Many people can say that they have successfully trained for and run a marathon while balancing a family and a full-time job.
Far fewer of those can say that they ran said marathon in under 2 hours 20 minutes.
Nate Pennington did just that. Today he’s going to teach you
the important lessons he learned that can help you reach your potential
while balancing work, family and everything life throws at you.
In 2007, Nate ran the California International Marathon in 2:19:35,
an Olympic Trials qualifying time. Unfortunately, the race took place 29
days after the Olympic Trials race in New York City.
He hasn’t let that stop him, though.
A tireless worker with seemingly boundless desire to find his limits
despite numerous setbacks, Nate continues to train at a high level while
maintaining his career as an Army Medical Service Corps officer.
Nate was nice enough to talk to us on a Sunday morning.  Some of the things we discussed included:
How the role of motivation in training is nearly impossible to overstateHow patience and persistence are the most important parts of any training programThe fact that Nate mostly trains alone and some potential benefits to this approachThe Kenyan approach to dealing with bad racesPutting one’s training in perspective with the rest of lifeWe’d like to thank Nate for his time and wish him the best of luck in his goal races this year.How to reach your potential while balancing work, family and everything life throws at you