This is the thirty-first edition of The Duluth Runner Interview Series, where I get in touch with (mainly) local runners and athletes to share a bit of their story while inspiring others to pursue an active lifestyle.
Intro
Today’s guest is a graduate from both UW-Madison (undergrad) and Michigan Tech (graduate), where he eventually fell in love running. He is passionate about promoting the importance of getting people engaged with their communities and exploring new ones.
So much so that he does it for a living – where he sees that running is such an important aspect of being part of a community. He gets to engage with people in his role as Fit Specialist and Social Media Relations with Tortoise and Hare…today’s guest is Sun Nguyen!
Interview
Why is running important to you?
Running has been the gateway to a healthier lifestyle, both physically and mentally.
It wasn’t until the summer before I left for college—about ten years ago—that I started running. Before that, I was about 50 pounds heavier than I am now and didn’t run or play any sport. I lost all of those 50 pounds during that summer and it was quite the transition. I went to college a whole different person, and ever since then running has been the key form of exercise to stay physically healthy.
I wouldn’t have been able to lose all that weight in three months if I didn’t enjoy it either. It didn’t take long for me to love running not just because of the physical benefits, but because of the mental ones, too. Running became the best way for me to de-stress and think about, well, everything.
What are the top two or three things that you do to prevent injury? Have you been susceptible to certain injuries in the past?
Stretching and foam rolling are key for me as well as performing isolated exercises on weaker areas of my body. I’ve experienced almost no muscle-related injuries since I’ve increased my strength training, stretching, and foam rolling. However, when I do feel like an injury is coming on, I force myself to stop running until whatever it is feels completely better.
Unfortunately, all of that stretching and strengthening hasn’t stopped me from spraining my ankle several times on each foot. I’ve had surgery on my left ankle and almost on my right because of some feared nerve damage. It has sucked to be out for several weeks because of a sprain or surgery, but all I can do is rehab those ankles and continue to strengthen them.
Ever since these injuries, I’m acutely aware of how my body is feeling. If my ankles hurt or my joints and muscles hurt in a certain way, I won’t force myself to run and get injured.
What keeps you motivated when you don’t feel like heading out the door for a workout?
Two things keep me motivated.
Most importantly, I always think about that goal race that everyone has—the Boston Marathon. I’d love to do it, but I’d even just love to qualify for it. I’ve gotten so close in the past and I’m so competitive that it helps drive me out the door!
Second, I always tell myself on those hard days how much worse next week’s training runs will be or how awful my race will be if I skip a particular set of runs. Even if I run slower than I normally would on those hard days, at least I did it.
Who is in your running support group (training partners, people to bounce ideas off of, etc.)?
I don’t have any training partners physically with me in Duluth, but I have a handful of people I talk with or virtually train with in Washington, the Twin Cities, and elsewhere.
One person that I talk with most often about training, running, races, etc. is my friend Carolyn. She loves running as much as I do, and she inspires me/convinces me/gives me FOMO to do the crazy running events that I wouldn’t normally consider. I thought I’d never want to do a Ragnar race, but seeing her and her team’s excitement for it made me want to do it! We were supposed to do a Ragnar together mid-May, but, rightfully, it was canceled.
It seems like we are always nudging each other to sign up for a race or buy that piece of running gear. She told me she was signing up for the Twin Cities Marathon for this October and, not wanting to miss out, I signed up too with little hesitation. And just the other day I told her to absolutely run the virtual Red White and Boom half marathon in the Cities. It might not be great for the wallet at times, but I (we?) love to pay for those awesome running experiences.
Carolyn and I also talk a lot about shoes and injuries, which I love to nerd out on. We might not always be the most knowledgeable on a certain subject, but it’s good to have a person like that to talk to before going anywhere else. Recently, we’ve been talking about the impact of COVID-19 on all of our planned races. She’s a little more optimistic than I am about fall races. But only a little.
When/what is your next race?
Well, I had/have four races lined up for 2020.
First was the Ragnar Great Midwest on May 15-16 where a group of twelve of us would run a relay from Chicago to Madison—that’s the race Carolyn inspired me/gave me FOMO to do. This race got canceled, but we have free entry to the same race in 2021.
Coming up is the virtual Grandma’s Marathon, where I’ll do the Great Grandma’s Challenge. I plan to run the 5k and marathon the same weekend that Grandma’s normally is in June.
Third, I’m tentatively doing the Ely half marathon. I haven’t signed up yet because I want to see how things go this summer.
Finally, I’m signed up for the Twin Cities Marathon in October. This race is still on, but I feel it will be canceled or go virtual. If it goes virtual or is canceled, I won’t be mad at all, because making those tough decisions early to cancel races for the health of runners, volunteers, spectators, and others is the right thing to do.
Do you prefer roads or trails, and why?
I love trails, but I exclusively run road. Trails are fun, but after my ankle injuries they are too weak to run on that type of uneven terrain. It sucks, but I love running on the roads, especially in Duluth where it’s so scenic.
What do you think about while you run?
It depends on the day. I listen to podcasts a lot and, for better or worse, I think about politics very frequently. You’d think that would stress me out, but it doesn’t. If I can run and educate myself, it’s as a win-win.
There are other times, too, where if I am struggling physically during a training run, I spend at least a mile to think about who and what I’m thankful for. Doing that as well as thinking about reaching my goals helps me get over those mental and physical hurdles.
What is your most memorable race or running achievement?
Definitely running my first marathon about 8 or 9 years ago. Before that, I had only run the Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon once. The year when I ran my first full marathon, I had originally signed up for the half when it was still a lottery conducted in February (I think).
I didn’t get into the half, so I said, “screw it” and signed up for the full. For someone as inexperienced as me in running, making that decision in February and successfully running a marathon in June is something I’ll always remember and be so proud of.
Name one racing experience you would like to forget (please describe).
I ran a trail race in November 2016 (I won’t say which one), and the course was basically a single-track path, down and back 5k race. There were likely more walkers than runners, and walkers were instructed to move out of the way for the runners. Well, that was not the case.
I moved out of the way of a walker going the opposite direction as me and I missed a root in the ground and rolled my ankle so badly that I ended up having surgery. I had to hobble over a mile to get back to the Start/Finish line. The silver lining, I somehow still got third in that race.
I don’t give all the blame to the walker that didn’t move—I should’ve seen the root—but I’m still pretty angry at them.
When I sprained my ankle, I thought it would heal after a couple of months, but it didn’t, and I ended up having that ankle surgery in February 2017. For almost all of 2017, all I could do was swim without kicking. Along with my weak ankles, I have some PTSD about running on an unpaved trail.
What is something non-running related you would like to share with readers?
I’m an avid reader. Both fiction and non-fiction. Fiction is such a great way to, in a way, escape from reality for a little bit. The non-fiction books are great to learn about different parts of the world or how different people act and think.
Books—both fiction and non-fiction—are enlightening, and having those different perspectives/knowledge about who people were, are, and can be…how the world works and can work, is such a motivating factor in what I do, what I strive for, and how I see the world and others.
Books and graphic novels like Check, Please, All the Light We Cannot See, Becoming, Over The Top, Imagine Me Gone, Dune, and Crazy Rich Asians are some of my favorite books that I have read in the last few years. They all tell great stories that explore race, politics, history, mental illness, queerness, and so much more!
Closing
Many thanks to Sun for agreeing to stop by The Duluth Runner and share some of his knowledge/experiences with everyone. I hope you enjoyed this edition of the Interview Series – stick around for more to come!