This blog post is dedicated to the memory of William C.D. Hoadley. I personally didn’t know William but I never forget stories I hear about people who live life on their terms and not the world’s. I know this is one of those men and it’s their memory that keeps me aligned to my path and chasing my goals and dreams on my terms and not the world’s.

I  know the Green’s are very sorry for your loss Tahoma but I know you have memories that will last you a lifetime. Our prayers go out to you and your family.

“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.”
— George Bernard Shaw

Tbown

Beat Scotty Twan is about two brothers, 26.2 miles and one victor at the Jacksonville Bank Marathon.  This epic showdown has all of the working parts to be a fusion between a Rocky movie and a Greek tragedy.  The pieces line up like a 15^th century chess board.  First we have the younger brother, a faithful athlete with all the training techniques, nutritional enhancements, and instructors that money can buy.  Being the younger of the two and having the greater stride Scotty should be on paper the undefeatable champion in this showdown with both Vegas odds and common sense on his side.  As we know though, in a race like this heart, guts, determination, whatever you want to call it has a place.  Eric, Scotty’s older brother and running nemesis, has already proven that sheer “inner drive” has its place in this universe.  Overweight, out of shape, with little to no resources for training, this ex-Marine has already beaten Scotty in their last challenge in the River Run a grueling 15k race that at the onset no one would have upon inspection of the two runners given Eric a chance.  However, despite all odds, Eric pulled it out after following Scotty for most the race finally taking him on the bridge and barely beating  him by seconds at the end.  This epic rivalry already has thousands of followers picking one side or the other.  So now the question is, does focused scientifically enabled training and athletic prowess win a race or does sheer guts and determination, and cheeseburgers do it?   Well this author is betting on the human spirit.

Who will win the Jacksonville Bank Marathon?

-Anonymous

I found this video and thought I would share it with everyone. Running has always been the one thing that helps me lose weight. If you want to get healthier this year and shed the weight and feel great consider training for a marathon. I hope this story inspires you to get off the couch and get moving.

Every year thousands of athletes from across the globe flock to Boston to run the cityÕs marathon, known worldwide as the ultimate test of stamina and endurance. But how do you run 26 miles if you have trouble making it around the block? With good coaching, discipline, and lots of group support, as NOVA shows when it follows 13 sedentary people through a nine-month regimen designed to prepare them for the grueling Boston Marathon.

The name Marathon comes from the legend of Pheidippides, a Greek messenger. The legend states that he was sent from the battlefield of Marathon to Athens to announce that the Persians had been defeated in the Battle of Marathon (in which he had just fought),^[3] which took place in August or September, 490 BC.^[4] It is said that he ran the entire distance without stopping and burst into the assembly, exclaiming “νικωμεν’ (nikomen)”, We have won), before collapsing and dying.^[5] The account of the run from Marathon to Athens first appears in Plutarch‘s On the Glory of Athens in the 1st century AD which quotes from Heraclides Ponticus‘s lost work, giving the runner’s name as either Thersipus of Erchius or Eucles.^[6] Lucian of Samosata (2nd century AD) also gives the story but names the runner Philippides (not Pheidippides).^[7]

There is debate about the historical accuracy of this legend.^[8][9] The Greek historian Herodotus, the main source for the Greco-Persian Wars, mentions Pheidippides as the messenger who ran from Athens to Sparta asking for help, and then ran back, a distance of over 240 kilometres (150 mi)^[10] each way.^[11] In some Herodotus manuscripts the name of the runner between Athens and Sparta is given as Philippides. Herodotus makes no mention of a messenger sent from Marathon to Athens, and relates that the main part of the Athenian army, having already fought and won the grueling battle, and fearing a naval raid by the Persian fleet against an undefended Athens, marched quickly back from the battle to Athens, arriving the same day.

In 1879, Robert Browning wrote the poem Pheidippides. Browning’s poem, his composite story, became part of late-19th century popular culture and was accepted as a historic legend.^{[citation needed]}

Mount Penteli stands between Marathon and Athens, which means that, if Pheidippides actually made his famous run after the battle, he had to run around the mountain, either from the north or from the south. The latter and more obvious route matches almost exactly the modern Marathon-Athens highway, which follows the lay of the land southwards from Marathon Bay and along the coast, then a gentle but protracted uphill westwards towards the eastern approach to Athens, between the foothills of Mounts Hymettus and Penteli, and then mildly downhill to Athens proper. This route, as it existed when the Olympics were revived in 1896, was approximately 40 kilometres (25 mi), but was later extended to the current standard marathon distance of 42.195 kilometres (26 miles 385 yards, approximately 26.22 miles). However there have been suggestions that Pheidippides might have followed another route: a westward climb along the eastern and northern slopes of Mount Penteli to the pass of Dionysos, and then a straight southward downhill path to Athens. This route is considerably shorter, some 35 kilometres (22 mi), but features a very steep initial climb of more than 5 kilometres (3.1 mi).