North Brooklyn Runners: A Community Running Group Serving Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Bushwick, and Beyond!

NBR MEMBER PROFILES – Jennifer Daniels

NBR Profile No. 2

Rodrigo Toscano talks with JENNIFER DANIELS

Jennifer Daniels first received an NBR email on January 19th, 2009. She has since co-lead the Thursday night speed work with Linda Daniels (her twin sister). Jen competitively runs anything from the one miler to marathons. She prefers to run in the deep cold of winter. She lived in North Williamsburg for a couple years, and has now caught a tailwind and softly and deftly landed in East Williamsburg. Jen has placed 8 times in the top ten of her age group, three of those races in the top three. She was also the 2010 Greenpoint 5k women’s 1st place runner.

RT: Jen, since I’ve known you, you’ve made some impressive strides in your running paces. Of course, this is in large part due to intense and steady training, but also I think some key psychological adjustments along the way. What are they?

JD: My perspective on running has changed quite a bit since I started running in NY last year. Initially, I ran because I knew I could handle it, and was curious as to how far I could go. I had never raced further than 5k in high school, and my first race since then was double that distance. After that, it was a half-marathon. As I increased my distance and mileage, I realized that I was hurting less and running became very simple.

After a few months of pushing myself as an endurance runner, I focused on my speed and my quality of running. This resulted in me becoming a more efficient runner. For several months now, I feel that I have a decent understanding of myself as a runner. I appreciate many facets of running, and try my best to embrace all of them. I love the speed, the uncontrollable adrenaline, the right-off-the-line competition, the mental balance-act, the company, the uncertainty of how long a long run will actually turn out to be. If I can’t find enjoyment in that, then I will stop all this.

RT: I totally hear you, about enjoying the whole process from beginning to end. There’s a stress & reward cycle that we freely submit ourselves to. It’s rather hard to explain it to people who look at running as pure sacrifice and agony. But right smack in the middle of a hard race, how do you bear through so much anaerobic “agony”, where every single stride requires maximum mental and cardiovascular focus?

JD: I think this is where the enjoyment of running kicks in. I have tried mental tricks before – speeding up to pass other runners or trying to calculate formulas for predicting my split times – but these can’t really get me through 13 miles. Ultimately, I have to put my mind right above any idea of being tired, slowing down or wanting to quit…there is a lot of mental clarity once I am at that place. Adrenaline is real, I am unsure about “runner’s high”, but I can believe that there is something really close to that. During a race, I focus on doing better than the last race, running harder because I am capable – and to believe that is the challenge. Everything else – breathing, strides, form, falls into place. Before, I wouldn’t give my mind enough credit for physical achievements. That is a big mistake.

RT: Indeed. One can spend years tripping oneself out with “waiting” for the body to bonk during a race. Like an attitude of reserving some special something that never comes. In some spheres of life that makes perfect sense to be like that. You know, like, when you’re coming down with a fever, you don’t go out all night and wear yourself out. But during a race, it’s like stepping into a fever, you push yourself into crazy heart rates, you make the breathing become strained toward the end. So, in racing, having this “mind over body” attitude seems indispensable. I’d even go so far to say that it’s an engagement and redirecting of the “death drive” that Freud spoke out, into the realms of the “pleasure principal.” Extreme sex can be like that, so can religious ecstasy, and of course, hardcore drinkin’ n’ druggin’. Anyway…so…what’s the worst run you’ve had in the last year, either in terms of how you felt during it, or after it?

JD: I love thinking about running as the extreme sport you play it out to be. It is a challenge of the mind and the body, really. I always, always start out way too fast. This is because I am working my body while it is fresh, and setting it up for my mind to take me home. So to me, my worst run doesn’t necessarily correspond to my worst time, but rather to how I felt mentally and physically. In the end, if I don’t feel exhausted to the state of pain in both categories, I didn’t run a good race. You can feel good while being in pain, which is what I think you are referring to…. So to answer the question, there have been only two races where I have been somewhat disappointed by my performance – this year’s Healthy Kidney 10k, where I PR’ed, and the Run for the Parks 4 miler. The 10k because I ran completely even splits for every one of those 6 miles. I finished physically tired, but felt I had a lot more left. I could have pushed harder, if even to gain 1 second in one mile just to lose it in another. I missed an opportunity. The 4 mile because I ran as anticipated – physically hard at first, with the hope that my mental focus can finish it off. After running the first mile much faster than anticipated, I just couldn’t figure out how to run the rest of the race, leaving me frustrated and exhausted in all accounts. Running is not supposed to be that for me – it was very disheartening.

