Inspiration to Run

Awhile back B lent me this book that she read a few years ago. It inspired her to do more long distance running, so she thought it might be a good motivator for me. Up until our road trip for the Charlotte half marathon I never had the time or patience to read it. Since we had a 7 hour road trip ahead of us, I figured no better time than right before a race to dig in. Although I only read about 1/3 of the book before our race, it was enough to help influence and change my mentality.

I'm a sucker for giving into pain while I'm running and will walk when I see fit to give myself a break. After reading what one man, Dean Karnazes, put himself through on a daily basis just to test his own strength and endurance- my own pain didn't seem so big. Words that stuck with me through my race were "if you feel good, you're not pushing yourself enough.... pain is just weakness leaving your body."
Cheesy as it sounds, I did tell myself several time this during my Charlotte half marathon, and as a result its one of the best and most consistent races I've run yet!

I actually finished the rest of the book on the road trip back and the last 2/3 were equally as inspiring as the first 1/3.  I can't do it justice by describing all his accolades, so if you are looking to have your love of running strengthened or renewed I highly recommend picking it up, or checking out his website Ultra Marathon Man