The 2021 Running Project
Category: Fitness Period: July 2021 Last updated: 2026-04-06
Overview
In July 2021, Jack undertook a self-directed running project — logging every run in Notion with distance, speed, location, difficulty, weight, and a personal note about what happened. He ran 25+ times across 3-4 weeks, starting at 207 lbs and reaching 176 lbs by a later measurement. It is the most thoroughly documented physical undertaking in his Notion and one of the most revealing windows into how he approaches personal challenges.
Starting Weight
Day 1 (July 3, 2021): 207 lbs
Later reference run (February 2022): 176.9 lbs
Total change: approximately 30 lbs over ~7 months
Route Geography
Jack ran across multiple locations in and around Cupertino High School, California: - Lawson Middle School — early runs, track loops - Cupertino High School — Day 2, road running, “extremely hot” - The Great Jack Luo Loop — a route he named himself; familiar enough to call “his” - Small Jack Luo Loop — a shorter variant - Wilson Park — first hills and elevation change - Creekside Park — “heat unbearable, legs hurt, saw a fit person watching me run” - GodZhang Garage — became the primary venue; named after a friend; shade, loops, privacy - True Garage — similar setup; “first time I felt free in a while” - Construction Plaza — mixed with True Garage - Infinity Loop — “got to see the extent of Infinity Loop” - Sunnyvale Italian Food — a rest day; someone’s birthday
Notable Runs
Day 1 (July 3) — Lawson Middle School
5.45 mi, 4.53 mph, Hard > “I felt extremely tired with every lap but the tenth lap I felt awake for the first time in a long time. Thought about cross country.”
First run. Jack is 207 lbs and starting from zero. The phrase “awake for the first time in a long time” in the very first entry sets the emotional stakes.
Day 8 (July 11) — True Garage — Best run so far
6.02 mi, 5.36 mph, Moderate > “This is one of my best run because it is the first time I feel free in a while… I also squared each lap for fun because it helps move my mind away from running.”
Classic Jack: he squares numbers in his head to distract himself from the pain. The “feel free” language is significant — running is giving him something the rest of his life wasn’t.
Day 15 (July 20) — GodZhang Garage — Fastest
6.45 mi, 6.91 mph, Difficult > “Well my fastest run in a while, and I really tried in this run. Basically no breaks and I just kept pushing myself. Near the 3-5 mile range I did the best.”
His peak pace. 6.91 mph for 6.45 miles is serious performance for someone a few weeks into a training project.
Day 16 (July 21) — GodZhang Garage — Longest
7.78 mi, 5.81 mph, Difficult > “This is the longest run I have had… it is only [this distance] if you are doing long distance races. I thought about the purpose of me running… determination surged and boosted me for the first time in mile 4-6 range.”
The longest run of the project. Jack is thinking about why he’s doing this while doing it — meta-reflection mid-run.
Day 17 (July 22) — Strava Pro Incident
5.25 mi, 5.75 mph, Hard > “I felt extremely mad when strava didn’t record around 1 mile of my run. I felt like that was cheated and that I basically lost that mile.”
Classic. He’s so bought into the tracking system that a Strava GPS dropout feels like theft.
Day 18 (July 24) — Last run before car crash
6.2 mi, GodZhang Garage > “Final run before car crash. 35 laps around the garage. Quite simple, I felt very tired near the end… Sadly, I got hit by a car so I never achieved my goal of having a full productive day in coworking space.”
The run ends. Jack got hit by a car on July 24 or 25. He missed his intended coworking day. This is the only mention of a car crash in the archive.
Day 19 (July 28) — After the crash
“First run after the car crash, it felt a bit tiring but its fine”
He’s back running within days of being hit by a car.
Running as a System
Jack approaches running the way he approaches everything: with full instrumentation. He has Strava, a watch, a Notion database, difficulty ratings, weight tracking, and a note for every session. The system is more important to him than any single run.
Recurring themes: - Heat as the primary enemy (“extremely hot” appears in 8+ entries) - Legs as the secondary enemy (“legs hurt,” “leg pain,” “over use injuries”) - Mental state as the deciding variable (“determination surged,” “felt awake for the first time”) - Tracking as both motivation and frustration (Strava GPS failures cause disproportionate anger)
What This Project Reveals
This is one of the clearest portraits of Jack’s relationship with difficulty in the archive. He starts in rough shape (207 lbs, no running base), picks a system, names his own routes, tracks everything obsessively, runs through heat and injury, gets hit by a car, and comes back within days.
The arc mirrors every other project in the archive: the initial discipline, the peak performance, the external obstacle, the resilience, and then — notably — the project eventually ends or transforms into something else.