Pour Me A Story, Vol. 19
feat. Grace Smith Rojas, going the distance and more
greetings folks and welcome to another Friday morning edition of Pour Me A Story. I’m coming to you live and direct from my living room at 4 a.m. because, due to a Bad Brain Day yesterday, I couldn’t muster the motivation to get this done before I crawled into bed sometime around 7:45pm. so this one’s fresher than usual! perhaps you can still feel how warm it is.
I spoke to my mother this week in the lead-up to this edition and she reiterated that she finds the folks I talk to in these weekly dispatches very interesting. it reminded me to do some minor crowdsourcing, to the effect of: this is very much a newsletter for you, the reader, so if there’s anybody you know (or know of) whose story you’d like to read more about in these pages — even if it’s you! — you can always drop your suggestions in the comments or hit me with a reply email or tweet or whatever.
Anyway, We Have Company
today’s special guest comes to us all the way from Boulder, Colorado, right up U.S. 36. Grace Smith Rojas is a fellow member of a brand social media manager group chat I stumbled my way into back in 2019 whose other members include such notable names as Oreo, Triscuit, Zaxby’s, Kum & Go, the Budweiser family and more. I’ve probably learned more about marketing and social strategy there than I ever have, which is unsurprising since I’m old as dirt and social media wasn’t something you could “learn” when I was in college because there was no such thing. but I digress!
AC: hey Grace! how's it going this sunny Colorado Thursday?
GS: Hi there! It’s all chill over here in boulder. Hoping to get done with work a little early to go hit the gym. I would ask u the same but I assume this is more of a one sided interview (?) I promise I do care about how your day is going 😂
AC: haha it's definitely intended to be one-sided from my perspective, I have plenty of opportunity to fill this newsletter with my own brand of bullshit. ANYWAY. I miss Boulder a great deal and hope I get to go back to the office someday. are you from Boulder originally or are you one of us evil transplants?
GS: I am definitely an evil transplant. My California license plate definitely gets me some weird looks when I’m driving. I was born and raised in Costa Rica, moved to Orange County in 2014 for a (failed) dance career (thanks injuries!) and went to school at CU. I never thought I’d end up in Colorado but I fell in love with the state and have been here since.
AC: as long as you don't have a Texas license plate, you're definitely not public enemy number one on these roads, that's for sure. that's a hell of a journey though! I do not know the first thing about Costa Rica. what was it like growing up there? do you see yourself living there again in the future?
GS: It’s been quite the journey for a short 21 years of being alive. Growing up there was a dream. We didn’t have a lot of money but we had all of the open land and nature to play in, our family was down the street...I miss it. Now that i am “an adult” I don’t see myself going back. So much has changed both in the country and within myself that I don’t think I could live to my fullest potential there. Do I miss the slow paced, low pressure lifestyle? Hell yes. Do I miss the danger and the lack of opportunity that I often faced? Hell no.
AC: I can certainly relate to the idea that this is a land of opportunity, even though it certainly has its troubles as well. do you think you experienced a kind of "oh shit, this isn't exactly the place of my dreams" moment at some point after moving here?
GS: Yes, all the time. It’s a complex and draining thought process as well. On the one hand, yes I’ve had so many opportunities that I’m grateful for, but on the other I am constantly reminded that I am at a major disadvantage compared to my peers in many different areas. I don’t wanna seem ungrateful for the opportunities but fuck is it frustrating sometimes. Especially being a first-generation immigrant. There’s so much I’ve had to learn to do by myself and it’s honestly exhausting.
AC: I can't even imagine. I've said for a long time that I've been very privileged to have gone through the immigration process as a white man from an english-speaking country with no dependents, because the deck feels like it's so stacked against anyone else. I'm interested to hear whether some of the tougher learning curves you faced were the same ones I did?
GS: Agreed! I was blessed that when I was born my dad made me an American citizen (he had a citizenship) so I didn’t have to deal with the legal stuff on my end. Now I’m struggling with my moms citizenship because a green card is technically the first step but the actual process and cost of the citizenship can be such an inconvenience/barrier for people who are a part low socioeconomic populations. Some of the biggest learning curves have definitely been trying to understand private healthcare, American taxes, state taxes, and the business that is higher Ed.
