The Quest #21: The Fool

This month might be the hardest I've pushed myself in running. The biggest highlight was running my first race in over a year and PR'ing my 5K race time, the second highlight is that I was consistently hitting PRs for average pace multiple days in a row. Took seven weeks of an eight week training program to finally pick up speed. Your boy ain't exactly a rocket ship yet but it's proven (again) that sticking with a long-term training program helped me evolve and approach my dreams in other aspects of life. This website has (again) taken another major evolution too - I'm cleaning up the existing Research articles and writing way more. This is actually turning into decent content. Isn't that thrilling?

Point is, I'm back in the game. This time I want to be. The fool is ready to get smart.

What's next?

June 1st, 2025 to June 30th, 2025

Long story short: I became a WFH deadbeat because life got too hard for an emotionally unstable yuppie. Now I'm trying to redeem myself by running a lot and talking about it. Hopefully you find this entertaining enough to subscribe, tell a friend and follow your own Quest.

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"Life is too short for a man to hold bitterness in his heart."
— Marshall Walter "Major" Taylor

I'm writing this at 2am since I'm about to be away from keyboard from a week. Can't give it the old razzle dazzle but here's the point: this 8 week training program was a major key. Took a week off after completing it and getting right back to work in July. Got a new pair of running sneakers after using the same pair for at least three years. Learning that was completely insane and spent a lil moolah on better gear. Greatness, here we come.

Didn't go hard in the paint with longer yoga sessions this month, but added more variety. I like the consistency of Ashtanga Yoga but by doing more Vinyasa sessions I'm learning to think on my feet and use muscles in new ways. Several people have complimented me on looking like I'm in shape even though I haven't lifted weights in months so it's proof that yoga can develop muscle too.

A picture's worth a thousand words; here's nine.

The Master's Plan by Floorplan is the house music of my dreams. I've been searching for a banger album to run with and this hits every mark. It's helped me rethink and update our Use Music To Run Faster article.

Use Music To Run Faster | Sendō

Ever found yourself suddenly locked in while working or running to a steady beat? Welcome to the powerful world of BPMs, brainwaves and the science of focus.

SendōMidori Sendō

I also love Floorplan's Victorious album as well. Check em out.

Don't go anywhere! The Quest will be back after a short break.

A short bio on Major Taylor by my assistant Charlie Goodman (ChatGPT).

Marshall “Major” Taylor (1878–1932) was one of the greatest cyclists the world has ever seen—and one of the first Black international sports superstars. Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, he earned the nickname “Major” as a child performing bike tricks in a soldier’s uniform outside a local bike shop. By his teens, it was clear he had rare talent—and even rarer speed.

Taylor turned professional in the 1890s and quickly began breaking records. In 1899, he became the world champion in sprint cycling—the second Black athlete ever to win a world title in any sport. He dominated velodromes around the globe, racking up victories in the U.S., Europe, and Australia, often against vicious racism. He was regularly denied entry to races, banned from hotels, and threatened by both fans and fellow racers. But he kept showing up. Kept winning.

He was a devout Christian who didn’t drink, smoke, or gamble, and refused to race on Sundays—an anomaly in the rough world of early pro cycling. Through all the hate, Taylor held himself with dignity, writing in his autobiography: “Life is too short for a man to hold bitterness in his heart.” He believed in letting his legs do the talking.

Major Taylor paved the way for generations of Black athletes to follow. Though he died in poverty and was buried in an unmarked grave, his legacy has only grown stronger. Today, cycling clubs across the country bear his name, and he is rightly remembered not just as a champion of sport, but of character.

Back to The Quest!

Unedited manic ramblings, typically after a run.

