On February 14, 1996, Justin Gillette ran down to a donut shop, bought a bear claw, and walked back. He would have never guessed at that moment Gillette would later be ranked 5th in the world at marathon running. Gillette ran his first marathon at age 16, and has since been training and working to get better. But is it possible Gillette’s career may be affecting his everyday life?
For his marathons, Gillette must travel all over the world. He has been to Hawaii over 5 times and Boston at least twice. Traveling for free might be fun, but being away from your family can be difficult. Gillette says that he has “spent more time away from home than at home.”
Gillette has 2 kids, and says that training while taking care of them can sometimes be a struggle. During some of his daily runs, Gillette uses a “jog-stroller” to push his daughter and run at the same time.
“That changes the stride I take.” Gillette said.
Furthermore, when you compete almost every other week to every week, making time to do things with children can be hard, but somehow he works through it.
When you run so many miles a day, you burn a lot of calories. Your body only holds 2,000 calories, but Gillette says he burns about 26,000 per marathon. This can affect his health if not taken care of properly. Therefore, he carries gels with him during races to eat and fuel up. Eating healthy can be difficult when choking is a threat.
“Whatever you put in your body as an athlete, comes back to it,” Gillette said when asked how he knows what to eat.
Running is not easy for Gillette, because of both physical and mental states, but he works as hard as he can to be the best he can.