A Running Fairy Tale

Once upon a time there was a girl who decided to run a marathon. Now, this was not just any old marathon she decided to run- this was the Boston Marathon- but she was lucky because she had a coach who was known throughout the land as a great coach with a lot of experience in training for Boston- he had won it in '76, afterall. The girl knew that if she was going to accomplish her goal, she had better listen closely to all that her coach had to say. Despite knowing this, she often had trouble following his advice- not because she didn't want to, but because somewhere in her body there was a disconnect between her head knowing what she should do and her body actually doing it. The girl trained for months and successfully ran the marathon- however not without some trouble in the Newton Hills due to the fact that she ran too fast the first 13 miles of the race (exactly what her coach told her not to do). After the marathon, the girl continued training, running various races during the summer. Despite the fact that her coach continued to give her valuable advice on how to get back into running after the marathon, and how to work on her speed, the girl still had trouble following it. She struggled through run after run, and race after race, getting ever more frustrated with running and her inability to enjoy it again.

Then, one day, the girl went on a trip to Stowe, Vermont with a bunch of fellow runners to run an 8 mile race. After a day of fun with her friends, the girl woke up early the morning of the race and felt something she hadn't felt in quite some time- she was ready to run. The girl lined up at the starting line of the race and she heard her coach's voice in the back of her head "start slow, finish strong," and, as the race began, the girl settled into a steady and comfortable pace. With each mile, the girl gently increased her speed. Runners who had made the same mistake she had made so many times and had passed her in the very beginning of the race found themselves having to slow down from starting too quickly, and the girl passed them gaining strength and confidence. As the girl approached the 7th mile marker she suddenly realized that here she was, at the final mile of a race, and she didn't even feel like crap- she actually felt pretty good. The girl finished the race strong with a smile on her face as she ran across the finish line at a full sprint. She had finally managed to follow her coach's wise words and she had even had fun doing it! That afternoon, the girl celebrated a successful race drinking beer and eating ice cream in the rain with her fellow runners. Everyone had had a great weekend in Stowe, and they all ran happily ever after...