Two weeks ago, I got sick. Debilitatingly and uncomfortably sick. I don't know what it was, but I couldn't eat or get out of bed for four days. On the fourth day, I did get out of bed though. I had a race scheduled. Never mind having not run...
When I first ventured to the US back in 2007 to take up an athletic scholarship, there were a number of cultural peculiarities foreign to this skinny little runner from Melbourne. The first was the prominence of tattoos. Everyone had them - all my teammates, and all the kids...
The modern technological age - first the Internet, and more recently, the advent of social media - has made everyone an expert at just about anything imaginable. Us runners, or at least the obsessive-compulsive variety, are a particularly curious breed of expertise-seekers. We want to know what, when, and...
Teamwork and Social Capital: A Column By David McNeill
Originally Published 8/11/2016 Runner's Tribe
As I sometimes do on solo runs when motivation is lacking, I plug in my headphones as I head out the door, and listen to a podcast. Last week, I listened to an illuminating discussion about the...
David McNeill took a big step in securing his selection for Rio 2016 by running a 10,000m qualifying time at the Payton Jordan Invite in May 2015 with a time of 27:45.01. Later that year he confirmed his selection by winning the Zatopek:10 (Australian National 10km Championship) in December....
Don’t Skimp on the Hills | A Runner’s Tribe Column by David McNeill
When searching for company for my day-to-day runs during the week, often one of the barriers between running with someone and running alone is the choice of location. Most of the time, I don’t mind driving to...
Keeping an Even Keel | Riding the Waves of Success and Disappointment
Over two consecutive weekends in February, I won two races. It’s been a while since I experienced back-to-back success like that. The successes I had over the previous four years were fewer and farther apart. And even now,...
A column by David McNeill - Runner's Tribe
Netflix and Chill. While it’s still a relatively recent phenomenon to the rest of the world, it’s been the old adage of serious runners for as long as running has been a professional sport. Perhaps not always Netflix, and perhaps not the...
A quick warning to those who are about to read (or think they want to read): this is a long and boring account of the lessons I’ve learnt in running over the past six months. I apologize if you were looking for some entertaining stories, but if you don’t...
What can we learn from runners about “getting better”?
A Column By David McNeill
Betterment. It’s a virtue that defines what a competitive runner strives for with every training endeavour: to be better. But it’s also a virtue that defines almost every aspect of our lives. Being a better parent....
