{"id":746,"date":"2020-01-07T00:24:42","date_gmt":"2020-01-07T00:24:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gospelrun.com\/?p=746"},"modified":"2020-01-07T00:56:30","modified_gmt":"2020-01-07T00:56:30","slug":"michael-heard-experienced-runner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gospelrun.com\/index.php\/2020\/01\/07\/michael-heard-experienced-runner\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Heard \u2013 Experienced Runner"},"content":{"rendered":"<body>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"177\" height=\"435\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gospelrun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/heard2.png?resize=177%2C435\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-588\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gospelrun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/heard2.png?w=177&amp;ssl=1 177w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gospelrun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/heard2.png?resize=122%2C300&amp;ssl=1 122w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 177px) 100vw, 177px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Michael Heard, Gospel Run\ncoach and Team Trinity United Church of Christ co-captain, began running when\nhe turned 40 years old. He was determined to take better care of his body, so\nhe started his health journey by walking on the treadmill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cA trainer told me that if\nI wanted to get in shape I needed to pick out a cardio exercise that I liked\nand do strength training. I chose to start running in 1995, and after running\nhalf marathons, 5Ks and 10Ks, I completed my first marathon in 2003. I trained\nhard for it!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Coach Michael endured more\nthan just marathon training to trump the 26.2 mile distance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhen I first started\nrunning, I smoked cigarettes. I had been smoking almost 25 years.\u00a0 It took 8 years to kick the habit; during\nthat time I was running 5k &amp; 10K races and a half marathon. But once I\ndecided to run a marathon, I knew I had to STOP smoking completely. I did and\nhave not picked up a cigarette since that first day of marathon training.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Running is now a vital\npart of Coach Michael\u2019s everyday routine and has convinced him that he can do\nanything he puts his mind to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI went from a couch\npotato to an athlete. That\u2019s right an athlete! In my second marathon, I qualified\nto run the Boston Marathon, which is the only race that you have to qualify in\nanother marathon to run Boston. When I got there, they called all the runners athletes!\nThere was no looking back after that marathon. <strong>I have gone on to run 18 marathons in 15 years<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Coach Michael shares the\nsame advice his trainer gave him to new runners and counsels them to stay\nencouraged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cFind a cardio exercise\nthat you like, whether it\u2019s biking, running, swimming etc. and then incorporate\nstrength training into your routine. You also need to watch what you eat. I\nhave to come to learn that what you put in your mouth is either contributing to\nbetter health or causing health problems. To see the benefits of running or\nwalking you have to do it at least 3 days a week.\u00a0 You are wasting your time if you do it once\nor twice a week, or every other week. It will take time to get into a routine\nbut once you do, it will soon become part of your life and you will enjoy your\nnew body. Exercise is a really good way to relieve stress. You will find that\nyou have a better outlook on life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Look at Coach Michael\nrunning his first marathon and still smiling at mile 23!<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Michael Heard, Gospel Run coach and Team Trinity United Church of Christ co-captain, began running when he turned 40 years old. He was determined to take better care of his body, so he started his health journey by walking on the treadmill. \u201cA trainer told me that if I wanted to get in shape I [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":520,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature-stories"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gospelrun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/michael1.png?fit=716%2C537&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gospelrun.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gospelrun.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gospelrun.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gospelrun.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gospelrun.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=746"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/gospelrun.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/746\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":750,"href":"https:\/\/gospelrun.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/746\/revisions\/750"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gospelrun.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gospelrun.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gospelrun.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gospelrun.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}