Part-Time Runner

By: Patrick Ketcher

In the Fall of 2017, I began running. I was 24 years old and had always been an extremely average athlete. I excelled in some areas due to hard work, but I never had natural talent, speed, or quickness.

I grew up on a small farm, working every summer in the heat and humidity. I hated it. However, I loved being outside in the fall. This is when the leaves were changing and the clean brisk air from the north came through. The air in the fall in Eastern Oklahoma is so fresh that it might make the reptiles and birds hide, but it brought life to me. My dad would take me hunting in the fall and we would find ourselves wanting to explore the forest more than hunt. We always wondered “What’s over the next ridge?” You can only play that game for so long before you need to get home and watch college football. Those mini adventures planted a seed that would only grow with time.

My adventures in college were quite typical. I was a bartender, so there were few times I got to enjoy the outdoors like I had growing up. I did take one solo excursion into the middle of the TaliMena drive. I dove off the highway into the woods for an overnight camping trip. It was just enough to scratch the itch.

Post College I started working at a bank. I’ve always been a hard worker and wanted more out of life. Often people in their early 20s are looking for something bigger to do. We’re told to “follow our passion” or “do what makes us happy”, but we’re all just trying to figure it out. We’re all trying to navigate life on low income and high standards. I loved working indoors, and I love being a banker but there was something missing.

One day I was leaving my apartment listening to an episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience”. The guest was talking about how he had just run 100 miles a few days before the episode. I was in disbelief. Someone could run 100 miles?! I didn’t even choose this episode, it just started playing in my car. I listened to the entire episode nonstop. Turns out, the guest was Cameron Hanes. A bowhunter from Oregon, who only runs to be a better bowhunter in the fall. He is known as one of the best Elk Hunters in the world. He was inspiring, raw, and passionate. This is what I was missing. I started following him on social media, watching his YouTube Videos and I was hooked. Bowhunting in the mountains for elk seemed like the ultimate adventure.

So, at this point I’m sure most people are wondering “Where is the running?!” Well, now.

I started running to get ready for the mountains, just like Cam. I ran all Fall and all Winter. It was amazing. I loved it. I ran three – five times a week. I joined the local running club and went all in on running. I shot my bow a lot too, as I was all in on this adventure. I became obsessed with watching hunting videos, running, and shooting my bow. Running is the one thing I found to be the most difficult and the most rewarding.

My mom has been running long distance for over 15 years. She ran her first marathon at 50 years old. So, running is something we started bonding over. We ran our first half marathon “together” In April of 2018. I ran it in 1 hour and 52 min. Still to this day, my personal best. I ran some through the summer and went on an elk hunt with my brother the last week of August into the first week of September in 2018. It was everything I dreamed of. I’m so glad I ran to get ready for the hunt. It was tough and unsuccessful.

After the hunt, I was not motivated to run. So, I didn’t. I felt guilty. I didn’t have a reason to run. It was hot, and miserable to run before or after work. I knew I “needed” to run, but I wasn’t happy doing it. I took a couple of months off, then the leaves started to change and the temperature drop.

I started noticing that I wanted to be outside more. I started running again. The cool fresh air on an early December morning made me happy to be running again. I ran all winter. I ran at nighttime around a local lake. I ran early Saturday mornings. I increased my mileage up to 16 miles on any given Saturday. The cool air made my lungs feel amazing! I ran until it started getting hot again. I knew I wasn’t going on an elk hunt in the fall, so I didn’t run the next summer. I felt like I was missing out on adventures my friends were taking.

My mom wanted us to do a marathon together in December, so I had to train. It wasn’t fun. I started training in October trying to beat the heat. We finished the marathon together and it was hot and miserable. 72 degrees in Memphis in December, not what I signed up for. It took me nearly 5 hours. I was not proud. I knew I had not been running.

After the marathon I took some time off from running.

I ran quite a bit the next winter. My friend Larin and I trained together and had so many fun adventures. I was training for a 50k and she was preparing for 100 miles. Our last weekend of training, we ran 10 miles on Saturday and 20 miles on Sunday. Larin struggled on Sunday. She had severe shin splints but pushed on and finished the run. That run literally broke her leg. She had numerous fractures in her legs that ended her up in a boot and with broken dreams of a 100 miler that spring. It was devastating. (She would of course complete a 100miler the next fall)

Without my running partner, I decided to run the 50k solo. It was an amazing adventure and honestly went as smoothly as running 31 miles can go.

That was my last big run. It was 2 years ago.

I’m okay with that. One thing I’ve learned about running is that it’s okay to fall out of love with running. We don’t HAVE to run when we don’t want to. Running should be fun, it should be an activity that brings happiness, friendship, and courage. I love to run, but I also love to not run. Running is difficult, it takes discipline. It takes effort and energy. Sometimes, we don’t have that effort and energy to give to running and that is okay. I can’t imagine my life without running, I also know I won’t be a full-time runner.

So, I’m here to say, to myself and others, it’s okay to be a part time runner.