Just over a month ago I got to take a long weekend and visit some good friends in Blowing Rock, North Carolina. The first thing I thought upon my arrival in this little mountain town was “Can I stay here?” The weather was nice and cool and the town was beautiful. We crammed as much as we could into the short time we had together; hiking, eating ice cream, and of course, running.
I met Tilda and Wil in college while running for the Arkansas State Red Wolves. Wil is from Mountain Home, Arkansas, and Tilda is from Sweden. This power couple started dating after running on the same team for some time and got married a couple of years later. Aside from being some of the most genuine people you could ever meet, these two are impressive athletes. They’re running career didn’t falter after college and they continue to slash chunks of time off their Personal Bests. For any fellow runners reading this, here’s some times for these two so you can get an idea of what I mean when I say impressive: Wil can run a 5k in 14:25 and half a marathon in 1:07:53, Tilda can clock a 5k in 16:55 and a half marathon in 1:26. See, I wasn’t exaggerating.
Since getting married they’ve adopted their dog, Finn; taken a trip overseas to visit Tilda’s home; and had to deal with the stress of school, competitions, and Tilda’s Green Card. Wil has a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering and is working on a Master’s in Exercise Science. Tilda studied marketing for her undergrad and will soon start work on her Master’s in Art Education.
I’ve always been impressed by this duo because of their dedication to their sport and their ability to run through life together while taking whatever unexpected turn might come upon them. So, naturally I asked if they’d let me interview them for this blog.
Me: We’ll skip over the “where are you from” questions since I already know all that. What are you excited about right now? What are some ideas about what you want to do within the next year?
*Lots of laughter.* Why do big life questions seem to make people so nervous?
Tilda: I’m really excited about running right now, which, I guess right now I’m just not stressed about it like I have been in the past. I enjoy just being in the present and soaking it in.
Me: What makes it different now than in the past?
Tilda: Well I try to think of it more on a day to day basis. Instead of stressing out about whether I’m getting the mileage in or am I working hard enough… right now I’m just working towards my goals and enjoying the moment. I think that’s had a positive impact on my running, too. I feel lighter and it’s more fun.
Me: What about you Wil, what are you excited about?
Wil: I’m excited to graduate. (And he will! Soon!) I’m also excited for the short-term stuff. I think I had a habit for awhile trying to think way too far ahead and plan for the future, which stressed me out ’cause we’ve been poor… and we haven’t known what we want to do with our life-
We understand your struggle, Wil. Truly.
Tilda: Money doesn’t stress me out as much as it does Wil.
Wil: I wouldn’t say I’m a materialistic person but I will worry if we have a negative balance between our credit cards and our bank account which we carried for awhile. But not anymore!
Me: So how do you think you have gotten better about thinking like that? Everyone stresses about money. How do you improve those thoughts?
Wil: I think it’s an important thing to live in the now and not think too much about the future because if you’re always thinking about your future financial situation or where you want to visit then you might miss what’s going on right now and there are experiences you could miss out on.
Tilda: I feel like money is meant to be spent and it comes and goes. It’s forever circulating. I feel like right now, at least, we’re as poor as we’re ever going to be but it can only get better from here because we’re about to finish up our educations. I also feel like if I do my best to not worry about it, I can enjoy what’s going on right now more. I think this year we’ve enjoyed a lot more, we’ve taken better advantage of where we live. We skied more, we hiked a lot more; we just did a lot more than we did the first year.
Me: Do you think that’s played a part in your quality of life?
Wil: Yeah, it’s been a social outlet for one, but also just good for my sanity. I was struggling especially because I had never had to take time away from running for more than a month or so at a time.
Wil was injured earlier this year and unable to run his first marathon in Stockholm as he had planned.
Wil(cont.):And then when I got injured after so much time and effort had been invested into the build up to my marathon, I went from spending the majority of my time and energy prepping for that race to not being able to walk… For a few days I couldn’t do much at all, I was basically on bed rest. It forced me to take a step back and look for a different perspective on some things.
Me: So with both of you coming from a running background, what kind of advice would you give to someone who claims to “hate running”? Why would you encourage someone to run?
Tilda: Go out to run to have fun. If you feel like it’s too hard and you’re out of breath, then you’re running too fast.
Note: It will probably be hard and you will get out breath. That doesn’t mean stop, just slow down. It will get easier.
Tilda (cont.): And don’t compare yourself to others. When you run at a nice comfortable pace you enjoy it so much more and then it’s just nice to be outside. It’s your own time. You don’t have to worry about much.
Wil: For the average person who hasn’t been involved in the sport, I would say, ya know, it is really good for you, but also don’t think about it as a chore or a box you have to check. If you do it, “to lose weight” then you’ll look at it like this mandatory thing or a chore that you just don’t want to do. You don’t have to “be a runner” to enjoy running. It can be really peaceful. You can find solace in it. I think in our cultural today with technology booming we’re able to do so much more in a day, but we lose a lot of peace and quiet.
Tilda: It’s such an easy thing to do, too. As far as being active you don’t need to take yourself to a gym. You can do it nearly anywhere.
Me: In the past couple years you’ve done some exciting things. What was one of your top memories?
Tilda: I really enjoyed going to Sweden. It was fun to have Wil there, for him to see it with his own eyes and to be there with my family. It was less like a vacation and more like going home and just hanging out.
Wil: Those were for sure some of the best weeks of the past several years… It’s also been an adventure since we moved here. When we moved, the place we signed a lease for was.. just not up to code. It didn’t work out. We were homeless for a few days, living out of the U-Haul truck.
Tilda: And staying in a hotel my dad was paying for.
Wil: Then we found this place through an acquaintance. Then we ended up paying way more in rent than we had planned.
Tilda: And we didn’t know when I would be able to work again…
Tilda had to wait on her visa to come through before she was allowed to work again. At this time they were also in the process of moving to North Carolina.
Wil: Then she was able to start working again like four months after we thought she was going to be able to… then that job didn’t work out and there were just some financial hardships.
Me: What’s your best advice for someone going through something like that, especially at a young age?
Tilda: I think, as long as you’re trying and doing your best, don’t beat yourself up. You can only give it your best. I’m all about not bringing too much stress into my life… that’s why I’m always five minutes late.
Wil: I think we’ve done a good job about meeting in the middle. She’s naturally maybe slightly too lax sometimes and I’m slightly too stressed and we balance each other out in a good way.
Me: In the next five years, what are some things you want to do?
Wil: Travel.
Me: What about travel entices you?
Wil: It can be very enlightening and very humbling. It opens your eyes and gives you new perspectives. It just introduces you to new ideas and experiences that you couldn’t even imagine.
Tilda: It deepens your respect for other people and you can understand other’s points of view after seeing things in person.
Tilda mentioned being able to travel more when, hopefully, Wil is in a coaching position and she is in a teaching role.
Tilda: I think a teachers salary will be plenty. We don’t really need fancy things or a fancy house.
Wil: We don’t like things. We like to do stuff.
One final question, because we couldn’t have an interview about life without bringing up the girl that has certainly had an impact on this couple’s life.
Me: What about Finn. Why would you give someone advice to get a dog, or what about her makes life better?
Tilda: She makes life lighter. All she cares about is hanging out with us and having fun. Her favorite part of the day is when she gets to hangout with us and go outside.
We can learn a lot from dogs. Go get your friends, go hangout outside. Maybe even go for a run.