Welcome runners to my website! I am Tyler Rich, an everyday guy who just decided to live a life that is worth living by running. I’m sharing my journey of finding balance in life through running. Part of my goal of creating this site is to help me work towards my goal of losing the weight I gained in graduate school, how hard it is to get back into running after stopping, and the experiences that I learn about myself through running as many half-marathons and full marathons as I can. I am not a personal trainer or someone who would ever consider myself an athlete. I’m just an everyday nerdy guy who has discovered a part of myself through running.
Growing up a Non Athlete
Growing up I was a small kid, shorter than most. I didn’t even learn to ride my bike until 3rd grade. I was pretty uncoordinated, so playing 4 square at in elementary school was something I learned to avoid because I would always lose. In my experience, I learned early on that those who are gifted in coordination and sport tend to get better experiences in PE class, thus, in turn, getting even better at games and sports. If you’re like me, you learned early on in PE class that you are a non-athlete thus an outsider.
I found myself connect a lot of masculinity to physical ability and this created even stronger feelings of being an outsider. Fast forward throughout the rest of my years of school I never found sports that interesting. You add bullying into the mix for the small nerdy kid in middle school and high school anything that was athletic become connected with toxic masculinity. I found myself rejecting all things athletic. Yet in college, I wanted to work out and change my body to a muscular body to feel like less of an outsider. However even working out at the gym did not change how much of an outsider I felt like.
Marathon Life Choose Me
In 2007, I had my wisdom teeth out, and as I was picking up my medication for after the surgery, I randomly got the book Marathon running for dummies. So I started to train to run a half marathon, and by train, I would run up to 3 miles at the gym. ( I have never really trained for a race). I ran my first half marathon at Disneyland in 2006. When I reached mile 6, I was amazed that it was the furthest I have ever run in my life. Once I crossed the finish line something happened to that nerdy un-athletic outsider. I had done something that most people never even try, and maybe I wasn’t that outsider anymore.
So for the next few years, I ran the Disneyland half-marathon. Then in 2010, I ran my first full marathon during the Disney World Marathon Weekend. This marathon challenged me in so many ways, from bonking (hitting the wall) at mile 19 to a break down right before the finish line. This experience unlocked more of the athletic side of me.
Manic
The way I trained stayed inconstant, but my desire to go to expos, and be apart of the running community increase. In 2011, I ran the Goofy Challenge at Walt-Disney World (Half-Marathon on Saturday and Full Marathon on Sunday) Then in the following weekend I ran the Rock ‘N’ Roll Arizona Marathon and met Endorphin Dude (a famous face in marathon circles). He told me about a running club call the Marathon Maniacs. This running clubs is tough to get into, yet when I learned about this, I had already qualified to become a member. So I quickly joined the club. For the first time in my life, I was a member of an exclusive club that was focused helped me realized I was athletic and not an outsider. I had become a Maniac, and even to this day, I meet other maniacs during running events that welcome me. Feeling apart of the athletic community for the first time lead me to run a marathon every few months throughout the next 2 years.
Pause On My Journey
In 2013 I decided to return to graduate school and between school and work, running marathons and even training all but stopped. Unhealthy habits formed in the place and I started to gain weight. Throughout the next few years, I finished graduate school, started my own business and continued not to exercise. I lost track with being balanced in life and began to feel like an outsider again.
A New Starting Line
In the fall of 2017, I had hit my lowest point of at my best friends wedding. Looking back at the photos I found myself not recognizing myself because of the weight that I gained. Overall I felt healthy, and I worked out, but when looking at these photos, I was unhappy with myself. This led me, at the suggestion of my best friend to join a new Orange Theory Fitness that was opening at the being of 2018. Fast forward a few months I hadn’t changed my eating habits or training. I felt as if I had left my marathon days behind me. I started working out very inconsistently, but I was trying to make a change.
Then in March of 2018, my mother at age 58 was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. I have always been close to my family, and her diagnoses sent shock waves through our family. Yet through the chemo and her battling cancer, I saw fantastic strength. She focused on joy and happiness and would make jokes about her situation. Yet she always kept a somber attitude about the seriousness of her health. As she moves forward in remission, I notice that I hadn’t been taking care of my health both physically and mentally the way I wanted to. She inspired me to look within and find the happiness and joy that she displayed in her own struggle.
Running A Life Worth Living
Her journey through cancer and the realization that I had become so overweight I knew it was time to make a change. Thus I created this site and sharing my journey into both becoming mentally healthy and physically healthy. I hope to be a light to anyone who comes across my story because I think we can all learn and grow to inspire each other. I hope that in sharing my growth, I will in-return grow from anyone who is kind enough to engage. To check out my personal journey click here, if you want to see my Marathon and Half-Marathon Reviews click here.
Thank you for checking out my site, and I hope that in some small way you feel encouraged to live your a richer more fulfilled life.