Monique's Musings

What kind of person attempts a 26 mile marathon after injuring their foot the day the sign up so that they can't even prepare properly? My friend, James Duckett, crazy person extraordinaire. :)

Here's an excerpt from his book: Pushing the Wall:

Excerpt #4

Setup: The name of the book came from a conversation I had with some guy while I waited for the marathon to start. Warning though: I'm gonna leave this as a cliffhanger. :D

I grabbed a Gatorade and headed back to the fire pits to keep warm and stretch some more. While there, I talked to an older gentleman who commented on my Gatorade. “Keep drinking—you don’t want to hit that wall.”

The wall—I’d heard of that. I asked, “Have you ever hit the wall?”

His eyes darkened. “Yeah, last year. Mile twenty-five at the LA Marathon. I thought I was going to die.”

“Oh, yeah?” I joked. “You’re in luck—I have it on good authority that they’ve moved the wall to mile twenty-seven on this course. You should be good.”

He laughed and we swapped a few other running-related war stories and advice to avoid hitting the wall. The experience must have been fresh on his mind because he brought it up a couple of times.

“I’ve got a plan to help with that.” I then told him about my plan to.... REDACTED, sorry folks, read the book. :)

Author Bio:

James loves to write, but he doesn't like to brag. Just kidding, he totally loves to brag. And refer to himself in the third person. Because both those things are cool. Right?

Right?

James Duckett is a founder and Chief Technology Officer of the Authors' Think Tank Facebook Group and Podcast. He wrote his first story in the 2nd grade and has been excited about writing ever since. He wrote his first book when he was 14, but one of his friends did the world a favor and accidentally threw it away.

“Pushing the Wall: A Memoir” is his first book. A contemporary romance (yeah, you read that right) novella will appear in an anthology on March 31st, 2015. He's introverted, geeky, funny looking, unpredictable, and easily distracted by the latest gadgets.

Blog:

http://www.jamesduckett.com/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/james.duckett?fref=ts

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/jimduckett

Buy Links:

http://amzn.com/1495469905

Book Blurb:

What kind of idiot would run a marathon without training for it first? Me.

Sure, I’d heard all the horror stories. Endurance athletes always fear “hitting the wall,” that point where the body runs out of energy and, BAM! Roadkill. With no conditioning, I feared smashing into this wall hard enough to leave a dent.

I wanted to train for the 2010 St. George Marathon, but after breaking my foot, the only marathon I could handle was on Netflix. When the race came, I just wanted to pick up the shirt I paid for, but peer pressure and the energy of the other 7,000 runners convinced me to go for it. My plan? Push the wall past the finish line. Then I could grab some ice cream, crawl into my truck, and drive home.

This memoir details my love/hate affair with running, why I didn’t prepare, and how I survived 26.2 grueling miles that I had no business attempting. This book also includes running tips for anybody looking to maximize their training experience, covering topics like: