From Spain to Dallas: Carlos Para's International Running Adventures

DFW Running Talk: Carlos Para
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Chris Detzel: [00:00:00] Welcome to DFW Running Talk. I'm Chris Detzel. So let's get started.

All right, welcome to another DFW Running Talk. I'm Chris

Carlos Para: Dutzell and today we have Carlos Parra. Carlos, how are you? Hey, Chris. Very well. Thank you for inviting me. It's exciting. Yeah, man. Hey, thanks

Chris Detzel: for getting on. Like I tell everybody else is that, I see you running. I see you winning races.

And I thought, Carlos looks like a really cool guy to have a conversation with about. Ronnie, so here we are.

Carlos Para: Yeah no, absolutely. It's, what better than spend some time discussing about what we love to do, right? On a Monday evening.

Chris Detzel: Exactly. I just got done running the CalTown half marathon.

I don't know. Did you ever run CalTown before?

Carlos Para: No, actually last year I did a rookie mistake. You were a little bit cocky with your workouts. You weren't confident training. So I'm like, okay, I'm gonna. I'm going to run the marathon as a workout. So of course, not at the pace of of my marathon pace race, [00:01:00] intense kind of long run.

So I had done, I was experimenting with doing double threshold workouts. So on that Tuesday before the race, I had done that and then I really didn't taper. So I went into a race and man I didn't finish actually the, my first. I married a UMF certified, which was a psychological mechanic.

Chris Detzel: Wow, that's interesting story. And usually whenever you go in to run a marathon, you're not going to do a hardcore workout, a few days before. I guess you learned hopefully

Carlos Para: definitely was a lesson learned. I still think that there's value and you can use a marathon or a race as a workout.

Yeah. I've done that before, but you have to, you have to respect the marathon principle and you have to respect it a lot. And I made a mistake that I didn't

Chris Detzel: respect it. Yeah. Look, I think that you can go into different races and use them as training, as long as you use them as training, number one, because the beauty about some of these races is that they have water stops.

They have different things that you don't have to necessarily worry about. And I think using a race is, [00:02:00] can be smart, and especially like in trail running, like if there's, if you're training for a hundred miler, and there's a 50 miler or 50 K out there, why not go do a race?

Because they have all this food and everything else and aid stations that, really help you. But I think it could do that as well. But, if you go, like Cowtown is a tough one because, it's got a lot of hills and if you don't respect that race and you've done a lot of training, in between that week.

Probably not a great one to be a training run. I don't know that for a marathon, maybe a half or something like that. I don't know.

Carlos Para: And the second mistake I made was I didn't start a course. So I was, some apparently there was some heel here and there, but I wasn't expecting that kind of heel.

Chris Detzel: Yeah.

There's for the half marathons from mile nine to 13, nine is the big one and your mind is a little messed up there and then the rest of it is rolling hills and it's pretty tough at the end as you know or maybe you don't since you didn't finish it, but It's a good race.

Yeah. Enough about that. I would love to know one, when did you [00:03:00] start running and you get really fast, really smart about running and stuff. So I want to hear about your journey.

Carlos Para: Okay. We can talk about that. And then at the end, we can talk about trail running because I've done a couple of races as training for longer races in trail running.

So we can answer. Talk about that later, sir. Yeah. So I think that's a very important question because the more I dive into running and the more I meet people and meet other runners, it's critical, the background, how long you've been running, what other sports you've done before. So yeah, I'm personally, I don't have the typical running background.

I started running seriously with COVID. That a

Chris Detzel: lot of people did.

Carlos Para: Yeah. That was, it was bad for many things, but it was good for many other things. Yeah. But despite that, I had a sort of sports background, right? So I, the main sport I used to play back when I was in Spain. So I'm from Spain.

It was a little bit of soccer, but mainly I was playing field hockey, which is, I don't know if you're, how it is more or less field hockey.

Chris Detzel: I know what hockey is, but field hockey, I [00:04:00] think is different.

Carlos Para: Yeah, we play with a stick. And the ball is a round ball, like tennis ball size and the field is turf.

So we're running we play us 11 versus 11. So it's similar to a, so I think the type of activity or a type of effort is similar to soccer.

Chris Detzel: So it's on Spain. Do you call it soccer or football? Football. Okay. Got it. Just make it sure.

Carlos Para: Yeah, I'm getting used to the American way, yeah.

So it's fine. Yeah, exactly. ~ ~I was curious. Yeah. So yeah, I, I played field hockey relatively competitively since I was 11 or 12, until I was 27. When I moved to the US to study. During that time, I had run a little bit. So of course when you're training for field hockey, you run, the typical running, do 10 laps at the field or or on my own.

I would run now and then I remember I had done a couple of five case. Just for fun. And I had done gone under 20, like 19, high 19 [00:05:00] minutes. So I guess that was a fitness that my field hockey training would, could give me,

Chris Detzel: I feel like that something like field hockey, soccer, football, whatever is a very good activity to go in, then go into running.

