Be inspired: College runner spends 2 hours shoveling track after snow storm so he can get in his easy day

Matrix Black Cats wrote:

Anyone else have deja vu on this story. I swear I hear this same story every year.

Agreed, I was wondering whether someone had bumped a really old thread for some reason.

wqqqqqqqq wrote:

for those of you wondering wrote:

his PRs are:

11:49 3200

5:44 1600

Outdoor Bests

800m - 2:12.40

1500m - 4:32.44

5000m - 15.23.21

3000 Steeple - 10:00.66

10,000m - 33:17.74

Indoor Bests

800m - 2:17.47

Mile - 4:56.69

3000m - 9:23.26

5000m - 15:48.76

His tfrrs is literally posted in the first post. How did you both get his current PRs wrong?

I stepped through a foot of snow around the track in Great Falls, Montana at age 15 in the early 1960's, then walked, shuffled, and then ran around the same steps in temperatures well below zero. I almost froze to death several times that winter.

malmo wrote:

That's lame Rojo. Really, really f-ing lame.

Real badass runners dont take videos of themselves and post it on the internet to show how tough they are. Real runners dont even shovel a path to run on like that pansy in the videl.

What does a real runner do when it snows? He (or she) puts on his clothes just like any other day, then goes out and runs in the quiet of the soft snow. When you're done you brush the frozen ice off your face and change into dry clothes and wait until your Big Johnson warms up before you take a shower.

If you are compelled to post videos of your epic ordinariness you aren't the badass you think you are.

But here is the thing... Rojo, Ryan Clifford, and his coach just got 4 paragraphs out of you. That is what this game is all about.

Hook. Line. Sinker.

I think I'd be more inspired by an intelligent use of modern technology, than 2 wasted human hours of labor effort.

Rojo, I hope we see a similar story next winter so all these sad sacks can come outta the closet again to criticize an effort they just wouldn't be caught dead doing... Good job kid! Don't let up!

Idiotic. You can run easily through at least a foot of snow. Here's a real runner showing how it's done.

http://www.racingpast.ca/uploads/htrain2.jpeg

Slow ride wrote:

Rojo, I hope we see a similar story next winter so all these sad sacks can come outta the closet again to criticize an effort they just wouldn't be caught dead doing... Good job kid! Don't let up!

On many occasions I shoveled snow all day (I had a job doing that) and then went out and did my HARD RUN IN THE SNOW.

Was the snow really stopping him from doing an easy run?

“Must have been sore for 2 days,” “risked throwing out his back,” etc? Seriously? What a bunch of pansies. I’m 44 and I shovel my long a$$ driveway myself and it snows here a lot. No snow blower, no hiring it out — it’s fun and good exercise.

Good for the kid.

good for the kid wrote:

“Must have been sore for 2 days,” “risked throwing out his back,” etc? Seriously? What a bunch of pansies. I’m 44 and I shovel my long a$$ driveway myself and it snows here a lot. No snow blower, no hiring it out — it’s fun and good exercise.

Good for the kid.

Is it a 1/4 mile long? You are used to actually doing the exercise. This kid has probably never touched a shovel in his life.

Northern Shoveller wrote:

good for the kid wrote:

“Must have been sore for 2 days,” “risked throwing out his back,” etc? Seriously? What a bunch of pansies. I’m 44 and I shovel my long a$$ driveway myself and it snows here a lot. No snow blower, no hiring it out — it’s fun and good exercise.

Good for the kid.

Is it a 1/4 mile long? You are used to actually doing the exercise. This kid has probably never touched a shovel in his life.

It is probably actually equivalent amount of shoveling when he only has to do 2 lanes on a track as opposed to an entire driveway. Also, he would only have to throw the snow to the side instead of push it from the middle of a driveway to the sides and then throw it. I shoveled my driveway (fits 2x5 cars) after the first big snow and wasn't too sore to go run later or the next day. Not sure why everyone is hating on the kid, I give him props. In college we would shovel our track so that we could get out and do hard workouts-didn't have an indoor track.

I shoveled for 3 hours yesterday which included about 240 ft as wide as a driveway. Snow was about 5" deep since I had shoveled 3" off the night before.

I then went and ran 8 miles on the treadmill at the fitness center!!

remember when trevor dunbar ran a 9:01 2 mile time trial on a snow covered track?

https://www.runnerspace.com/video.php?video_id=7733

trtrtr wrote:

Northern Shoveller wrote:

Is it a 1/4 mile long? You are used to actually doing the exercise. This kid has probably never touched a shovel in his life.

It is probably actually equivalent amount of shoveling when he only has to do 2 lanes on a track as opposed to an entire driveway. Also, he would only have to throw the snow to the side instead of push it from the middle of a driveway to the sides and then throw it. I shoveled my driveway (fits 2x5 cars) after the first big snow and wasn't too sore to go run later or the next day. Not sure why everyone is hating on the kid, I give him props. In college we would shovel our track so that we could get out and do hard workouts-didn't have an indoor track.

Thank you. Exactly. I’ve got about 400 sq yards of driveway (plus decks and walkways) and throw one half’s worth of snow over a 5-foot retaining wall. It’s not herculean. I still get my run in that day, too.

Maybe this was the first time he picked up a shovel. If so, all the more props to him. He sees an obstacle, he deals with it. He doesn’t start moaning, “Ohh my baaaack.” His coach is right that this kind of mindset explains his accomplishments. Those of you saying it’s idiotic are still a bunch of pansies.

A. It did not take him 2 hours to shovel the homestretch of a track . Maybe 20 mins .

B . Ran is snow every winter in HS . Though drifts etc ! No big deal

Hello,

You have to love people. Have to. For those wondering here is the back story. I was in on Sunday after the storm to run on the treadmills. I happened to be done about the time I saw Ryan running on the track. I try to keep a social media presence for the athletes on my team using my social media and I knew Ryan had cleared the track earlier so I posted that video as motivation for team mates and family. We got 13 inches of snow for our part of storm Harper. Ryan has a quality workout coming up and he volunteered to shovel on his own. He says he likes shoveling and has shoveled many times with me already. He is about 6-3 and he hates running on treadmills. By the time he ran some of it had drifted back. He is coming off a fall season where he made NCAA D II nationals and on Friday ran 15:11 5k which is the conference and regional lead right now. His high school PR's were 9:58 3200 and same for steeple. He has come along way but building his mileage the "letsrun" way - through high mileage- 4017 miles in 2017. We are excited to make the front page of Lets run but that was not the intention. We are just up here doing out thing. Thanks Robert Johnson. It has been a while so hello from an old friend.

Mike

I can see doing this to avoid skipping a workout. But what a waste of time to spend two hours pushing around snow just to jog around a track. Just run in the snow, find some shoveled sidewalks, or use a treadmill.

I run on the snow anyways but can't he just run on a treadmill?

yea you're right. Treadmills can hurt you. EVERY time I run on one this old hip injury flairs up even if it's just 3 miles. I'm tall too with a long stride. I avoid at all costs...on the other hand you have slippery surfaces that could cause aggravated achilles and even worse falls and breaks. Let's not forget what happen to Chris Solinsky walking his dog in the winter, slipped and tore his hamstring to never run at his former elite level again. So I see why he did the shoveling...

In places like Colorado, yea they shovel the sidewalks but some places they don't. You still have icey surfaces to deal with.