6/2/2025

Did my 7 miler out in Long Island at Indian Island County Park. Absolutely beautiful campgrounds right by the beach. It was shaded and a little chilly which was nice. Took me about an hour and a half, and only stopped once to drink some electrolyte juice from my car. I left an unopened electrolyte solution in the donation box there so if you see it, that's from your boy. It wasn't as hard as I thought, and I didn't have headphones which I thought would make it hard to focus, but I used the time to listen to my body mechanics and work through each step. I also used this time to decide that Sendō will be a non-profit. I have to make the bag for my mansion somewhere else, but I'm going to use this organization as a force for good. In my dorky mind I go back to the superhero thing so of course you gotta be doing this for the love of the game, not profit.

Next week is my first race in over a year. It's just a 5K, but it represents the change of self that I've been working on. I'm nervous but hopeful. I'm scared to meet new people but I'm going to show up and try my best. And at least I have a realistic out for the baptism later in the day. The great work continues.

6/4/2025

Today's yoga session was 30 minutes of advanced hatha yoga. Usually I mostly do ashtanga yoga because I like that it's a set sequence, but lately I've been realizing that it's important to change things up. I also used to think, "oh, hatha yoga is the baby stuff" and that I needed to suffer. Truth is, the hatha yoga workout was great! Showed me some new moves and it was gentle enough but still a solid workout, my heart rate got up to Zone 3. Still not sure what that means but it wasn't exactly a walk in the park. And because it wasn't a set sequence and a bit slower, it gave me more time to work on my balance and focus. What I learned today is that I have to maintain a mix of ashtanga, vinyasa and hatha yoga sessions. In addition to running and strength training. But that's the goal of this era of Sendō - to find the balance that works for me.

This week is a big one - my first race in over a year is this Sunday. It's only a 5K, but I've been running like hell and this is the most prepared race I'll do. So I'm excited. I'll run it at the end of Week #7 of this 8 Week plan which is cool. I wasn't planning on this particular race so I'm grateful that the timing mostly worked out.

--

Run #1 of Week 7 complete: 3 miles. Something with the service by Marine Park is kind of funky, my Spotify barely works, my texts don't go through, and the tracking on my watch was off by a half mile, so I ended up running a 5K when I was aiming for a tight 3 miles. But I'm grateful, I ran my 3rd fastest time for the 5K. It's just straight up easier to run here, in Texas I'm fighting the air and my body at the same time. Here it's just my body. I'm dialing in the body mechanics like I mentioned, so today I focused on sprinting in short bursts, keeping that gazelle-like form in mind. There's moments where I can sprint really powerfully for short bursts and I'm learning to pull back so I don't run out of steam. As they say, it's a marathon, not a sprint, so even though I feel a little goofy running slowly, that "slow" running is getting faster. And I'm maintaining that beautiful form.

Ate Chipotle yesterday, a big fat veggie burrito, Did the same today. I also bought some protein and electrolyte solutions. I'm going to counteract the weight loss in this way, even if eating isn't fun to me I'm going to chug it like crazy.

6/5/2025

It's the dark night of the soul, I suppose. I'm doubting myself a little bit - is this idea dumb? Is my instagram art page dumb? The fuck am I doing? should I just suck it up and focus on my corporate job? are all of the choices I've made in the last few years wrong? feels like everyone has given up on me. even I've given up on me. But still, I can't shake this feeling. I can't walk away from this. Even if it feels wrong. Even if I should be writing intelligent articles about the economy or something like the cousin my mom won't shut up about. even if I should be schoomizing in the corporate world like my brother. if I should hang my coattails on another startup. But I've done all of that. I've done well enough to buy a home and create a life that I'm ready to evolve past. So it's either jump back into a world that I'm putting on a facade, or go down this new path. I'm scared. but I'm going to keep trying and have faith. Sure, I hope to be vindicated and to become fabolously wealthy. But in my own heart I have to go my own way. So even if I'm surrounded by doubt, even if there's internal doubt, I'm going to meditate, pray, give thanks and keep on swinging. I'm awkward with people, but you know what? no shit!! I cut myself off from people in order to find myself. and now that I have, I'm crawling back towards reality as myself. Jagged, awkward, incomplete. But it's me. So I'm going to get my reps in: running, connecting with people, finding joy in little things, believing in myself. Tomorrow we've got interval runs lined up for the beginning of the morning.