I've seen a lot of really. Successful soccer players, go into running and be very good at it. So it makes sense to me. Yeah, I think you're really good at running too. So

Carlos Para: it's a good base and also it gives you the discipline of having that sport also that's important, right? And I remember when I was 19, I was in the university.

My classmate came and told me, Hey, there's this half marathon that if we do, they give us like a, have a credit for school. Whatever we're doing, it's wow, half marathon is let's do it. But it's one of those things I have. Yeah, I had run when I ran playing hockey, and then I remember I did I went to the treadmill because I didn't even know how far, how much is What is a half marathon anyway?

Yeah, I don't know. Exactly. So I went to the treadmill and I ran I think 12K. So I will, [00:06:00] so I have math in this 21 case, 12 kids, a little over a half marathon in the treadmill. And I did that and then, okay, where do we go? So then we ran the half marathon and I think I did one hour 45 or something at 44, which is not bad.

Chris Detzel: It's impressive for somebody who never ran a marathon or even trained for a marathon or half marathon.

Carlos Para: Yeah, it was fun. Yeah. And from there, I did a couple, I I still, I knew around for a few years and then. Just before moving to the U. S. that year before, I ran a couple of halves because my brother was getting into running, so I did a couple of half marathons, and I remember the time I went like 140, then I did 137, and I think I went down to 132, but then I moved to the U.

S., and I moved to Boston, which is going to be key for my running. Story, right? So in Boston, I was doing my residency in as we talked before in periodontics and dental implants, so I'm a dentist. I did my specialty of I did my dental school in Spain. I then I went to Boston for three years to do my specialty in periodontics and dental implants.

[00:07:00] Interesting. Yeah. It was a good move. It was fun. It was a good, great city to study. Great city.

Chris Detzel: Expensive. But man, I want to move there one day.

Carlos Para: Yeah. It's, I'm going to do it again. I had the experience. It's good. But definitely.

Chris Detzel: Yeah.

Carlos Para: Yeah. So let's back up

Chris Detzel: then. So you go to dental school and we'll talk about running in a minute, but then when did you come to Dallas?

Is it after school and you had a job or some offer or something or what?

Carlos Para: Yeah. So I finished my residency program in Boston. So I graduated. 20, 20 2015. Yeah, I had the opportunity to come here to teach at Texas a College of the Dentistry. And I just moved November, 2015. Okay. And you've been here ever since?

Yeah. Haven't moved. Okay.

Chris Detzel: How do you like it and how do you like Dallas? You probably never even heard of Dallas until maybe you heard of it, but you probably like, I don't know what's, like

Carlos Para: I heard I live, but I imagine like the, you are in the far west with the rail. I came here and this is basically, you said one of my professors in Boston, he told me if you want to stay in the U S why don't you [00:08:00] move Texas?

It's cheaper than Boston. There's no state tax and the weather is similar to stay, which I think it's way harder here.

Chris Detzel: Yeah, probably.

Carlos Para: More similar than Boston probably. ~ ~So yeah, I like it. It's good. It's professionally. I'm happy and then definitely running it's good. I like it.

It's tough in the summer, but it makes you make a stronger runner,

Chris Detzel: yeah. Yeah. If you smart over the summer and just run in the mornings or something like that, and maybe you do some races, maybe not kill yourself on the races, but at least run fairly hard. October, November comes and Dallas, you're just going to be flying and feel like, you're faster than you ever have been.

So you run some half marathons and then you move to Boston. And so you start getting into the running scene. Is that right? Or,

Carlos Para: but in Boston I tried running a couple of times, but I was having ITB band syndrome for three years. Yeah. So I tried to run a little bit. I had it. Then I start playing pickup soccer.

So for a while we're playing soccer. It didn't aggravate that. So [00:09:00] I didn't try running for weeks or months and I would run again. And after 20 minutes in the treadmill, again, pain. So I was, I had a hate with running. I was just, I can do sports. I can play soccer. I don't need to, I can do G weights.

I'm not going to run for three years. I tried to run. Yes, sporadically. 20 minutes here and there, 30 minutes. But I really, I was playing soccer like two or three times a week. So I was doing some good stuff, you

Chris Detzel: know,

Carlos Para: some activity, and then I moved. And you come to Dallas, there is no

Chris Detzel: soccer.

Carlos Para: No, there is.

I played soccer. No, I know there is. I played soccer. I played soccer in Dallas. Even more, because I was not going to school, right? So I was, I had no time to play soccer. So I was playing soccer, tennis, riding a little bit on the Peloton indoor cycling. When I was in Boston, I experienced a Boston bombing.

So that was Oh, you did. Okay. I was not in the city that weekend, but a friend of mine, she was injured. Had I been there, I would have been in the finish line because everyone went to watch the race. So that was quite hard. And then I [00:10:00] remember the year after when Meb.

One, the race, I was, I remember I was watching. So I didn't appreciate at that moment, how hard was a marathon or how tough was that, but that later sparked a little bit, yeah, the drive for running. So then I was in here in Dallas doing my thing, working out. And then this, the winter of 2020, somehow every winter I go for Christmas, I go to Spain to see my family.

So I started, I went for a run and my ITB band was gone. And I was like, huh? And my brother at that point, he was a runner. He had done some trail racers. He was relatively competitive. I'm a player competitive. And so we went for runs and I was still in grip. So then I went back to that, came back in January.

Wait, can you kick your brother's ass in a run or no?

Chris Detzel: Say again? Can you kick your brother's ass in a run or no?

Carlos Para: No, yes. Yeah. Okay. But I think he's 250, 250 or 255 marathoner, 250 maybe. So pretty good. Yeah, pretty good. And now a few years ago, he [00:11:00] was kicking my ass, and now, that's the way.

Chris Detzel: Wait, let's keep going.

Sorry. I've got so many questions, but let's keep going. I'll ask you dude.

Carlos Para: Okay. So yeah. Okay. So January of 2020 in the Christmas, when I was in school, I started writing and it was fine. So my brother told me, there's this thing called Strava. Why don't you use it so I can follow you and you can follow me.

I didn't know about it. Yeah. So after that, I fell in love with the app, right? It's great. And from there, I started running, then COVID hit in March. So no soccer leagues, no gyms. So that's where I went like full mode running. I just started running. Didn't have much else to do.

Chris Detzel: Exactly. A lot of people did.

You

Carlos Para: know? I'm in Katy Trail. I was living very close to the Katy Trail at that time. So I was growing. Not every day because at that time I was still, my muscles were still adapting. But every other day for sure. And that's what I realized after a few months, I started thinking, huh, I can run for an hour and a half.

Maybe I could try to qualify for [00:12:00] Boston. Yeah. That's what starts everything.

Chris Detzel: All right. Let's go there. So you decided that you wanted to potentially qualify for Boston, but did you, were you, how were you training and what did that look like? Did do your own, um, did you get in with a group or anything like that?

Or how did that work? So I lost a bit the connection. You were asking me how I, what could be the question. So you mentioned that you're thinking about Boston now qualifying for Boston. What did you get in a group now? So tell me about that. And then the experience up to trying to qualify for Boston.

Carlos Para: Yeah. So that's when I met DLC, which is probably when we met maybe, or yeah. Yeah. So I remember DLC, I remember about, I just knew I w I didn't have any experience with any running clubs or any running groups. So I went they were meeting on Tuesday. I paid for the marathon training program.

Just a little after, not immediately. ~ ~A few months after and I don't know exactly when was it, but anyways, I signed up for the marathon training program and I think I joined the 15 315 marathon group. And I think very [00:13:00] quickly we moved into the three hour group, which there was a fastest group.

And I was running with Matt Tamer, who was a Jake Miyamoto, like a Japanese guy.

Chris Detzel: Yeah.

Carlos Para: A couple of like Chris, there were a couple of guys and that taught me a lot about how to create a structure in the workouts. I was also reading and researching on my own, but that really. taught me a little bit on, on how to make things work.

And really, I stayed with DRC going there on Tuesdays, on Saturdays, like very religiously for, I would say, probably over a year or more until there was a point. ~ ~There was no, once you, we hit sub three hours to 55, there's no group. And when we, for a while, we would grab some people from the group and say, yeah, let's do it.

I don't see it. Let's do it until eventually we'll find it. And I thought on my own way, because as I said, there wasn't a really, at some point, I think we'll see, didn't give me what I needed to, I'm still a part of, I'm still part of the [00:14:00] group. But not the math and training program.

Chris Detzel: Do you do you run with anybody right now?

There's a group called Pegasus that meets in Dallas that is about your speed and faster. Yeah,

Carlos Para: Yeah. I heard about Pegasus, there's labs also. The thing is that these guys meet up at 5 a. m.

Chris Detzel: Yeah, they do. They wake up early.

Carlos Para: Yeah, and I'm occasionally around occasionally on a Saturday, but it's hard for mornings I'm not a morning person.

I'm not running today around in the morning, but in the morning I can just jog. For a workout It's hard for me to do a workout in the morning.

Chris Detzel: Hard workout. So

Carlos Para: I do a lot of my workouts alone Sometimes I have some friends that I we text We do a little group of two or three people now and then, but I do a lot of my runs alone.

Chris Detzel: That makes sense. Whatever works. Just thought you would know or should know that there's some faster groups out there if you care to ever join them. Yeah, I know, I

Carlos Para: know, I know the guy. I know the guys. I, as I say, I know the guys personally. I'm not a regular David Alfonso,

Chris Detzel: or he's the one that kinda azo and Alfonso

Carlos Para: then of course, money that you brought to the Yeah.

To [00:15:00] your podcast. Travis. Which is way faster than the movie I made, Him in the Groove. He's probably faster than most. No, there's a great group and they're great and I wish I could mentally wake up that early and run that early.

Chris Detzel: You can, you just have to make yourself do it if you ever care to, but you don't have to, you don't have to.

All right you start running with DRC, what was your first marathon? What, tell me all about then what you did.

Carlos Para: I remember the Not mixing the dates. Anyway my, when I started running, I was like, okay, I need to qualify for Boston. I think I can. But I want to give me myself the best chance.

So I looked a marathon that was favorable, like a little downhill. So I found one in Utah. It's called the Provo Marathon. So I was like, okay, I'm going to do that one. I registered several months before and I had already with COVID there was no race. So I had been running for over a year, maybe. And I did my program.

I was training with DRC at that time. So I showed up and my goal was to break three hours [00:16:00] or close to three hours. So I started with that. With a three hour pacer and I remember talking to the guy, he's okay, so how does it work? So are you keeping it on the pace or how, and then I remember I asked him how fast have you, how fast are you?

And he told me I've never broken three. He's oh, really? Okay. So what's going to happen today? He's we're going to do it today. It's okay. So yeah, I remember we went with a pacer and I was feeling really good. I had my nutrition relatively diet, or I knew more or less what I was doing. With nutrition, every 10 K I was eating something.

And I remember after halfway, I will pass maybe after the 15 mile. I felt good. So I pushed. I pushed a little bit and finished 255 or 254, so that was nice. I felt good. The first one, he

Chris Detzel: hit

Carlos Para: a 255, that's pretty amazing. I was happy with that.

Chris Detzel: Yeah. Yeah, I was, I

Carlos Para: was

Chris Detzel: happy. Nobody does that, hardly. Travis did it.

He did a 226, but. ~ ~Which is crazy. That's crazy, yeah. Okay, but, all right, let, all right. So when you look at like [00:17:00] somebody like Travis, he's been running though in college, 60 or 70 miles every week for a long time. And he's got a lot of talent, but let's put it in perspective. He's been running for a long time.

And at those miles, just not maybe 26 miles at one time. Anyways, go ahead.

Carlos Para: No. With all respect to Travis A. Murphy, with all respect, I'm sure it was a lot easier for him to break 230 than for me to break three hours. I don't know.

Chris Detzel: He didn't know what he's going to run. That was his only marathon he's ever run.

That's true. I don't

Carlos Para: think he's run a marathon since. But he can, I'm sure he can go a lot. He'll be able to, we'll see him. We'll see him go fast. Dude, this guy,

Chris Detzel: who knows what his talent level is? Nobody knows yet. It's it'd be fun to watch. Anyways, so you get a 255 ish, right? And yeah.

Carlos Para: And I qualified for Boston.

Chris Detzel: Yeah.

Carlos Para: So then next year I go for Boston.

Chris Detzel: Did you run any marathons before, like in Boston or was that it, just that one? That's

Carlos Para: a very good question that I can answer you in a second. If I minimize the window, you can still see me or no?

Chris Detzel: Yeah, I can see

Carlos Para: you. I have a [00:18:00] graphic of my progression in the marathon, right?

So yeah, so I did have it right here. So I want to make sure I, so I did, yeah, I did in June 2021, I did Utah Valley Marathon in Provo. No, I did, yeah, I did a few because yeah, I did Boston, December 2021. I did, I'm not, sorry, Boston, Dallas.

Chris Detzel: Dallas, got it, December, right before Boston, huh?

Carlos Para: I know, yeah, that, that winter before, so I did Utah to 54, then I trained for Dallas 38.

Oh, so that was a good improvement. Then I ran Houston, so I went quite, you're just. Yeah, get entered, maybe, no I had a great experience with it. I really love the feeling of the race and I really enjoy it. I just got into we're going to 2022. I ran seven months and so we can go later into 2020.

Okay.

Chris Detzel: Jesus.

Carlos Para: That's January, 2022. I ran Houston 245. So I'm PR'ing. [00:19:00] So I'm like, Oh man, if I keep like this, I'm going to go through the Olympic trials.

Chris Detzel: Well, an Olympic trials for guys is what, 220 something? Yeah.

Carlos Para: I'm not even American, so I cannot even qualify.

Chris Detzel: Oh, you can't. Okay. Got it.

Carlos Para: So anyways, so I ran Houston, feeling good 245.

Then I ran the Woodlands in 2020 in Same year. When was that? Yeah. 2020 to the women's two to 45. So I'm plateauing now. It's a little harder to improve the time. And then after the Woodlands, I will Boston. Okay. Boston. We'll enjoy it. I did improve to 43. I'm improving every race. I'm getting better at it, really enjoy Boston.

I thought that You got three more to go. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The next one was was St. George. Downhill.

Chris Detzel: Yeah. I'm

Carlos Para: like, I want to go fast. 237. All right. All right. Man, but that was up to today. Today is my fastest one. Yeah. I haven't been able to future. Those downhill, man, [00:20:00] help

Chris Detzel: those downhills help a lot, yeah.

