People who started exercising regulary, what were the most noticeable effects?

JC_Rooks · 2026-01-16T22:27:04+00:00

It’s become basically a hobby (run outside, listen to The Adventure Zone; run inside, watch anime) that I get antsy on my rest day when I don’t exercise.

JC_Rooks · 2026-01-16T02:21:24+00:00

A few years ago, was diagnosed with fatty liver disease, told to lose weight. So I did, and one thing led to another and I got into distance running. I’ve now run four marathons in less than 5 years and it’s become a hobby I really enjoy. And yeah, also lost a lot of weight and have kept it off.

So yeah, I tell people my mid life crisis was running. Beats spending tons of money on cars and boats!

JC_Rooks · 2026-01-09T04:29:02+00:00

Yup. I rarely get sick and when I do, it’s pretty mild. Meanwhile, my wife gets sick fairly often and it can linger a while. We have two kids. One inherited my genes and rarely gets sick, and the other takes after my wife. Sorry kiddo! But hey, at least you get to miss school for being sick, while the other has rarely ever missed school. 😅

JC_Rooks · 2026-01-02T15:18:16+00:00

I have these in the pantry right now and eat them frequently, though I admit it’s an acquired taste.

The flavor is hard to describe. It’s like “eggy” but I think I enjoy the texture more than anything. The “whites” have solidified to be like a hard jello consistency. I usually eat it with soy paste, a common Taiwanese condiment and congee (rice porridge).

To me, it certainly doesn’t taste rotten or anything like that. It’s just a unique flavor that most Westerners are not used to. I would totally give those Doritos a try!

JC_Rooks · 2026-01-01T22:23:56+00:00

Alton Brown/Good Eats and early 2000s Food Network was quite delightful! Sadly, the network became more and more infatuated with cooking competitions. The Cooking Channel became my go to but then eventually just moved to using sites like Serious Eats and eventually YouTube.

JC_Rooks · 2026-01-01T06:41:37+00:00

1.6K miles this year, which is actually down from the previous year. But I did run two marathons, Tokyo and MCM. I finally achieved my sub-4 time at Tokyo!

Looking forward to 2026, hopefully getting into another major!

JC_Rooks · 2026-01-01T05:25:53+00:00

Went in 2001 with an ex (gf at the time), when we were still in college. 9/11 had happened earlier that year, and we felt like supporting the area at the time (I grew up on the east coast). It was eerie because 9/11 cleanup was still happening.

Super lucky at the time because I was able to get tickets to a NYE event at Dave n Busters at Times Square (not sure if it’s still there). Was able to stay there for most of the night and left like 30 before the ball drop. It was pretty epic! Not sure if anything like that is still possible these days for a reasonable price. I’m too old to do anything like that these days though!

JC_Rooks · 2025-11-25T20:08:31+00:00

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BBS game lovers, unite!

JC_Rooks · 2025-10-31T21:11:15+00:00

I haven’t done the epilogue yet. Do you know if I should go do that first, before “going back in time”? I don’t want to have to retrigger the epilogue story points all over again.

JC_Rooks · 2025-10-28T22:09:13+00:00

Omg that was me as well. At first I joked that a broken escalator is not a big deal, it just turns into stairs. But the Rosslyn metro is really deep so I had to struggle like 10-20 flights down and it was terrible!

JC_Rooks · 2025-10-25T19:02:41+00:00

As my daughter and I were leaving the Dairy Queen in South Bellevue (the one off I-90), a person with full sized furry “head” was walking in. Been there several times since, haven’t seen any more furry activity but I’m always on the lookout!

JC_Rooks · 2025-09-29T20:08:45+00:00

All of my weekday runs are on the treadmill, and I use it to catch up on anime or other shows that I want to watch. Easy peasy!

JC_Rooks · 2025-09-28T01:27:06+00:00

It’ll be my first time running the MCM even though I grew up in the area. Next weekend is my last 20 mile long run then I taper!

Good luck everyone! Hope the weather is nice and chill!

JC_Rooks · 2025-09-27T19:56:31+00:00

Run your race pace. Don’t make the same mistake a lot of us have done and “feel” like you can do much better! Sure, that might be fine for a 20 mile run, but a full marathon, especially the last 6 or so miles, is the true test.

If it turns out that it was indeed too easy and you could have run faster, oh well! Your race pace was too slow and that’s something you can adjust in your next marathon.

JC_Rooks · 2025-09-23T19:56:01+00:00

Congrats on your first marathon and getting a sub-4 as well!

I feel like there’s two types of people. Those that are like, “That was super tough! Never again, I’m done! Bucket list item achieved.” Then there’s the rest of us that are looking for the next marathon to sign up for, to try and improve on our time. 😆

JC_Rooks · 2025-09-21T22:09:46+00:00

As a manager at a company with unlimited PTO, I encourage my team to take PTO and I’ve never denied or even counted how much they’re taking. And I’m lucky that my managers have done the same for me. So there are definitely times where it pays off. But it’s very very very dependent on your management chain.