When I moved here I was 15. Not only was I trying to navigate being a teenager but I was also learning to be the main provider for my family. My mom was learning English so all the legal stuff I had to take care of, all her work paperwork, healthcare, etc. It was all very overwhelming. Now that I’m 21 I feel more prepared but there’s still things regarding this country that I wish I had some guidance on. I still manage all the legal paperwork and the taxes, etc. But I’ve had to learn it all the hard way (paying fees, being on hold for 5 hours only to get told to fuck off by government agencies, etc.)
If it taught me anything it’s that being persistent will get you far, even if it makes you want to gauge your eyes out sometimes.
AC: wow, that's an incredible load of responsibility for anyone to shoulder, much less someone in their formative years in a foreign country. and those are absolutely the things I couldn't (and still can't!) get my mind around as a new American — healthcare and taxation especially. and the credit system! nobody knows what the fuck it really is about, and yet it's tied to everything you may ever need to do. so in short: you're a badass. do you think Colorado will be your forever home, or is it far too early to say?
GS: LOL dude credit is one of the stupidest things I’ve dealt with but that’s just America for ya. Honestly, I want to say it’ll be my forever home but so much has happened over the last few years that I don’t really plan on anything anymore. I love every piece of Colorado and do hope I stay here and become an honorary Colorado native 😂 But thank you! I do hope to continue being a functioning human being and a badass, even if it feels like I’m juggling chainsaws.
AC: I mean juggling chainsaws most definitely set you up with the right experience for your chosen career path. how'd you find your way into social media management?
GS: Honestly, it was one big accident. When I’m as a freshman in college I joined Her Campus CU Boulder which is a branch of the international platform. I spent my teen years writing and shitposting on tumblr and twitter and figured it was a good fit and next thing I know I’m running the magazine. Most of our outreach was via social media and I was in charge of a significant part of it and kinda loved it.
Her Campus allowed me to work with some really big beauty and lifestyle brands creating all kinds of content for them and I was hooked. After graduating I started freelancing my work and am currently developing the brand for an up-and-coming fitness blogger!
Ultimately, I want to be a writer. Whether it’s under my name or as a ghost writer, I love how a simple set of random hieroglyphics can deliver such diverse messages (that sounded pretentious-gag- but it’s true).
AC: you know, that's a very interesting way to look at writing, and one I've never really considered. we're here all day making little strings of symbols and sounds and putting them together and people can get so much meaning or motivation or information from them, and now I'm really glad I'm not high as I think about it because whew. that's really interesting though, I'd never heard of Her Campus (for a number of reasons) but what a cool door to open. okay two more then I'll kindly show myself out — is dancing still a big part of your life even though it's not your career anymore?
GS: I had never heard of HC before getting to college and it’s actually the one of the only reasons I didn’t drop out of school. It unfortunately isn’t. I’ve tried to go back to it but my old injuries still make it hard to jump back in (dislocated hip, terrible knees). As much as I hate to admit it, I’m also scared because I know I’m incredibly rusty. Now that my life is somewhat stable I hope to bring it back into my life but it’s not a priority.
AC: I can dig that. I'm way older than you but I subscribe to the "we only get one body, so we better take care of it" theory and it only gets harder to manage those creaky joints as time rolls on. okay last one! this is where you get to plug something important to you, or something fun or whatever. sky's the limit!
GS: Well here’s a few short things.
The serious stuff that’s close to my heart: BLM. BELIEVE SURVIVORS.
The fun stuff to share with the world: I just launched a website and soon to be blog. Raccoons are my favorite animal. Finally, a huge shout-out to the Fronds group chat for being so welcoming to me and helping me navigate the shitshow that is the SMM world.
AC: all terrific and valid things to shout out, I love it. well thank you for sharing an hour and a half of your time with me this afternoon!
GS: Of course! Twas a pleasure.
