MFR 133: From Brutal to Boston
The topic of Episode #132 was dreadful runs. This is a followup that, I hope, will always help you put those runs in perspective. But more than that, it shows you what can happen later in your running career. No matter where you are, now, in your running journey. You can still set lofty running goals and achieve them, but you may need to make some changes.
It’s always the same with running, and maybe this is just as true with other sports, but you continue to evolve as an athlete. You learn more from your body, your experiences, the experiences of your friends, and from running coaches. You become more skilled, your body changes, and you change the way you train and the way you respond to the messages from your body and race performances. That’s a lot, but if you keep an open mind and are willing to continue to try new things, you just may experience a level of success you never thought possible.
This episode is about the contrast between the worst run of my life and the best run of my life, separated by just three weeks. I hope it inspires you.
Three weeks from today, I’ll be running the Boston Marathon for the second time. The first time I was offered a charity bib, which I, of course, enthusiastically accepted, but every step of that 26.2 miles, I was envious of all the runners who had qualified, and I pledged to continue to work on my marathon until I, too, qualified. Well, it took a while, but at age 65, last summer, I did qualify, when I had the best marathon of my life.
I hope you’ll tune in for my videos and posts from Boston three weeks from today. In the meantime, you may enjoy this post about the time, a year ago, when I took about 35 members of my club to Boston to do the Run to Remember Half Marathon. It was a blast, something worth doing for any runner. That race is not on the Boston race course, but while we were in town, we went out to the one-mile point of the Boston course and ran it in and took photos at the finish line. Pics and comments here.