Hats off to Alex Campili, one of our April Runners of the Month. Despite a suspicious love for fast 5Ks, you’ll find her going long on Saturdays as one of the run leaders of Narwhals.

Since joining the club in 2022, Alex has also taken up leading the ever-unofficial AnD and also serves as social coordinator, making sure NBR members get to know each other.

This year, Alex is chasing a Boston Qualifying time, once she’s learned to stop worrying and love the gel.

When did you join NBR and why?

I started running with NBR during the summer of 2022. At the time, my girlfriend and fellow NBR teammate, Amanda, was training for her first marathon and was looking to join a run club to help get her through her longest long runs. She found NBR and started attending Narwhals and AnD, where she recognized Alena, one of the run leaders, from our dog park. I had been running for about a year at that point and was training for a half marathon, so I started tagging along too.

In what ways have you been involved with NBR?

I’m now a run leader for Narwhals and [unofficial] AnD, the same two runs that I started out with. I am also one of the Social Coordinators, and I try to volunteer at events and races when I can. Now that hotter temps are coming, I’ll be forced back into early morning running and will make my return to MMER too.

How did you initially get into running?

I’m a mid-pandemic runner. Amanda had been running casually for a bit and she somehow convinced me to join her after multiple failed attempts. I don’t think I had run a single continuous mile since I was forced to in middle school PE, and it took a while before I was able to without taking walk breaks. I ran my first half marathon in November of 2021 and after that I was hooked - I think I may have even signed up for my second half marathon the next day.

What is your favorite race distance?

Is it a red flag if I say 5K? Either that or the half marathon, but those are also the only two distances that I have raced multiple times. Maybe one day I’ll love the marathon but today is not that day.

Best running memory?

This is a hard choice, but it might actually be the Berlin Marathon shakeout run (yes, the shakeout and not the actual marathon). The organizers of the marathon host a massive shakeout the day before the marathon that starts at a palace and ends with a loop on the track at the Olympic stadium. Everyone cheers as you run through the tunnel into the stadium, and there is a band playing music as you exit the tunnel and enter the track. They also had tons of good carb-loading food at the end, including one of the best pretzels I had while we were traveling in Germany (and I ate a TON of pretzels).

Favorite running route in NYC?

The whole Brooklyn waterfront, but specifically Brooklyn Bridge Park and the piers. That being said, the Queens waterfront is highly underrated and might win if I didn’t live in LIC and wasn’t so bored of running it all the time. If you run from the bottom of Hunter’s Point to the top of Astoria Park you can get in a relatively flat 6 miles (one way!) with almost no stoplights, wide sidewalks, and five different parks. You can easily add a Roosie loop too.

What has running taught you or changed about you?

Patience. I’ve struggled to make any progress in my times in the past year despite working harder in training. Disappointing race results can be extremely frustrating, but I keep telling myself that eventually I’ll hit some sort of breakthrough and the work will pay off. For now, however, it’s a meaningful lesson in patience, which is something I don’t naturally have a lot of (ask Amanda).

Favorite post-race food?

Post-race would be a bagel and/or donut with a beer and/or smoothie, but if it’s a Friday I’m getting a lemon cake, hopefully with raspberries, from Bakeri.

Favorite song to run to / that makes you want to run?

There’s no hype song quite like Call Ticketron by Run the Jewels, but for easy running I really love listening to Generationals.