Episode 89: I Accidentally Ran My First Half Marathon

Today wasn't supposed to be a half marathon.

I woke up planning to run five miles. Five turned into eight. Eight turned into ten. Before I knew it, I was staring down 13.1 miles and asking myself one simple question...

"Why not?"

In this episode, I share what was going through my mind during the run, the moment my knees started fighting back, and why finishing wasn't the biggest accomplishment of the day.

This isn't really a story about running. It's about becoming someone you never thought you'd become—one small decision at a time.

If you've ever felt like a big goal was out of reach, I hope this episode reminds you that it usually starts with taking just one more step.

Follow the show for weekly episodes documenting my journey toward financial freedom, personal growth, real estate investing, and everything I'm learning along the way.

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 @rickyricardoshow

About the show:
The Ricky Ricardo Show documents the real journey of building financial freedom through leverage, better decision-making, and real-world lessons — in real time.
Real estate is the current vehicle, but the principles apply far beyond it.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

What's going on, everybody, and welcome back to the Ricky Ricardo Show. I wasn't going to talk about running today, or I didn't plan on it, but this morning I completed my first ever half marathon, 13.1 miles, and I'm pretty proud of myself. It's such a such an accomplishment. Um, it's exciting. I've uh been running for some time now, actually, the last several months. I did a 40 for 40 mile challenge before turning 40, and I gave myself 52 days to accomplish that feat. And knowing that I just knocked out 13 in a single day, a single morning, that's huge. I'm excited. I love it. It's it's uh it's nice. It is, if I'm being completely honest. I can't believe I just did that. Because, like I said, if you followed me for a little bit now on Instagram, on social media at Ricky Ricardo Show, you know I've been posting about running and it's been cool. It's a new hobby, it's a new challenge, it's it's a lot of things that that goes into it that really helps me embody a mindset to continue to grow and continue to push forward. If you've known me for years or for a while, if you haven't known me, uh I was at one point pushing 280 pounds plus. I stopped stepping on the scale, but I'm pretty sure I hit 300 pounds. Then there was a point where I was just trying to run to see if I could run a full mile without stopping. Um, then I've done 5K's and I got pretty used to doing those recently. And I randomly did a 10-mile run on Father's Day uh just to push myself because I'm proud to be a father. Uh, and then recently I've just been trying to get faster. Um, I ran my fastest mile in six minutes and 30 seconds, which is pretty cool. And I'm just dropping a bunch of times to you, but this is how how excited I am to run. Honestly, I just never realized I'd run a half marathon. It wasn't in a race, you know, I didn't sign up and wear a number and do all that stuff. I actually woke up thinking I was gonna run five miles or planning to run five miles. And when I got there, I was like, I feel good. Why not? Why not continue? Let's get to eight. When I got to eight, let's get to ten. And then at 10, I'm like, I'm only a 5k away. I'm you know, almost done with this. Let's get to a half marathon. And that's exactly what happened. Uh, we're going to get in certain situations where we have to push ourselves to try and go further and try and succeed and hit some accomplishments. And, you know, that's what happened. The first few miles felt really easy. Uh, I settled into a rhythm and I wasn't paying attention to pace anymore. I do have a running watch, a Garmin watch, that I think really helps. So it's hard to not look at that thing. But in today's run, um, I was doing my best to not take a peek. I was just running. I was just enjoying the grit, the pursuit of accomplishing something, like I said, that I never thought I would do. And around mile 10, this is where it gets interesting. I took a beating on my knees. It started to hurt. So I was like, do I quit or do I keep pushing through? I mean, they weren't screaming, they weren't in full pain. So I know some of you guys are like, well, then why didn't you stop? This could be an injury. But they were just letting me know, like, hey, it's it's go time. Like, are you gonna continue or not? And if we continue, you know, you're gonna have to fight through this a little bit. I noticed my form started to fall apart. I was getting tired. I was constantly trying to fix it because I know fatigue was settling in. And, you know, I don't I didn't have the best time. I ran about a 10-minute pace. Uh, but like I said, when I first started, I jumped out the gate running five, and you know, I did that at a decent pace, not knowing I was gonna try and add eight more miles. But every time I fell and every time I felt it was getting hard, I wasn't getting tired. But now we're in the stretch, so I had to shorten my stride, um, I had to stand taller, land differently, I had to cater to some soreness and fix my form. Um, almost every time that I I didn't have correct form, my knees, you know, got sore, and so I had to keep fixing and reminding myself that hey, you're good, you're fine, you're okay. My breathing was okay. Uh, but mentally and physically, my body was exhausted. Um, and it just kept happening over and over. And then I looked down. I meant 12 miles, I meant 12 and a half miles, then 13, and then I'm like, well, I'm almost there. 13.1. What's funny is I wasn't excited because I ran 13.1 miles. I was excited because I realized I'm becoming someone I never thought I'd become. And that is the fun, the exciting part. That's the hard part. Uh, we talk about becoming different. We talk about being the Swiss Army knife to navigate through life and to navigate through things. And I'm in the pursuit of financial freedom. This comes along with that. The thought process, the grit, the tried, and the method to get there. Uh, you can, you know, compare this to a lot of things that I'm actually trying to do. I weighed a lot before, you know. I I've again over 280 pounds. Uh running wasn't part of my life. I didn't grow up that way. You know, I was pretty athletic, so I hit a point in my life where you know it got pretty dark and and unhealthy, but it is what it is. Um, but running, honestly, I hated it. Back then, if if you asked me to run 13 miles or half marathon, I would tell you you're crazy. You're tripping. There's no way. You know, I love to play basketball. Like I said, I'm into sports. Uh, I've been doing that my entire life growing up, but then, you know, when I was in my 20s, it was it was pretty brutal. It got pretty unhealthy, you know, partied a lot, drank a lot, did all that stuff. But it is what it is. That's that's part of life. We got to change and evolve and and see where we go from here. Um, but that's why this matters, because not because of the distance, but because I think I can apply this to almost everything that I'm going through. The person you become usually shows up before the results, and then you become the person who wakes up early. And then the person keeps promising to themselves to actually go and do it, and then the person keeps trying when they're uncomfortable. Like these are all characteristics, these are things that we strive to obtain. And then eventually, guess what? Or I'm hoping so. The results catch up, the results will catch up, and that's kind of how my real estate happened, right? I I I went out for a slow run, I went out for a walk, a jog, and I went through a sprint and got to the end, and I got through a headache, I got through some troubled issues with my flip, and I made a decent payday, made a decent paycheck. And you know, it's it's similar to pushing through. You're already started, so just keep going. Um, not here to talk to you guys about, you know, being a fitness guru or anything like that or a running coach, none of that. But I'm just trying to apply life and how I'm a regular guy trying to obtain some kind of financial freedoms, um, you know, and just doing things that help me to get better. I work a lot, um, I'm a father, and you know, where is the time to do certain activities? Well, you have to find it. Where's the time to learn, educate, and to find deals and do certain things? You have to find it. No one said it's gonna be easy. If it was easy, everybody would do it. If you're listening to this and you're trying to lose weight, um buy your first home, buy your first rental, build a business, whatever it is that you're trying to do, get out of debt, or chase any goal, you don't have to become that person today. How about that? It doesn't all happen overnight. You just have to make one decision that the future you would make. But a year from now, you might surprise yourself. And if a year from now it actually works out for you, tell me this episode helped you. I'll catch you on the next episode. You guys are awesome. Enjoy your Monday, enjoy the rest of your week, and let's continue to grow and be the best version of ourselves for ourselves. So thank you so much. Have a good week. Take care, guys. Bye bye.