Meet a Front Runner #8 – Adam Hawkins

Hello Front Runners, welcome again to another entry in our series of meet a Front Runner! This week we’d like to introduce you to the writer of these profiles (or least the oh so lovely introductions), Adam Hawkins. Adam is one of our newer members and works with the executive committee on helping to manage the Front Runner’s website. Come meet Adam during one of our runs or social events!

So Adam, when did you start running?
I started running about 3 years ago, right after I graduated college. I had gained maybe 50 pounds senior year and was very frustrated with how I looked and felt. I was working at Thomas Jefferson at the time and several of my coworkers ran. Taking a little bit of inspiration from them and more than a bit of motivation from my newly acquired heft, I decided, despite never having run before, to go out for a 1 mile run. I eventually found a passion in it and as they say, the rest is history.

What is your proudest running accomplishment?
Despite not being my fastest race, the 2018 Philly Love Run was probably the proudest, or perhaps most surprised, I’ve ever been with my race performance. It wast he first time that I truly felt, dare I say, fast (or at least relatively fast). I had just come back from an especially frustrating bout of achilles tendinopathy that had sidelined me for 6 month. I really had no idea how I’d do and I really surprised myself with a race that was significantly faster than any I had previously run. 

What does being a Front Runner mean to you?
Being a Front Runner means having space where people understand the struggles of being both a runner and being LGBT. There are lots of people who understand the trials of being a runner and others still who have also been through the tribulations of identifying as LGBT, but not many can say both. Being a Front Runner is finding both of those things in the same community.

What keeps you motivated to run?
I feel as though a lot of people in the greater running community portray themselves as hyper positive when posting/commenting/speaking of why they run. I’ve always been slightly more acerbic in temperament than most and hyper-positivity isn’t always a very effective motivator for me. While training hard for your next PR or imagining how good you’ll feel after a long run is sometimes enough; other times you just have to call yourself a sad sack and get on with it. Negative motivations exists for a reason and sometimes that’s the key piece in keeping myself motivated to do a long run in a 90°F hellscape. Life isn’t always sunshine and rainbow, why do the reasons you get out and run have to be?

Race Highlights
5K – 17:38 (Philly Pride Run 2018)
10 Miler – 1:00:41 (Broad Street Run 2018)
Half Marathon – 1:23:49 (Love Run 2018)
Full Marathon – 3:14:08 (Leigh Valley VIA 2018)

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