Smile When You Do That

So this weekend our own Matt S. is off to Vegas for his first marathon.  Last week he and I were talking about what to expect; I told him that the last six miles were probably going to hurt and that he should smile the entire time.

The smiling advice comes from one of the hardest women in modern athletic history - Natasha Badman.  Once an overweight depressed single mom, Badman turned her life around and became a five-time Ironman world champion, and she did it all with this huge smile on her face.  She said that she smiled because she was so thankful for simply being healthy and fit enough to even be in the race let alone win it - five times.

During long grueling events it's easy to start feeling sorry for yourself, to obsess over the pain, the boredom the misery.  The best way that I've found to combat this is to simply put a smile on your face.  You can't be miserable if you're smiling.  so few people in this world have the time, the health and the money to do what we do so be happy.

Be like Dave and smile when you do it