10 Laps with Mikel Gurrea
presented by The PreRacePodcast
Age: 38
Hometown: Pamplona, Spain
Day Job: Postdoctoral Fellow in Internal Medicine at UM
1. What's your favorite place to run locally?
I like to run on Cherry Hill Road in Superior Township. When I am in Ann Arbor, I like Huron River Drive and Gallup Park.
And if I feel like doing some hills, Barton Hills is where you will find me.
2. Craziest thing to happen to you while running?
I have two stories.
Great Lakes Relay 2021, day 2. It was unbearably hot and humid. I was running on the North County Trail when I saw this girl collapse onto the ground. We were in the middle of the woods. No phone. No water or food. No dirt roads nearby.
When I got closer to her, I realized that she had been stung by a bee and that she was having a severe allergic reaction. She was also very confused and disoriented. Eventually, another runner spotted us and we decided that one of us should stay with her while the other one should find their way out and call an ambulance. Thankfully, the girl ended up being okay, but it was very scary.
Another time, I was running with Olivia de Bear and Nirala Singh near Domino’s Farms when my dog, which was unleashed, saw another dog playing with a little girl outside a really nice house. The little girl started panicking when both dogs started running towards each other. She kept calling her dog’s name (Buddy! Buddy! Buddy!) and holding down the button on her shock collar remote to prevent her dog to run towards my dog, but it did not work…
Then, little girl’s mother came out of the house and both dogs ran inside of it. Apparently, they were both playing and having a blast inside! This was during the peak of the covid-19 pandemic, when we did not know anything about the virus, so I was unsure whether the family wanted me to enter their home to pick up my dog or not. At the end, everyone was laughing but thank goodness my dog was super friendly and so was Buddy.
Otherwise, this could have gone horribly wrong.
3. Best place for coffee after a run?
Recently, it has been Hyperion Coffee in Ann Arbor. Before the pandemic, it was Sweet Waters in Kerrytown.
4. Favorite workout?
Easy. Mile repeats. They just work for me. I love that particular form of prolonged but bearable pain and the endorphin rush after. I am not particularly good at 400s or 800s.
5. Best TV show you've watched this year?
This year I have not watched nearly as many shows as I have in the past, but I must admit I have enjoyed The Flight Attendant and some supernatural/horror/suspenseful shows such as Stranger Things, American Horror Story and You.
6. Conspiracy theory you subscribe to?
None, but the two that make me laugh the most are that the Earth is flat and that the birds are not real. It is mind blowing to me that some people believe in those.
7. Do you have any race day superstitions?
No superstitions, but I have a very particular way to mentally prepare myself for a race. When I feel very nervous, I tend to momentarily isolate myself from others until I find my inner peace, so you might find me listening to music or just hanging by myself for a little bit.
I also like to talk to myself and plan my race during my warm-up, which I usually do solo. I believe that the mental part is as important as the physical part when it comes to marathons.
I am probably sounding like a super distant person who hates to run with people, but that is far from the truth. Those who know me well know that I enjoy running with people, even though I like to have some time for myself before a big race. I probably adopted this behavior from my all the years I played tennis in high school and college.
8. What is the last race you ran? How did it go?
My last race was in Indianapolis, and it could not have gone any better. Seeing so many friends crushed it in such rough conditions made me very happy.
9. PR you are most proud of?
Probably the Indianapolis Marathon this year, which I ran in 2:49:30.
10. One thing that most Bandits don't know about you?
At the age of 8, I was diagnosed with a rare, hereditary and debilitating disease that affects the cells that make up the femur (your thigh bone). I was not able to run, jump or do any exercises for 4 full years. I was only able to walk around my house. The disease usually resolves on its know when you hit puberty so locally, at the age of 12, I was able to start walking again.
The fact that I barely moved for 4 years made me realize how lucky are those who can exercise regularly. I also think that I can tolerate a great amount of musculoskeletal pain because of all of that.
