The key to running a good marathon is to not listen to anyone's advice the last week before the race. That's when people tend to do stupid things that disrupt all the input and training of the previous months.

Avoid any diet that discourages the use of hot fudge.

Prior to the 1976 Olympics, I was a 5,000m runner.

You entered a marathon with hills? You idiot.

So here's my advice to city planners. Make your city runnable. Runners are the first wave of troops bringing human activity back to the urban core of any city. Where we go, others will follow. The connection between runnability and livability is so clear (at least to me), that it's surprising that new developments consistently leave pathways out of the plans.

The key to running a good marathon is to not listen to anyone's advice the last week before the race. That's when people tend to do stupid things that disrupt all the input and training of the previous months.

Coaches know that a parent publicly scolding his kid after a race will not help the athlete perform better.