Category Archives: running

Nov 21 0 comments
Marty Coleman, pride, running

Tell Them You Are Proud

pride

As many of you know, I coach a running group. The group is geared to complete a 1/4 marathon (6.55 miles) after a 12 week training season.  But this season we added on something extra. We tacked on 5 extra weeks and took them from running the 1/4 marathon to a 15k to a 1/2 marathon yesterday.

By the time the 1/2 marathon race started they were on their own; no coaches telling them what pace to run, when to stop for water, what to wear, how to stretch, or what to eat. It was all on them, alone, by themselves to conquer fear, trepidation, worry, excitement, unexpected aspects they couldn’t control (internal and external) and to fight their way through it.  And they all did it. I am very proud of them, everyone of them.

I tell them as often as I can that I am proud of them. When I first started saying ‘I am proud of you’ I had feelings that it was premature, as if I shouldn’t be saying it because I don’t know them well enough. After all, isn’t that reserved for a parent to tell a child or a spouse to tell their partner?

But I soon realized that it was my act of saying it, and believing it, that made me care about them enough for it to be true. I thought about what it was I was proud of in them. What had they overcome? What demons or negativity had they conquered?  What achievement, seemingly out of reach, did they realize?  What blossoming had I seen?

Tell me about how you express your pride in others. Do you say it often? What stops you if you don’t.  How do you feel when you get, or do not get, that affirming pride statement from someone?

Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily

Quote by me

Nov 17 0 comments
Anonymous, confidence, running

True Confidence vs False Confidence

confidence

I coach a running group here in Tulsa.  Many of these runners are running in their first half marathon this coming weekend.  They raced 6.55 miles 5 weeks ago, 9.3 miles 3 weeks ago and Sunday they race 13.1 miles.

Six months ago most of them had not run a mile, much less 13.  They started training for a 5k with runs that lasted 1 minute followed by 3 minutes of walking.  It wore them out. They had little confidence they could do it but they tried anyway. And they did it.  And they have continued to do it.  That is confidence based on training and experience. It is a well grounded confidence that they have and that I have for them.

They are trained to have multiple goals.  They have their optimal goal; their best case scenario.  They have the goal they can adapt to; the goal that says everything is not optimal and I am going to adapt WITHOUT judging myself.  Then they have the worst case goal; the goal that says nothing at all is going as it is suppose to and I am just going to finish this damn race no matter what.  They don’t lose their confidence, they adapt their confidence.

So, what is the difference between true confidence and false confidence? After all, no one can see the future so how can we be confident about anything, whether true or false, right?  True confidence is based on training and experience and is willing to adapt.  False confidence is based on a wishful desire and is unwilling to adapt.

Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily.

Quote by Anonymous.

Nov 18 1 comments
belief, Henry Ford, running

>Whether You Believe You Can or Believe You Can't

>

As some of you know, I am a runner.  I started a few years ago and am now about to run my second marathon.


I was not destined to be a runner.  I was a swimmer growing up, we lived at the beach and I body surfed constantly, we had pools and I swam on a team when I was in elementary school.  I wasn’t good but I could swim.  Swimming was my thing.  


This is the beach where I was raised.



When I went away for my freshman year of college my roommate turned out to be a runner. A crazy, long distance runner.   I didn’t have one iota of interest in running.  I was not a runner. I couldn’t do that, even if I wanted to.


When I went to my next college (I went to many) I had a roommate who was a runner (and a cocaine fiend).  I had not one iota of interest in running. I was not a runner.  I couldn’t do that, even if I wanted to.


When I went to my next college I saw a lot of runners (the college was on the beach).  I was not a runner. I couldn’t do that, even if I wanted to.


Then for the next 20 some odd years I continued to be not a runner.


Then I got a divorce and went to the gym.  I lost weight, got fit.  I saw people run on the track.  I tried once or twice.  But I was still not a runner.  


Then I had an office mate at work who wanted to get some exercise, she was a runner.  I joined her, for the first 100 yards. Then I walked. I was not a runner, after all.  I ran a longer distance a few times, I got a little better. But I still wasn’t a runner.


My first running buddies, leaving me in the dust.



pan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Then my wife thought it would be fun for the family to join a running training group.  It was starting very slow; run 1 minute, walk 3.  I could do that since it wasn’t really running, just jogging a little bit.  I knew I wouldn’t be able to run any distance, and I was right.


