Hi, this is Debbie Boyle's coach at Mojo for Running. Today's podcast is titled, You Just Never Know.

I'm a firm believer in following the rules. I know that probably makes me boring, but that's just me.

I'm a rule follower, for the most part anyway. But when it comes to running, occasionally I do break a rule. My rule for breaking

rules is that it's okay to do it if you understand the possible consequences, if there is no

possibility that breaking it will cause injury to yourself or others, if it doesn't violate any race

rules or traffic laws, and if you have a good reason for doing it.

Now, a clarification here. In this podcast, I'm talking about breaking training rules, not race rules.

Always obey race rules. That's a given. And of course, I'm not suggesting that your training plan is not important. If you've

listened to my other podcast, you know how much stock I put in the training principles.

Occasionally, though, it's okay to step outside the plan, and sometimes it's not, whether

in life or in running. At least that's my philosophy.

Here's an example.

When my daughter got married, both my husband and I walked her down the aisle, one on each side.

Actually, it was a path, not an aisle, because of course we were outdoors.

I say, of course, because if you know Wendy, you know that would be the only way she'd had it.

Anyway, we all knew that was not the way it was supposed to be done.

But Wendy wanted it that way, and I was thrilled to be by her side.

Now, if Emily Post had been lurking around, we probably would have gotten a thrashing. But everyone

involved was fine with breaking that rule. No one got hurt. It was her wedding, our wedding, sort of,

and we were happy to do it our way. Sometimes the rules of running can be broken too. But the one

time you cannot break them, should not even consider breaking them

is in the event that it could result in injury to yourself or someone else. That's never

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