Get Prepared!

The time has come that I need to start preparing you for the mental battle that goes along with the path of running and finishing a marathon. And often, a "mantra" or some word or phrase that you can refer to and repeat at various times in your journey can go a long way to pulling out strength from within to achieve your ultimate goal. So, start thinking about what you might want to adopt.

Your Coach would often go to the race Expos and look for fodder to be my mantra. Sometimes it was multiple mantras and my tradition was always to find elites or past elites and bring them my Bib to sign-on to. At Boston it was Bobbi Gibb, Katherine Switzer, Bill Rodgers and sometimes others that autographed my bib and gave me something to fall-back on when times got tough out there (as they always do).

Last year at Boston I stood in line at some Nissan vendor display and there was this fellow, Josh Cox, signing autographs. I never heard of him before, but when the pretty little gal encouraging people to get in line said he held the world-record for the 50k distance, I thought, well anyone that can run 31-miles in world record time must have a mantra.

And, I waited in line and when I finally got there up to this fellow, I apologized for not knowing who he was or his greatness in the world of running, but I did ask him anyone that can run a 50k race in record time must have something he resorts to when times get tough. And, he responded, its simple, one-word, "Believe" - you did the training you are ready, so believe in yourself you are capable of doing it. And, he signed my bid, "Believe."

I had others sign-on at that Expo including Katherine Switzer again, and Bart Yasso, but it was Cox's Believe I kept falling back on during that race. Ya, at one point coming off of Heartbreak Hill and just passing the 21-mile marker, a fellow Yankee Runner, Rob Held, came out of nowhere from the sidelines running alongside of me. Now I know you don't know Rob, but he is a very accomplished sub-3hr marathoner. When I recognized him I just said, "Help run me in Rob." Well, he had some other friend he needed to tend to and wait for and couldn't run me the full 5.2 miles remaining, but he ran alongside me about 1/4 mile and at the end, looked down at his watch, and just said, "Hold this pace Frogger and you will do just fine!" So, an extra mantra became, "Just Hold This Pace" in conjunction with "Believe."

When I looked at my watch when Rob said that, it showed a 7:48 pace. Egads, I am running a marathon into 22-miles and I am running 7:48 and he wants me to hold it? Didn't matter - just fall-back on Cox's Believe, because I did all the training that gave me the condition to run this fast, and my Yankee-friend the extra ad-lib mantra, just hold-it and you do fine. And, I did just fine, running my fastest ever marathon on my 3rd consecutive Boston Marathon. That's a great place to run your best, even better to know it was others that help inspire that ability.

One can always find many excuses to qualify what happens out there. But, this Coach says, if you have a very well-thought out Mantra, it is something that can go a long way to getting you through your marathon at what you hope to do. Start giving it some thought because you need something in your mental tool-kit to toss-in when the going gets tough. Start thinking about a Mantra or Mantras (you can have more than one) and would love to hear what you intend to resort to.

Coach Frogger