6/6/2025

Intervals today: 3 minute 30 seconds, 1:20 rest, repeat 8 times. Set my third fastest time in the 5K again, so I'm getting faster and faster. It was a hot day here in New York, but nowhere close to Texas. I've mentioned body mechanics like a hundred times so far, but that's what I've noticed most of all. Here's a new note: I'm putting less impact into each step, like I'm using the bounding action of my legs to keep pushing forward. I think I used to tense up my legs a lot as I ran, and so it was like I was hammering my feet into the ground with each step. It felt powerful, but it was also a terrible way to run. By listening to my body more, I'm using much less energy with each step, using forward momentum to keep pushing forward, and I'm compressing my legs less - just enough to get the energy through my legs and forward. Running truly is an art form. I feel like I'm running slow, but it's a controlled action. Part of it is age, part of it is refinement. Neat!

6/7/2025

Tomorrow is my first race in a year.

6/9/2025

Yesterday was my first race in a year! I'm going to write a longer article on it for my mid-month post, but it was good. Solid weather, about a hundred runners in the pack and only a 5K. I was a little hopeful that I'd finish in first place, though looking back on it that was completely arrogant, because again I was humbled at how fast some people are, and how the people you wouldn't expect to be great runners are simply better than you. But that's the cool part - when I'm getting smoked by old ladies and amputees and short kings: NO SHADE at any of them, but it makes me excited. This is the sport of my dreams. All inclusive and anyone could be better than you. What's not to love?

Takeaways though:

• energy management is crucial. I kind of sprinted a little bit at the beginning of the race, which humbled me because I burned through a lot of unnecessary energy trying to compete with a pack of people I knew nothing about. Part of it was an excitement and a desire to compete, but I quickly learned as I ran uphill that this wasn't the best choice.
• the physiological game: after I got up that first slammer of hills, I was hurting, and then I saw all sorts of people zoom past me, which got in my head even more that I fucked up my race and that even after 7 weeks of training that I was still shit. Very frustrating, but I got the noise out of my mind and kept running.
• taking gatorade on the run: I don't typically drink water on my runs, but I know that's something I'm going to have to adapt. at one of the aid stations they offered Gatorade so I grabbed a red hitter and chugged half of it before throwing it into a trash can. The cheap side of my brain felt bad about it, but what was worse was the stabbing pain in my lower left stomach area that started. Maybe that's what they call cramps? Hurt like an MF, so I had to walk at several points and focusing on some in-movement stretching and deep breathing
• it takes a village to run an event, and you need people: I've been isolating myself in the world but I've seen again and again that you need to figure out how to work with and connect with people. So many of the runners knew each other, and the event had SO many volunteers, even for a short 5K race like this. aid stations, registration staff, cheerers-on, this is organizational discipline and structure at it's finest
• it was the fourth annual race - it takes TIME and ENERGY to build something great with people. but for this fourth annual race, most of the people were running it for the first time. so you never know, even if the first hosted race isn't popping, time will tell. I've felt that to become great, or to even approach greatness, takes at least ten years.

--

Kind of crazy but I went to my first running store since starting this journey. Won't say the name for now but the sales guy was nice and honest, had a lot in common. Funny how that works with salespeople...

Anyway, I came prepared with the sneakers I reccomend on this website, and without me telling him, he ended up steering me towards most of them. So it's either proof that I do have the best sneakers in the market or that marketing/sales influence goes real deep. Probably both. Anyway, kind of wild but I've been using the same running sneakers for the last four years, maybe more, which apparently is really bad. They work fine and have never slowed me down, but I have to say that when I picked up the sneakers he gave me, I was blown away by how LIGHT they were. Like, they feel cheap as hell to be honest, but they felt so LIGHT. And they had real chunky soles. I can see that I'm stuck around 11 minutes miles not just based on my physical ability but that I'm using outdated technology. I bought new sneakers, and hello that sounds like a new review to write for next month, but I want to keep both my old beaters and the new sneakers to compare and contrast. I still want a deal with Allbirds but for now, they'll be relegated to my trail running shoes and my training shoes. Tomorrow is a five mile run, maybe a little too far for a new pair of sneakers but let's see if I can really fly. But am I cheating my body by using these tools? I don't know...but I have to keep learning or adapting.

