Really enjoyed this post by Kentucky native and UofL grad Michael Eaton. His 2016 performances weren’t what he hoped — especially in an Olympic year — but a visit to Malawi has helped him rediscover his “why” for running.

Running With Michael

I’m going to get this out of the way early: in terms of running 2016 was a bust for me. My Olympic Trials performance was terrible. I underperformed after running my two fastest half marathons since 2012. They weren’t blazing, but they were huge steps back in the right direction and mixed in with PRs in my two previous marathons I was set up to run well and just didn’t. This poor showing combined with a nagging injury afterwards led to months of under training and self-pity that slowly transformed into self-doubt. There were a few lack luster 5k’s over the summer, bad results from bad training, and a rough half marathon in October in Nairobi, Kenya, which only the first half of gave me any glimmer of hope that maybe I might be turning a corner. On paper my 2016 running campaign was a wash and if I was…

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