Moving Thinker

Endurance sports journey and insights

My path into endurance sports started all of a sudden during a 4th of July BBQ, when I was already 37 years old. The BBQ was hosted by our adopted family in California, Mustafa abi (abi: elder brother in Turkish) and his family. Mustafa abi, an avid endurance athlete himself, ignited my deepest quest: how does it feel to reach the deepest part of my soul? How does it feel when everything, my body, my brain are asking me to give up, and I am still pushing on? How does it feel to experience the limit, the last horizon? Can I? How will I?

And, I started training for a Marathon with the aim to go under sub-3 (i.e. completing the 24.6 miles/42.2 km under 3 hours). My first few runs were about 9 min/mile (5:36 min/km) on a flat road of 5 miles at the sea level. From there, I needed to go under 6:51 min/mile (4:15 min/km) for an entire 24.6 miles. It took me one and a half year. And, I was transformed by then both in mind and body.

At that point, I did not know how to swim, not at all. And was scared of water. I told myself that I need to learn to face the fear and to go to the other side. So, I signed up for a full distance Ironman (140.6 miles), which would start with a 2.4 mile (3.85 km) swim in open water.

And, a beautiful journey began. Through these years of training, I’ve encountered physical and mental challenges that have shaped my understanding of perseverance and of self.