Going The Distance
I’ve mentioned once or twice in this space that, due to All of This [vague gesture at the state of the world], outlets for exercise are fewer and further between for me, so I accidentally became a runner over the course of the past few months. this borderline insanity really crescendoed in the first week of the New Year, as fitness goals so often do, when I bit the bullet and signed up for a competitive half-marathon in March.
this wasn’t a decision made in a vacuum, because I don’t think anyone really wakes up one day around Christmas and says “I’m gonna go run 13.1 miles.” I, uh, “raced” in a 5K in October, then completed an 11-week 10K training program with a PR just before the holidays, so this felt like a natural progression, even though it meant even longer and more frequent training runs that clash with the natural enemy at this time of year, cold weather.
the race is just over two weeks away, on March 7, and my training program is on what they call “the taper” now, meaning my distance workouts have peaked and now I’m supposed to be taking it easier than I have been, ostensibly to save my legs for the big day. but back to that training peak for a minute.
I’ve been scheduling my long runs for Saturdays because I usually just don’t have two-plus hours to set aside for them during the work week. but last weekend was forecasted to be bitterly cold — well below freezing on Saturday, and colder with snow on Sunday — and I wasn’t excited about the prospect. the lowest temps I’ve run long in have been around 26*F, and we were looking at single-digit weather here.
I had 12.5 miles on the schedule, which is a full 2.25 miles longer than I’d ever run in one hit before, and I was nervous because an 8-miler the Saturday prior hadn’t gone well at all. I planned to go out early Friday morning and get ‘er done before work, but plans can change when babies are involved, so I postponed it with the thought that I’d try again at the end of the day when Alex returned from work.
throughout the day I tried to stretch as often as I could during baby naps, and I forewent a big lunch knowing that I’d need everything to go my way on the road, including my stomach. Alex got home just before 4pm and, not really knowing what to expect other than “what streets to make turns on,” I hit the road.
I can say now, with the beauty of a week of hindsight, that it was the best run I’ve ever done, with no exceptions. I wasn’t my fastest, but I was pretty consistent. I managed to fuel on the run rather than stopping, and I only broke to wait for traffic twice. the voice in the back of my head told me pretty regularly that I felt good enough to maybe extend the final leg of the run, a 1.5-mile straightaway leading back to the apartment, by a few blocks to try and reach the half-marathon distance, but I didn’t want to get ahead of myself and just tried to focus on the mile at hand.
and sure enough, once I hit the last turn and started back along 16th Avenue running westbound towards home, I had that juice left, so I thought “fuck it” and kept going. I took a couple of turns off the main straight to account for the extra 0.6 miles I needed, then returned to the path when I knew I would have the distance covered. I hit 13.14 miles about a half a block away from home, and raised my fists to the Denver night as though I’d won Olympic gold. in reality I hadn’t broken any records other than my own, but that was enough for me. while it’s not a hard bar to clear, it was far and away the biggest athletic accomplishment of my life.
six months ago I couldn’t do much more than a half-mile without slowing to walking pace to catch my breath. now I’ve run a half-marathon in just over two hours. feels good, man.
Worthy Consumables
Epsom salts. that’s all I got this week. I just looked at the Nike Run Club app and I’ve run 441 miles since August, and my feet remember every single one of them. thank god for whomever discovered Epsom salts because I couldn’t have done it without them.
Parting Note
this one’s been in my head since I wrote the subheading above, so I simply had to listen to it to get the earworm out. remember these guys? I think my first experience with Cake was the I Will Survive cover that my parents probably hated (because that’s what parents do, scoff at cover songs of classics from their generation.) I wonder what the guys from Cake are up to now, and yet I don’t want to Google it and find out they’re garbage people or something.
anyway thank you as always for sharing your time with me this fine Friday. I will endeavor to not be getting up at 4am every week to send this, but it’s 2021 so anything goes baby!
— adrian ✌🏻
I’ve definitely pumped my fists like I just won gold at the end of a weekend 5k
If you’re old as dirt, what does that say about me? Fuck. Also, I get the same feelings from the running. Sometimes you can feel like a creeping Jesus, but it’s mainly exhilarating ✌🏻