Ep41 Transcript: Changing Your Mindset About Running a Marathon – Top Takeaways from Jeff Korhan

Hey, late starters, are you thinking about running a marathon later in life? But you think I’m too slow, I’m too old. It’s too late. I’m gonna get injured. Well, maybe it’s time to change your mindset about running.

Hello Dreamers. Welcome to the Late Starters Club, giving you the inspiration, mindset, and tools you need to start something midlife and beyond. Remember, it’s never too late to follow your dreams.

In episode 40, I talked to my friend Jeff Korhan, who in his mid-sixties has now run three marathons this year and has qualified for Boston. And when I was talking to him, I was really inspired because while I consider myself a runner, I also think, well, I’m kind of slow. I’m slowing down, I’m getting slower. Maybe it’s time to not do half marathons anymore. But Jeff really inspired me to change my mindset.

One of the things that he said from that episode is how we’re actually can get faster when we’re older, and that kind of blew my mind thinking about that possibility. And I thought, well, maybe that is something I should start reframing in my head because I’ve always thought I’m gonna just get slower and slower.

Another thing that he talked about that really changed my mindset was around running correctly. He said that he was doing things all wrong. I’ve been a runner my whole life and I haven’t really thought about.

How I might be able to improve my gait or my form or things like that, that might really impact the way I run and how easy it is to run. And I think if you change your mindset about some of these things, you can improve overall as a runner and it could be easier for you. Jeff recommended a couple of resources that I am definitely going to check out.

Another thing that reframed my mindset was the concept of hitting a wall. Now I’ve run two marathons, and both times I kind of hit a wall and he talked about how the way he was using his fuel really changed the fact that he never hit a wall anymore because he was able to start burning fat in a different way so that he didn’t run out of fuel at the fabled wall mark, which is a usually around 20 miles or 21 miles. So I’m excited about that possibility as well. If I can learn more about how to use my fuel correctly, then maybe I won’t be scared about hitting that wall.

Jeff also talked about a mindset shift for him when he was trying to qualify for the Boston marathon. He really came up with several different plans for how he was going to run that race that would hopefully get him the Boston qualifier, and that really helped his outcome and he ran one of the best possible times he could all while having Covid, which is amazing.

And I think another thing that Jeff talked about that I really liked was about changing your mindset about how to get started. And he just basically talked about starting out with smaller races, and hopefully, that would be something you would think about as well. But you don’t have to start with that giant big hairy goal of running a marathon, you can run shorter races to get prepared for that. And I think that’s always a good idea because a race day is very different than a training day, and it’s helpful to get that idea of how you feel during a race day, how you set your pace, and all that kind of thing. And as he found out he ran that five-mile race, didn’t get tired and was kind of shocked by that. So you might also be shocked that you can run these distances and feel really good.

So if you are thinking about getting started training for a marathon later in life, you might want to change your mindset if you think that it has to be hard or you probably will get injured or you’re definitely gonna hit that wall.

If you kind of change your mindset, do the research, get connected to people who can help and encourage you, then you might be more successful than you realize and be able to accomplish that marathon goal later in life.

Hope that was helpful, and make sure you grab the free guide Top Tools for Late starters on the website at latestartersclub.com and let’s turn dreaming into doing.