girl, you know what… never mind.🖤
views from the mobile device from the first few days in copenhagen before the marathon. i’m never going to emotionally recover from the last two weeks in the greatest place on earth.
#bycarlnard
THE PAIN IS A REMINDER OF THE WILLINGNESS TO TRY | ONE YEAR SOBER
on race day, when i stepped over the starting line, the for me was the beginning of a race to not “finish” the marathon but rather the chance to remind myself of all we have worked for. a year ago in this very city, i made the decision to go sober and the choice to do so was done with the intention of white knuckling it.
i did not want easy. i did not want to easy in to it. i wanted to punch it in the face. every day for those first couple weeks felt like hitting a wall. i wanted that. and i wanted it to hurt. i wanted the pain. because i wanted to know what that felt like.. i wanted that engrained so deep in my mind, that anything other than that would feel euphoric.
you often hear in the context of race day this idea of “hitting the wall” - this essentially means, you’ve hit your ceiling.. you’ve reached your “limit” if you will.. and for me this happened at 35km.. legs, just gone… and in that moment i thought it was gone. i thought “that’s it!”
but in an instant, i thought about every single for the last year and how we’ve hit several walls. i thought about how we trained for this marathon in multiple countries, multiple cities, different time zones, climates, times of day.. we trained in the snow, we trained in the sun, we trained through heartbreak & we trained when we didn’t want to… along the way, across 450 miles of training, we encountered many walls.
so when i reached the wall at 35km, i had two choices.. fold and pack it up.. or hit that wall, harder than it hit me and knock it the f&ck down. that was the only way forward..
i thought a lot about the countless stories that must be running alongside me on race day.. and how if i were to erase any of my own pain, would i be willing to take on anyone else’s who was also running? could i keep going if i was harboring their pain, their struggle?
sunday was about reaching the finish line, to begin a new start line… it’s like this.. “you’ve now made it this far, carl.. don’t waste it. run it again, and get even better this time…” so now, we go again.
me on @cphmarathon race day by the legend, @henrygdfllw
@carlnard on @cphmarathon race day - thats it, thats the post.
Got to spend time with you before race and omg was that special. The way you share your thoughts is so humble and so nice to hear. You have so many stories to tell my friend - “if only everyday could be race day” 🫂
Creatives supporting creatives, my way to give back. Im so happy I sent you that message 8 months ago in Chicago and we grabbed that coffee 🫰🏼
THE BEST DAY OF MY F$CKING LIFE IN THE GREATEST PLACE ON EARTH.
RAN BLIND WITH NO GPS WATCH JUST A PIECE FROM @noahny & @timex WITH THE GOAL TO RUN ON FEEL AND FINISH THE RACE PROUD OF MYSELF. WE DID THAT AND BAGGED A 16 MINUTE PR ALONG THE WAY.
WE’LL TALK MORE ABOUT ALL THIS LATER BUT THIS HAPPENED BECAUSE OF MY DAWG & COACH @tom.r.black AND I COULD NOT BE MORE GRATEFUL.
BUT NOW I NEED TO RUN @cphmarathon AGAIN NEXT YEAR. BEST RACE. BEST CITY. BEST DAY EVER, MY GOODNESS!!
MOST IMPORTANTLY THOUGH… I GOT A RACE PHOTO FROM *THE* @nikidodd SO YOU CAN’T TELL ME NOTHING.
OK, bye bye… gonna go party!!
talk soon.
carl.
x.
COPENHAGEN, FOREVER! 🇩🇰
didn’t get here alone & i will never forget that. thank you.
a morning in copenhagen with @paulgilham_ as i close out the last workout of this insane training block. regardless of what happens sunday, we’ll talk more about all of this. right now i’m just grateful and ready to go. let’s go heavy metal on sunday, yeah?
#bypaulgilham
busy now but i was down that other time.
week two on the phone in london out of context.
bonus days in london were good for the soul. thanks for the hospitality everyone. see you again in a couple weeks.
#bycarlnard
who are we, if we’re not us?
london the past week, from the phone out of context. also.. been completely made to feel so at home amongst this community.. really cannot express how emo it makes me to be able to step foot in a new city and be looked after like i’ve been here. never been much of a “london guy” but this past week has changed that. thank you dearly.
#bycarlnard
ps.. you’re note more locked in than me.
THE MARATHON DOESN’T LOVE YOU BACK.
so many of us, wake up on a random day in the middle of the week, 16 weeks or so ahead of a specific day on the calendar. from then on, we spend so much of life working towards a day that 50,000+ are also working towards. we work a job only to use that money towards new shoes, gels, apparel.. more meals than the previous 16 weeks.. we do this because we’ve done it before and we love the marathon.
but the whole time, we do so while lying to ourselves that the love is mutual.. but it’s time we face reality. the marathon does not love us back.
the marathon, literally has convinced us to run faster with every mile or kilometer so we can show we had “negative splits” on an app we pay money for.. the marathon gives people the reality check of a bad back half of the race. the marathon makes you wake up 5 hours before you even start.. the marathon doesn’t love some of us so much it literally makes sure people know you DNF’d. hell.. the marathon is so mean it even let someone in their marathon debut break the once believed unimaginable, 2 hour barrier in the race… only to COME IN SECOND PLACE!
so why do we give so much of us to the thing that actively tries to give us nothing? because the best love is the love we fight for. the love we fight for is the love we know is worth having. love with no fight is not love, it’s lust.. and lust fades.
it’s not worth it to try and convince the marathon to love you back.. but it is worth fighting for the thing you love. it is worth the 5am wake-ups, the nerves, the anticipation.. the best kind of love is the feeling of guessing.. and race day is the biggest guessing game.
and no one could have guessed that @londonmarathon would give us the kind of day we had yesterday.. perhaps a wink that maybe the marathon may not love us, but loves that we try again and again?
here’s to love and here’s to trying. congrats to everyone out there yesterday. we love you all so much. 💙
#bycarlnard
women of @londonmarathon race day. that’s it. that’s the post.
#bycarlnard
what a special feeling it is to document the race day of so many incredible women and to do so in london on such a historic day made it even more special. this sport will never cease to amaze me and these women continue to inspire us all every single race day. thanks for the space and support to continue this series. it’s quite literally my favorite thing about race day. ☺️✨💙
