Skip to main content

Define Yourself

I was trolling away on twitter tonight (sidebar: slowly getting addicted, follow me @kauffmannt), and by way of National Geographic of all places came across this gem of advice from Deena Castor:

Define yourself.

Maybe I'm just getting pensive a week before the marathon, but this one really struck a chord with me (and I'm not even musical). Those two words just seem to perfectly and succinctly sum up what I get out of running.

(And the Don Draper in me is picturing an awesome tv/print ad campaign centered around "Define Yourself").

The beauty of it is that there really isn't much more that needs to be said. And it goes beyond just running. If you're looking for motivation, consider: How do you want to be remembered? What do you want people to say about you? What kind of person are you?

Define yourself.

'Nuff said.

(Oh and ps, to stick with the twitter theme and because it's marathon week, I think I might start using #DefineYourself. You should too.)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Base Training the Lydiard Way

This is a post I've been meaning to write for a while, but just haven't really gotten around to it. This is for anyone using the summer to gear up for a fall season of racing, whether that's a marathon, road races, or cross country. That said, this is especially for you high school and college athletes. Summer is the most important time of the season. It's when you build your base -- everything that's to come later in the fall is determined by the quality of this base. In fact, some might even say that your end-of-season peak is limited by how well you trained over the summer. Arthur Lydiard believed this. And his philosophies still form the foundation of modern-day distance training. You've probably heard (and maybe internalized) many of the common critiques of Lydiard-style training: it's old and outdated , or it's too hard, or, most common, it's just a lot of long slow distance. And low slow distance makes for long slow runners . The lat...
2 comments
Read more

Why I Love Running At Withrow

One of my favorite places to do workouts and strides and general fast stuff is the track at Withrow High School in Hyde Park. No, it's not because of the newly renovated surface. No, it's not because it's a perfect 10-minute warmup and cooldown jog from my house. No, it's not because I'm a nerd and it has markings for both a 1600 and a mile. No, it's not because the school building forms a perfect "L" around the homestretch and first turn, sheltering the field from any drastic wind. No, it's not because I spent four years during college running workouts there. Actually, wait, that is part of it. The reason I love Withrow's track so much can be summed up like this: it's a true public track. If you've ever been to the track, then you know how packed it can get with people using it. And it's not just Withrow High School teams and random individuals -- the track is also regularly used by many other local high schools witho...
1 comment
Read more

MILE BY MILE

Every race tells a story. This is the story of one runner -- and the people, training, and events that built his race, told MILE BY MILE . Each day for the next month leading up to the Boston Marathon, I will be releasing one chapter of the story. Day one, chapter one starts... Now! Click here for the first chapter: Warmup
Post a Comment
Read more