Michael Deza Ran His Biggest Goal Race, & Changed His Running Focus

On today’s show, I’m joining up for a round two with Michael Deza.

Michael Deza at the 2016 Boston Marathon

When Michael was last on the show, we talked about his path to finding his calling as a runner as well as the great year of running he had in 2015.

One of his big goals for 2015 was to qualify for both the Boston and NYC marathons, which he did. Now that he’s back on the show, I’m interested in hearing how Boston went for him earlier this year and how he sees the rest of 2016 shaking out.

The 2016 Boston Marathon

Michael’s overal Boston Marathon experience was very positive, even though it solidified for him that he wanted to focus more on becoming an elite half marathoner instead of an elite marathoner.

Michael had a bit of a different experience than most when it came to the start of the race.

Instead of staying downtown and riding the bus to Hokinton several hours before the start of the race like most runners, he stayed with a family friend in Hopkinton. This allowed him to have a fuller evening of sleep and follow his “normal” pre-race routine as closely as possible before the start of the race.

When I asked Michael about his biggest memories from the 2016 Boston Marathon, meeting Scott Jurek was definitely one of his highlights. Michael mentioned that Scott’s book Eat and Run was a big inspiration, so having a chance to meet Scott was pretty exciting.

Another big highlight for Michael was a feeling a sense of completion or fulfillment of running this race. Running Boston had been a big goal of his for almost as long as has been running, and finally running the race was the completion of a long (and at times, difficult) journey in the early stages of his running career.

The Start of Michael’s Boston Journey: Qualifying

I’ve talked recently about how I almost think that actually qualifying for Boston will be as big of a deal for me as running the race itself will be.

I asked Michael to take a step back in time, and talk about how big of a deal his qualifying race was for him and his career.

And as we relived his qualifying race, we started to talk about a major component of success (in running or otherwise) is love.

Like me, Michael really sees that race and that moment when he knew he had qualified for Boston as every bit as special as actually running the race as well.

A New Focus for Running New York

Now that Michal is focusing on the half marathon, he’s no longer planning on running the New York City marathon this year.

But that doesn’t mean that running in New York is off the table.

He will be attempting to qualify for the New York City half marathon (as an elite) this year, and using that race to achieve his goal of becoming a professional distance runner.

Fewer Races, More Time for Training & Life

After running so many races in 2015, Michael is cutting way back on his race miles this years and doubling down on his training.

He’s also going to allow more time for some of the important areas of his life outside of running, and specifically to spend more time with his girlfriend.

Michael Deza with his Girlfriend

Michael does a lot of thinking while he is running, and realizes that his relationship with his girlfriend is more important to him than his running.

So by racing less, and focusing less on racing itself, he is going to be able to spend more time on the other areas of his life on a wholistic level as well.

Have Fun!

As we wrapped up our chat, Michael stressed the importance of having fun and finding joy in the running and not from the results.

Improved results and reaching goals is great, but remember to have fun along the way!

If you’re not already connected with Michael, check out his website or say hi to him on Twitter and/or Instagram!

As Always, I’d Love to Know What Stood Out to You From this Episode! Let Me Know Your Takeaway in the Comments Below!

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