On the face of it running is a solitary experience. Lets face it, no one can do it for you, and even if you run with friends or as part of a club, come race day its just you against your fellow competitors, but most importantly against yourself and the clock. But if you dig a bit deeper, you realise that helping you to get to the start line is a huge support network. Declaring to family and friends that you taking on the challenge of a marathon causes a bit of a stir – lets face it, it is something that makes people sit up and take notice of what you are saying. Those people closest to you are important in keeping you sane as the enormity of the training commitment really hits home – there is a lot of practical stuff to arrange in order that you can run 4 or 5 times a week – how annoying is that! You need the help of your family and friends. Add to this list your work colleagues then your network starts to increase in size considerably. You may not think it, but they are more than casual observers – they want you to do well and sharing your goal with them helps share the burden just a little. Now add in all those people who might be sponsoring you to run the race and the list grows even more. Now add those little bits of advice you get from other runners, from TV, radio, magazines, websites, physiotherapists, sports massage therapists, sports shop owners, the list is endless. All of this information and support gets stored up, ready to be drawn upon in the future. Over the average 4 month period of a marathon training programme this could amount to hundreds of people and when you think of the advice you get from magazines and websites you are talking about a network of 1000s runners. Most of these people you will never meet, but they all count, and they are all valuable members of your support team.
Don’t forget them.
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