I’m in Runner’s World Magazine!
How Did This Happen?
Last September I received an email through my blog. My blog– that never happens except for spam. This message was from Karla Walsh, a writer at Runner’s World Magazine saying,
We’re working on a piece for early 2018 about individuals who had non-traditional paths to determining “Yes, I Am a runner!” and from the looks of your blog, we thought you could be a wonderful fit for this story of an upcoming print issue.
Was this real?!!! It turns out, yes! This was legit!
Karla interviewed me over the phone and asked me to submit some running photos. I sent her some photos that I had on my phone but, in the end, Runner’s World arranged for a professional photographer to take my photos for the feature.
I met Hana Asano at Yorba Regional Park before sunrise one Saturday morning. Earlier in the week she asked me to send her some photos of where I like to run. Luckily, I take a lot of photos so that was an easy task. Needless to say, this was my first professional photoshoot and I was both excited and nervous.
Hana took tons of photos of me, from sitting in the cargo area of my Subaru lacing up my shoes to action shots running in a field. It was cool walking and talking with Hana around the different spots in the park. She made me feel very comfortable during the shoot. Here are some of the photos that did not make it into the magazine:
I was told that I was going to be in the January/February 2018 issue and that it was supposed to hit stands in late December. I’m not going to lie– I checked Barnes and Noble at least 3 times during the week of December 18. Finally, on December 23rd after arriving at my parents’ house in San Diego, I received a DM on Instagram from one of my friends, Lisa S.: 
My wife and I drove to the closest Barnes and Noble to find it. I madly flipped through the pages to find the feature, “Yes, You Are A Runner!” I saw two photos of myself! I was giddy and I didn’t care if people thought I was weird taking photos in the middle of the magazine racks. I was so excited that I didn’t realize that there was another photo of me on the Table of Contents page until another friend pointed it out to me on IG the next day.
Over the next few days, I proceeded to share this on social media and show the magazine off to family members, my doctor, etc.
But Am I Really A Runner?
I am honored to be among the athletes that were chosen for this feature. I am undoubtedly excited to have three photos in Runner’s World. But although my 15 seconds may not yet have expired, I’ve been trying to fight off imposter syndrome.
My correspondence with Karla came at a time where I was frustrated with my progress (or lack thereof) in my running comeback. I had just finished walking the Santa Monica Classic 10k instead of finishing with the PR I was training for. After reading the other featured athletes’ stories, I felt like their stories were much more inspiring than mine.
Yes, I Am A Runner!
I’m getting better at internalizing both my title as runner and the honor of being featured in Karla’s article. If anything, it’s motivating me even more to lace up my shoes and hit the roads and trails!
But you know what, that’s what Karla’s article is all about. Erase the self-doubt! Stop comparing yourself to others! Yes, you are a runner!
Thank you Runner’s World, Karla Walsh, and Hana Asano!
