#whywerun - Roberto Owor

#whywerun - Roberto Owor

My name is Roberto Owor and I am a runner from Edmonton in North London. I started running last April 2019 mainly to loose some weight and generally get fit. After the first few runs I quickly found out this is a community I definitely want to be a part of and a sport to improve on. This seems to be the common way people path into running.. Try to loose some weight then catch the running bug!

Running has brought me so many happy moments and also many sad moments.
The main reasons I keep running are thanks to the amazing community we have online, The support is unreal and makes me want to come back ever day. Social media has its problems like most things in life, it's definitely not perfect. It is  easy to focus on the negative things and forget all the amazing wonderful and inspiring things that are uploaded ever single day. I always have fun with social media, I don't take it too seriously. When it's not fun anymore, I take some time away to reset and come back fresh.

Joining Runspire was the best decision I ever made. It really gave me confidence because starting off I knew nothing about running. For example, I would run in standard Nike Air Max 95 trainers, I didn't know how to pace myself or even how to track my runs. From the get go the support was there, all I had to do was ask and I would get several answers. I definitely recommend anyone new to running to get involved. I now have people messaging me asking questions which I just love, to be able to give back to the community that has given me so much.

Its crazy to think that I inspire people on Instagram when only 18 months ago I was just starting out myself.
(JUST KEEP PUSHING AND NEVER GIVE UP).

I have a target of running a marathon hopefully by Summer 2021
I will be running The Royal parks half marathon booked for April 2021, that is if Covid does not have something to say. Trail running is something I started this year and now I only wish I had started a long time ago!
Epping forest is my happy place when life gets stressful, I just hit the trails and enjoy nature.

My main goal after running a marathon is to get my 5k time down to sub 20mins. I have always preferred speed over distances, 5k is my favourite followed by 21k. But I can tell by the way I'm in love with running I will probably be doing ultra marathons soon as well.

Going forward I will be looking into starting a small running group for runners around my local area, but also aiming to get our youth away from a life in the streets and gangs. Running and sports in general is a great way to motivate these kids and this is a huge problem in London, something that needs major attention asap.

See you out there! 

You can connect with Roberto on Instagram here