Justin Lagat is our correspondent in Kenya. He provides you, our readers, with a weekly view from Kenya. This column is from the last week of January, where he participated in a live chat from the Ottowa marathon.
What do I like about this column? The universality of running and how social media continues to provide a more intimate experience for runners. Runners like to talk running wherever they are. Here is your view from Kenya.
This Sunday (January the 29th), Ottawa Marathon organized one live chat with the hash tag #runottchat on Twitter, and it was amazing to learn the ideas and experiences that other runners have found in the marathon event. Some chats would make one feel that, after all, they were not alone in whatever they undergo, while preparing for and running the marathon, while other chats were eye opening.
Since I live on the other side of the world from many of the runners preparing to run the Ottawa Marathon in May, I had to wake up at 3AM (Monday) in the morning in order to follow the chat that was happening at 8PM (Sunday) in Ottawa.
This was the second of such live chats which are to be organized by the Ottawa Marathon before the IAAF gold label race finally happen on 28th May.
Runners who have run a marathon before were asked to contribute their experiences and what they had learned concerning a number of issues that happen in a marathon ranging from the long term, the short term and the immediate (like the bathroom strategy) training and preparation advice while getting ready for one’s first marathon.
Questions by @OttawaMarathon included:
Q1: Just to get to know everyone a bit better: when did you run your first marathon and how many more have you done since then?
Q2: What made you want to tackle 42.2?
Q3: How did you know you were ready to take on a marathon?
Q4: What was the most surprising thing about running your first marathon?
Q5: What made you sign up for your second marathon?
Q6: How do you figure out what time to shoot for?
Q7: Can I target a Boston Qualifying time on my first marathon?
Q8: How much weekly time do you need to reserve for a marathon plan?
Q9: 42 km takes a while. What’s your bathroom strategy?
Q10: What’s the one piece of advice you wish someone had told you right before your first marathon?
Runners were to answer the questions by indicating the number they were answering i.e. A1, A2, A3, A4, etc.
Answers from runners were both inspiring and informative. At the end of the chat, among other things, everyone learned that the marathon distance should be respected, that every runner feels the body hurting and the temptation to stop at some point in the race and that pushing ahead and finishing is worth the trouble. Besides that, it was great to learn that every runner preparing to run a successful marathon should dedicate their time and energy to serious daily long term training.