Carlos Para: Personally

Chris Detzel: probably kick your ass as well, I don't know, like afterwards if you're like, like your legs were dying or you pretty, yeah,

Carlos Para: Maybe, I think it's, I think it depends on the person. For me, some people I know some friends that, that have done downhill s. And they really haven't had a great experience for me.

It really, it made a big difference for me. I really had, yeah, I went fast. I like

Chris Detzel: I ran a downhill half marathon. I get a one 28 was my best a couple of years ago. And that was the one in Utah at a revel race. Look, I loved it, man. Don't get me wrong, I'm gonna swear afterwards, but it was my favorite and my best half marathon by far.

I've never run so fast in my life, for that long, I was like, wow, like this is, yeah, marathon would be tougher, way tougher for me to do, but that's awesome. All right, you get all these marathons, you did seven of them, 237 is your best which is pretty impressive and more impressive is your 255 to me.

And your first marathon, what did you do it now? Like, how do you train? What are you looking [00:21:00] at, first of all, are you looking at a marathon this year?

Carlos Para: Yeah, I've done Boston for the last three years. I remember I tried to do 10 years in a row. I have friends there from when I went, when I was studying there.

So it's a great excuse. ~ ~Yeah, my goal, the year 2022, I did seven marathons. That was good, but I feel you stagnate a lot. You cannot really train well. It's just you're training a little bit, running, tapering, running, recovering, tapering, running, recovering. So you're not really.

Chris Detzel: It's probably too many in general, for one year or seven, I'm not saying, ~ ~but especially racing, maybe if you're jogging, but not racing all of those. It's just probably, over time, you're gonna get injured, dude. That's just, to me, I think that's just

Carlos Para: No, I agree 100%. One of them I think one of them I jogged it, or I just went for fun but we, I, even, I had the back to back weekend one weekend, another weekend, and that went, that, that got me for a month after that, I was taking these maneuvers, and it was bothering me a little bit.

That was, [00:22:00] yeah, I would recommend

Chris Detzel: that.

Carlos Para: Yeah, I don't recommend that, but yeah, my approach currently is so I'm doing Boston, so when I want to do good in Boston, so that's my spring sort of main goal. Then I do a ultra trail race in the summer. I like to do, because I want to qualify for Western states.

So you need to do a qualifier race every year to be able to. ~ ~That's a hundred

Chris Detzel: miles. So you can do a hundred miler.

Carlos Para: A hundred K. Yeah. A hundred K.

Chris Detzel: Yeah.

Carlos Para: It still takes a hundred miles, but doing a hundred K you can qualify. Yeah. Depending on the place. Yeah.

Chris Detzel: Yeah.

Carlos Para: So I've done the last two years, I've done 200 Ks every year.

Excuse me. So two years ago I did Grindstone, which in Virginia is a part of the UTMB series. And then last year I did this race in Spain is a UTMB Val Duran is in the Pyrenees. That's 21, 000 feet of radiation gain, so that was Brutal, but I really enjoyed it. So I'm going to do this to write again.

Yeah, that's a completely different [00:23:00] adventure. We'll talk about it. If you want, it's an adventure. I really enjoy also the trail riding. I think it's a different, but it is an adventure. It's a different, it's an adventure for, I found yeah,

Chris Detzel: here's, my wife and I, so my wife's been to Boston her 12th time coming up.

She was going to go to London this year as well. We're big into, or we have been big into both trail running and road running. So we've been to we did this adventure race a few years ago in Colorado called TransRockies. And this is going to be the last year that they do it, but it's 120 miles in six days with 20, 000 feet of gain.

You're outside going to all these different places. And one day it could be a 25 mile with, and then next day it could be 13 and then another 25, et cetera. All the way up to 120. And we even went to this last year, last September, we went running in the Alps. So there's this program that, you know, or this group that you can get with.

Basically we did five days of running several, I don't know, 50 or 60 miles of running, I forget, up in the trails in the Alps, went to the French Alps and then Swiss Alps. And, just [00:24:00] jogged and ran and, it wasn't a race, but there was a race at the end as well. But, so I think it's important, to think about like, what is going to keep you going?

What's going to keep you interested in running or whatever your exercise is, so I love that, that you're doing that. You gotta have goals and you have pretty lofty goals,

Carlos Para: so the correction again, so you're asking me. What keeps me in my interest basically, yeah, yeah, you know what I said?

Chris Detzel: Yeah, that's pretty much what I said is that's how, what motivates me, right? What, what keeps you going? It seems like just doing different things.

Carlos Para: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Just trying new things and also running. You can, you get to know new places. You can. And then run in those places.

I'm going, I was, I'm going to Austria in a couple of months. I'm going to run there. I'm going to go around it. I, every trip, I went to Columbia also. So all the trips I'm doing, I'm trying to run. And it's a great way to get to know a city nowadays with travel, with Garmin, you can download the maps and you can go throughout the city, running [00:25:00] around, seeing the city.

