Run It Fast – The Club Profile David Phar #185

RIF #185 David Pharr

This week’s Run It Fast – The Club profile is #185 David Pharr. David’s running resume includes just completing his first 50 Miler AND finishing it 38 minutes under his goal time and running in a blue dress with a crown. Both feats show he’s got guts!

Intrigued? Meet David aka Lady Liberty:

INFO

Name: David J. Pharr
RIF #: 185
Twitter: @davidpharr
Facebook: www.facebook.com/dpharrside

STATS

Years Running: 3 years
Favorite Race Distance: Marathon or more
Favorite PR: Any PR is my favorite
Favorite Race: Currently my last one, Lookout Mtn 50
Favorite Bling: Myrtle Beach Marathon

Next Race: Probably the Mill Stone 50k in Fort Mill, SC
What Makes You FEEL Fast?: Beautiful morning on a country road with some great tunes.

FUN RUNNING QUESTIONS

Who inspires your running and why?
This is a difficult question because it has many answers. My dad was a runner in college (even bought a lifetime subscription to a little start up magazine called Runner’s World back in the 70’s) and continued when I was a little kid. In fact he surprised me one time when I was 12 or 13 that he had entered me in a local 5k. It was the first and only race I ran till 2010. But I attended many of his 5k’s and 10k’s, holding his keys and waiting at the finish. He always told me that if I keep running that eventually I would “love it.” However it took over ten years past that statement before I loved it. My college roommate, Nathan Judd RIF#166 , also encouraged me to start running and has been a great race buddy over the past year. Reading Dean’s The Ultramarathon Man caused me to be fascinated with the thought of what a human can do with running (however at the time I never dreamed of running a marathon). I receive inspiration by knowing that I have inspired others to fitness/running goals. My family has been the constant inspiration though. I started running because I wanted them to have a healthy dad that wasn’t 100lbs overweight and on his way to an early death or heart disease. Still everyday when I lace up my kicks I think about those I love and making myself better for them.

If you could go for a run with any famous person (living or dead), who would it be and why?
Running with Dean Karnazes would be pretty awesome. I entered a contest once for the chance…but didn’t win.

What’s the most beautiful place that you’ve run?
David, Panama was a beautiful and neat experience.

Which of your running routes makes you the happiest and why?
There are several routes around my town of Boiling Springs that are special. Some because of things that happened on them (good training runs, or firsts), others because of how certain things were “hard” when I first started out.

Have you ever worn a costume during a race? What was it and for what race? If not, would you?
Yes…I have worn a “Lady Liberty Outfit” for 2 or 3 different races. I have some buddies that own Liberty Tax Franchises and they paid for my race fees if I would run in the outfit. People give some great looks when a 6′ 4″ Lady Liberty passes them in a race.

What is your favorite go-to pre-race meal?
Ever since I have switched my diet to Paleo it has been ribs and sweet potato fries.

What is the thing you splurge on after a race?
Chocolate Milk Shakes and Pizza.

Why do you race?
I race so I will train hard. I race so that I know if I trained hard enough. I race for the joy of making my training pay off.

Big races or small races? And why?
The biggest race I ran in was the Country Music Marathon in Nashville, I did not enjoy all the people. The smallest race was a local 5k of under 50 people that I got 3rd in. So I prefer somewhere in between.

What is the one piece of running gear you can’t leave the house without?
If you see me running, I am always wearing my garmin, my road id, an ipod and carrying a Camelbak handheld.

What’s your pre-race routine?
Selecting playlist, dynamic stretching, and a visit to the porta-potty.

What running moment are you most proud of?
Most recently completing my first 50 miler and beating my goal time by nearly 40 mins.

If you can’t run, you’re __dead or close to it______?

Finally, is there anything else you would like the rest of the club?
I started running mainly to lose weight. Back in June of 09 I was over 310lbs. I was sick of being fat and started working out and running, although I couldn’t do a full mile on the treadmill without stopping. I quickly dropped 20lbs just by increasing activity. I discovered the more I ran the more weight I loss, meaning that I was going to start running more. By Nov of 09 I set a goal to run 100 miles that month and ran 106. Then in December in hopes to fight off the holiday weight gain and the urge to stop working out/running, I decided I was going to run 2 miles everyday for 100 days. I started on December 1, 2009 this Dec. 1st I celebrated 3 years of that streak and am still going.

Before and After David's 1st marathon 2010

***

I’m not sure what I give David more credit for: running as Lady Liberty or losing weight and getting back into shape! But seriously, I can see why David inspires so many people. He’s accomplished a lot in a short time and his transformation is pretty darn cool. He obviously takes running seriously and works hard but also has a sense of humor about it so I’m sure he will have great success in the future! He’s a great example of RIF – The Club…someone who goes farther and faster than he ever thought he could. It’s not about being faster or better than anyone else. It’s all about being the best you/runner that you can be and David has that figured out. 🙂

Thank  you for sharing with us David and I LOVE the Lady Liberty photo! Good luck with the Mill Stone 50K!

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[All photos submitted by David Pharr]

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This post was written by:

- who has written 717 posts on Run It Fast®.

Lisa (RIF Club Member #5) has completed 27 half marathons, 13 marathons, 5 50Ks, 2 12 Hour races, and 1 100K. Her favorite races to date are the Disneyland Half Marathon, the Leading Ladies Marathon, the Bataan Memorial Death March, and the Jackson Jackass 50K. You can follow her on Twitter @runlikeacoyote

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One Response to “Run It Fast – The Club Profile David Phar #185”

  1. Jonathan Harrison RIF#65 says:

    Very cool. Keep up the good work David.

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