My Beginnings: From Basketball to Running

I’m Matic Keček, I come from Maribor, and I’m a recreational runner. Like most people, I also spend eight hours a day at work, where I operate a CMC machine and a robot.

I first encountered sports as a boy when I started playing basketball at the age of eight. I trained until I was seventeen, when I quit because of afternoon classes in school. It was in basketball that I first got to know basic running drills—high and low knees, jumps, running with an emphasized push-off, and so on. Like in every sport, we also had conditioning training, where I quickly realized that I really enjoyed running. I even began to “like” the feeling of effort.

Since I’m from Maribor, at the foot of Pohorje, I soon started building endurance by hiking and running up Pohorje on my own. That became a routine, and my fitness improved. I still remember the basketball team’s conditioning session on Pohorje, when only two of us reached the top in under an hour (54 minutes—this number is still stuck in my memory). For boys in basketball, that was a great result. From then on, Pohorje became my playground for building endurance, and later in high school also my escape and a place to work through teenage problems.

First Lessons and Persistence

Back then, I didn’t track my pace, since my watch only had a stopwatch. Compared to today’s times, things felt simpler—you weren’t tied to numbers but to yourself and your run or hike. Today, many beginners struggle with this, comparing themselves to others’ times or rushing progress. Some unfortunately quit—due to disappointment, injury… others learn from it.

Ideally, every beginner should first fall in love with what they do, enjoy it, see whether it feels right, and not rush things.

It’s the same in running. A beginner shouldn’t worry about pace or distance—just enjoy the run, nature, listen to your body, and things will naturally develop. You build endurance, the kilometers increase, your technique improves, you learn more about running, you ask for advice, and eventually, you also gain speed.

As I mentioned, I quit basketball in high school because of afternoon classes, and I started going to the gym along with running and hiking on Pohorje. Over time, I spent more and more time outdoors, while my gym membership was just money thrown away. So I gave up the gym and trained outside—running and bodyweight exercises in the forest.

Trail Running, Routine, and Looking Ahead

After finishing college and later starting work, I began running exclusively. That’s when I started running more than 10 kilometers. At 28, I also started trail running and later began participating in trail races. I actually encountered structured running training quite late; previously, I mostly knew running and sprinting, doing only short-distance sprint sessions (60–100 m).

But I was always a fighter in sports, stubborn, and that stubbornness often pushed me through training and races. I began training more seriously: during the week, road sessions where I build my base, speed (intervals), tempo runs, easy runs, and on weekends trail runs—either on Pohorje, the Maribor hills, or somewhere in Gorenjska.

And since I’m a recreational runner, I listen to myself: I don’t run if I’m not feeling well that day, if I’m exhausted… because I believe I’d do more harm than good. But it’s also true that I finish many training sessions simply out of discipline and routine—so the “I don’t feel like it” wins very rarely. Hehe.

Something short from a lad from Maribor.

Enjoy, create new memories, and discover new views—both of nature and yourself. And come visit Maribor sometime, for a round or two. 🍻