Well Done To You All, But Especially Our Best 100!

Phew…what a season that was! By all accounts here at Marathon Dynamics, our best ever! Thanks to all of you who've supported us, this season and seasons past, and to our stalwart coaching crew that made it yet another unforgettable journey.

Let’s take a moment now to recognize the accomplishments of a few of our running clients this season who really put it all together. We want to single out those that gave the best performance possible, in relation to their own season-starting ability and fitness, with consideration given to the race day conditions and difficulty of their ultimate goal event. It’s relative improvement and achievement we're after, not absolute speed (though that doesn’t hurt either!). Our “esteemed panel of experts" (i.e. our coaching staff) has compiled what we feel to be the "Top 100" Spring 2007 performances of Marathon Dynamics runners. But before you check the results please remember:

1. We realize that all you worked, ran, and raced very hard this season, but with only 100 performances up for grabs we had to make some tough choices.

2. There are a number of great performances that DIDN’T make the list…including:

• Some Boston Marathon times & Boston Marathon qualifying times

• Many other great races by those that made this list (since we only recognized a maximum of 1 performance per runner)

• Many exceptional, but non-Personal Best times, by other MDI runners. Why is that significant?

CALVES & CALF KNOTS: The DOs & DON'Ts of Happy Runner Calves

As coaches of runners of all abilities, shapes and sizes for the past decade plus, and based upon our own shared experience as competitive road racers and long distance runners, the team at Marathon Dynamics can now confirm that one of the all-time top 2 or 3 running injury issues these days are calf problems--pulls, strains, tugs, tears, etc. Every season there always seem to be a few unlucky souls training with Marathon Dynamics (sometimes it's us!) whose grand running dreams/goals are cut short by a sudden shock of pain somewhere between (and/or including) their Achilles tendon and the back of their knee.

ONE MARATHON DYNAMICS RUNNER'S AMAZING STORY

Last fall, one of our newer runners, Patrick Trainor, ran a stupendously great race at the Chicago Marathon to cap off an unbelievable season of challenge & conquest. He penned a post-race report that I was so moved by that I asked him for permission to run it in our next e-newsletter. Turns out we didn't actually do an official winter edition...so here it is, one season later — enjoy!

HOW DO YOU GET YOUR 12+ SERVINGS PER DAY OF FRUITS & VEGGIES?

More than 3 years ago, a long time running acquaintance came raving to me about a nutritional supplement product he had been taking for quite awhile called Juice Plus. It was purported to "bridge the nutritional gap" between the 9-15 servings of fruits and vegetables per day recommended for adults by the Canada Food Guide and what most of us (definitely including me) usually get—decidedly much less. Of course, endurance athletes, due to how much harder we work our bodies on a daily basis than the "average bear", need even more!

THE MDI NEWZ: New Coaches, New Services, New Locations...New Savings!

As you decide on your running goals for the summer/fall season, and start figuring out how best to reach them, we hope you'll consider what we have to offer. If you're new to Marathon Dynamics running services, we feel that on every front, we can provide the best training plans & personal running coaching, and deliver the best results, for the best price.

A MUSING RUNNER — A parable for you "Chicken Soup" types...

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 cups of coffee.