"Greetings and Salutations.."
Hi there. I'm Nik, and this is my blog. I know that kinda sounds like an awkward, impersonal hello, but I figure that if you're here, you probably either know me from my nonsensical, raving posts on the TS forums or you otherwise know me from the running world, so a friendly hello and welcome should do fine. I'm excited to get a chance to publish some of my thoughts about my life as it relates to running and life; just like everyone else, I tend to think my life is uniquely interesting and I'm more than thrilled to share it and the things I've learned along the way with all of you.
All that said, for those who have actually no idea who I am, here is a biography:
Born in Finland, raised in suburban Pittsburgh. Played a ton of sports growing up (to this day, I will say to anyone my best sport is hockey), which were the attempt of my parents to get me out of the house as I was an extremely shy, stuttering bookworm. I never really outgrew the academic side, but thanks to their efforts I came to love competition and the intangible joys of being on a team and in high school. I was a very good soccer and tennis player during my scholastic career and I looked around at a few colleges for athletic intent, but I decided that academics should be my focus for college and I attended Carnegie Mellon University, which is one of the best schools in the nation for computer science and enginering.
While at school, I became very engrossed in my coursework because I was finally getting a chance to learn and study the things that I love, the things I wanted to do as a career. I played a ton of intramural sports and got some of my competitive energy out, but other than a short stint on the football team, I didn't play anything on the varsity level. Long and short of it, I was very content. I was studying at a extremely difficult yet amazing university, and I was surrounded by culture of people very similar to me - varsity athletics never really crossed my mind.
I began running during my sophomore year, after a fraternity brother of mine - who happened to be a school record-holder in the PV - recommended that I give the intramural track meet a try. We had played intramural soccer and a few other sports together, and I suppose he noticed I had some quickness about me. I went out for the meet and won five events: 200m, 400m, 4x100m, 4x400m, and the LJ. I think I ran the 400m in 54.3, which I didn't know at the time was pretty solid for someone with no training, running in flats. After that, I met up with the Coach and it all kinda happened from there. It was very serendipitous. I found a team that was more fun and special to me than any I've ever been involved with, I found a Coach that I would have run through a brick wall for, and I found a sport and an event that somehow brought performances out of me that I never would have thought were possible.
My collegiate career ended in 2005, with PRs of 21.64, 47.36, and 3:13.18 (45.9 split) and two All-American certificates. As proud as I am of those achievements, I am even prouder that I accomplished all of those things while completing a two-year graduate school program in three back-to-back-to-back semesters and sadly, dealing with the poor health of my mother. Immediately after the season and my August graduation, I took a full-time position in Washington, DC as a software engineer and wistfully began the next phase of my life. I decided at that time to step away from track for awhile, as I had become somewhat burned out and I was excited to focus on the new opportunities for my life. I always figured that I could just come back whenever I wanted, that the fire and the talent would always still be there.
Retrospectively, I regret that decision. Fast forward to now, I am in lovely San Francisco, CA and I work as the Creative Director for a startup that some of my old friends from CMU founded. I love my job and where my career is going more than I can ever accurately describe, but like anything else, that question of "What if.." always pops in my mind.
- What if I had continued to run after I finished grad school? I was in the best shape of my life.
- What if I had decided to transfer to a DI school after I realized my talent in the 400m? I loved CMU and the coaches, but everyone can realize the difference between the facilities, etc.
- What if I had taken things more seriously? I was in a fraternity, partying my ass off on the weekends, eating the wrong things, not hitting the gym nearly as much as I should.
How do you deal with questions like that? Sadly, there are no easy answers. However, given the clarity of hindsight, I've taken a lot of time to reflect on both my running career and the choices I've made, and I've decided that I'd like to get back into competitive athletics. I'm realistic about it; I'm never going to run a 45, I'm never going to represent my country (unless it's Finland - but that is a seperate discussion), and I'm most likely never going to achieve what I achieved when I was in college. The difference is that I'm not going to define my success or failure based on times, I'm going to define it on the thrill of competition, of knowing that I prepared myself the absolute best that I could and that I gave it all that I had.
I never thought I'd say this, but I miss throwing up and passing out after running the 400m. As tired as you are, as straight up destroyed as your body feels, you just don't feel that way unless you know you've given it every ounce of energy, every single meter of that track.
My first meet is this weekend. I'm nervous and I'll be open and honest about it - I'm also unprepared and not in the best shape. However, I am only running a 200m so it won't be too difficult, just a lid-lifter to see how it feels, slowing walking into the short end of the pool. I also entered myself into the HJ because, well, I think it's fun and I need to inject some levity into a situation which is going to be extremely nervewracking to me.
Talk to you soon, and thanks for reading. Please feel free to comment.
post comment
Untitled Comment
7:02 PM, February 26, 2008
.. Posted by emceelaszlo
BEST OF LUCK TO YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
what fraternity were you in?
Untitled Comment
11:18 PM, February 26, 2008
.. Posted by Anonymous
Good luck with training/competing. Just wondering where and when you played hockey.
Hockey
1:26 AM, February 27, 2008
.. Posted by nbonaddio
Growing up in Pittsburgh, there are essentially two seasons: football, and hockey. Not a lot of people played baseball, and nobody played basketball. I played a ton of both sports with neighborhood kids - nothing formal, just roller and street hockey. I didn't realize until I got to CMU and I led their intramural league in points that I knew I was any good at hockey, because all my friends were just as good as me or better. We just played it a lot.
Untitled Comment
3:06 PM, February 27, 2008
.. Posted by Anonymous
Got ya. I was just interested because I'm from Philly and played ice hockey against some Pittsburgh teams in high school so I was wondering if maybe I'd played against you.
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• Life and the half-mile
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