May Runner of the Month: Becca Ades
Becca joined NBR in 2009 at the inception of North Brooklyn Runners as a club. “I had run at a D3 school and was looking for a way to get back into running.” She thinks she saw a flyer on the street, but regardless of how she got here, she has been an important member of the NBR community. Becca led TNT for 4 years pre-pandemic, currently leads the Saturday Local Competitive long run, is one of our Women’s Local Competitive captains, and was the president of our club from 2020-2021 (WOW!).
If you can take one thing away, Becca wants you to know that NBR is a special place led by dedicated who show up week in and week out. “I’m not sure everyone realizes how easy it is to get involved or bring positive change to the club. Really anything that you’d like to see happen as a member is just waiting for someone to take ownership of the rollout.”
How did you initially get into running?
My junior year of high school I didn’t think I’d get much playing time on the varsity soccer team so I opted for cross country instead. Everyone gets put in there.
What is your favorite race distance?
My favorite distance is the 5k. I love that you have to bet on yourself right from the gun…every second counts and you have to time it just right. Too fast and the lactic acid will take you down in that last mile, too slow and you’ve already lost. I think a lot of people look at the marathon as this delicate balance and often overlook the intricacies that happen in the shorter distances that require just as much dedication and planning to get them right.
Best running memory?
Too many to count. I will say I’m really excited about being a runner in my late thirties with the current trends in American distance running. It’s incredible to see Kiera D’Amato and Sarah Hall breaking American records and showing no signs of slowing down. Switching gears a bit, on a more local level, the support I’ve seen in the NBR parent community is truly unmatched. All the NBR mom’s reach out and offer support. It’s been inspiring to have Marie and Taeya to look up to in the postpartum journey back to competitive running. Running as a new parent is no easy feat, and I have to give a lot of credit to my partner Q for working with me to develop a daily run schedule. I also deeply appreciate the work both Allyson Felix and Alysia Montaño (among others) are doing to support women to not have to choose between their career and motherhood.
What has running taught you or changed about you?
Running has showed me there's no one path to achievement. I think a lot of us like to put in a lot of work and hit a goal and we feel there’s a sort of equilibrium to that–and it’s great when it happens like that. But sometimes you can put in all this work, and do all the right things, and you won’t get the desired outcome. I think part of longevity in running (and life) is understanding that…you have to enjoy or deem something worthy about the day to day and not only the final product to make it worthwhile.
Best advice to running newbies?
Do what feels fun and exciting to you. If you want to improve I think it’s worth talking to many different people and thinking about what feels manageable and enjoyable to you. Do it for a bit and then really look at the goals you set out and what you achieved. Like most things this day and age, you can learn a lot from data.
Current running goal?
I’m getting really close to some goals I’ve kept around for a while: sub 18:00 in the 5k and sub 1:22:00 in the half marathon. I just ran 18:01 at one of David’s Alm’s track meets, so that one looks poised to go in the next few races, and I’m hoping to take care of that 1:22:00 at Brooklyn Half. But also, I wouldn’t be surprised if I ran 1:22:01 because that just seems to be something I’m really good at…and then you just have to laugh about it because what else can you do.
