Nowhere was the tribal nature of running made more apparent to me than in the lead-up to and running of my last marathon, the Smuttynose Rockfest Marathon in Hampton, NH. Smuttynose was the first marathon I ran where I had a large group of friends, many of whom I had never met in person, who would also be running the race. We shared the www.armagilus.fr ups and downs of our training in the lead-up to marathon day, we met before the race and shared our expectations, and we were Adidas Campus Damen waiting for each other at the finish line to cheer each other Nike Air Max 90 Heren in. Just like the tribal hunts of old, we celebrated with food and drink afterward, only instead of sitting around a fire, we sought shelter from the cold in the beer tent. Smuttynose will be one of my most cherished running experiences, and not simply because it was the race that let me join the tribe of runner’s who have qualified for Boston. It will be memorable because I ran it with a tribe of friends, and that is ultimately what makes this sport so special.Finally, a note on commercialism. I have run races that are highly commercial (hard to beat the Disney Marathon for that), and races that don’t even have expos (Smuttynose), and to be Nike Air Max 2017 Mens honest, the commercialism of some road races doesn’t really bother me. Perhaps it’s because I’m inherently an admitted gear Nike Air Max 270 Mujer junkie, but I actually view gear and the companies that produce it to Nike Air Max 90 Donne be part of the fun of running. Yes they are ultimately out to make money, and yes I question the value of some of the products produced (a frequent topic of discussion on this blog!), but I have interacted with people at many of these companies, both large and small ones, and never have I felt that corporate greed was the prime motivator for what they do (granted, I’m not talking to CEO’s). Most of them are runners, and I genuinely believe that most people at these companies have the runner’s best interest at heart.
In many ways, gearing up for a race is as much a tribal activity as any other. We runner’s like to follow our pre-race rituals – we have the pasta dinner the night before, and the same breakfast before every marathon. After careful consideration, we Nike Air Max 95 Hombre lay out our clothes, shoes, and other gear the evening before the race. Adidas Superstar Femme On race day, we choose things that make us feel powerful or fast, and I personally believe in the psychological benefits that this can confer – is me choosing to wear fluorescent orange arm warmers and shoes with “flames” on the sides so different than my ancestors who painted their face or bodies prior to a hunt or heading into battle? After the race, we celebrate with a ceremonial medal and the oft-seen mylar blanket – both of which distinguish us as successful participants in the “hunt.” And on the evening after the race, instead of painting pictures of the event on a cave wall, we spend time on-line or at dinner recounting tales of the day, sharing our experiences, and congratulating each other on a job well done.Tomorrow I start the next chapter in Nike Roshe Run Damen my running life. My plan is to run the Manchester City Marathon not for myself, but to help others reach their goals. My plan is to help a friend pace the 3:40 time group, and to be honest, I am very much looking forward to it. I’ll credit reading McDougall’s article for pushing me to make this decision – just as he changed his mind about running in NYC, I changed my mind about what this race would be about. Tomorrow will be a celebration of the joy I get from running, and it will be a celebration that I will share with every other person out on the road, no matter how long it takes them to finish the race. I will probably be unabashedly commercial, recognizing my on-line “tribe” by wearing my dailymile T-shirt and other logo-riddled running gear. And after the race I will celebrate, both in Manchester and on-line with those Nike Air Max 95 Dames running that much bigger race in NYC. I thank McDougall for helping me to make this decision, I wish him good luck, and I hope that he has a wonderful race – we will be running together in spirit. We are both runners, and together with thousands of other fellow members of our tribe, we will be recreating the activity that joins us together with our ancestors. To everybody running tomorrow, may you have a successful “hunt,” may you celebrate heartily, and I look forward to hearing your stories!