RT: When you fantasize about running at moments throughout your busy day (all serious runners do!), what do you daydream about?

JD: I dream of straightaways, mostly. They are very meditative for me, and I can picture them going on forever. I can never define running in a specific place…usually just a street with some patchy shade. Sometimes I replay races in my mind, but that can get too stressful. Or I try to calculate my anticipated mileage for the week, but that gets stressful too. Most of the time, I have to try to keep from thinking about upcoming races…it just makes me too anxious, and I don’t need that.

RT: Straightaways…yeah, I think about those too sometimes, that, for a moment, in a sort of waking dream-state, imagining being in a place where there’s no twists and turns, no ups and downs. So in this, let’s say, “never-ending”, “utopic” moment, are you running towards something, away from something, or neither? How does it feel for you, imagining that run?

JD: I usually feel like I am running toward something – there isn’t necessarily an “end”, but I am never just running in place. Sometimes it’s about the breathing, or about keeping completely straight and aligned, or just the feeling of running without having to physically be doing it. I think I do this so I can train myself to “feel” a certain way, with the hope to conjure that same feeling while I’m running, especially during races. I suppose running is my form of meditation. But no matter how much I focus, my mind usually drifts. I think that’s the biggest challenge for me…keeping focused when I want to. Sometimes it’s okay to drift. It lets time go by. But I like to be intentional in my running.

RT: This over-agitation of the mind can be a real race killer for sure. And even in workouts, it can really take over. One of the reasons why I strive for mind-focused workouts myself is so that I can remain “in place” somewhere for some amount of time without lapsing into what I call “elsewhere-ing.” I honestly think that in our time, what with all the Social Media that many engage in – and all the pokin’-n-strokin’ going on, that it’s the hardest thing to do, that is, to straight up do-what-we’re-doing-as-we’re-doing-it. And running seems to be a great way to check that always-elsewhere mindset.

And runners are crazy ass speculators to be sure. And I think at the end of the day, all questions and answers about running seem to be as open as ever. We listen, we consider, and ultimately filter wisdom, advice, and hunches by other runners. But! Jen! Drug us. Is there any specific advice you’ve applied from others that’s worked well for you? And is there anything kind of new that you’ve discovered for yourself that you’d like to pass on?

JD: Well, for one, it was reassuring to hear a teammate talk about his racing strategy of going all out from the start with little thought on how you will feel at the final stretch, because that’s how I like to run. It is complete madness, but standard advice is too easily forgotten. For sure, there’s a lot of very talented runners on this team, and a lot also turn out to know a thing or two about the science and theory of the sport. Mostly, I like the nonsensical advice, like how not stopping at a fluid station during a race unless it is over 10 miles is okay, because it makes me really think about what will work for me as a runner. And also it takes real time to keep up with the latest running trends and techniques, time I often don’t have; I suppose I make sure I give myself time to run, and that’s really about it. But when I do have time, I enjoy hearing about human evolution from the ancient hunter to modern day recreational runner, on how running in Vibrams changes your life, how certain miracle drink recipes can revive you after a 20 mile run…all that stuff. But in the end, I just know I am my own breed of runner.

RT: Breeds – all kinds. Yes. Like, when watching the upcoming ING marathon, it’s so moving to see every body letting it all hang out – each in their own funky rhythm – in their own time – which isn’t much, if not shared between people. “It all came down to this” races seem to say, and though it’s ultimately not “true”, we wish it so much – it works! We’re still cave painting. Jen, I wish you the best of luck in that race.

JD: Thanks, Rodrigo!

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