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Team Cable Organizer Marathon Chronicles
By Christina | August 15, 2009
We are on our third week of marathon training and we are successfully plodding along one mile at a time. Today was a four mile run. Even though it was 5:00, the heat and humidity were in full force. Considering that we are just beginning our training together as a team, we are doing amazingly well.
Today’s run provided a few lessons for all aspiring runners. Even though a four mile run should not last an hour, even for beginners, the heat was intense enough to take its toll. Dehydration is not only can be dangerous to your body, but it also impedes your ability to perform. It is not sufficient to gulp down a water right before running and think that your body is properly hydrated for a run outdoors. Hydration needs to occur throughout the day and during the course of the run. You will feel better and run better as a result.
Secondly, as the coach of the marathon team, I have the opportunity to train a very diverse group of runners. It is exciting to see that training for a marathon is not for elite athletes only. Team Cable Organizers proves that anyone can run a marathon as long as you properly train for it. None of the members of the team are runners. But, some are naturally fast. Others used to be fast when they were in high school and with proper training will be fast again. The remainder of the group are new to running and are working extra hard to build up their cardiovascular endurance which is necessary for long distance running.
Perhaps, the biggest lesson from today’s run is that everyone has different reasons for wanting to run a marathon and different goals for how they want to run their race. Some have a time already in mind that they hope to achieve, others just would be proud to finish any way they can. The beauty of today’s run is that everyone ran their four miles differently. Some treated it like a sprint, some ran and then walked, and some just ran the whole four miles slow and steady.
At the beginning, everyone went out too fast to be able to sustain the pace for the duration of the run. It became clear right away, that each runner would have to pay attention to their own body and run the four miles in the way that would be successful to them. This really is a life lesson as well. You can try to chase and keep up with others, but in the end all you can really do is run your own race.
The highlight of the run today was even though everyone ran at their own pace, we were still a team training together. The fastest members of the team finished way before the rest of the team and were concerned that some of their teammates might need some extra assistance. Instead of going home, they hopped in the car to drive to make sure that all of the runners were doing ok.
Anyone can train for a marathon on their own, but it takes a team who cares about you to make training for a marathon mean a lot more than just running.
Topics: Marathon Training |
