Background

There are two persons in the World (that I know of) who carry the name: Lasse Juusela. We are both from Helsinki, Finland and we are runners. I (author of this blog) am the one who has always been known as the long distance runner. The other one has been the sprinter from 60 m to 100 m. Our results are sometimes mixed up in the athletics databases making us, Lasse Juusela, look like a real life Forrest Gump who can run like the wind blows from 60m up to Marathon.

Anyhow, my grandfather (who was a world class veteran marathon runner, under 4-hour at the age of 75) took me to my first track practice when I was 6 years old at the warm-up track, Eläintarha (the Zoo), of the Helsinki Olympic Stadium. Since the first warm-up, which I thought was a race against the older kids, I have enjoyed running. As a kid I used to run all the time (when I wasn't on my bike) because I thought walking was boring. I run to my friends' houses to play Nintendo. And I could play an entire basketball game barely breaking a sweat.

Not going too deep into the details, but I had a happy childhood trying to get everywhere as fast as I could, running or biking. First time I escaped from home was when I was 5. I took my bike and went on to visit a cat (his name was Santtu) that lived in my daycare family. Maybe 4 to 5 km. When I was 10 I took interest in maps, and I started planning biking trips that would end up at my grandparents house because there was always blueberry pie waiting even if I showed up without a "warning". The trips ranged from 10 km up to 60 km. My backpack included: the map, a pump, couple of sandwiches and juice. I loved it. Adventures on my own. Back-up plans, no back-up plans. No asking for help (same as quitting). Freedom. And no cell phones, that was 1992.

I think I was 11 years old when I finished second in the 2 km XC running of Finlandia Junior Games (the biggest annual international competition for the kids in Finland). The winner was Aki Rissanen, who later became a friend of mine. The one thing I remember from that race was that about half km before the finish I was maybe in 8th position and a fellow runner on my side started crying, and I thought "if I can put a little bit more speed, maybe the rest of the guys will start crying too". I started my finishing sprint very early, no-one cried, I felt sick pushing my limit and lifted my position to 2nd when coming to the stadium. I was succesful in the local running competitions, so much that at some point I started to fear, not losing, but not winning. That was because we were all running with just genetics and active life, nobody practiced, maybe some sprinting and jumping technique, but that was it. I felt helpless against better runners.

At the age of around 13 I did not do too well. Almost everyone grew up faster than I did. The running kids started to practice running and I was still relying on genetics. The Seinäjoki boys were practicing and killing the field, I was nowhere near the top. I had also picked up a new sport for the winter, cross-country skiing. Lots of technique to be practiced there for the years to come. But cross-country skiing is a good sport, you don't get injured and you build up all-around strength, stamina and endurance in the body without even noticing. Just get out and ski. But it's expensive and require a lot of co-operation from your parents.

Let's see. The year I turned 15 I started finally grow as well. That year I gained 20 cm of height and 20 kg of weight. I was back in the competition. At that time I had been running mostly 800 m and 2000 m, mediocre times. The first championships of Finland are held for the 15 year olds. For the first time I had been practicing other than sprinting. I had gone out running the 5 km skiing track almost every day for a month, every time trying to break my time the day before. I was 5th in the 800 m competition which was my main event. A bit of a disappointment. The next day was the 2000 m race, my record was at least 15 seconds slower than the best runners had. But this race was something I will never forget. I started out in the back of the pack and had a plan to stick along until I crash. Runners were falling of the pace and I passed them at the back of the lead group until the bell rang, I was 5th, doing already incredibly well. But I still had energy in my legs, the lead group started to stretch, Seinäjoki boys in the front running away. I started passing, passed one, passed two, in the back straight only two runners ahead but they had grown a little gap already. Final 200 m all-out, sprinting probably faster than in the previous day 800 m, passed one, coming to the final straight, one more, passed him 50 m before the finish, coming out strong until the end. Bang! 17 seconds new PR, first time under 6 minutes, 5:51. Where did that come from? I don't know but that felt great! I was back!

After that season, I asked Atte Pettinen if he would like to coach me, he said yes. The final lap made me want to do it again, and I thought, why wait various laps before sprinting, when there is a sport already for that, 400 m running. 400 meters was interesting because, nobody starts his running career by running 400 meters. 400 meters is something that you either come from sprinting or distance. I was coming from the distance running, had to learn get faster. My practice companion was Ville Hyvärinen who was running the same distances, 400m and 800m.

Then I got accepted to Mäkelänrinne Sports High School, where we had training sessions 3 times in the morning: Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. Normal school after that. And in the evening more practice. I increased a lot my speed and strength with my coach, and in a year or two I was a pretty good 200 m and 400 m runner. I even run pretty well the 3rd leg, the back corner, in a 4x100m team. The best accomplishment was invitation to represent Finland in youth athletics, one time against Sweden (400m) and other time Nordic Championships (4x400m team). My PRs were 100 m 11.37, 200 m 22.51, 400 m 49.95, and 800 m 1:56.72.

I went to the military and run 3610 m in the first Cooper test, best result of the platoon. That was pretty good result coming from a sprinter. I spent 362 days in the military. During the time in military I got distracted from running and training, and I thought maybe I should concentrate first time on studying. My numbers had been average in school. And so my running days were over. Got out of the military and went on studying Forest Products Technologies in Helsinki University of Technology. I also had developed some kind of keliachia type skin problem, and hated sweating, I thought I would be glad not to have to train and sweat.

From 2003 until 2012 I studied, drunk alcohol, smoked cigarettes, played a bit of basketball in the 4th and 5th division (sometimes in hangover), probably developed minor depression and felt stuck. January 2010 I went on for 5 months as an exchange student to Buenos Aires, Argentina. The sunlight made me feel energetic and happy. I rarely used any lotion on my skin, what a relief, no constant scratching. My spanish was very very bad but I was determined to learn it. Then I met my future wife.

Back to Finland to finish up my studies. My dad has always played tennis and he introduced me to his trainer, Hannu. Hannu had been an avid tennis player, a semi-professional in the 1970s, road tripping with Björn Borg and had a degree in sports science. He was ashtonished of my capability to learn tennis. I had maybe hit twice a tennis ball when I was 5 years old. So he was really excited to teach me because I hadn't developed any previous false motorics like everyone else. I went to his practice maybe 15 times and after that I hit the ball better than players on the other court that had been playing 15 years. "If we only started practicing you when you were 5 years old we would have now all been traveling the ATP tour with you" said my coach jokingly. But the tennis practice reminded me what I was good at, and that was sports.

I finished my studies in the university. That took me 1,5 years and in Octobre 2011 I returned to Argentina with a Master's Degree in my pocket. Still my spanish skills were in pretty bad shape, but now I was learning from the best, my colombian girlfriend. Originally I had been lured to be an exchange student by a fellow finnish student, Pasi Gullsten, who had already been in couple of spanish speaking countries, and most of all he had been in the same study program in Buenos Aires the year before I went. That was the first time he pushed me in the right direction.

The second time he pushed me in the right direction was when he updated his status in Facebook that he was going to take on the 2012 Buenos Aires City Marathon. If you are reading this, Pasi, you know it's not all your fault but maybe 80%. The following night I did not sleep well and I woke up. I had a clear picture on my mind: I was going to go for a run in the morning. And I did. It was Monday, 16.4.2012. I had turned 30 years old 2 months ago. The last time I had been practicing running was 10 years ago, almost 15 kg lighter.

That's pretty much it how I got in, out, and back to running.

-Lasse Juusela.