Posts Tagged ‘marathon’
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Lessons from My First Marathon
Between worrying about the thunderstorms and getting up on time for the race, I was a restless man Friday night. But as 4:00 AM came on Saturday, I was up and getting ready for the longest, biggest race of my life. After all, the longest race I’d run before yesterday was the Boulevard Bolt–a five-mile run on Belle Meade Boulevard every Thanksgiving morning. To make things more interesting, six weeks ago, I had developed Achilles Tendonitis on my left foot and was told I might not be able to run at all. But after physical therapy, a slower training pace, I felt ready to go. My running team, Innerstrength, met under the pavilion at Centennial Park at 6 am for stretching, tattoos, group pictures and a pep talk from head coach Matt Royka. Lining up at West End Avenue with 30 thousand people was an awesome sight to see. It’s…
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Training for a Marathon and the Power of Community
We are only three weeks into the New Year and I have seen people toss their new year’s resolutions aside. The signs are all over the place: the couple with the matching warm up suits is gone from the Y, the “salad eaters” have gone back to the Chinese Buffet and,most unfortunately, Bedside Baptist has claimed a large number of would-be worshipers. But not all of us who made resolutions have given up on them. I, for one, am sticking to my guns. I have been physically active for several years and last summer I began training for triathlons, but I had never considered running a full marathon until a friend talked me into joining a running group, Innerstrength, late last fall. This has been a great experience in perseverance. In the past few weeks I have run under unimaginable conditions. I remember in the past driving to the gym…