You stay in shape and you learn and see the city. So it's great. Great experience. You

Chris Detzel: just. You just put it on your watch and just follow your watch and it tells you where to go. Is that kind of how you do it?

Carlos Para: Yeah. I don't really like to run with my cell phone in general.

Chris Detzel: I don't either.

Carlos Para: Yeah. So I just try to keep minimal. So I look up the routes on the app of Strava, for example, and then I put it on my phone. And then I just keep following the the watches.

Chris Detzel: Yeah. No problems. Like whatever, like you can be in another country and do it.

Carlos Para: Yeah. I've been in, I've done it in Europe and so far in Europe and South America also like Mexico.

I've done it. Yeah, I've done it in the country and there's no problem. Of course, depending on the country, you want to be a little careful right where you go. I think. Exactly. So I have to, know the places parts are next to it. Yeah, parts. Some parts. Yeah.

Chris Detzel: Yeah. So

Carlos Para: what do

Chris Detzel: you

Carlos Para: get planned for this year?

What, so you got Boston coming up? I'm new Boston. I have the witness Marathon next weekend as a tour up for Boston. The winner, sorry. We have marathon. Okay. [00:26:00] Half the same.

Okay. Alright. The rule half as a tuneup. Then I have Boston in April then I'm going to, from Boston, I'm going to jump to train for the trail race in July, the UTMB, like this 110K race in Spain. Do you run any trails here in Dallas? Just to show? Yeah. I've gone to Cedar Ridge.

Chris Detzel: Yeah. I love Cedar Ridge.

Carlos Para: Yeah. And I run every year. This year I may not be able to run it, but I run the Possum Revenge 56K.

Chris Detzel: Okay. Which

Carlos Para: Is a great. Training race. I use that one to train for the hundred case. And this year I won't be in time for the possum race, but I'm going to Utah for a 50 K race with a lot of elevation gain, because here the problem is that you're going to train elevation.

So I'm going to Utah for a long weekend to this 50 K race, and I'm going to Colorado for another four days. To train also in the mountains. So every year I've been doing this little three to four days training camps. And I just go, I went to Flagstaff last year. I went to Denver last year. I'm going [00:27:00] back this year to Utah last year.

I'm going back this year. So to train for this trail race, I like to go to the mountains and spend three, four days, just hammering three, four hour days in the mountains. ~ ~Yeah, do you go with a friend or something or no? So my partner, my girlfriend, she comes sometimes, but last year I went to Denver on my she couldn't make it.

So I was four days. I flew to Denver, rented a car, drove two hours to this place called Grand Lake. I had a little cabin. And from there, I learned I just planned my routes. So in the morning, I had breakfast at 9am, I would go for five hours in the mountains. Come back, have dinner, and I repeat, that

Chris Detzel: was fun.

It was really good. You should go find like a community of people where you can have beers or something, true. If I have beers, say, we're going to catch a bear and run. Couple beers, it's not going to hurt, at night, that's true. Do you

Carlos Para: drink?

I assume. Most A little bit, but that's another thing that when you start running and when you start handling, you change your habits. I [00:28:00] haven't drunk anything in a month. If I go out, someone's birthday, I'll get a beer, but the last month, I haven't drunk, not even a beer. Yeah. Yeah.

Chris Detzel: It's, that will

Carlos Para: be

Chris Detzel: changed.

I have a group that we meet on Thursdays, and, usually it's at Norbot. Have you, Norbuck is right. Yeah. And during kind of the winter times we meet at a bar, a local bar, and just hang out and eat a little bit, drink a couple of beers. You're welcome to come.

And he told

Carlos Para: you, no,

Chris Detzel: No. It's we meet at about five 30 or six and stay till dark, basically. Sometimes people will run. Sometimes we won't, it's just a hangout. That's pretty cool, man. Way more interesting than I thought. I love that you just get out and just You know what I find about people that are European is that like, all right, so I used to have a bunch of friends or people that I worked with and they were, the company was a French company.

And so what's funny is that they would come out to Dallas and they would live and they would, they'd get to work at the company [00:29:00] because we would bring in people from France and. They get to stay here for two or three years. Every weekend or so, they're taking off, going to Utah, or Colorado, or New York, or every single time they're just doing all the things.

It's, but I think that's culturally what you do anyways if you live in Spain, or France, or whatever, you're going to Germany, or you're going to Switzerland, or you're, you can just go to these different places. And so I think that's just feels like it's built in to your thinking anyways.

So I love it. Yeah. That's awesome. I

Carlos Para: think, yeah, you may be right. Yeah. I think, as much as I like travel, but I also, if you're into, for example, marathon specific training in the heat of training. It's also good to just stay in your habits and sleep in your bed but definitely traveling.

We're not professionals here. Just enjoy a little bit, combine the love for traveling and the love for running.