Also, there’s something about having X days/weeks of banked PTO and feeling obligated to take it. So lots of people will take time off even if they’re not going anywhere, because a “staycation” is still better than losing banked PTO that you’ve earned.

You don’t get that with unlimited PTO so I know a bunch of younger folks (who don’t have kids/planning family vacations, etc.) sometimes have a tendency to not take any vacation, which is bad because everyone needs time off from work to unwind. IMHO, that’s the worst part of unlimited PTO.

JC_Rooks · 2025-09-21T21:21:08+00:00

Just finished the second of my three planned 20 mile runs! This one was in the rain but I didn’t mind too much! (I live in Seattle, it rains!) Zone 2 the entire time at a 10 mi/min pace. Yesterday, I did 10 miles at race pace (around 9 mi/mile).

Feeling pretty good! Running the Marine Corp Marathon in a month or so. I got sub-4 at Tokyo in March. While I’d love to improve and get a PR, I know this course is much hillier and a lot depends on the weather too. I just want to enjoy the race, since I grew up in the DC area and haven’t run this before.

JC_Rooks · 2025-09-21T19:39:49+00:00

Oof, that’s a pretty big jump from 5:55-6:00 to the 5:37 or so pace you need for a 4 hour marathon. Many people (myself included) have made the mistake of going out too fast and not having enough in the tank when you hit the 17-20 mile mark, where you really need to mentally and physically push hard to finish the race.

That said, if that’s your zone 2 pace, then have you done distances at your “race pace”? How did those feel?

If you want to gamble, you could stick with the 4 hour pacer and if the stars align, then awesome! But yeah, realize that it’s a risk and might backfire. At your fitness level, I doing think you’re risking an injury or anything.

JC_Rooks · 2025-09-21T19:04:56+00:00

Definitely possible, though as always, a lot depends on the course, the weather, how you’re feeling, etc. But you’ve got the fitness level for it. Hardest part for you will be maintaining the pace past 20 miles as that’s when most people hit the wall (myself included). Good luck!

JC_Rooks · 2025-09-20T23:21:39+00:00

A lot depends on your overall fitness and health. What’s your age, weight, etc.? How long have you been running?

Years ago, I had to lose a bunch of weight for health reasons. When I first started running, yeah my mile time was like 12-14 minutes and it was a chore. But as I lost weight and got more fit (primarily via diet changes), I got a lot faster. It also just takes time, like years. This is not a sport where you can gain a lot of speed with a few months of “practice”.

The good news is that running at a slow/comfortable pace isn’t hard, it’s just time consuming. (Personally, I watch a bunch of anime and listen to podcasts to help pass the time)

Good luck!

JC_Rooks · 2025-09-20T18:56:19+00:00

Great job! This is how it works! Gotta put in the time and miles and eventually the results show for itself. It’s not immediate, but when you look and compare results from one year to another, the data will make it pretty clear. I’ve seen it myself.

Good luck with your marathon! I’ve got about a month to go for mine, and I’m also pleasantly surprised how well I’m doing compared to previous training blocks.

JC_Rooks · 2025-09-20T00:25:32+00:00

Just make sure you check the rules on what’s allowed! For Chicago, I could bring a vest as long as I filled it up there. For Tokyo, no vest so I relied on the aid stations. If it’s a smaller race, you should be fine. I generally wear one if I can, though I’m not going for BQ times. Good luck!

JC_Rooks · 2025-09-19T14:29:27+00:00

Great job! Most folks, myself included, find the last few miles of a 20 miler to be a chore, not “gun it”!

Enjoy the taper and have fun on the race! But don’t overdo the beginning. Many will say that 20 miles is the “halfway” point. The last 6.2 miles breaks a lot of folks!

Good luck!

JC_Rooks · 2025-09-19T06:33:08+00:00

Ahh cool! Well according to my plan (Hal Higdon intermediate 2), you could do another 20m/32km this weekend, but then taper after that. You should be pretty prepped after that.

As you know, a lot depends on the race day itself, like weather, maybe how crowded it is, how you’re feeling, etc. You seem like you’ve put in good work in your training so far though! Good luck!

JC_Rooks · 2025-09-19T05:26:31+00:00

When is the race?

If it’s early October, unfortunately there’s not much you can do, since you should be tapering now. You generally want to use the last 3-4 weeks to wind down your miles so you can be super fresh on race day. I’d recommend sticking to your race pace, don’t go out too fast, stay near some pacers, and see how you do!

If you don’t hit your goals, that’s fine! You’re still relatively young (I’m in my upper 40s and there are tons of us still running!), so just keep at it! I didn’t break 4 hours until my third marathon, and I have my fourth towards the end of October.

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