The Groundworks Behind Arch & Rec
Before architecture, before the dream of designing stadiums, I fell in love with running. Endurance was my first language. Track, road, grass—those were the places I learned how far effort could take me.
I’m finding my way back now. Not as a professional, not quite as the runner I once was, but somewhere in between: an amateur trying again. Years away in graduate school reshaped my identity, but the pull of running has a way of returning, ever so steady, ever so hard, yet addicting.
Summer Track Workout of 2020 with my best friend and high school teammate at our high school
Running has always carried weight for me—more than times or medals. Training as a Division I athlete at Michigan State, chasing miles as a semi-pro with Hoka, or lacing up today with the single aim of being consistent in training—it’s the same spectrum of emotions. Belief. Frustration. Endorphins after a run. The sharp taste of missed expectations. The quiet satisfaction of a stride that feels right. These feelings live in places: the Golden Gate Park track at dusk post 1k repeats, a stretch of trail in fall air after a 14-mile long run, the strands of grass underfoot during barefoot strides at Michigan State University.
From 2014 to 2019, I filled training journals with every thought, every split, every stumble. In my final year, I pulled the most meaningful entries together into a small series I called Superhuman vol.1. They became a remembrance of feeling into poetry—not of perfect entries of success, but of persistent memories.
What follows is a return to those pages. Fragments of pain and exhilaration, discipline and doubt. Shared in the hope that, wherever you are in your own miles, they’ll resonate. Because at every level, we all run through the same terrain: the work, the joy, the fight to keep going in the spaces that move us.
Below is a collection of material created during my fifth year at Michigan State, as I knew my time as a Michigan State Spartan was coming to a close. Feelings of heartache, momentum, and growth flourished between the seasons spent as a Spartan. I will always ride with the Spartan Storm and go green forever.
Click on each image to read more.