Then the training led to a race. A 3.1 mile race, a 5k.  That is running.  But since I couldn’t do it, even if I wanted to, one of two things was no longer true.  My belief about what I could do had changed, or…well, there was no second thing.  My belief changed.  I could run.  I did run.  I ran that race.


Then I trained some more and ran twice that distance.  Then I ran 3 times that distance.  Then I ran 4+ times that distance.  Then I ran 8.4517 times that distance and I had run a marathon, 26.2 miles.


Some of my running buddies and myself.

It took me 2 years.  I am now a runner.  I used to believe I couldn’t and I didn’t.  Now I believe I can and I do.  What changed?  Believing I could do it.


Who do you believe you are?  Who do you believe you are not?  The not is what is holding you back, not the are.  Untie that NOT.
……………………………………………………………………………………….


Drawing and photos by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily


Quote by Henry Ford, 1863-1947, American business man, inventor of the modern assembly line, founder of Ford Motor Company.


Apr 26 3 comments
discipline, Jim Rohn, running

>Discipline Is The Bridge

>

As some of you know, I have been training for my first marathon over the winter and spring.  I ran the marathon yesterday, and finished strong, running the whole way.  I was the hardest thing I have ever voluntarily done in my life.


Many of my friends have said, ‘Oh, I could never do that’. And they are right. They can’t.  I couldn’t do it either.  But that was me of 2 years ago that couldn’t do it, when I hadn’t run at all. It was me of 18 month ago when I had only run a 5k and a 10k. it was me a year ago before I had run a 1/4 marathon or a 1/2.


When did I know I could do it?  When I realize my goals had repeatedly been transformed into accomplishments by training. I had discipline and trained. That is all it was.  I had a group, that helped A LOT! We supported each other immeasurably.  But in the end, support or no, it was doing the miles in training. It was getting up each and every Saturday, in bitter cold, bitter wind, bitter rain and running.  It was running alone on the days I couldn’t make it to the group.  All that was discipline.  I stuck with it. That is all it was.


So, if you are saying that about a marathon, a job, a skill, a school semester, a relationship, a goal of any kind, then you are right.  You can’t do it.  BUT if you train, if you discipline yourself and do the time, the work, the exercises, etc. then you CAN.  That is how your goals become accomplishments. 


Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily


Quote by Jim Rohn, 1930-2009, American author and motivational speaker


Feb 24 0 comments
distance, Roger Staubach, running

>There Are No Traffic Jams

>Perhaps this means the less dedicated people fall by the wayside and only the committed ones remain on the road in that last decisive effort.

But I have a different take on it. It is not others who are out of the way in that last mile, it is YOU that is out of the way. The many yous who stood in the way of running, or biking, or working, or loving, whatever you put your true effort into.

Think of the process of arriving at the extra mile. I will use the example of running since that is what I do. I first have to decide to get dressed to run. I have the traffic in my head of what to wear, if it will be too light or too heavy for the weather. I have mind traffic saying it’s cold out, maybe raining, maybe sleeting, maybe 100 degrees, who knows. I have to make my way through that traffic until I decide, yes I am going to go run.

Then I have to drive to where my group meets and I have real traffic to contend with. But also worries about if I will be tight, fatigued, sore. If the route will be hard hills, long and windy, dark and filled with potholes. A lot of traffic in my mind. I wonder how I will do, if I will keep up with the group, if they will be talkative, silent, helpful, oblivious, or demanding. Who will be there, who will not.

Then I start running. In fact my legs do feel sluggish, my lower back does feel tight, I am very cold, I am making my way through the ifs, ands and buts of traffic in my mind. I make my way through the physical traffic. I make my way through the social traffic.

Finally, after a while (a minute for some, 3 hours for others, doesn’t matter), I am at my final mile. My mind is clear, my pain and fear and worries and distractions…my ‘traffic’ is gone. I am free. I am running free. I am at peace and I am fulfilled.

That mile never, EVER exists except at the very end. Run towards that mile in all you do and you will be happier and and more free than you have been able to imagine so far.

Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily

Quote by Roger Staubach, 1942-not dead yet, American football player with the Dallas Cowboys.

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