Chris Detzel: And that's, that's exactly what my wife and I've done over the years is we're just like, let's go if we go to Europe or if we go to Utah, I don't know, wherever let's plan a run [00:30:00] because it's way more fun to me to be able to do something like that, rather than like one year we, she went to run the marathon in Germany, right? The Berlin I was like let's stay for four or five days. So we did, and we went to Switzerland and we saw some things, but we just. We didn't do much, like we just and I'm like, okay, I don't never, I never want to do a thing that we don't have some activity, like running activity or something that's every day, maybe there's one day we don't do anything, but something like that.

So I love, I guess I'm just saying, I agree with you. I love that.

Carlos Para: Yeah,

Chris Detzel: and you said your girlfriend goes with you. So that's pretty awesome.

Carlos Para: Is she a dentist as well? Or so she's a level and she probably leaves she lives in the woodlands. She moved for work So that's also a good excuse to go run the half marathon or I'm, spend time with her.

She also runs, I'm coaching or advising her. I'm not a coach, but I advise she's been doing PRs. She, except for the marathon, but for the half, she's 130. She's going to break, yeah, it's fast. She's going to break [00:31:00] 130 this weekend in the Woodlands. All right. Are you going to break, what's your best half?

So my best was in Houston last January. Yeah. I did one 16. Okay. 34. But I wanna break about 16 in the Woodlands. And yeah, I wanna keep, I feel

Chris Detzel: You have a one 10 in you at some point.

Carlos Para: I would like, I think, yeah. I will have a hard goal, but definitely I would like, I think it's a possibly you train,

Chris Detzel: if you ever train.

If you're focused in on that, you might be able to do it.

Carlos Para: But yeah, I would like to definitely keep getting faster and faster as I can on the path. Or in the distances, actually, I really even like racing 5Ks. I know. That's why I saw you this

Chris Detzel: last weekend or a couple weekends ago was Form Follows Fitness.

Yeah. And I think you got second place with the 1702 or one or something like that, right? 1659. Keep that up, actually. Oh, okay. I thought of that. Chip times 16. Okay. That counts. I was disappointed that you didn't get first though.

Carlos Para: I was close. I didn't taper too well that week. So I think with a good taper, I could have gotten closer, at least closer to the first guy.

No, but it was, I really love [00:32:00] to, the competition, even if I don't win, just having some run. To just being having a battle that's, there's a lot of competition here

Chris Detzel: in Dallas. For 5Ks, there's a lot of competition. Yeah.

Carlos Para: I

Chris Detzel: think for any race, do you ever, you win some of these 5Ks though, don't you?

Yeah.

Carlos Para: Occasionally there's competition, but occasionally there's races.

So yeah, sometimes I wish there was a little more on some races. I think, I feel there's so many little races sometimes that is hard to have all the people running in all the races. If you're

Chris Detzel: going to run a DRC race or something, you're probably going to win it, right? You have to go to these bigger kind of races to get that competition.

Some of the kids, that are 15, 16, 17 years old are, 15 minute 5Kers, and probably not going to beat that, I know you've seen it.

Carlos Para: Yeah I tell him to come with me to the trails. Yeah, exactly.

Chris Detzel: How do you go on the trails? I'm sure you're pretty fast on the trails too, huh?

Carlos Para: As we said, this record makes it like possible names. I finish like ~ ~I've won a couple of the smaller ones, but yeah, but when you go to one of these big races, for example, [00:33:00] the UTMB in the Pyrenees, which that, so UTMB as organizes some, has this, is this company organizes races and you have the main one.

In Germany, in France so the one in Spain, it's considered, they call it a world major, so there's, in each continent, they have a world major, so that's a world, so it gives you double the stones, which is the lottery tickets to qualify for the main UTMB event, right? So that's very competitive. Man, that really humbled me.

Roman, Irma Phoenix, kicking my ass, Irma Bryce. I'm like, just striving to just keep up. It was really a humbling experience, actually. Very humbling.

Chris Detzel: Those guys are pros. They go to Europe and run a UTMB like race or whatever, or something put on by them, you're probably not going to win it, no matter.

Cause these guys just do it all day, every day.

Carlos Para: I did this 50 K that I did for, I'm going to do for training. I did last year, granted it's my race, but I finished fourth, right? Finished fourth. So I went to the UTMB and I finished like 600. It's like, out of [00:34:00] 2000. It's I don't know.

Chris Detzel: It's different, and 600 is probably pretty good, but you're not running a lot of mountain races. If you were to actually train for that, if you lived out in Colorado or somewhere like that you probably be quite a bit better and trained, you live in Dallas, so you'll never, unless you just travel every weekend to do it, you're not going to be great at it.

It's a

Carlos Para: different, very different animal, Christian. And it's also what we're talking about, what I was saying about an adventure for the trail races. It's not only the race, but also the preparation. So you're in Dallas. You need to learn how to go up 20, 20, 000 feet and how to go down. So what do you do?

