What kind of idiot would run a
marathon without training for it first? Me.
Sure, I’d heard all the horror
stories. Endurance athletes always fear “hitting the wall,” that point where
the body runs out of energy and, BAM! Roadkill. With no conditioning, I feared
smashing into this wall hard enough to leave a dent.
I wanted to train for the 2010
St. George Marathon, but after breaking my foot, the only marathon I could
handle was on Netflix. When the race came, I just wanted to pick up the shirt I
paid for, but peer pressure and the energy of the other 7,000 runners convinced
me to go for it. My plan? Push the wall past the finish line. Then I could grab
some ice cream, crawl into my truck, and drive home.
This memoir details my love/hate
affair with running, why I didn’t prepare, and how I survived 26.2 grueling
miles that I had no business attempting. This book also includes running tips
for anybody looking to maximize their training experience, covering topics
like:
- Finding
the right running pace
- Speed
workouts
- Running
safely at night
- Tapering
and carb-loading before a race
- Basic
first aid for runners
- Injury
prevention
- And
more!
It’s whimsical, yet educational.
It’s whimsucational!
Foreward by Aaron Metler, winner
of the 2010 and 2014 St. George Marathons.
Excerpt #4
Setup: The name of the book came from
a conversation I had with some guy while I waited for the marathon to start.
Warning though: I'm gonna leave this as a cliffhanger. :D
I grabbed a Gatorade and headed back
to the fire pits to keep warm and stretch some more. While there, I talked to
an older gentleman who commented on my Gatorade. “Keep drinking—you don’t want
to hit that wall.”
The wall—I’d heard of that. I asked,
“Have you ever hit the wall?”
His eyes darkened. “Yeah, last year.
Mile twenty-five at the LA Marathon. I thought I was going to die.”
“Oh, yeah?” I joked. “You’re in
luck—I have it on good authority that they’ve moved the wall to mile
twenty-seven on this course. You should be good.”
He laughed and we swapped a few other
running-related war stories and advice to avoid hitting the wall. The
experience must have been fresh on his mind because he brought it up a couple
of times.
“I’ve got a plan to help with that.”
I then told him about my plan to.... REDACTED, sorry folks, read the
book. :)
Character Casting:
Movie casting
Who should play me in a movie? If
Chris Farley wasn't dead, he'd be perfect. We both have such amazing bodies and
energy! The skit where he's giving advice to some troubled youth after drinking
20 cups of coffee, yeah... I get like that now and then. But, alas, he's not
around anymore. So let's give it to Leonardo DiCaprio, because it might be his
chance to get an Oscar!
And, you are going to love this, the foreward to my book was written by Aaron "McLovin" Metler. His nickname is McLovin because he looks totally like an actor named Christopher Mintz-Plasse. He did some movie where he got a fake ID that read McLovin, and Aaron and him could be twins. I haven't seen the movie so I can't comment on mannerisms or anything, but he's got a poster of him hanging in the office and it is hilarious!
And, you are going to love this, the foreward to my book was written by Aaron "McLovin" Metler. His nickname is McLovin because he looks totally like an actor named Christopher Mintz-Plasse. He did some movie where he got a fake ID that read McLovin, and Aaron and him could be twins. I haven't seen the movie so I can't comment on mannerisms or anything, but he's got a poster of him hanging in the office and it is hilarious!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
James loves to write, but he doesn't like to brag. Just kidding,
he totally loves to brag. And refer to himself in the third person. Because
both those things are cool. Right?
Right?
James Duckett is a founder and Chief Technology Officer of the
Authors' Think Tank Facebook Group and Podcast. He wrote his first story in the
2nd grade and has been excited about writing ever since. He wrote his first
book when he was 14, but one of his friends did the world a favor and
accidentally threw it away.
“Pushing the Wall: A Memoir” is his first book. A contemporary
romance (yeah, you read that right) novella will appear in an anthology on
March 31st, 2015. He's introverted, geeky, funny looking, unpredictable, and
easily distracted by the latest gadgets.
Blog:
Facebook:
Twitter:
Buy Links:
My top ten favorite
things:
1) Socks. Seriously, I love socks!
When people ask what I want for my birthday or for Christmas, the answer is
always socks.
2) Scriptures. I read them and life
just feels better.
3) Dogs. Cats barely register as
"tolerable", but then, that's how they think about humans.
4) Running, which might be a duh. But
really, anything that gets my heart racing. Racquetball is a favorite.
5) High fives and fist bumps. Much
more sanitary than a handshake. I'm saddened by the decreasing use of the high
five, it just says so much about a person and I think society is worse off for
abandoning its use. Fist bumps kind of make up for it, but you can't do it with
a ton of excitement like you can a high five.
6) Foods: Italian pastas. Brownies.
Combinations of peanut butter and chocolate (Reese's are my favorite).
7) Movies: A Few Good Men, Dan in
Real Life, How to Train Your Dragon, and The Wedding Singer are the first that
come to mind. Not in that order.
8) Actor: Robin Williams will always
be king to me. I wept when I got news of his passing. I still haven't brought
my self to be able to watch one of his movies. Actress: Ummmmm..... nobody
comes to mind. As a teenager I seriously crushed all over Alyssa Milano, but
I'm over that. She isn't yet, but I keep telling her to give it time.
Otherwise... sorry, nobody comes to mind. WAIT! Mrs. Doubtfire. Whoever played
her was BRILLIANT!
9) My Kindle. I love reading, but I
hated lugging around books by my favorite authors. Stephen King and Brandon
Sanderson have teamed up to give me back problems. But I love my Kindle
Paperwhite. Tons of battery, no eye strain, and it doesn't way a ton to copy
around.
10) Friends and family. Though I'm an
introvert, I'm still grateful to those who have been there to enrich my life.
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