In the early spring sunshine of a Poway coffee shop, Quentin “Q” Guajardo leans across the grated tabletop and relives what began as “just a crazy idea.” As Guajardo bares all, I become convinced this is how all worthwhile endeavors start, with that feeling “like an inkling.” 

The endeavor in question is the 2022 IRONMAN California, the ultimate endurance event for any triathlete. To cross the finish line and be titled something that only .01 percent of the population can claim, the athlete must swim two point four miles, bike one hundred and twelve, and then run twenty six point two, for a grand total of one hundred and forty point six miles. 

Back to back. In under seventeen hours. 

You might expect anyone who’s earned this distinction to look like Mr. Incredible lifting his car off the ground, but Guajardo doesn’t appear particularly imposing or Hulk-esque as he sips his coffee on the other side of me. At heart, he is a California boy, born and raised in San Diego County to a family facing a similar reality as many American households. 

He remembers growing up, oftentimes “with barely any money…we were eating ninety-nine cent store meals, reheatable meals.” Guajardo’s search for a healthier lifestyle is rooted in seasons of high school track, but ultimately evolved into this incredible feat. His first encounter with IronMan came from content via Nick Bare, a professional racer, when Guajardo was struck with the feeling of something bigger than his current reality, and possibly worth pursuing.

After a setback involving a dirt bike and a wrist cast, Guajardo came back better and more determined than ever to commit. “Once you put it on paper, and you spend the money, you take those steps that you have to take, it really forces it on you, and puts that little bit of extra pressure, if you need that.” In other words, it was time for Guajardo to level up. 

Intense research and consulting coach Deon Lourens were additional parts to a training process that “feels like another job.” As if a lifestyle where, “You have to train every day. You don’t have days off,” wasn’t enough, Guajardo was a full-time, fourth year student at San Diego State University and a server and part-time manager of a well known San Diego restaurant chain.

Now graduated and in training at The Academy to become a police officer, Guajardo looks back at this period as the “craziest schedule of his [my] entire life,” and for good reason. 

A TAG-TEAMED EFFORT

At a similar shop, on a shaded Pacific Beach patio, I sit with Meghan Kenneally, our lattes forgotten, as she regales me with the tale of her own running journey. Like Guajardo, Kenneally found running through high school, and it has since flourished into an “outlet” of its own. 

Last spring, during Kenneally’s second year at San Diego State, she signed up for a half marathon back home on the East Coast, alongside her older sister and soon-to-be brother-in-law. 

“I do well when I have a goal to reach…I need a goal outside of school, and especially being so far from home, I feel like it’s motivating to have a goal for yourself,” she tells me. No matter the Coast, seeing a vision through to fruition remains a fixture of Kenneally’s life.

Without her sister in close proximity during peak training, Kenneally had to rely on a different support system, one she was lucky enough to find in friend and fellow student, Sadie Williams. Kenneally and Williams were both in training for the same distance (of different events) and began to map out their weeks based on their runs. Kenneally can attest that “when you’re running with a best friend, you just chat the entire time and it’s fun.”

Regardless of the variability of the weeks that college life brings, Kenneally was, and still is, mindful of how she stacks her days. She highlights the importance of forethought when it comes to training with a learned experience that even a little disruption goes a long way.

The lesson? 

“You can’t just be, like, ‘I’m running 10 miles today!’ It needs to be the right mindset, the right food the night before, a good routine in the morning…it all has to be perfect, or else you’re literally not gonna be able to.”

Recently, she has gotten involved in the San Diego yoga scene, with a job at a popular studio near campus. “Right now, I don’t really run a lot, but I still plan on time for myself. I always gotta work that in schedule somehow.” 

Despite the season, semester or phase of her life, “Running will always be like an outlet for me [Kenneally].” 

THE BIGGER PICTURE

When the stories of these inspiring students are stacked side by side, there are clear parallels about finding what it takes to successfully train while maintaining a healthy academic and social life balance. 

I would wager to bet that Guajardo and Kenneally agree on accessibility and prioritization as fundamental pillars for anyone considering embarking on their running journey, despite the two having never met.

Both conversations remind me of the privilege it is to be able to not only live here, but to exercise and move my body in such a beautiful city. In an homage to his hometown, Guajardo admits to being “a little spoiled in Poway” with “a lot of beautiful places and really good facilities.” 

Without even needing facilities, Guajardo suggests Lake Miramar for a nice five mile loop or La Jolla shores for safe open water swimming. Purchased on Craigslist, Guajardo was even able to bring his first bike to racing condition (with the help of Youtube University) without breaking the bank. “It’s about taking the gear you have available and just making it work,” he says. Echoing that sentiment, Keneally reiterates, “You don’t need a gym or a studio to run. You can just go.” 

San Diego is, “what you make of it,” according to Kenneally. “You can drink and wake up at noon, skip class. You can live in that culture. Or you can go to six am yoga or go on a run.” She has struck the chord precisely on the nose with this observation; how do college students navigate finding balance in the throng of a binge drinking epidemic?

Rather astutely, Keneally advises that, “You absolutely don’t have to follow all the trends and do what everyone else does.” Approximately twenty miles north, Guajardo metaphorically raises his coffee cup to that and concurs. “Have your priorities straight,” he urges. “Realize it’s not always about what you’re willing to do; it’s about what you’re willing to give up.” 

Guajairdo and Kenneally serve as reminders that oftentimes, a little less gets you a whole lot more, running and racing being no exception.