6/10/2025

Five-miler due today. Aiming for around lunchtime. While I work and wait for my stomach to settle after two bagels with cream cheese, I've entered the wonderful world of running shoe reviews. I thought watches were dangerous. Man there's a lot of options! Even though I went with the ASICS Gel Nimbus 27, that's what the salesman told me to get so I wanted to see what else is out there. From my own research on RunReport, it's looking like that was a great choice and should serve me for a long time. While avoiding my work I narrowed down my next sneaker options down to some other ASICS models:

• ASICS Glideride Max
• ASICS Novablast
• ASICS Magic Speed

I'll report back on how this five-miler feels and the results of these new shoes. It's exciting to enter new dimensions of the sport. I'm going to keep the Allbirds but it's fun to expand into a new world.

6/11/2025

Ran my my five-miler yesterday, which ended up turning into a 6.1 mile run because my watch died midway through and I just felt good so I kept going. Ran at the Massapequa Preserve here in Long Island: mostly shaded, paved path, was able to just relax and go for it with some Ski Mask The Slump God and Playboi Carti.

New shoes felt good, felt a little stiff at first but they warmed up and I was gliding along. I'm noticing that I do put more pressure on my left foot, so worked on trying to balance out my running form throughout the journey. Didn't even notice the miles adding up which was a good feeling, and I know I could've gone for 7 miles but I had things to do in the evening so turned back around and got back to the car. PR'd again which is great, so the results of this program are finally adding up at Week 7. What I've learned though is that I need to incorporate more strength training to give more power to my legs, more warmups to get the blood flowing earlier on to run faster, and working on my body mechanics so I'm taking longer strides. It's all coming together.

Got the race photos back from the 5K and I look hideous. My beard doesn't connect, my sport sunglasses look lame and my teeth look primal. But it's an opportunity to continue to refine my personal image and brand, so we'll try again. Ordered some Oakley Straight Jackets which I've been seeing on a ton of runners on Instagram so that's cool.

I'm not a cool person, I get that. I look kind of strange. But could my brand become cool? Could I create that post-punk, rebellious outfit of heroes and content? I think so. Just need to keep training and assemble my crew of heroes. I know you're out there.

6/13/2025

Got a 7-miler done yesterday. I'm getting faster and faster. Feels good. I mean honestly it felt tough towards the middle, felt light and airy towards the end, and when I finally ran back to the car and I was exhausted, ready to give it up for the day, I had another .20 miles to run when I checked Strava.

6/16/2025

Life got busy so I'm finishing up what I wrote about the 7 miler. It was tough but rewarding. The new shoes have been good so far. They have bottoms that are a little chunky so I was afraid of getting used to that, but so far so good. I need to listen to music less when I run though. At first it was good motivation but now I'm trying to get back on that monk flow, you know? Or at least I'll boil it down to just club beats when I run. I love Playboi Carti but it probably can't be healthy to listen to I AM MUSIC over and over again. Been loving some Kerri Chandler though, it's super clean house beats that feel good. Just got to dial in the pace a bit more.

Last thing - I've been running at the Massapequa Preserve in Long Island. I ran pretty close to sunset, so I did the last mile or so in dusk and MAN there were so many fireflies on the trail which cuts deep through nature. It was so beautiful, thousands of little flashing lights all over the place. It felt spiritual, it felt incredible. Felt like training for the future of being surrounded by cameras and tons of people. Performing under pressure and the friday night lights. Anywho - I don't have delusions of grandeur and what matters is the beauty of that moment. Didn't even bother pulling out the camera. It was magical just in that moment. I'm grateful.

