Des Linden: Failure is an Action, Not an Identity
Des Linden became the first American woman to win the Boston Marathon in 33 years in 2018. But what you may not know is that in 2011, she came in second in heartbreaking fashion, getting passed by Kenya's Caroline Kilel with 200 meters to go and losing by TWO seconds. We could all learn a lot from Des' attitude about the race, towards training, towards life and on overcoming failure. In her words, "Failure is an action, not an identity."
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5 Things Runners Should Try for Dealing with Tight Hamstrings
Every runner has dealt with tight hamstrings after a hard workout or after increasing weekly mileage. Here are 5 things that have worked well for me over the years.
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Abbott World Marathon Majors 2018/2019 Important Dates and Qualifying Standards
2018/2019 Important Dates and Qualifying Standards for the Abbott World Marathon Majors: How to get into the Berlin, Boston, Chicago, London, New York, and Tokyo Marathons
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Boston Marathon 2018 Race Report Part 2: What it was like to run in 38-degree rain and 25 mph headwinds
I was fortunate enough to run in the 2018 Boston Marathon. Between it being my first time running Boston and the rare mix of 38-degree freezing rain, and strong headwinds, it's a race that I'll never forget. I hope this race report helps someone running Boston or another bad-weather marathon in the future.
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Boston Marathon 2018 Race Report Part 1: My journey to Boston
Dreaming of qualifying for the Boston Marathon? I first heard the phrase "Boston qualify" on the night before I ran my first marathon a little less than five years ago. Here's how Boston went from being a faraway dream to a goal for me.
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17 thoughts on running, startups, and life while running 2017 miles in 2017
Once you do something that much, people usually like to say “X is your life”. That’s partially true— it takes up a lot of your life, but more importantly, you start to see lots of analogies for life in it. Running has given me both more meaning in life as well as more time to reflect upon it. Here are 17 ruminations from those runs.
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