Your body will argue that there is no justifiable reason to continue. Your only recourse is to call on your spirit, which fortunately functions independently of logic. –Tim Noakes
It’s 10:22pm in Waterloo, ON, and I’m getting ready to do another ENDURrun. Hard to believe it’s come so fast. Feels like yesterday that I finished the 2011 version. But here I set, in Chateau Laurier, after having unpacked my suitcase, stowed all my food and cooking utensils, and packed up my race bag for tomorrow.
The body does not want you to do this. As you run, it tells you to stop but the mind must be strong. You always go too far for your body. You must handle the pain with strategy … It is not age; it is not diet. It is the will to succeed. – Jacqueline Gareau, 1980 Boston Marathon Champion
Wednesday begins the “Mountain Stage” of the ENDURrun, named after the number, and size, of the hills found in this and the next stage.
We runners are all a little nutty, but we’re good people who just want to enjoy our healthy, primitive challenge. Others may not understand running, but we do, and we cherish it. That’s our only message. – John J. Kelley
I awoke Tuesday to find the sky overcast and dark, and the pavement outside looking quite wet. Seeing as this is a trail race, and trails are typically made up of dirt (with some wood chips and maybe gravel thrown in here and there for good measure), I envisioned the race being a wet, icky, soupy mess.
It is very hard to understand in the beginning that the whole idea is not to beat the other runners. Eventually you learn that the competition is against the little voice inside you that wants to quit. - Dr. George Sheehan
At first glance, Stage 2 looks to be the second easiest of all the stages. It’s the second shortest distance, for sure. But that’s where the “easy” part of it ends.
Remember, the feeling you get from a good run is far better than the feeling you get from sitting around wishing you were running. – Sarah Condor
At 5:45am the alarm goes off. My sleep was surprisingly good. Usually before a race, I sleep like crap, as I’ve been doing the past few nights. After today, though, I will have NO problem sleeping. Quick check on the weather… looks wet and steamy out.
If you run, you are a runner. It doesn’t matter how fast or how far. It doesn’t matter if today is your first day or if you’ve been running for twenty years. There is no test to pass, no license to earn, no membership card to get. You just run. – John Bingham
It’s 9:34pm on Saturday August 6, and I’m nervous. No, not nervous. Scared is closer. Scared of what is to come, tomorrow, and the rest of the week.
This past Tuesday was the first start of the Running Room marathon clinic I signed up for. You may be wondering why, after running so many marathons, and having taught the clinic twice before, did I feel the need to sign up for it. Well, I have a few reasons:
Wanted to find a new group of people to run/train with. Figured that officially signing up for a clinic with $$ would make me more committed to getting out during the week.
Had a great run on Boxing day with some of my Flying Fartlek running friends. I had two goals for the day; run the whole race (no walk breaks) and come in under 1:30. Despite having to walk up the big hill in the golf course, I squeaked in at 1:29. Better yet, I felt great when I finished. A good omen for 2011, for sure!
Check out all the gory details here
The marathon is kind of like the Ph.D. of public fitness accomplishments. There are very few times as an adult that you can go out and do something that’s authentically difficult and be publicly lauded for it. – Marcy in Cate Terwilliger’s “Marathon Woman”
Ever since I’ve started running and entering races, I noticed that I have two interesting quirks that occur on race day. Firstly, I never sleep well, if at all, the night before a race.
Beyond the very extreme of fatigue and distress, we may find amounts of ease and power we never dreamed ourselves to own, sources of strength never taxed at all because we never push through the obstruction. – William James, philosopher
Today’s stage is, on paper, the easiest races of all the stages. It’s everything the other stages were not. It’s flat, point-to-point, and a net downhill run, taking place along just three streets.