Runner’s World+ Member: Jonathan Keisler
Jonathan is a Runner’s World+ member. Join him and thousands of others chasing their goals with day-by-day training plans, expert advice from editors and coaches, and unlimited digital access. We regularly feature members online and in print!
I used to struggle with my emotions more. I’d bottle things up and let it affect me in negative ways. Running gives me an outlet to sort of press the reset button. I take all the worry, all the frustration, sadness, anger, love, and all the stuff in between and pour it into my daily run. Running is my therapy (with fitness side effects).
Community. Runners are really supportive of one another in good times and bad. While it is an inherently solo sport, it is hardly a solo journey. You start to crave more interaction and insights from it. That’s what I get from RW+.
I started running for physical fitness, but I quickly realized I had an improved mood and that I slept much better. Now I do it because I love the routine and accountability. As of today, I have run at least a mile for the last 309 days straight. For the last three months I’ve averaged 40 miles a week. It all started with a RW+ article challenging me to run everyday from Memorial Day to July 4th in 2019. I’m still going. It’ll be one year on May 25th. The coolest part is that now my daughter (age 8) wants to be a runner. She’s my cool down buddy now. She ran her first fun run a couple months back.
My “home court” is the Wadsworth Trail near my home on the Westside of Spartanburg, SC. However, I have run a lot of cool places in the past year. I’ve run under live oak strewn with Spanish moss on Kiawah Island, the beautiful 3.5 miles beach at Pawleys Island, along the banks of the Mississippi River, down Bourbon Street, the Bahamas, and on the deck of a Disney Cruise ship (to keep the run streak alive on a sea day). My most nostalgic run ever was when I returned to my hometown and ran around (and through) my old high school. Probably my favorite of all is going home to my parents’ family farm and hitting the cow paths and two rut roads for a long run across pastures and hay fields. It doesn’t get much better than that right there. All told, I’ve seen countless sunrises and sunsets. I’ve also had some encounters with wildlife like deer, bobcats, rabbits, dolphins, some reptiles, and I have been chased by a bull—I set a PR that day!
Gear I love: My Hoka One One Arahis and my Garmin Fénix 6 is my trusted friend on this journey.
Obsession: A subscription to Audible. I “read” 52 books last year while running.
I do some pretty decent impersonations, like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Christopher Walken, and a lot of political figures. I’ll roll them out while teaching business and economics in lecture to keep the class on its toes (and awake), but I love pulling them out at random during a trail run or at a race. I truly believe in Eliud Kipchoge’s philosophy of smiling through the pain. A well placed joke is excellent fuel for everyone.
I want to run every day for 365 days and run 2,020 miles in 2020. My weekly goal is 40 miles. Everything else is just gravy!
So far my legs have felt great. On “rest days” I just don’t go out as hard or as far. But I love mixing it up every now and then just to see where I’m at physically. I’m definitely getting faster.
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