Photo By Laurie Pearson | Abel Chavez, aka “The Running Man,” runs for fun and health during his lunch hour...... read more read more
You may not know his name yet, but you have probably seen Abel Chavez, a heavy mobile equipment mechanic, at Marine Depot Maintenance Command’s Production Plant Barstow located on the Yermo Annex aboard Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow.
Nicknamed “The Running Man” by friends, family and strangers alike, he can be seen on his twice-daily runs on his lunch break around the Yermo Annex, or around Barstow after work and on his days off from work.
“I started running when I was about 16 years old,” Chavez said. “I wanted to lose a few pounds, and I just kept running.”
At approximately 5 feet 11 inches tall, he said he weighed in at about 245 pounds and just didn’t like the way he looked and felt. Now he is a lean 165 pounds and runs about eight miles per day.
“That’s actually short,” he said with a grin. “At my peak, when I was doing marathons, I was running 16 to 20 miles per day. I was putting in 100 miles per week at least.”
Note that he said “marathons.” Plural. Chavez has participated in six marathons, 10 half marathons and so many 10 kilometer runs that he can no longer remember exactly how many.
“I don’t like doing 5Ks though,” Chavez said with another grin. “They’re too short. I’m just getting into it and it’s over. I’m just getting going at the two or three mile mark. Running calms me. I’m really mellow and it takes a lot for that to change.”
At work or at home, he said he is a creature of habit.
“Abel has excellent work ethics,” said Rick Noonan, Heavy Mobile Equipment supervisor. “He also serves as our main driver for vehicles that need to go to the test track. He is very dependable and very skilled at what he does.”
Chavez said that people can set their clocks by his routines.
“I like routine,” he said. “If it’s a work day, you know exactly when and where I’ll be. Even on my days off, I’m up at 4 o’clock in the morning and out running by 5 o’clock. If I don’t run, I don’t feel right.”
He has worked for PPB for 13 years, and from day one, he said that he started his lunch runs, and now people expect to see him.
“If they don’t see me running, then I get people checking on me,” he said. “’Are you okay?’ they ask. ‘We didn’t see you today.’ Every single day, at 11:30, I’m out the door running.”
His loop at lunch is out the PPB gates, around the base, by the fire department and railway operations, then back to PPB. Once home, his route depends on his mood or conditions, but he likes to run all over his home town of Barstow.
“I know all of the routes down to the mile and minute,” he said. “I know that if I’m leaving my house to go on a specific route, I’ll be at each location at a specific time and I don’t even have to look at my watch.”
At 33 years of age, Chavez said that 17 years of running have taken a toll, though he hasn’t suffered serious injuries. Most of his injuries have been to his calves or Achilles Tendons which, with rest, ice and other common home remedies, he has healed fine. Most of those injuries have occurred after a marathon, but he also coaches girls’ softball for the city of Barstow and sometimes coaching gets a little rough.
He said he has tried other forms of exercise, but they just didn’t feel right to him.
“I even bought a really nice bike,” Chavez said. “Someone said it would help prevent injuries. I just didn’t like it. I need to run.”
The longest distance he has run in one session is a whopping 27 miles. He was preparing for a marathon and just wanted to be really sure that he could do it. A marathon is 26.2 miles. That’s 26.2 miles of running at a decent pace.
“My best marathon pace was 6:57 minute miles,” he said. “My best half marathon pace, though, was 6:24 minute miles.”
All of his running has inspired others to do the same. He said his brother, 36 year old Larry Chavez began running more out of brotherly competition.
“He couldn’t stand me being faster,” he said. “Now it’s a way of life.”
He added a brotherly jab, though, saying “the most he’s done though are 10Ks.”
Both of their wives run daily, as well.
“My wife, Christina, puts in probably four miles per day,” Chavez said with a note of pride.
To keep up with his metabolism, he eats constantly throughout the day. Consuming up to 3,000 calories per day, he wakes up and drinks a protein
shake first. His lunch is a salad, and his dinner is another salad with chicken. Throughout the day his snacks are trail mix and two to three protein bars.
“I don’t like other vegetables though,” he smirked. “I like salad greens, but not peas, or broccoli and stuff like that. My wife actually eats better than I do in that regard. She makes sure she gets all of her vegetables and changes things up. I’m a man of routine, like I said. If I was training for a marathon though, I ate spaghetti every day for two weeks before the race.”
He said he thinks of food as fuel and the same with water. Although he does not normally run with a hydration pack or bottle of water unless it’s a really hot day, he drinks nearly a gallon of water per day to ensure that he stays hydrated.
“If it’s 90 degrees or higher then I’ll take water with me,” he explained.
His advice for people interested in taking up running is two-fold. First he changes his running shoes out every month. Yes, he goes through twelves pairs of running shoes per year, and he personally prefers Nike.
His other advice is to take things slowly. One of his methods to increase his performance was to follow some advice he picked up in Runners’ World magazine several years ago, and use interval training.
“The way I started was I’d run two minutes, walk one minute until I got up to a mile,” he explained. “Then I extended that out to a 3:1 ratio. I worked up to being able to run a mile straight. Now if I’m training for speed, I will run 3/4 of a mile at a 5:30 pace, then I jog for one lap and repeat for three miles.”
Now he puts on his earbuds, fires up the Hip Hop music, laces up his Nikes, and hits the road.
“I have to have music,” he said with a smile. “I can’t hear myself breath. Music gets me out of my head and into my rhythm.”
Be sure to wave if you see The Running Man, as he continues to put in the miles on base, or on the streets of Barstow.
| Date Taken: | 09.28.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 09.29.2017 13:17 |
| Story ID: | 250056 |
| Location: | MARINE CORPS LOGISTICS BASE BARSTOW, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 189 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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