Lance Armstrong is the Man

How would you like to do your first marathon in under 3 hours. Ya, me too! The quote from the article gave me some solace as I finished the marathon in 4 hours and 50 minutes and could barely walk across the finish line too.

Armstrong’s time was 2 hours, 59 minutes and 36 seconds. His shirt soaked in sweat, he virtually walked the last couple of steps to the finish line. He shuffled into a post-race news conference, his right shin heavily taped.

I guess it is all relative – here you have a super athlete struggling to walk across the finish line under 3 hours and many others struggle at 5 hours. That is what is so cool about running.

Top 20 Sure Signs that You’re a Runner

Runners most definitely have some quirks and oddities, often completely noticeable by the loved ones in our lives! Yes, they are patient with us… But it can still be trying to live with a runner!

At www.ordinaryrunner.com, we know we’re not normal people!

Here are some Sure Signs that you’re a runner, with helpful suggestions from my wife!

1) Your beach shoes are running shoes. Your dress shoes are running shoes. Your house slippers are running shoes. Heck, all your shoes are running shoes!

2) Your friends call you “Pasta” because you’re always looking for carbs.

3) The first thing you pack is your running gear, even for a wedding.

4) When you’re traveling, the first thing you ask a hotel attendant is, “What’s the closest place to run around here?”

5) The “art” in your house is free Nike posters from the local running store.

6) The first bookmark on your web browser is Road Runner Sports.

7) You have a separate carry-on for your running shoes, in case your luggage gets lost.

Instead of “Winter”, you speak of the season between October & March as “Marathon Season.”

9) Instead of “Summer”, you refer to the season between May & September as “5K Season.”

10) All the shirts in your closet are race t-shirts. (Some of which are 12 years old!)

11) You have a monthly direct shipment contract with an Ibuprofen supplier.

12) When someone refers to the country, Kenya, you picture thin, speedy marathoners instead of coffee beans.

13) The second bookmark on your web browser is http://www.ordinaryrunner.com/top20ea.

14) Your family groans as they find themselves once again in the car while you measure “how far I ran this morning.”

15) Your list of greatest world cities is: Boston, Chicago, New York, London, Berlin, and Rotterdam (famous marathon cities).

16) High fat diets make you laugh, as you eat yet another plate of carb-loaded spaghetti!

17) Unlike most Americans, you know the answer to, “How many km in a marathon?” as well as how far 15, 10, and 5 kilometers are.

18) You think Paula Radcliffe’s running style is a thing of beauty, poetry in motion.

19) The word “jogger” makes you grimace, as you reply once again, “I’m a runner, not a jogger!”

20) You fondly remember 12 months ago when you weighed 45 pounds more than you do now!

Kely Braswell has been a runner for 27 years. He’s not the fastest… just an Ordinary Runner. But he’s in great shape, and he has a LOT of great advice about running! Runners of all ages and abilities can look at http://www.ordinaryrunner.com/top20ea, simple advice on running for beginners and mere mortals!

Running for Success

Though it may not seem like it when we’re drenched in sweat and our legs feel like lead, marathon running is as mental as physical. When we’re exhausted, continuing consists of mind over matter. This takes enormous mental power. Once developed, this skill can be transferred from the racetrack to the boardroom.

Training for a marathon is an ideal place to improve the skills needed to achieve success in business: strategy, clear objectives, and a positive attitude. These techniques are also crucial to completing a marathon. Without them, even the most fanatically fit athlete is doomed to fail. Through physical training we can develop and master these skills.

In business, investment and marathon, a well-planned strategy is essential. In each situation, we must commit to our plan, yet be willing to adapt it if it isn’t working. Though strategy can be complex or simple, with our first marathon it’s best to choose the latter. Simplification is a great way to remove self-imposed pressure. This can mean concentrating on maintaining a steady heart rate or pace. We need to do this during both training and our marathon, since sustaining this relaxed-focus helps remove the barrier of performance anxiety.

The strategy of shifting attention to our body’s sensations is called association, and it’s a tactic used by many elite athletes. The self-focused introvert may find this more comfortable than directing attention outside. The outgoing extrovert, however, may be more suited to the disassociation technique. This involves turning our awareness outward. According to a report published in The Journal of Sports Psychology: “ Considerable evidence exists to link disassociation strategies with increased pain tolerance during endurance tasks.” Disassociation may also useful during a dull seminar, or an extended visit from our mother-in-law.

Just as business meetings have objectives, so should your marathon training. Whatever your personal goal, it needs to be specific, measurable, and reasonable. Similar to our professional life, these can be accomplished by choosing to focus on either the process or the outcome. In our business life a process goal would be improving our customer relation skills, while an outcome goal would be making X amount more dollars. For your first marathon, process goals are better. Since meeting them may be as simple as adhering to our training schedule, they guarantee success. As we all know, success produces self-confidence. Developing this gives us courage to challenge ourselves to achieve greater victories. Outcome goals, like beating a rival, are more risky. Since external factors can interfere with them, they are harder to succeed at.

