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I’m currently training for my 7th and 8th marathons, Chicago and New York back-to-back, October and November 2012, respectively. These races are in addition to the Malibu Triathlon I’m racing on September 15th. Doing back-to-back marathons is a challenge for anyone, and quite frankly 12 years ago when I was training for my first marathon, I would have thought me, attempting to do these races 12 years later, was absolutely INSANE. I have become one of those annoying, healthy people that now says annoying things like “The L.A. Marathon was my personal best with a time of 3 hours 29 mins. My 5K pace is a 7 minute mile”. Seriously?! But this was not always the case. 

My first marathon was the Dublin, Ireland marathon, 2000. I trained with Team in Training and raised money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma society. I literally went from running on the treadmill in my 1986 L.A. Gear cross trainers (which I called La Gear, who knew?) to four and half months later running my first marathon. It was exciting, thrilling, and TERRIFYING. I had absolutely NO IDEA what I was doing, and I was convinced I was GOING TO DIE.

Many of my fellow teammates had run track, cross country, had dunked a basketball, heck had played ping pong, something athletic…not me. Growing up, I was an orchestra geek, and was pretty convinced I would meet Jesus during this ridiculously long race. And I must say, somewhere around mile 22 I’m pretty sure we did meet. We fist bumped, he told me my perm looked a mess, but I had to keep going. I finished the race and would go on to do 5 more marathons, countless half marathons, and about a dozen triathlons. I had gotten the endurance race bug.

Although it’s been over a decade since that critical turning point in my life when I crossed the finish line in Dublin, it seems like just yesterday, when I was about to embark on this journey to achieve what I thought was an impossible feat – impossible for me, given my historical asthma, my fighting the specter of being an overweight child, and the emotional scars from battling an eating disorder for over a decade, challenging it, having only recently conquered it and come out the other side. But I did it, and crossing that finish line was MAD COOL for me, my race, my story, my victory.

Whether your marathon is your first 5K race which, which is a tremendous accomplishment and is a marathon to a new runner, or an actual marathon, here are a few tips to help you get started and help you to reduce the probability of injury so you have a great race. You want this to be an amazing life changing experience. With these tips, you’ll be safe, have a blast, and may even inspire someone around you to be active as well, the greatest thing that could happen.

Mad Cool Fitness Training Tips for New Runners

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By day, Jennifer Turner is a high-powered media executive.  By night, Ms. Turner is a self-proclaimed, “Fitness Activator.”  This is to say that her life’s mission is to empower others to “activate” their innate ability to have a healthy lifestyle and achieve happiness.

Visit jenniferturner.com to learn more about Jennifer and follow her team of fitness enthusiasts at Mad Cool Fitness.