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Are you a Penguin?

© Lynn Seely

Running stories, runner tips and running links are what this web site are all about.

I have included race information at the end of this article. Be sure to check it out.

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This was too good to resist. A charming place for the runners out there who are self proclaimed "Penguins."

Here is thelink to the Penguin web page I located this article on. Take a look, you may love it!

FROM:

The Penguin Chronicles - March 1995 - You may be a Penguin
by John Bingham

I can see the finish line, and I feel an emotional rush that transforms me from a mere mortal into a mythical creature with winged feet. Well, OK, maybe not winged feet. How about a mythical creature with webbed feet? Forget eagles and sparrows, it's time to celebrate the power of penguins.

The runner as Penguin? No way!! Gazelles, Cheetahs, thoroughbreds. The metaphors for runners always seem to conjure up images of fleet footed creatures moving swiftly across the landscape barely casting a shadow. What those metaphors miss are the thousands of us who plod steadily along undeterred and unmoved by glycogen depletion and lactate acid buildup.

You've seen a penguin run. A chaotic flurry of feet. A living testimony to the dominance of will over form. And many of us, those for whom a 10k qualifies as their long, slow run for the week, represent no less a victory of will over form. With the indomitable force of the glaciers, we plod and shuffle our way through race after race. More amazingly, to you eagles and sparrows, we penguins are having the time of our lives.

You've seen us at the races. Or at least you've seen us at the races that are out-and-back courses. We are the ones with huge smiles on our faces. We are the ones coming across the finish line as you are getting in your car to go home.

You may be a penguin and not even know it. Take this simple test:

1) At your most recent race your goal was to:
a) set a new national age group record.
b) finish before the awards ceremony was over.

2) The food at the end of a race is usually:
a) a selection of fresh fruits, cookies, sports drinks, water.
b) bruised bananas and broken bits of oatmeal raisin cookies.

3) At a recent marathon you:
a) ran negative splits after mile 15.
b) stopped to get the rest room key at a service station.

4) At the finish line, the people are:

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