1. About Me

Hi, I’m Nico, aaand I like to run.

But you already knew that! If you’re here near the time of this posting, you either know me personally, or we’ve connected through running, or simply, we’ve connected through Instagram. In any case, I’m glad you’re here.

I’ve struggled to think about my first post(s) would be about. I’ve been working a few ideas/posts before this one and in parallel, and they’ve been kind of fighting for this number one spot. Writing in this way is very new to me, and it’s been challenging synthesizing my thoughts and putting them down on [ipad].

Anyway, I thought it’d be most important to start off by introducing myself—as a way, of course, to invite you in and welcome you, but also to record and affirm who I am today. January 30, 2023.

So let’s begin again :)

Hi, I’m Nico, and I’m a runner.

I’ve been running for just under 5 years now, which is a whole lot to me! Especially as someone who’s known as (and def admits to being) a serial hobbyist. I’ve had a lot of interests in my college and adult life: photography, archery, powerlifting, whisky, mechanical watch collecting and modding, fountain pens and other writing things, bouldering, watercolor painting, tea, backpacking&hiking&mountaineering, music exploration (along with hi-fi/audiophile gear and collecting vinyl records), and finally, running. That’s an exhaustive list of everything since 2013ish; I’ve struck through (strikethrough’ed?) the things that didn’t stick or are at least so far on the back burner that they’re actually back in the pantry collecting mold. Heh.

When I recount all those past hobbies, it’s easy to blanket them as “phases”, but that kind of feels derogatory. Or at least, I don’t think it gives sufficient appreciation of how those hobbies fit into my life. I like to get really deep into my hobbies. I like to “get good”, to my standard at least, and I feel like I got there with all the strikethroughs above. The common sticking point that led me to stop pursuing those, though, was when I felt that going deeper would require much higher investment for returns that weren’t worthwhile for me. That was always a frustrating realization. Wheeew little bit of a tangent there, but I think that gives good background on how I approach my hobbies: I get really into them. And it’s very much how I approach running, too. SO, realizing that all my prior engagements have been transient then highlights the following:

Running’s stuck for some reason.

That reason’s changed and evolved so much over the past 5 years. And maybe rather than a singular “reason” changing, it’s more like additional reasons getting wadded onto this singular mass, and the “reason” at any single moment is a chunk of that accumulated mass that fits the present context of my life, day, whatever.

I’ve done a lot of cool things with running. I’ve raced:

one 5k (3.1 mi)

• 2020 LA Chinatown Firecracker 5k Run - 2/16/2020 - 21:38; 6:57/mi - 2nd place in division!

one 10k (6.2 mi)

• 2018 Surf City 10k - 10/14/2018 - 53:03; 8:32/mi
• 2018 Las Vegas Rock n Roll 10k - 11/11/2018 - 52:04; 8:22/mi

four half marathons (13.1 mi)

• 2018 Bryce Canyon Half Marathon - 6/15/2018 - 1:55:34; 8:55/mi
• 2019 San Jose Rock n Roll Half Marathon - 10/6/2019 - 1:45:39; 8:04/mi
• 2022 Las Vegas Rock n Roll Half Marathon - 2/27/2022 - 1:46:21; 8:08/mi
• 2023 Las Vegas Rock n Roll Half Marathon - 2/26/2023 - 1:36:10; 7:20/mi

two marathons (26.2 mi)

• 2021 California International Marathon - 12/5/2021 - 3:51:28; 8:50/mi
• 2022 California International Marathon - 12/4/2022 - 3:32:30; 8:07/mi

and one 50k (31.1 mi) trail race

• 2019 Griffith Park Trail 50k - 3/2/2019 - 6:18:19; 12:11/mi - 68th of 141, youngest male hehe (age 23)

All those above were official events. I’ve also done one 50k walk (2022), two 50k runs (2020), and a 50 mi run (2021) on my own for fun—not that I did those just willy nilly, but “for fun” is the most concise way I want to describe that for now.

But racing’s not the only aspect of running. I’ve also:

• made a lot of new friends through running
• formed some small running groups, organized races among those groups, and saw close friends run their first 10k/half marathon/marathon
• gotten super gear obsessed. I have like 20+ pairs of shoes in rotation right now
• recommended shoes to 20+ friends (with the knowledge/experience gained from trying out shoes)
• improved my mental health 100x
• went from listening to all the music and podcasts to none at all and back to all the things

…That one’s not an exhaustive list, but all the front-of-mind things right now.

All of that to say, running’s become a big big part of my life. I’ve had an incredible journey so far, and as I continue down this path, I want to capture some of those thoughts and decisions and experiences and share them here, with you.

Welcome to Nico Run Club.

--

I thought I was done, but literally one minute later:

Post Scriptus? P.S.

I realized I only talked about me as a runner. A little more about me personally, as a fact dump:

• I’m 27 years old (age was important to me as I sought out role models when I first started running)
• I’m Filipino-American, and trying to learn more what that means to me. Sinigang is my fav Filipino food. extra rice, please
• I work as a Materials and Processes Engineering Manager in the aerospace and defense industry. It pays the bills. And I’m pretty good at it! I’ve been a manager for over a year now, after working as an engineer on the team I manage for about 4 years out of college.
• I studied Materials Engineering at UCLA. I like understanding how things work, and I found if you ask “why” enough times, you get down to the material level of things. At least for physical things. This def relates to my interest and interpretation of running shoes. More on that later :)
• I grew up in Las Vegas, NV, and moved to Los Angeles for college. I’ve now been in LA for nearly 10 years! Longer than I ever planned, but I’ve learned to cherish it more and more as the years go by.
• If I’m not working or doing running-related things, I currently devote my time to: family and friends (bless phone calls and FaceTime), drinking and learning more about tea, reading (!! This is new, i like it), listening to music, journaling, and meditation.

January 30, 2023 / Revised March 18, 2023