Maintaining a positive attitude is crucial to accomplishment. Without belief in eventual success, we’ll quit at the slightest obstacle. This is true both in career and running. Everyday, marathon training teaches us persistence through discomfort. This is essential. Without challenging ourselves we can never progress to higher success. Besides the things we tell ourselves, a positive attitude also includes motivating inner images.

Many superior athletes use mental imagery, or guided visualization. These include Marion Clignet, 1996 and 2000 silver medallist on the French cycling team, and 6 times Masters winner Jack Nicklaus. Medical experts have also tested this method. A recent article published in the Journal of Sports Science states: “The power of mental imagery in sport performance has been widely noted. Keep your thinking and mental rehearsing of your upcoming races positive and it may contribute to new personal records.”

The importance of mental imagery is also noted in Olympic runner Jeff Galloway’s Marathon: You Can Do It. In this book, Galloway encourages us to rehearse parts of our marathon every day. He says that this will help us prepare for and find solutions to problems we may encounter and help us “tough it out.” This strength doesn’t end in out legs and lungs. Finishing a marathon makes us more tenacious, helping us bring home “the gold” in business.

Galina Pembroke is an internationally published writer. She is also the publisher and editor of New View Magazine online. New View gives you unique articles on health, self-help, animal rights, spirituality and more.

Running After 50 – My Story

I took up running in my late 40s after looking hard and long at a picture taken in New York City during a family vacation, a picture in which I truly did not like the way I looked.

Out of shape. Tired. Overweight. Neglected. Dark rings under the eyes. No juice. And that big belly which I didn’t notice before… hmmm…

Clearly, dieting and exercise was the only way out. But dieting has never been something I was very successful at. So that left me with the only other option available – exercising.

But what kind of an exercise? I felt too old for a lot options and almost for all team sports. I didn’t have too much spare time either.

It had to be something that I could start doing right away without much preparation or driving around and would then allow me get back to my daily routine with the same ease.

As I was meditating on the issue, as luck would have it and as it usually happens by divine arrangement in situations like this, my eyes happened to fall on this very elderly gentlemen, easily in his 70s and perhaps even more, RUNNING past my window with a stilted but comfortable gait!

I pressed my nose to the glass to take a second look just to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating or anything.

Nope, the white haired gentleman was slowly but surely inching his way up the street where I lived, looking smart in his great looking sweat shirt and pants and matching jogging shoes.

I was embarrassed in a way. If this guy could run in that very advanced age, what excuse did I have for self-pity and inaction?

So that very same evening I did what I always do before embarking on a new project – I hit the bookstore.

While perusing the racks of books and magazines I found what I needed. The latest issue of the Runner’s World magazine which had a 10 week startup program for the absolute new beginners. I checked it out while still standing there in front of the magazine rack – it was built around a “walk 2 minutes and then run for 2 minutes for a total 10 minutes” type of idea.

Certain that I could walk and run in 2 minute intervals, I purchased the magazine right there on the spot.

While driving back home I almost ran a red light because in my mind I was already off and running like a cheetah up and down gorgeous hills and mountains and across all over God’s green earth. Boy, was I ready for some glory.

The next morning, with my old plastic watch strapped to my right wrist, and wearing my almost brand spanking new running shorts and jogging shoes, I was out in front of my house, feeling really nervous and excited like a little kid about to join a new game.

The first 100 yards I thought I was doing fine until I was stopped in my tracks with an excruciating pain that stabbed me on the side. And that was the end of my first “run.” I walked back home holding my side and cussing at myself for failing in my grandiose “becoming a runner” project.

Was this for me really? Was I going to be able to run, ever, for 2 MINUTES straight for god’s sake?!

The next morning I did not feel any better when I saw the same old gentleman cruising past my house, this time in an even better-looking jogging outfit.

In ten minutes I was out again, making it past the 100-yards mark and welcoming the familiar side-stab at about 200 yards. But I felt I was doing it. At long last, yes, I was exercising, one killer side-stitch at a time.

Let’s fast forward to a year later…

My runs were now always over the 30 minute mark and I was running like 3 or sometimes even 4 times a week. I was feeling great, lost some weight (not a lot though) but in general I was really feeling charged the way someone throws off a switch in a dark room and turns on the lights. The sensation of renewal was really remarkable. The fact that my wife also commented on how better I looked and how she was also inspired herself by my new routine made the rewards even sweeter.

Since then running became truly an addiction for me. I can now run for over an hour at a slow comfortable pace and easily do four or five miles at a stretch. When I feel rested and especially energized, like perhaps once every other week, I also combine some after-run sit ups and bicycle-kick crunches for some extra conditioning.

Within the past few years I’ve even participated in a 5K and 10K race with mediocre times nothing to write home about (33” and 72”, respectively). But I feel peaceful, strong and about 20 pounds lighter. I know I probably have another 20 pounds to go but it is a process. An up and down process that I’ve learned to manage.

