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The Kandahar Marathon: Week Fifty-Two

“All good things must come to an end.” ~Chaucer It’s been a heck of a year. While there’s a lot to talk about, from career changes to, more recently, car accidents, and from publishing books and articles to time spent with loved ones, I’m going to focus most of my attention here on running. This…
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The Kandahar Marathon: Week Fifty-One

“You can judge a society by how it treats its prisoners.” ~Fyodor Dostoyevsky For most of my adult life I have wondered, often aloud and in classrooms full of inquisitive young people, if we’d have cured cancer, hunger, and violence by now, not only as a society but as a species, if only those who…
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The Kandahar Marathon: Week Fifty

Week Fifty “Running is the greatest metaphor for life, because you get out of it what you put into it.” ~Oprah I guess I knew people read my blog, but I don’t think I realized how many until I posted last week about therapy, medication, and my own efforts to destigmatize mental illness amidst my…
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The Kandahar Marathon: Week Forty-Nine

“Nothing makes one feel so strong as a call for help.” ~Pope Paul VI This week I’d like to begin with two important reminders from previous posts. First, if you’re interested in continuing to receive my blog when it comes out in the future, please sign up at markgudgel.com as in 2023 I will cease…
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The Kandahar Marathon: Week Forty-Eight

“Was walking with my feet ten feet off of Beale.” ~From “Walking in Memphis” by Marc Cohn At some point Friday night, after a twelve-hour drive, it started to don on me just how many songs have been written about Memphis, how many incredible artists got a start at Sun Records, how much history still…
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The Kandahar Marathon: Week Forty-Seven

“You’d rather be ten percent under-trained than one percent over-trained”                                                             `                                               ~Coach Ryan Salem I may finally have done it. At the start of the year, I was astonished that no matter how hard I pushed my body it seemed like it was eager to adapt to higher mileage and equally capable of doing…
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The Kandahar Marathon: Week Forty-Six

“&$*%^%$&)(#$*&^%#.”                                                             `                                               ~Me I’ve been too frustrated this week even to write this down, though I feel that if you’re one of my regular readers then the least I can do is to offer you some form of explanation. Here goes. Heading into this year of running, my great fear was injury. Surely, I…
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The Kandahar Marathon: Week Forty-Five

“Afghan supreme leader orders full implementation of Sharia law.”                                                             `                                               ~The Guardian 11/14/22 Afghanistan was, at long last, in the news again this week, but only kind of, and mostly for the wrong reasons. After failing to produce a “red wave” in the midterm elections, Republicans have reportedly set the botched American withdrawal from…
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The Kandahar Marathon: Week Forty-Four

“Climate is what we expect. Weather is what we get.” ~Mark Twain Last week, I gave a talk on sustainability and regenerative viticultural practices in the Napa Valley. A lot of what I shared in my talk, and much of what I’m writing about in my book at the moment which is due out next…
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The Kandahar Marathon: Week Forty-Three

“When your legs get tired, run with your heart.” ~Unknown I was interviewed after the I-35 Challenge by Coach Eladio Valdez of Runner’s Edge in Kansas City, as was Becki Culler—I can share her interview with you if you’d like, but I’m only including mine below for now. I was glad Coach reached out. I’m…
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