Race Magic (Also, why older runners can be both wise and forgetful)

15.9 Miles - 2:36:00

"You can't go in the morning to that finish line with any doubts"
- Random Older Man Runner in Central Park

"Baseball is 90 percent mental. The other half is physical."
-Yogi Berra

These quotes are both very wise, both applicable to marathon running, and both slightly ridiculous. The older man in Central Park was referring to the starting line and I have no idea what Yogi Berra was thinking. The Older Runner in Central Park was training for his 5th (or 6th, he wasn't quite sure) NYC Marathon. But he wasn't sure he could do it. He didn't want to start that morning unless he was totally sure he could run it.

There's a real mental aspect to running. Tuning out all thought can help get through tougher miles. Pushing yourself and thinking how much you don't want to give up can also help. But either way, once you get past around 15 miles, you're going to need something extra to get you through. Apparently, that something is "Race Magic."

A friend of mine introduced the concept to me. He says that something extra gives you a boost on race day that you don't have any other time. Some combination of adrenaline, training or mental toughness, he says, result in this "magic" that helps you run better than you ever could normally.

So maybe Yogi was right. Maybe we have 180% capacity on race day sitting in there somewhere. And that extra 80% is just a little bit of magic. And maybe the elimination of doubts prior to the "finish line" gives you that extra boost. Maybe these forgetful older men are wise after all, because a small part of me thinks I might need that "magic" in the end.

Or maybe they're just nuts. I have no idea.