The May/June 2008 issue of Marathon & Beyond magazine contains a delightful cover-story interview (by Hal Higson) with marathon champion Deena Kastor. Among her insightful remarks, several stand out as relevant to countless areas of life. Concerning preparation to meet great challenges, Kastor observes:

... The best advice that Dave Martin offered us during a three-day distance runners' camp in May 2004 preparing for Athens was to make small changes. At our camp, we were deluged with advice for three days on nutrition, hydration, and anything else that might affect either our training or our race. We had a psychologist giving us tips on focusing. It was so detailed. At the end of the camp, Dave said, "A few things are going to stand out that you can change a little bit to make your preparations a little bit better, but most important is to go home and get very fit, and the fitter you are, the less any obstacle is going to affect you." I thought that was the greatest message of all. When it comes down to it, you just need to train to be fit and healthy when you step onto the starting line of an Olympic marathon — or any marathon.

And about the the overall benefits of perseverance, in training for distance running or anything else, Deena notes:

It's fun to see American running doing so well right now. Not only those of us in the front of the pack, but everybody behind us. To see so many people taking part and so many people changing their lives for the better. You think this sport is so simple, just putting one foot in front of the other, but once you start doing it, you realize just how grand it is. It infiltrates your life.

(cf. Eric Clifton (2004-10-01), Joan Benoit Samuelson on Pleasing Yourself (2008-02-23), ...) - ^z - 2008-06-07

(correlates: Inventing a Running Machine, Ted Corbitt, TutTut, ...)