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Brandon's Blog: You Have To Start Somewhere Posted on January 09, 2014

Hello, I’m Brandon Chac, I am a senior at Francis Howell North high school and it excites me to announce I am a new intern at More Miles More Smiles! My running story goes a little like this: I have been running since I was in 7^th grade, I started when my middle school started a Cross Country team. I absolutely hated running at the time, I was a big time baseball and basketball player and anytime we had to run I was always the slowest and dreaded having to run during practice. The only reason I joined cross country was because the coach was one of my best friend’s mom so I joined for the social aspect of the team with all my friends. My first year I was dreadfully bad, I remember faking injuries or hiding behind trees to avoid having to run at practice, I know it sounds ridiculous, but it’s true. In middle school we ran a 2 mile race. I posted up a 20:56 as my first ever race. You wouldn’t think that after hiding from coach, faking injuries and running times like I did I would ever want to continue to run again and there was no way I would ever develop a passion for it, yet something sparked in me.

 One of my good friends ran high school cross country and he invited me to come watch one of his races. So the next Saturday I found myself up at Forest Park to watch him run at sectionals. While at the meet I watched a runner from the high school I would be attending in 2 years win the meet by flying colors, no push. It was simply incredible. Immediately something sparked, I wanted to be like him. After that the running nut took over in me. I started to  run on my own, train harder and harder, and even run when we didn’t have practice, the best part was I fell in love with it. I felt it was a part of me.

  Fast forward 5 years now and the running nut has just grown more and more. My times have drastically improved, by no means am I any super star runner now, but I’m happy with where I am at. I’ve been blessed to run at the state meet for cross country and I am on my way to run, next year, at the University of Central Missouri. Never would I have thought I would be running in college growing up, yet here I am. I always tell people it doesn’t matter if you are out there running 1 mile a day or running 100 mile weeks, as long as you’re off the couch and out there getting better, then you have won the battle. If you are laced up, out the door, then you are a runner and you shouldn’t let anyone tell you differently. I’m very excited to intern for More Miles More Smiles, I hope to inspire the running community. Keep tuned to More Miles More Smiles for more of my blogs to come and let me know if there is anything I can do to help you grow as a runner! Happy running!

*Brandon is an intern for the More Miles More Smiles Team!*