Miguel Matta

Q: When did you begin running and why?
I started running in high school. My brother-in-law used to run, and he encouraged my sister and I to join the cross country team. During college, I wrestled. We ran for conditioning, and I definitely did not enjoy it as much. A few years later, I heard about a corporate challenge that our office would participate in and I figured I would give it a shot. After not running for years, that first race was a struggle, but it got me back into running and I’ve been consistently running since then. I’ve been running that corporate race since 2008.

Q: How did you find out about DCRR and when did you join?
I found out about DCRR while looking for races to do in the summer of 2014. I decided to do my own “30 for 30” that year, with the goal of running 30 races during the year I turned 30. I was trying to find some races to fill out my calendar and came across the Bunion Derby Series.

Q: What are you training for right now?
At the moment, I’m training for the Marine Corps Marathon.

Q: What is the toughest run or race you’ve ever participated in?
The toughest run was a long run while training for my first marathon, and I was not particularly following any training plan. I just would decide what I thought I needed to do and would go out and do the runs. At some point I decided that I needed to do my first long run and decided to do 20 miles. Everything was fine at first, so I started to get ambitious. I decided to go for 22 miles and kept going. Around mile 15 everything started to fall apart. I struggled for a few more miles and by mile 18, I just completely blew up. I had to walk to the nearest Metro stop to take the train home. It’s safe to say that run made me learn my lesson about having a plan for race training.

Q: What’s your favorite part about being a DCRR member?
By far, my favorite thing is the people I’ve met in the club. I’ve made lots of friends and it’s great to have group of peers that I can run with. I’m a regular at SLR (which was a struggle at first, waking up early in the morning is not something that comes easily to me) and it is always nice to have a group that pushes you to run faster.

Q: What’s your favorite route in the area?
My favorite route is the area is the Potomac Heritage Trail portion in Great Falls, Virginia. The trail offers a great view of the Potomac, and has some great terrain to keep you on your toes.

Q: What’s the most important lesson running has taught you?
I think running has taught me how there is always more to push for. I find that as I meet my goals in running and in life, I am never content. I immediately focus on the next goal and strive to do better.

Q: What race day traditions do you have?
Before my races I like to have some oatmeal or a bagel and a few sips of coffee. I like to get to the race early and make sure I get a good warm up.

Q: What’s your proudest running moment?
My proudest moment was last year when I won my first road race. I’ve finished 2nd in a handful of races and was frustrated that I could not seem to close out a race. When I was able to win the race it was definitely a proud moment, plus it was also pretty awesome that it happened on my birthday.

Q: What’s your life like outside of running?
I work as a Systems Engineer for a government contractor. Outside of running I like to stay pretty active with Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, riding my bike, kayaking/paddle boarding, hiking, snowboarding, and learning to play the guitar (it’s been a work in progress for 10 years, and I just refuse to give up).

Q: What is one thing you wouldn’t run without?
As much as I hate to admit it, it probably would be my GPS watch. I definitely do not feel the same when I run without it. It’s almost like a run without my watch does not count. I like the fact that it logs my runs and that I can see stats about my run at any time.