Running tips are something you are bound to be given by any and all running friends. It is almost like being a mom…people feel like they need to bestow their sometimes hard learned lessons to help you in your journey. The truth is that as new runners, veteran runners, fast runners, injured runners, we can always learn something from a fellow runner. There are tips for strategies and techniques to improve our form, get faster, recover from injury.

That is the beauty of running. Each run is a new chance. To improve. To relax. To get stronger.

After eleven years, I probably qualify as a veteran, except that as I refocus and recommit to a running “reboot” where I no longer rely on what I have been able to do in the past, I am trying to start over.  Which means being open to learning, wanting to absorb all the wisdom  from experts, feeling the excitement of the effort like it is the first time. So when I had the chance to learn from Runners World editors, coaches, running columnists, Olympians, and inspirational athletes during the Runners World Half Marathon, I sat on the edge of my seat, soaking it all in, feeling the buzz from an extended runners high brought on by morsels, tidbits, and personal experiences.

Running Tips and Inspiration

Accountability

A key to running is having a training partner that keeps you accountable and helps push you to dig deep every day says  Shalane Flanigan, Three time Olympian and American record holder in the 3000, 5000, and 10,000 meters.

Nutrition

Marc Parent, The Newbie Chronicles columnist at Runners World.describes his entry into running as taking a “fork in the road.”  He did not want to be one of the many that said “I used to run.”  One of Marc’s major realizations was that “running is not a license to eat.”

Mental Toughness

Jen Van Allen, Special Project Editor Runners World, Author of The Runners World Big Book of Marathon and Half Marathon Training.said several things that stuck out to me.  Jen believes that running is about “what is on your mind and in your stomach.” The hardest part of that is the hour before you run. (You know that hour right? The one where you talk yourself in and out of running for whatever reason?). Jen’s solution is to “Make an excuse or make it happen.”  The other thing that Jen said about running is that “it should feel like happy hour.”  It should help you find that happy place where you are feeling good and want to keep going.

I stumbled upon something today…something that represents my entry into running.

A symbol of a race that I was never supposed to be able to run.  Holding the 2001 Marine Corps Marathon medal in my hand, remembering my first marathon, all 5 hours 38 minutes and 44 seconds of it, I realize that I have a chance. A chance to take these running tips, and apply them in real time, in my running reboot, to keep me focused and centered on the big goal: returning to the marathon in 2013.

What about you? What advice or inspiration have you heard recently, on any topic, that has stuck with you?

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I participated in the Runners World Half Marathon as a FitFluential Ambassador. Race expenses were provided by Runners World. No other compensation was received.  All opinions are my own.

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