Today is Week 8's first run.

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Finished my 3 miles, felt good. Flat, at Marine Park, nice and cool, PR'd again. Still haven't broken 30 minutes yet but I bet it's coming. I figured I'm going to treat the 5K Race Day on this training plan like a real run so I'm going back to Shirley Chisholm to beat my last time and hopefully get under 30 minutes. It won't be the same course and I'm sure it'll be crowded AF, but I'm going to crush it.

6/18/2025

2-miler today. Today's change: did 5 minutes of running drills, kind of casually, then a very gentle ten minute jog, then got into the work. Felt good to do this, got the blood pressure up and helped me get into the sweet spot of the run earlier on. I focused more on pushing with my glutes as well which helped me run faster. It's a weird little muscle movement to verbalize but I guess it's like pushing with my butt muscles with each step. Made it easier to get into that flowing run style. Remembering to drop my shoulders more and stay relaxed. Low and slow is the name of the game.

6/19/2025

60 minute Intermediate 1 Vinyasa Yoga session today. Man that was hard, but it felt so rewarding to push through. I feel like it's actually harder than Series 1 of Ashtanga Yoga because there's so many different poses and the pace is faster.

6/20/2025

Finished my last run of the Hal Higdon Intermediate 5K Training Plan - 8 Weeks! What a mouthful. This was supposed to be my 5K race date, but I did that last week so I tried to treat this like a race day. Chugged half of a Monster energy on my way to Marine Park. At the park I did a 10 minute warmup walk, 5 minutes of running drills and a ~10 minute light jog to get the blood flowing. Then got to work: kept my head up, breath nice and controlled, legs in good formation for 35 minutes. So proud of myself just for that. And I learned to increase speed when I needed to, ran in opposite directions to keep the legs balanced. Overall I feel proud of myself for getting through this and I'm grateful that I was able to. Secretly I hoped to get under 30 minutes for the 5K distance, but still ended up with a 10:30 pace on average. I was able to speed up towards the end but what I learned after finishing the run is that I needed to do that much more often throughout my runs. I don't need to sprint per se, but I need to get down and move aggresively then pull back and return to a smooth pace. That's the nex thing to work on: when to turn on the speed and dial it back without gassing out. So the great work continues. I'm going to take a couple days off and then restart this training plan AND work in an 8 week strength training plan. I need stronger legs and more nutrients. Back to the squats, big dog is getting that cake back. Yikes.

6/26/2025

A couple days off after finishing the training plan. Felt good to let my hair down and smoke a couple Js but at the same time I realized how much it took energy away from me. It's peace, that is for sure, but at the same time I can't live in that temporary peace forever. So I'm printing out my 5K Training Program and my Bodyweight Training Program and working on myself over the next 2 months. Let's see how much faster I can get! I'm aiming for a sub-30 minute 5K. Really amazing would be under 25 minutes but let's not be greedy or presumptuous.

I was able to give someone good advice IRL on running and yoga. It felt good to use my knowledge to help and even though I blabbed on for too long, I recognize that in some way, this is an important part of my journey. Hopefully they find joy and peace in the art of running and the discipline of yoga.

6/30/2025

Spent the last few days reconnecting with old friends. I've let a lot of time pass, and they've changed for the better. It's impressive and exciting to see where people's lives end up over time. I admire them. I appreciate them. I want to connect with them more. The statement "iron sharpens iron" made so much sense to me again when I spent time around my peers for the first time in years. They've surpassed me in many ways and that excites me. Cornball statement: I feel like Kiryu in the Yakuza series. I've spent my own few years in a self-imposed mental prison and I'm ashamed that I didn't appreciate them but I'm going to get cloer, bit by bit, in my own way. Forward.

This party sucks, taking an Uber home.

See ya for the next one.

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