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Elephants, fleas, futility, and self limitation

March 24, 2017 by Brent

self limitation

Imagine you are chained to the ground with no power to break free. You are a captive, held in place by an immovable object. How long would you struggle before accepting your fate? I can’t remember the first time I heard the story of elephant training, but I was reminded of it this past week […]

Filed Under: Running Tagged With: Boston Marathon, BQ, fitness, futility, goals, life, long run, marathon, marathon training, motivation, negativity, patience, perseverance, race, run, runner, running, self doubt, self limitation, Shreveport, tempo, training, training plan

Joyful running is all about loving the daily process

March 7, 2017 by Brent

joyful running

As I worked on a talk for our 10K and 5K training group last week, I thought a lot about how running affects my mind. The talk focused on training your brain to run and why mental toughness is important. I can pull so many examples from my own experiences. So many times I struggled […]

Filed Under: Running Tagged With: Boston Marathon, BQ, fitness, goals, long run, marathon, marathon training, motivation, negativity, patience, run, runner, running, San Diego, training, training plan, workouts

Answering the old question: ‘What are you running from?’

December 2, 2016 by Brent

What are you running from?

“What are you running from?” The question is jarring. My body was moving forward; my mind zoned out. Nothing changed – my cadence was regular, and I was breathing in a locked pattern I’ve practiced on hundreds of runs (exhaling on alternating foot falls in a 2-3 pattern). But when my brain woke up from my […]

Filed Under: Running Tagged With: fitness, goals, life, long run, marathon, marathon training, motivation, move, negativity, patience, race, run, runner, running, San Diego, training, training plan, west coast, workouts

Runsploring sometimes leads to new perspective

October 1, 2016 by Brent

runsploring

It’s not my word alone. I’m sure of it. Surely someone else thought to combine running and exploring to create runsploring before me. No matter. If I’m plagiarizing, sue me. (Actually don’t. Just let me know and I’ll give you the credit). As I worked my way back to my starting point on my run today, […]

Filed Under: Running Tagged With: Boston Marathon, BQ, fitness, goals, heat, heat running, long run, marathon, marathon training, motivation, negativity, patience, race, run, runner, running, runsploring, San Diego, Shreveport, summer, summer running, training, training plan, west, west coast, workouts

Just run: getting out the door, even when it’s a struggle

September 26, 2016 by Brent

just run

Some days, you have to force the run. Your legs don’t want to move. Your brain tries to talk you out of all movement. You just want to sleep in and go to bed early. It’s those days that I have to force myself out the door and just run. Today was that day for […]

Filed Under: Running Tagged With: fitness, goals, heat running, long run, marathon training, motivation, negativity, run, runner, running, summer, summer running, trail run, training, training plan, west coast, workouts

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About me

Brent Shirley My name is Brent Shirley, and I'm a stay-at-home dad with experience writing and selling running shoes. Married to a surgeon (she's much smarter than me). Certified RRCA running coach and 11 time Boston Marathon qualifier (2015-25, although I missed the cut in 2015-16). 50 sub 4 finisher.

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