Long may he run
Co-founder of We Make People Happy Vacations combines travel with marathons.
Summer may be travel season but that doesn’t mean you should take a vacation from your fitness regimen.
Especially if said regimen includes training for a fall or winter marathon.
Just ask Uf Tukel — cofounder of We Make People Happy Vacations in Delray Beach and iCruise.com.
Since taking up running in 2013, Tukel, 51, quickly progressed from local 5Ks to longdistance races: To date, he’s run 18 half-marathons (including seven this year) and, in a 12-month period spanning 2016-17, completed four marathons.
“If you’d told me when I was 48 that I’d one day be a four-time marathoner, I never would’ve believed it,” he says of having earned finisher’s medals at races in New York, Washington, Paris and Miami. He’s currently entered in two fall marathons — in Chicago and Washington ( just three weeks apart) — and says one of his bucket list goals is “to run a half-marathon in all 50 states.”
Getting off the couch
Tukel traces his fitness transformation to eight years ago when his son, Guller, and daughter, Sydney, (then 14 and 12, respectively) were taking tae kwon do classes.
“I would watch their sessions but thought I was too old and out of shape at 235 pounds to try it myself,” he recalls. “But some of the other parents had
started taking the classes, so I decided to join them.”
Little by little, Tukel says, “I started feeling better. I had more energy and began to lose a little weight.”
Then he heard the other parents talking about a running group they were in and joined them.
Some of his more experienced running friends soon convinced him that “if I could run a 5K, then I could go a bit farther and do 5 miles … then 6 miles … and 8 miles. And once I got up to 10 miles on a single training run, I’d be able complete the 13.1 miles of a half-marathon.”
He also became more disciplined with his diet and cross-training.
“I eat a lot more protein and clean carbs for energy now and I lift weights two or three times a week.”
At his lightest, Tukel got down to 212 pounds (“I’m about 220 now”) and should be in that range when his running mileage increases later this year.
Tukel has managed to avoid injury by employing the Jeff Galloway “Run Walk Run” marathon training method (run for nine minutes, walk for one).
And he’s diligent about maintaining his training schedule — no matter where his business or pleasure travels take him.
“I’ll run on a cruise ship, at a port, on a hotel treadmill — whatever it takes to get my miles in.”
Making his living in the travel and vacation industry, Tukel says that in recent years he’s seen “a big surge in sports tourism — especially participatory sports.”
With WMPH Vacations, Tukel prioritizes finding activities and destinations for his customers that will allow them to live out their passions.
“And now I’m getting to do the same thing with my marathon running.”
Relentlessly upbeat, Tukel also sees marathon running as “a terrific metaphor for life. To finish a marathon, you can’t skip any of the steps — the training, the gradual buildup of mileage, the proper diet and rest, the weekly long run. But it’s not just about reaching the goal — it’s also about enjoying the journey.”
Even on those days when the last thing he wants to do is crawl out of his warm bed for a presunrise workout, he still manages to do it.
And where does the motivation come from?
“I imagine how good I’ll feel afterwards — because no one ever regrets going for a run.”