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Parents are the Toughest Runners

Who are the Toughest Runners on the Planet? (A Guest Post by Andy Cloud)

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When you picture it in your mind, what do the toughest runners look like??

Is it the elite marathoner breaking the tape at a marathon major? Maybe the 100 mile ultra runner who runs for 24 hours plus? Or could it be the Tough Mudder, who actually paid money to scale walls, struggle through muddy pits, and get electrocuted?

You might tell yourself that all of those runners are pretty tough, and I’d certainly agree.

But the toughest runners, the runners that really take it to the next level when it comes to sacrifice and dealing with adversity, would be your average, everyday, hard working runner/parent.

Parents are the Toughest Runners

Parents are the Toughest Runners

Running and Raising Kids

There are many challenges that a parent has to overcome when you’re running/racing.

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It’s Almost Race Time

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Three days from now, I’ll be finished running America’s Toughest Road Marathon.

z_tough2

How’s that for self confidence?

The Blue Ridge Marathon is happening on Saturday, and I can’t wait! I’ve been looking forward to this race for awhile now, though if I’m honest, I’ve been a little nervous about this race as well.

You see, as a naturalized Floridian, we don’t really have many hills to train on. In fact, the (only half-way joking) legitimate hills we have are actually road/highway overpasses.

No offense, but overpasses don’t quite measure up to the Blue Ridge Mountains. There is an advertised 7,500 feet of elevation change over the course of those 26.2 miles.

You could say that I’m slightly unprepared for this race, but I’m not sure that would accurately portray how this race is going to go. I know I’m capable of handling the miles, but the hills are going to kill me. If I can make it in less than 5 hours, it’ll be a win for me.

Just Having Fun

No matter how the race goes, the goal for this weekend is to just have fun. I’ll be flying up to VA on Friday morning, running the race Saturday morning, and flying home Saturday night. The travel itinerary isn’t ideal, but it is what it is.

And this way I can blame the lack of a PR on the condensed travel schedule! Hehe.

If any of y’all are running Blue Ridge this weekend, I’d love to meet you guys! Let me know, or give me a shout on twitter, and we can meet up at the expo.

And if you see me curled up along the side of the road on Saturday in the fetal positions, just keep going.

I’ll be ok.