Summer Running
Had me a blast. Summer Running. Happened so fast.
As summer slowly and lethargically winds down here in Oregon and begins to open the door to fall let me just say thank you. Thank you for letting me be a part of your running journey. Thank you for letting me join you on your runs. Thank you for letting me (try to) help you get closer to whatever it is you’re running towards. Thank you for telling me about your wins and your losses and your breakthroughs and your breakdowns and the barriers you are coming up against and the barriers you broke through. Thank you for letting me be a part of it all. It’s one of the the biggest joys in my life to get to cheer for you and celebrate you. And thank you for letting me tell you one more thing.
You did the work. Not me. You got to the starting line. Not me. You powered every single stride that covered every single minute, meter and mile. You did it. Not me. Do you see that? Do you know that? I hope so. Because that greatness of yours has always been there. That greatness of yours may have been hidden. It may have been buried deep inside you. It may have been forgotten about. But it was there. It was always there.
How do I know that?
Because coaches don’t create greatness.
We just help you uncover it.
Cheers,
Coach Bennett
A NIGHT WITH TWO COACH BENNETT’S TALKING
One of the highlights of the trip back to New Jersey this August was getting to do an event at the new local running and walking specialty store - The Outpost Running & Walking Co. Craig Segal is the owner The Outpost in Little Silver, NJ as well as the host of the podcast What’s Inside The Box? He’s a former Villanova Wildcat harrier and just a flat out great dude.
It was a great night for both me and Coach Bennett the Greater. That’s of course the one and only mindset coach extraordinaire tammie bennett. (Yes, she of the all lower case letters.) We were able to reconnect with so mant long time Jersey friends as well as meet so many new friends.
The theme of the conversation was racing. XC. Marathons. Half Marathons. Ultras. Track. Didn’t matter what kind of race. What mattered was how we could help you race better. And just as important it was an opportunity to get some of the running community together at a local running store. Those local running shops are the lifeblood of this sport. They are a refuge for runners. They are supporters of local events and athletes. They are support systems and hangouts for the community. And running speciality stores house an immense amount of wisdom.
This is my way of saying SHOP AT YOUR LOCAL RUNNING SPECIALTY STORE!
A big thank you to everyone that came out and to Claire Sheprow who took all the excellent pictures. You can check out her work by tapping here and get details on how to work with her. Claire does portrait and lifestyle photography. You can also follow her on Instagram by tapping here.
Check out The Outpost Running and Walking Co. on Instagram here.
You can also check out their website online and SHOP from the store here!
Listen to the podcast recording of Two Coach Bennett’s Talking at the Outpost Running & Walking Co. on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. I’ve included both below. The conversation is split into two episodes.
PROJECT MOONSHOT
I traveled back to NYC for the kickoff of Project Moonshot. It’s a 16 week immersive experience for 300 runners training for full and half marathons taking place this autumn. It was a great opportunity to meet with the always badass NYC running community. One of the best parts of the start of any training cycle is the optimism and nervousness that seems to be a part of every conversation. Both of those things have energy. So it was an electric atmosphere at Nike NYC HQ that night.
I was lucky enough to address the 300 badasses to start the evening. One piece of advice I shared was to not wait to celebrate. Sometimes we wait until after journey is over to celebrate what it was instead of celebrating on the journey for what it is. Training for anything (or nothing) involves so many starting lines and accomplishments and learnings. Why wait to acknowledge those things until the journey is over? Rhetorical question. No need to answer. It’s silly to wait to celebrate things you’ve already accomplished. Every training plan needs more celebrating and not less!
(Every training plan needs more strength work too. Just some basic body weight and balancing exercises ought to do the trick. You don’t need a fancy gym membership to get the work done that needs to be done. Just saying.)
WANT SOME ADVICE? TAKE A SHOWER!
I love running on boardwalks. They’re busy and the beach is right there and you’ve got the ocean doing her thing. It’s a blast. And one other thing that I love about (some) boardwalks is that they have showers. You know what’s great about a shower? The shower of cool water that they supply! On hot (or even warm) runs I make sure to hit each and every shower. I’m only stopping for 20-30 seconds. Less time than the stop lights I’d probably be waiting at if I was running on teh roads. But those 20 seconds allow me to get some water on me and in me. I get to cool off. I effectively make the conditions I am running in better and therefore get to have a higher quality run! So, if I can offer you a little earned wisdom here… don’t pass up water on a hot run and definitely hit the showers if you have access to them.
A LITTLE MESSAGE TO ANYONE RACING THIS FALL
Yes, you need to click on the picture to hear the strikingly handsome mustachioed man speak.
LET YOU RUNNING BE ABOUT MORE THAN RUNNING AND… (watch the video)
COACH BENNETT’S PODCAST PARTY!!
Just take a look at all the audio goodness you have waiting for you below. That’s right. 4 NEW episodes of Coach Bennett’s Podcast at your fingertips. Enjoy!
Thank you so much for subscribing and for reading Coach Bennett’s Newsletter. Thank you for sharing it amongst family and friends and teammates. And if you are one of the paid supporters of this newsletter… thank you for that too. It helps. It really does. And I greatly appreciate it. Also, please let me know if there are topics that you’d like for me to write about in future newsletters!
Until next time… take care of yourself… take care of each other.
Cheers,
Coach Bennett