Today July 9, 2013 10:00 am at the Goshen College Newcomer Center, Write On Sports had the opportunity to interview professional marathon runner Justin Gillette. Justin Gillette started running February 14, 1996. He’s run 133 marathons. He finished 126, winning 64 first place and has placed others spots 62 times. What about the seven he didn’t finish?
I had the opportunity to talk to Justin about feelings before and after a race. Some of the words he used to describe the feeling were nervous, pumped, and excited. Justin said, “You’re really excited because you don’t know if you will finish or drop out.”
He also talked about how he knew he wasn’t going to finish those seven races. The feeling of I can’t do this set in. IS this what causes runners to drop out? “It’s really tiring and at the end you’re really thirsty.” said Justin.
There are many reasons for racers to drop out. Sometimes they are small like fatigue or thirst.