It is Wednesday, my dudes. And that means it's time to learn a little more about one of our community members. Today we're learning about /u/mortifyinq.

How/when did you start running?

Winter of 2011, freshman year of high school. There's an annual race held in my town that takes us down to the Ohio River, by all of the lights, and then back up the hills to the start that my family decided to do when we first moved. I had no real running experience, except for playing fall soccer from preschool to 8th grade, at that point and lasted about a half mile of running with my dad. After that my mom was sick of me sitting around the house playing video games all day and told me to either join the track team, take the bus home after school, or sit at school until 5:20 (when track would end) and she would come pick me up. I hated taking the bus so I joined the track team.

What are your PRs?

Mile - 5:15, 2 Mile - 11:26, 5k - 18:26

Favorite shoes to train or race in?

I've only ever ran in the Saucony Omni. It's what they put me in when I first got running shoes my freshman year of high school and it's what they've been putting me in for six years. If it's not broken, why fix it? For racing I still wear the Omni, in HS I wore the Nike Victory XC's for meets. I've been looking into getting some flats for road racing though.

What's your next race?

My next big race is the Kentucky Derby miniMarathon in late April. I'll probably end up running the Louisville Triple Crown races leading up to it as well.

What are your goals this year?

For 2017 I wanted to hit a sub-5 mile and a sub-19 5k, the 5k happened but the mile only got to my current PR. So for 2018 I definitely want to go sub-5, but I also want to try for a sub-17:30 5k and start getting into 10k's.

Proudest running accomplishment?

That's tough. Probably either my 5k PR because I didn't really have any expectations for it and kind of just ran without thinking about splits, or coaching my senior year. Our distance coach ended up resigning in February and the other coaches came to me, since I was coming back off injury (and was highly critical of their coaching in the past), to take his place. We ended up sending both of our 4x8 teams to state and an individual in the girls 3200m. Got a freshman to a sub 4:40 mile and a 2:04 800m and another kid to a 2:04 as well. Pretty awesome season and opportunity.

What do you do outside of running?

I'm an Electrical Engineering major, so not a whole lot. I do a decent amount of gaming and like to come up with projects I'll probably never do as well. I'm also coaching a couple of boys I met on my last trip to Ethiopia and help them out with whatever I can (clothes, shoes, travel expenses/meet entry, etc.). I'm very casually teaching myself German for fun and trying to learn Amharic so that talking with the kids I coach will be easier, and long term I'd like to set up a track club over there so knowing the native tongue would be extremely helpful. But I do everything I can state side for some of the groups and people I've met in Ethiopia, I'm actually going on my third trip there in late December.

What other hobbies/interests do you have?

I really enjoy cooking (please don't tell my mom), I worked in a local pizza shop the summer after my senior year which I feel definitely helped spur that interest. I also play guitar and taught myself how to play the piano, my interest is more on the piano right now though.

Favorite subreddits?

/r/whatswrongwithyourdog is a current favorite, /r/childrenfallingover, /r/Patriots, /r/diy (and /r/diwhy as well), and /r/buildapc probably top out my favorites for the moment.

Origin of your username?

Gamertag from freshman year of high school turned universal username. I'd like to change it but I've had it for 5 years now and it's too much a part of me.

Strava link if you use it?

Strava

1 - Do you have any favorite running plans/philosophies outside of the normal? We tout Pfitz and JD as godsends but who is your guilty pleasure or someone's whose ideals about running align with your own?

2 - Did you pick up any sweet black Friday or cyber Monday deals?

3 - Have you ever considered coaching others?

4 - Are you approaching a mileage goal for the year?

5 - Anything else you'd like to add?