What I'm remembering 2025 by
The first in a three part series where I talk about being on my feet. Come back each Friday in April for more.
Hi there,
It’s been a while since I’ve written a reflective piece. I wanted to break my usual recanting with something more enduring to me, and today we’re focusing in on my fitness habits, milestones, and what running means to me.
I considered penning and publishing this piece before the end of 2025, thereby joining the current Spotify driven trend of forgetting December when doing a yearly recap. I did not. I also considered publishing as a “forward looking piece” into Q1, stating my aspirations.
Clearly I didn’t do that.
So here it is now. This is a 3 part series - though the real question you should ask is if I will be publishing serially or interrupting it with other topics.
Enjoy.
Allen.
p.s. if it’s your first time reading this, or it’s been a while, hi, I’m Allen, and I will talk about what I’m up to in my life while also occasionally throwing something topical like “technology” and “policy” at you. I also will mask names or clearly blot out people in a photo if its not me.
What did I achieve in 2025?
I considered this question started answering it with travel destinations, fitness goals, and milestones. It felt meek. I found the extent of my thoughts to be meaningless as it devolved to “well I traveled to a snow place, a sandy place, a watery place, and a concrete place.”
So as a way to get a more proactive answer, I shifted the entire reflection:
What will I remember in 2025 by?
Travel Runs, Long Runs, and Social Runs!
I took up running in my travels, which is a great way to see a town, I pushed new limits in my long runs progressively building to a Marathon, and did a lot of social runs with friends at home, and abroad!
In 2025, I experienced the following fitness milestones:
I ran my first marathon! The Longest Runs I’ve done expressed in miles, first hitting 15, then 20, then 26.2. This culminated in two Marathon Distance Runs, one of which was the Long Beach Marathon race with a PR of 4 hours and 27 minutes; the other was in my backyard relatively speaking. I did consider ending 2025 with a 33 miler (50k Ultra), but that got sidelined with…
One Hyrox Open Doubles Men Race. I signed up for one since my gym had early access codes and it turns out I’m a sucker for early access. I didn’t know what I was getting into and it took me a while to realize that it’s a set routine you for the race.
Sometime during the summer, I contemplated triathlons. I even did one simulated sprint triathlon set at the gym, an alternate but equal time commitment from doing a half marathon. But I can’t swim so this was just me back-stroking it.
Back to back long-runs, which gives the first exposure to running on fatigued legs. I did a 10 mile one day and a 15 miler next day, and I would then proceed to stack 1 hour HIIT workouts before each long run as well. The body can be amazing, if you allow it to be.
It was out of the runnings in 2024.
I recall in 2024 telling my wife that a marathon was out of the question because it seemed dull. I had hesitation with committing to a training plan that when measured in hours, could lead to mental barriers and burn out. Striving to complete a marathon is not easy, and I learned that the jump from half marathon to full marathon is of greater intensity than 5k to half marathon.
Here I am thinking it would be incremental, and it was not, not in the slightest.
The reality is I was not motivated to do a marathon. Which translates to, I didn’t think I could do a marathon because I didn’t think I could commit myself to the process of training for a marathon. Which means there was something missing in my current regime that would give me the physical confidence that I could do it. Would I even enjoy it?
It’s quite a process and it’s a lot easier if you have a process. I didn’t have one.
I am thankful of friends who decided to commit themselves to running their first 5k, half marathon, and marathon, and for the run clubs they have found. Through it, I found process. Different processes actually - one could say, routines and subroutines. It helped build motivation for long distance running and making it to race day. I’m now at a state where I can go a casual 12 miles and call it a no-brainer.
Impulsively committing to Hyrox
As with any great decision making, I impulsively said yes to Hyrox with a friend. On luck, my gym offered an early access registration for Hyrox, while I was actively training for a marathon. Not my best move there as a first timer.
A Hyrox is a competitive race that famously ends with 100 weighted wall ball squats. The kicker? You race on 7 functional strength stations, spaced by 1 kilometer (0.62 miles) of running in between before I get to the wall ball.
Imagine 1 km run (0.62 miles), then 1 strength test, then another km run, then another strength test, committed to a specific order, competing in a large convention center with other fellow Americans and Europeans who did too much cross-fit and realized they needed to run.
There is an advantage for those that do run long distance as it turns out. After the running piece, a lot of the “stations” for Hyrox are technique driven.
Shoutout to J and A, and all the folks who showed up day of to cheer.
Juggling two plans
It was difficult to adapt two training plans for both a marathon and a Hyrox, and yet, I do think it’s worth it for any runner to do it. I would literally do a Hyrox workout Saturday morning before doing a long run, which put time on my feet to be 3 to 4 hours each Saturday.
Though difficult, it was a “smarter” idea to weave in Hyrox. It has a huge emphasis on functional fitness, which is to say, it focuses on core mobility muscles you need to support an active life.
I am thankful my gym offers training for it and became a source of consistency for me though admittedly I was pretty burnt out three weeks before the Hyrox race. It’s the same energy as prepping for a big show or conference and at some point, before excitement kicks in, you just want to reluctantly do it and get it to pass.
Thankful for both doubles partners I had leading in, and competing on, race day as well as the friends that supported me that weekend.
Injuries
On the road to increase mileage and pacing, I found myself injuring myself significantly more. At first in the early summer, I noticed my fatigued lasting longer after 2 hours of exertion, requiring more general recovery before committing again. I then noticed it when I did track-Tuesday sets (faster pace training) that my knees or ankles or calfs or hips would sprain, which would force me to reduce my running volume.
Turns out, I have poor strength foundation, so I hired a trainer for that. Thankful I did, should have done it earlier.
Bonus.
I went scuba diving for the first time!
The Stats
Compared to 2024, I doubled my total mileage, going from 409 miles to 856 miles. According to Strava, thats 32 marathons worth of mileage.
The first months of 2025 I actually had a 30-40 mile per month average, and the last 4 months of 2025, I had a 90+ mile average.
The most important is that I committed 279 hours to general fitness, of which 144 hours were spent running. I equate that to 144 hours of mostly mental wellness.
In 2026, there are plans to see what a 50k (33 miles) would be like, and a 50M (50 miles) would be like.
This is what I’m remembering 2025 by.
