Marathon training is tough under any condition
Amarathon, all of 26 miles and 385 yards, is a fair and physical challenge. It is not an impossible distance but surely it will push any runner into discomfort. Anyone who has ever toed the line knows this.
For the next three to six hours, you will be managing your systems to accomplish your goal. Balancing hydration with exertion to find the perfect balance of forward progress. Taking between 55,000 to 65,000 steps to finish the race, each with the potential for something to go wrong — or something to go right. Using your mind to signal to your body that all is well is perfectly normal and working through the low patches for when something does go wrong to make it right. As the race moves forward, your focus increases and all outside concerns except the race itself are stripped away.
But the marathon finish is the culmination of months of training. As Meb Keflezighi, American silver medalist in the marathon at the 2004 Olympics Games and winner of the 2009 NYC and 2014 Boston Marathon said: “The reason people want to run the marathon is because the challenge, physically, is you. The distance — how you get there — is all up to you and how hard you work.”
You learn a lot about yourself through the hundreds of miles and months of training. You learn to, in the words of Dr. George Sheehan, “forsake pleasures, to discipline the body, to find courage, to renew faith, and to become one’s own person, utterly and completely.”
And that is in the best of times.
But how can you apply these lessons in a pandemic when the races you have trained for are now virtual? How does one approach 26.2 miles knowing there is no on-course aid, no fellow competitors, no spectators, no official course, and no post-race recognition? How does one take all those “no’s” and turn them into a “yes, I can do this” and, more importantly, “yes, I want to do this?”
Dan Morrissey of Severna Park, like many other runners in the area, faced this challenge head on. In 2019, Dan registered to run the 2020 London Marathon with my wife and son as part of the charity team for the Salvation Army.
The race, usually held in April, was initially postponed October 2020 and then went virtual. Dan was undaunted and planned his London virtual marathon to be run locally.
On a perfect early October Sunday morning, Dan started at 7 a.m., leaving from his house south on the B&A Trail to Annapolis where he would turn around at City Dock and head back. As the miles passed under his feet, Dan met up at various points with local runners Bob Smith, Richard Folderauer, and Cindy Kulikowski, who each joined the group and pushing Dan to a personal best time of 4:28:48.
Dan so enjoyed the race that he signed up for the 49th annual Houston Marathon with his son Mike, who lives in Houston. That race was also virtual, but Dan and Mike ran the race in-person along with about 100 other folks on a recent January day.
The race was on the White Oak Bayou trail through downtown Houston. Dan and Mike finished third and fourth at Memorial Park, meeting up with several classmates from Mike’s MBA program at Rice who also finished the event. And Dan set another personal best with an impressive improvement to 4:06:01.
Although COVID-19 is hopefully loosening somewhat its grip on us, a valuable lesson comes out of Dan’s achievement, as well as
all those who continued to train and race: the runner’s will to achieve is the driving force in success at the desired distance and goal, even when the world strips away all the shine.
Applying the Japanese concept of Kaizen to your running goals, even in a pandemic one can keep continuously improving by planning, doing, checking/analyzing and adjusting.
If you haven’t been training much, or not pushing yourself, you can do what Dan Morrissey did: make a realistic plan to reach your desired goal, get out there and achieve it, afterwards adjusting your approach to continue to improve.
Running calendar
(All subject to government approval and compliance with COVID-19 restrictions)
Today: Little Patuxent Trail Run at 8:00 a.m., 13.1 miles and 10K. Race registration is full. More information: ripitevents.com/ littlepatuxentriverrun
March 27: Barlow Bolt 5K in Millersville. More information: active. com/millersville-md/running/ distance-running-races/barlowe-bolt-2021
April 1 to May 31: Spring Explorer Series (virtual). More information: charmcityrun.com/calendar/2021/2/8/
spring-explorer-race-series
Have a question or a comment or additional calendar items? Email Bob Cawood at rhbc@cawoodlawfirm.com.