Some days I feel tired and ragged, and I’ve learned how not to force myself on days like that because, thanks god, my body does not care for my ego.

I’ve learned to respect my limits and not to injure myself. So I never got injured so far, knock on wood.

On those magical and rare days when I feel this inexplicable energy roaring out of nowhere in the third mile of a 5 mile run, I’ve learned to let it rip and open up downhill like a child while praying inward that my knees would hold up and not let me down for one more day.

I’ve learned to appreciate the beauty of running and all runners young and old, fast and slow. I’ve learned the proper form to run efficiently and how not to be arrogant when I saw fellow runners with bad-form, and how not to be upset when those same runners with bad-forms easily left me reeling in their dust.

I know what a privilege and blessing it is to be able to run. I cherish it with an almost religious reverence. I’m truly grateful. I remember all those who cannot run even if they wanted to for one reason or another and I send them all my heartfelt silent prayers. I hope they are accepted.

If you are already a runner, I’m sure you’re already familiar with my experience. And if you are not, first of all let me slip in the obligatory caution that I’m not a doctor and I strongly recommend you see your doctor before undertaking any exercise program, including running.

But having said that, I heartily recommend running for everyone, within their own limits and capacity. Take it very easy at first. Walk a minute, and then “run” for 30 seconds, if you need to. There’s nothing wrong with that. Who said you need to run like Alberto Salazar as soon as your New Balances hit the ground?

It’s all about circulation and sweating out the toxins. I think running is unique in revving up our circulation to its maximum and that’s why it’s got so many health and psychological benefits. But that deserves another article of its own.

Do it and you’ll like it. And the more you like it, the more you end up doing it, no matter how old you are. That’s how this positive addiction grows on you and becomes a new friend.

Oh, by the way, I later happened to learn the name of the same white-haired gentleman that unknowingly became my inspiration and silent mentor because I ran in a 5K with him. For the first 4K he was ahead of me. It was only within the last klick that I pulled even and passed him.

If I did not pass him in that 5K race I might seriously consider quitting running altogether because I also learned his age from another fellow runner that knew him pretty well.

He was 84 years old and he is till running up and down my street. God bless him.

Ugur Akinci, Ph.D. is a Creative Copywriter, Editor, an experienced and award-winning Technical Communicator specializing in fundraising packages, direct sales copy, web content, press releases, movie reviews and hi-tech documentation. He has worked as a Technical Writer for Fortune 100 companies for the last 7 years.

In addition to being an Ezine Articles Expert Author, he is also a Senior Member of the Society for Technical Communication (STC), and a Member of American Writers and Artists Institute (AWAI).

You can reach him at writer111@gmail.com for a FREE consultation on all your copywriting needs.

You are most welcomed to visit his official web site http://www.writer111.com for more information on his multidisciplinary background, writing career, and client testimonials. While at it, you might also want to check the latest book he has edited:http://www.lulu.com/content/263630

Starting Off Running on the Right Foot

***The next few posts will be articles done by guest writers – articles that I have found especially helpful in my running***

Starting out in running should be simple, stress-free and fun. It is a time to enjoy yourself, not to weigh yourself down with expectations and unlikely goals. In fact, I believe the reason so many runners don’t keep up their running after the first few attempts is because they fail to make it the release valve it should be, and let it become yet another stress in our already stressful lives. Once it becomes a duty or a drudge you’re just around the corner from giving up – another broken New Year’s resolution to haunt you year after year!

So, how about this for advice: if you’re doing a run but you’re out of breath and you’re honestly not enjoying it… well just stop. Walk for a while or just sit on the grass. Enjoy the scenery, watch the other runners, listen to the birds (or the cars). Maybe do some stretching. Be honest, would it be that bad if you never got round to running and just walked every day for 30 minutes? If you were taking no exercise before, this is a huge improvement in your fitness.

You will run when you’re ready, when you want to, and when it’s fun.

The second big mistake is burn out. Most people can manage a big one-off effort if they must. This is what you see when people are shamed into doing some parent and child event for charity. Mums and Dads who have hardly raised themselves from the couch in ten years drag themselves round a circuit without any training. This is how some people start out on their training program, with the one big effort to prove themselves. Unfortunately with untrained muscles, you may need two weeks off before you’re fit to go again. By which time you’re just as unfit as you were to begin with, and the next session feels just as hard as the first. It would have been far better to do 15 minutes of perfectly manageable walking or jogging every two or three days, because your muscles would begin to get used to the idea of running, your lungs would begin to open a little. You’d be building up rather than breaking down

William Mann is a keen and passionate runner. Well aware of how difficult it can be to fit everything you need into a day. By approaching running as a purely enjoyable activity he has shown how it is possible for you to run for life. Learning to listen to you body and respect its needs is the key to lifelong running. His book Run Forever shows just what that means in practice. An easy step by step guide to get you running or keep you running fit.

See for yourself at http://www-stayfit.com/running/rslwm.html