1. World’s wackiest marathons?
2. Dang, Galen Rupp.
3. Ouch.
4. Planning to buy this book!
5. I’ll be 47 in April. As my age increases, I have to be aware of the changes to my physiology. This makes me think I need to research what I will be going through as I age, and how I need to adapt my training.
1. Great piece here on trying to become a pro runner
2. The anti-Chris McDougall?
3. The Race Director’s Life
4. The Art of Downhill Running
5. What I’m doing tomorrow
1. So sad.
2. How to detect overtraining and prevent it
3. Love this workout. It is harder than it looks
4. If I had a sack of money, I’d do this, no doubt
5. Road running taking off in Jamaica
1. Weird 100M dash events
2. Nine ways to strengthen the core
3. Walk breaks for faster running, from Jenny Hadfield
4.Obstacle races are growing!
1. Developing a better sense of pace
2. Choosing your crew for ultras. Who is right for you?
3. Pam Smith has her toenails permanently removed
4. Do I need this for when I go trail running with a hot mug of coffee?
5. Lessons learned from creating a running app. (Ingenious post, really, because not only is he sharing the process of making an app, he is also undertaking a backdoor marketing campaign at the same time. Shrewd.)
1. Galen Rupp ran 5000 meters in 13:01.26!
2. Chicago Marathon switching to lottery system
3. Runblogger reader survey: Top trail shoes of 2013
4. And here is Runblogger’s reader survey: Top Road shoes of 2013
5. This is me on early morning runs
1. Very sad. Please be careful out there!
2. Five questions with Sage Canaday
3. The hunger of Scott Wietecha
4. So you had a bad race?
5. If he can runDisney, so can you
1. What ultras do to the body
2. This is funny, and sounds like a lot of us (except the dog food thing. yuck!)
3. A Boston Celtics Asst. Coach will run Boston for charity
4. Rethinking when to use an ice bath
5. Rethinking common assumptions about run training
1. Basics of base-building
2. Why Sean Astin (Rudy, Samwise) loves running Disney races
3. Steve Magness gives us his top 9 through-provoking books of 2013
4. Interesting trends with running shoe sales figures
5. The secret trick to running growth and speed: there are no secrets
1. Find your lactate threshold by talking
2. Disney Marathon winner
3. Mom and daughter she gave up for adoption reunite at WDW marathon weekend
4. Disney Half marathon winners
5. The Case for Disney Race insurance
By the time you read this, your feet will be propped up, you will be eating some dinner, your gear will be laid out. You’ll have a few butterflies. You may even be thinking: “GAAH! WHAT AM I DOING HERE?!”
Take a breath. You are on the verge of something amazing. Your life is about to change in a way you can’t imagine. Sure, you’re gonna get a medal. Your gonna see the castle. your gonna get a “eat all the food pass” for the next day or so. The dividends for that you are about to accomplish will not stop paying out to you over the next few weeks, months and years.
More on that in a minute. First, tomorrow. The pre-race morning is a blur: really early to rise, meet the bus, get to the staging area. Wait. Get nervous. Meet others. Smile. Pee and pee again. Then walk to the start line. I remember it from 2009. There was a sense of excitement and and more than a little dread. I was nervous. I felt ready, but who knows before their first marathon. (Geez. I never feel ready for marathons. I’ve run 10 and I’m always questioning whether I did enough.)
In those last few minutes before the start, look around. Soak it in and think about the next few hours. Savor these moments. Tell yourself “I am ready.” You are. If you made it to this point, then nothing will stop you now. This is YOUR day.
The first 13 miles are a blur. Emotion and excitement will carry you that far. Stay within yourself and run YOUR race. In 2009 I let emotion get the best of me and I ran too fast and paid later.
There will come a moment where you will fatigue and tire. You will hurt a little. And your mind will question whether you can finish. YOU CAN. Walk, crawl, limp, hop. You will cross the line. You’ve come too far to stop now. Fight through the dark moments. Every marathoner has them. EVERY marathoner. Even the elites. The marathon humbles all who run it. You are not the only one. Everyone else will have the dark time.
When you emerge from the darkness, a moment of clarity will come. You realize that you will finish. I can’t describe the feeling when you realize you are going to finish this race. I’m almost in tears now remembering my moment of realization and self-awareness on the Disney course. It hits and you feel like you could fly. And you will. Savor that moment. You will never forget the feeling during your first marathon. It is like no other feeling I’ve ever known. The realization that I alone did this. No one carried me, no one helped me along. I had to move the entire 26.2 miles. I did it. You will do it.
And as you turn the corner and see the finish and the people, let it out. Scream, bellow, jump in the air. Don’t hold back on the shout of triumph or the tears of happiness. this is YOUR moment. YOUR time. YOU are a marathoner.
Run happy. Run strong. This is your day.
This Running Life 