Local Runner Pretty Happy on His Current Level
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A local runner hasn’t gotten faster, run farther, or otherwise made any fitness breakthroughs since 2014, Dumb Runner has learned—and he is OK with that.
“I just haven’t felt any need to push things to the next level,” said Doug Adams, 42, a longtime runner and veteran of four half-marathons. “I’m pretty happy on my current one.”
“Honestly, it’s very liberating.”
Adams said the routine he’s followed for years involves "just getting out and running a few times a week.” Most of his runs, he said, are three or four miles, though he may go as long as six miles on weekdays or 10 miles on Saturday or Sunday.
It hasn’t always been this way, Adams said.
“We’re bombarded with these messages in the media and ads and stuff,” he said. “Take your running to the next level, that sort of thing. You start to internalize it. I sure did.”
For Adams, this meant obsessing over his diet, doing strength work three times a week, foam rolling, tracking his mileage in an online log, running hill repeats, doing track workouts and tempo runs, stretching, cross-training, and racing at least eight times per year.
One day, Adams said, he was halfway through an online article on the importance of a strong core when he realized he’d had enough: “I thought, Hey, wait a minute—who am I doing this for? And why?”
Today, said Adams, he’s much happier.
“I like my level,” he said. “It’s a good level.”
Adams, who has been dating the same person for more than a year, said he has no desire to take his relationship to the next level, either.
“We like each other and are having fun,” he said. “Why mess with a good thing?”
Adams’ partner was unavailable for comment.
