Notable Neighbor Logan Pennell: Hickory teen sees running as avenue for fitness, self-improvement – Hickory Daily Record


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Logan Pennell displays the medals and buckles he has received for finishing races of up to 100 miles in length. Pennell said he got into running during the pandemic and sees it as a way of achieving personal fitness and general self-improvement.
Logan Pennell, right, runs with his running partner Tristan Workman at the Hickory Foundation YMCA.
Logan Pennell, right, practices running with friend Tristan Workman at the Hickory Foundation YMCA. Pennell said he lost 120 pounds as a runner. 
When it comes to running, Logan Pennell likes to challenge himself.
The 18-year-old Hickory resident started running seriously about two years ago. At first, he started out running as much as he could, maybe a half-mile to a mile.
After continuously working at it, he says he’s now in a place where he has run five races, including a marathon and two 100-mile ultras, and can log up to 10 miles a day.
Part of his motivation for running involves fitness and the desire to get into better shape. Pennell said he weighed 325 pound and lost 120 pounds through running.
There’s also the desire for personal growth, the drive to make an impact and excel.
“I got into fitness to try to not be average but try to lead an exceptional life,” Pennell said.
Pennell talked about his experiences running races, including how he mentally prepares and the time he had hallucinations during one particularly arduous run.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
It was hard for sure. Had to push through a lot of mental barriers.
It was a very hot, humid day. It was an exposed race, which means there’s no tree shade. It was in the sun, over the concrete the entire time so it was very hot, very difficult.
About mile 18 started to have to really, really dig deep in that race and we was able to finish it about just under five hours even.
It’s hard to describe the feeling you get when you cross the finish line of a very difficult race when you have to push through barriers and you cross the finish line.
It’s just the rush of emotions of success and gratitude and the feeling that it’s all worth it, that all your training’s been worth it.
I’ll do stuff like run in the rain, run when you don’t feel like it — early mornings, late nights, whenever you can get it in.
I try to make it as difficult as I can.
Sometimes in the summer, I may even run wearing like a sweatshirt and sweat suit.
In the winter time I may run when it’s really cold in just a T-shirt and shorts to try to make it harder with using the weather for my advantage to try to make it more mentally difficult in trainings so during the races I can just push through.
The Knock on Woodstock because it had over 10,000 feet of elevation gain over the 100 miles. So it’s steep up trails, down trails and it rained part of the way.
I think we got only one hour of sleep for the total of 48 hours out on the trail. Very difficult but very rewarding and I have the buckle over there for that one.
Probably means the most to me.
During the Knock on Woodstock, we had some hallucinations kick in because of the sleep deprivation.
So about 3, 4 in the morning all of the logs and stick in the trail were just snakes in our minds and the trees were people on the trail.
Like, you seen sleeping bags and tents up on the trail but it was just trees when you really got close, so weird hallucinations.
Your mind plays trick when you get that sleep deprived and you’re pushing yourself that hard.
During that one, we were getting pretty loopy at some points so we decided that’s when we laid down for an hour nap during that and that really helped smooth it over and we was able to keep running and finish from there on out.
It really makes regular life feel very easy because, of course, you push through so much during the races.
Like, if you get a cup of water and there’s no ice in it, you’re not going to complain like you might if you didn’t push through these barriers and dig so deep during ultras that it just makes any regular problems in life just seem normal and not that bad.
Kevin Griffin is the City of Hickory reporter at the Hickory Daily Record.
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Hickory Daily Record city reporter Email: kgriffin@hickoryrecord.com
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Logan Pennell displays the medals and buckles he has received for finishing races of up to 100 miles in length. Pennell said he got into running during the pandemic and sees it as a way of achieving personal fitness and general self-improvement.
Logan Pennell, right, runs with his running partner Tristan Workman at the Hickory Foundation YMCA.
Logan Pennell, right, practices running with friend Tristan Workman at the Hickory Foundation YMCA. Pennell said he lost 120 pounds as a runner. 
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