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The Kindness Of Strangers
By John Bingham on 14/07/2004 14:12:10
What's the best thing about races? The wonderful non-runners
It was hot, really hot, really, really hot. It was the kind of day that race directors and veteran marathon runners dread, and which new runners ignore as they chase their dreams. Trouble wasn’t brewing; it was boiling.I ran the first few miles
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The Bigger Picture
By John Bingham on 27/11/2003 10:37:57
Racing certainties: "For me, the real joy of running and racing is finding out what I'm capable of on any given day."
. They appear to be racing something or someone that no one else can see. They’re surrounded by invisible competitors and are often engaged in a fierce battle which takes place only in their imaginations.Rather than accepting the course and the day as it is
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Make It Last
By John Bingham on 22/07/2004 15:09:41
First or last or somewhere in between - at the end of the race it shouldn't really matter
Finishing last in your first race guarantees that you’ll have a lot to look forward to in your running career. I know – in my first race, I finished just ahead of the ambulance.Okay, that’s not quite true. I wasn’t exactly dead last. I out-kicked my
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You've Been Penguined
By John Bingham on 11/03/2003 08:43:33
You think that because were slow were not competitive? Then youve never been at the back of the pack
mufflers. He kept racing his engine, waiting for the lights to turn green.I looked over at Ken. Without saying a word, we knew what had to be done. When the lights changed, I gave the young man a lesson in what happens when you put all 200bhp to work
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Kid's Tough
By John Bingham on 11/03/2003 09:03:46
Running can make you come face to face with who you really are - or who you're going to be
of the race. But he didnt. Today was his day to find out what time he was capable of running. So he didnt even think about letting up. By mile two, the indiscretion of his early strategy was starting to show. His stride became more determined, his breathing
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The Power Of One
By John Bingham on 27/11/2003 10:25:11
You can't run anyone else's race for them, even if you always train together. Ultimately, running is something that you just have to do for yourself
or to martyr themself to the relationship. Only this time it was me making the choice.In 1996 I wrote about my wife Karen’s attempts to qualify for the Boston Marathon. In particular, there was a moment in an earlier marathon when I had to pull out of the race
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You've Been Penguined
By John Bingham on 27/11/2003 10:09:47
You think that because we're slow we're not competitive? Then you've never been at the back of the pack
mufflers. He kept racing his engine, waiting for the lights to turn green.I looked over at Ken. Without saying a word, we knew what had to be done. When the lights changed, I gave the young man a lesson in what happens when you put all 200bhp to work
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Forced Retirement 
By John Bingham on 27/07/2004 16:16:58
It can be hard to stop - even when you know it's the best thing to do
that performance doesn’t matter. People who routinely finish races before I reach halfway sometimes believe that all that matters to me is being out with friends on an easy jog with water tables and police protection. That is not the case.I get the greatest
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Stacking The Deck
By John Bingham on 12/07/2004 16:37:05
It takes more than a polar storm to stop a Penguin from running
the winds calmed and the advance team made it ashore.The following evening, our ship returned to pick up the team. But once again, the winds caused havoc, forcing them back to their inland shelter. The rest of us gathered for a pre-race pasta dinner, still
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Q+A: How should I tackle my first marathon?
By John Bingham on 09/09/2000 10:02:10
Our experts answer real-life questions
will be a PB.John The Penguin Bingham, RW columnist
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