Adriana Flores Bernal
Wednesday, May 20, 2015
My watch asked me if we were running today and I was like YASSS! It is my dream in life to run the world and our #WCW for today did exactly that...
I was born in Guadalajara, Mexico; I love my city and my country- ¡Viva Mexico! When I was studying in University, I started my business as a professional Make-Up artist, today that’s more like a hobby. Since my graduation I’ve worked in Marketing & Communications, today I’m a Product Marketing Manager in the forestry industry and I love the career I’ve built in the last 10 years.
In my spare time I’m the chief editor of my blog The Fashion Marcom Case and I also write for a Mexican magazine called Cream. I am a true music lover and yes, I’m that kind of runner who thinks every day and race has a soundtrack. I am also a big fan of fashion, arts, photography and travelling… actually, I love beautiful things (don’t blame me, who doesn’t?).
Q. How do you balance your exercise regime and your professional life?
When I only worked as a Make-Up artist, as I was also a student, I had to focus on clients attending social events; that means I worked a lot on Fridays and Saturdays. I was very young when I started so I skipped a lot of the social life on Saturdays because of my business. It wasn’t until I started training harder as a runner 5 years ago, that I knew the beautiful things a Saturday could bring, so I slowed down my Make-Up business so I could start living more like a runner on the weekends; I was able to do that as I already had a professional career in Marketing. Then is when my “running life” started to change.
To me, having a professional career and being a runner is somewhat exhausting. My days are very intense everyday and I also travel a lot, and even if I’m home after work, I’m writing for the blog or the magazine, so it is very likely I go to bed very tired. I prefer to train in the morning, so discipline for me is key because it’s super easy to give up on waking up early to do my running work, and instead staying in bed and rest a bit more. When I’m training for a race I’m very responsible and I do my training at least 4 days a week, plus my long distance on Saturdays; Sundays are ALWAYS for resting. However if I’m not training for anything, then I allow myself maybe 2 days a week to rest (besides Sunday of course).
We runners very often make the mistake to be very demanding to our bodies, resting is also part of the training and if you are very tired, it’s very possible you’ll go to train with zero enthusiasm, you will end up hating that day, or even worse, injured. I am that kind of runner who listens a lot to my body.
I started running 9 years ago when I joined a company for a new job, I made a cool group of friends and the all together joined a gym. One guy of this group likes a lot running, he asked us to come with him to Mazatlan as he was running the marathon, so we enrolled in the 10K race; we trained for about 3 months and that’s how it all started. After that, I just had the running habit; I can say the real smart running training started 5 years ago when I decided to run my first marathon, and after that one I promised myself I’d run one marathon per year.
It has been an amazing therapy and it brought so many beautiful things to my life. I started to “hang out” with myself a lot more, to get to know me better and running taught me that we humans can be capable of anything we want to do, only if we want to, if we believe we can, and if we work for it.
Q. What motivates you to go out there, when you do not feel like it?
I became addicted to that feeling you have after you finish your run, you feel like you can do anything, you feel happy, strong, peaceful and powerful. But I think what I like the most about this sport, since the beginning, is the camaraderie: meeting your friends early when it’s still dark and everyone is sleeping, and after the training have breakfast together to talk about anything, you become sort of a brotherhood, we help each other to do it better, whether if it’s training or racing, you stand for each other. That’s what I love.
The 42 KM Marathon; I’m currently training for my 5th: New York Marathon.
Q. What gives you the confidence to run in the streets?
Knowing that after running I will feel incredibly happy and satisfied.
Q. What do you think about the lack of exercise among the youth?
I think having a healthy lifestyle is a choice; I don’t excuse anyone for not living that way, except those who are not blessed with health because of an illness, I understand that is not a choice. When I’m training or I’m in a race and blind or aged people pass me by and cheer me up, is when I think I’m very lucky to be me, be healthy, to be running next to them, they make me think I have no excuse to complain about trivial things, or feel defeated or stop doing this; they inspire me and make me feel committed to my body and mind. I wish more people would do more for their bodies and health.
Q. What was your best running experience?
I remember feeling so happy when I ran the Chicago Marathon; that was a very happy day. That was my 3rd marathon and one year before I ran my 2nd in 4 hours 25 minutes, for Chicago I had the goal to finish it in something around 4:10 minutes, so I was not sure if I could make it because a 15 minutes decrease goal is huge. So, I travelled to Chicago with my best friends and we all ran it, which was already a cool thing happening. While the race, I remember feeling so energized by the people cheering runners on the street, I felt really good, no pain from any injure, the weather was fantastic, I wasn’t stressed for the time at all, everything was so well… when the least expected thing happened: I crossed the finish line in 3:50:17, that felt like 5 minutes to me, I not only met my goal but I did it way much better. That day I learned that you have to enjoy what you are doing, no matter what!
Q. What was your worst running experience?
Hmmm… I don’t remember having a “worst” experience, but one year after Chicago I ran the Berlin Marathon, it was last September, and I made a huge-big-humongous mistake: since I improved so much from my 2nd to the 3rd marathon (over 35 minutes), I thought I could improve as well in my 4th marathon, so my goal was to decrease at least 5 minutes my time. I mentally prepared the entire year for a cold weather, cloudy day, and that day of the marathon was a super beautiful sunny and warm day. Since I was so focused on doing better, I did not enjoy like I did in Chicago; no surprise I couldn’t decrease my time, in fact, I ran it in the very same time I ran one year before.
My learning that day was that I must have the ability to quickly adapt to whatever situation I’m living, if your mind is set for one thing and something different happens, forget what you planned and change your mindset; furthermore, ENJOY the moment cheerfully, not stressed.
Q. How do you push through the pain?
Pain is a terrible feeling. I can only say, if you feel a minimum symptom of pain, go as soon as possible to the doctor and fix it, and if your doctor say stop, you stop, otherwise you will suffer during training, and that’s a horrible thing. P.S. The queen of periostitis.
Q. What advice can you give somebody who wants to start running?
Find the right shoes, socks and bra (if you are a girl) and just go out there and move your body, it doesn’t matter if you like to run with music or not, if you like running slow or fast, just start and try to go a little further little by little, that’s how all runners begin.
Q. Which Social media sites are you on and how can one follow you?
My Blog http://fashionmarcomcase.com I’m a huge Instagram fan @AdrianaFloresB_
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/fashionmarcomcase
Twitter @AdrianaFloresB_
Q. My best running shoes is … I’ve ran my last two marathons with Saucony, but I love training with ASICS.
Q. I love running because … Makes me feel good.
Q. Injury is … One of the most horrible, frustrating and painful things in this world.
Q. My body is … My temple.
Q. My running playlist has … A lot of rock, alternative, and INDIE music.
Q. I hate running when … My socks are wet.
Q. Pain is … Mind tricky
Q. The road … A companion.
Q. Sweat is … Dirty sign of pure effort.
Q. In future, I would like to run … The whole World Marathon Majors series, I have four more to go!
Q. Indie means … MUSIC.
Q. I do not like runners who … Think life is only about running, life is full of surprises and you have to let yourself living the whole thing. It’s not only about the sneakers!
#RunRevolution
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