LA Running Connoisseur

By: Keith Kilgore (@keith_kilgorejr)
keithkilgoreruncoaching.com

Late Start is a multi-part series by Keith Kilgore, a runner, leader, and coach in the Los Angeles area. The series shares an emotional, relatable glimpse into how he discovered endurance running at age 30 and his inspiring growth in the space since.

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The Target off Figueroa St. That’s where I’m going to run to today. 

I was barely a year into my thirties and running a mile seemed like the hardest task in the world. I could still feel the cravings from abstaining from cigarettes.

I had run the 800 in high school but I was horrible at it and I’m not sure my teammates at the time would disagree. It’s not that I was slow but I didn’t know anything about running apart from the fact that wearing those HELLA short shorts would get me clowned from Santa Monica to Inglewood and back. So I showed up and did as little as possible until football season. That was the entirety of my knowledge of running.

So what was the motivation to run now? Mom told me I started getting a belly from the enormous amount of sugar I was eating after quitting alcohol and I couldn’t have that. ESPECIALLY because my then-girlfriend (now wife) was coming to visit. 

Time to get right.

I put on my shoes and shorts and off I went. Despite the Wu-Tang playing in my headphones, my heart rate was at max and I quickly realized I was not in high school shape anymore. I hadn’t even made it to the next block and my legs decided to join Houdini for a disappearing act. I was coughing, sweating, and wheezing ALL at the same time.

What made it even worse was that when I stopped and turned to check how far I’d gone, I could still see the gated apartment doors I had slammed behind me. It was demoralizing. There was no one around but, to be completely honest, I was embarrassed and ashamed.

Life had gone by so fast since my first drink. Running was hard now. That mile felt like some kind of expedition. 

The voice in my head didn’t let me quit and I made it that mile to Target, but only the universe knows how long it really took me. Running back wasn’t even an option, which gave me a lot of time to think. Something needed to change.

You don’t always realize you need to change until something smacks you in the face like that. That run was my wake-up call.

That summer, I ran a Target out-and-back every single day, pushing my wind further and further. It started to become my therapy and, like most endurance athletes at some point in their lives, I wondered, “How much farther can I actually run?” I started planning route after route.

I was getting in better shape and my life seemed to be on an upswing. I could run to Target in 6 minutes flat and my girlfriend and I were moving in together. I clocked miles, I took the metro to run in different areas, and I was saving money. Wins on all counts.

I found the Nike Run App by accident and the game changed. I started recording my mileage and doing every workout the app had. I discovered a whole other side of myself. I eventually discovered the app’s 16-week Marathon training plan.  “How long even is a marathon?” I wondered. 

26 miles. Damn, that’s a lot.

I remember when my Dad ran the LA Marathon, he told me it had gotten him through a really rough time in his life. So why not me? I stuck to the plan and I took the bus from Carson to all over LA to run in different places.

Things were changing. I was changing. But I had miles and miles to go.