On May 16, 2010 I completed my first marathon, the Cellcom Green Bay marathon. There were lots of spectators and all of them were well meaning, I'm sure. There were a couple of things said several times as I ran by the just irritated the hell out of me and a couple of things that seemed appropriate. Now since this was my first marathon my impressions may be totally off or wrong.
DON'T SAY:
"You are almost there." To someone not running the full 26.2 miles it may seem appropriate to point out that there are only 3 more miles to go and "you are almost there". However, when I heard it I wanted to stop and strangle the person. I wasn't almost there - I still had 3 f...ing miles to go!
"It's easy." Oh yeah? Then why the hell aren't you out here doing it?
OK TO SAY:
"Keep going." That is what I was saying to myself so having someone else say it helped to validate my self talk.
"You can do it." This countered my doubtful self talk that was saying, "What the hell were you thinking - you can't do this."
"Looking good." Say this one even if we all know it's a lie. I liked hearing it for some reason. I'm sure I looked like I was going to pass out - especially those last 3 miles.
No comments:
Post a Comment