Our first runner spotlight of 2022 is on Fabio Clavijo.  He first started running consistently in 9th grade, back in 1990, and then again in 2014.  Fabio remembers that “during middle school, a few of us middle school kids always bragged about who got the fastest mile on mile day during middle school.  In high school those same people “talked” me into getting involved in the track team. Later in life, in 2014, I just got a feeling to run one single mile one day and I have not stopped running for more than a week since.”  Now he runs “way too many” races according to his wife, but somewhere around 50 events a year.  Fabio’s most embarrassing moment was finishing dead last in his first high school race.  Fast forward a few years, and one of his biggest accomplishments came when he raced a sub-16min 5k, and qualified for the state 1-mile.  Another accomplishment was his first 100-miler at Oil Creek, PA.

One thing Fabio wants people to know about him is that “I did not run at all from about 2nd year of college (1996) at George Mason University until 2014.  I let other priorities (including unhealthy habits) take over my love of running.  I have now learned you can always change your physical life and come back to some form of exercise you love no matter how old.  Thanks to an old high school running buddy who showed me crazy distances over 26 miles, I have a hidden love of ultra running 50K-100 miles that I try to challenge myself to several times a year still.”  He is hoping to one day race in the Western States 100 miler and/or Lake Tahoe 200 miler!

As this year just ended, Fabio is look forward to a new Bishop’s Events series.  He enjoys our events because of the niche that we fill of small to medium sized races that have a community of inclusive runners of all abilities, ages, and both run/walk styles.  He enjoys the challenging courses and the new routes that we have added to our events.

Running has helped to Fabio to cope with stresses in life and a training run does wonders to relax his mind.  Lastly, he has met some really interesting people and learned both running lessons and life lessons from both his Bishop running friends and his ultra running friends.

Join Fabio at one of our next races!