Running and Actuaries

Why does it seem that so many in the actuarial field are into distance running?  Is it that we like challenges?  Is it that, as one of my coworkers suggested, we just like suffering?  Everyone’s story is different.  I got into running a few years ago through my husband, Nick, who is an avid runner.

After our elliptical machine broke, I started running, pushing my son in the jogging stroller.  I would run two to three miles in our neighborhood.  Then my husband announced to me that he had signed us both up to run the Vero Beach Half Marathon on our wedding anniversary in 2021.  A half marathon is 13.1 miles.  I was nowhere near ready to run a half marathon, and I did not think I had time to train for it (I was studying for a Fellowship exam at the time), but I knew what my husband was up to.  He wanted me to say I could not run it with him and then give him permission to run the half marathon by himself on our wedding anniversary.  I was not going to let him do that, so I called his bluff and agreed to run the half marathon that I was not at all prepared to run.

The longest I had run prior to the race was about six and a half miles the week before.  The night before the race, I was extremely stressed out.  I probably drank two to three glasses of wine (which is not at all what you want to do the night before a long run).  But somehow, with my husband at my side, coaching me along, I was able to run the entire race (I think we walked once going up a bridge), and I finished in just under two and a half hours (which is not fast, but fast for how unprepared I was).  I had a blast and could not believe how well and how smoothly it went.  I decided I needed a real challenge next, so I decided to run a full marathon!  For the full marathon, I followed a strict training plan. Although I injured my foot two weeks before the race—on Christmas Eve, no less--and could not participate, I signed up for and completed the 2022 Nashville Rock ‘N Roll marathon a few months later after I had healed and gotten back into marathon running shape.

Completing a marathon showed me that with discipline and a training plan, I could achieve things I had never thought possible (and perhaps passing actuarial exams gave me the confidence to run the half-marathon).  I was not a great runner in school, and I am still not super-fast, but I have completed two full marathons, and that has given me the confidence to take on additional challenges and face my fears.  Last year I finally learned how to swim.  I recently joined Toastmasters to conquer my fear of public speaking (for those of you who are not familiar with Toastmasters, it is a club centered around improving public speaking and communication skills and has chapters all over the country).

Running a marathon could be seen as the physical equivalent of taking an actuarial exam.  Both require months of disciplined training culminating in an uncomfortable multi-hour event (maybe we do like suffering).  And yet both are extremely rewarding—not just because of the accomplishment but also because of what we learn (and what we learn about ourselves) along the way.