So you go to the gym in the treadmill, you put the treadmill up and you just grab hammer threshold at the treadmill. You go with the weights and do some weights, some lounges, but I can't go up and down 25 times.

Chris Detzel: Yep. That's all you can do. Do you ever, have you heard of blaze trails? Do you do any of their runs?

Carlos Para: Blaze trails. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I've done I've done the, I think Summerfest is the one they [00:35:00] have in August, then that one, I've done a few of the races. They're

Chris Detzel: probably the most, they're one of the most local races, that put on trail races in DFW ish area, and so does Libby. She puts out some, a few races as well, I forget, anyways. That's cool, man. Is there something that I probably should have asked you that you're just dying to tell me that I just didn't get to?

Carlos Para: No, I think we talked, we touched everything. I think running is just a matter of consistency. And you know it and I think, it's important.

We just get every day, not every day or every other day, whatever is your thing, but just not let it go and just keep doing it because it's really. I really love it. And I love chatting with you and chatting with friends and chatting with talking about different trainings and what you do for training.

And what about these? How you did that? Everything. I think it's just great. There's a lot more people that don't know it. They don't understand it. But you and I and all the community that, that does it it's amazing. And it's great that you have this podcast for how long you've been doing the podcast.

If I can ask. This particular [00:36:00] podcast since October. Wow. It's so it's recent but it's great. I hope you keep up with it because it's going to, it's this little thing that I think is what making the running community bigger and better. And yeah, yeah,

Chris Detzel: look, I'm always interested in talking to local runners that You know, they're doing something consistently running, and serious about their running and, it's obvious that you are and were, and so that's why I was like, I got to talk to Carlos.

I got to get to know him better. So I appreciate you coming on.

Carlos Para: Absolutely. It's my pleasure. And yeah, I hope to see you. So what are you rising? What are you training for next? You're asking me, I'm asking you to help. Yeah.

Chris Detzel: So I just, so I was going to do this race in New Hampshire and decided that That I'm not going to do it.

My wife is going to Boston and then she's going to London. So I'll do some 5ks, but I haven't planned out. Like usually I have things planned out, far into the summer past, but I'll probably just do some local stuff. I'll probably do DRC half. I'll do more halves and I won't do any fulls.

I'll definitely either pace or race at Dallas. I [00:37:00] have Houston next year that I want to race. The full or the half? No, just halves. Dude, I don't really do fulls anymore. It's been 10 years since I run a full, like race to full marathon. I've done some things like that, but it's more of, my wife and I are going to go on this six day, vacation and do a lot of running.

And so sometimes there'll be a 25 miler that day or something, but I'm not racing it. You know what I mean? Yeah, but so i'll do some local stuff. I was thinking about doing a 5k Probably with my son, but i'm not gonna i'm not gonna stay with him He can just do his own, race, but so that's coming up.

It's called the velvet hammer or something like that's a 5k I think you probably run it, but they put it on every year and then, we'll do the mambo miles and that one. Yeah, you should do it again, man. That's fine. Fun. Just because of the after party, so we'll do some five K's and things, but.

I don't know, man, like I just, I'm enjoying just hanging out, running with the community and not being extremely serious about it, cause I've run so much over the years that this year I'm just [00:38:00] let's just see. So nothing really that exciting at the moment. for me, but I am going back to France to see a buddy of mine.

We are going to do a race. It's a, I think it's a cycling. So it's a running and cycling race. It's in Annecy, France. And so at the same time, so they have this big, beautiful lake in Annecy. I don't know if you've ever heard of Annecy? No. It's right on the border of Geneva, Switzerland and France, right?

And so anyways, it's a big lake. It's about 35k around. I don't know how long this race is, but basically on this race, you have to run, or your friend has to run and one has to be on the bike, on the cycle, and then one has to be on the bike. One has to be on the cycle, and one has to be running.

Huh. And so you just take turns, right? So I could do 20 miles, and you could do 5 miles, like on the bike, or whatever. You just never seen anything like it, and I thought, shit, I'll do it with you. Why not? Yeah, why not? So I'll go out there and hang out with him so it'll just be me and him hanging out, and doing stuff.

That'd be great. Probably be my fun thing that I do this year.

Carlos Para: Wait, that's good. Yeah, it sounds exciting. Definitely something interesting. Let me know how it [00:39:00] goes.

Chris Detzel: I will. That's not until September, but I'm going to book that true, by the way. But still, yeah. That to me is what it's going to be fun, but cool, man.

It's been a pleasure talking to you. I

Carlos Para: appreciate you coming on. Likewise. It's great talking to you. And again, thank you for what you're doing and for having me here. I hope to catch up later with you.

Chris Detzel: Of course. All right, Carlos. Thank you everyone for tuning in to another DFW Running Talk.

I'm Chris Detzel. Don't forget to rate and review us. Very important. Thank you everyone.