I set out this morning to run a half marathon, started with the wrong mindset, not positive enough, ran the first half with Yaf (my wife) and friends, Nikki and Claudine; at the 11 km stage I thought I was done. Nikki and Claudine left at that stage (all they planned to do) and Danielle Slade joined me and Yaf.
I really didn’t feel like I could go on – runners’ burn-out?? Been really struggling with my running lately. But Yaf spurred me on, told me that I could do it, so I got on with it, I bulldozed my way through the pain (lots of it imaginary), I gritted my teeth and kept going. It was surreal, the pain lifted, the mental roadblocks vanished, the heaviness lifted, I could run, I did run, I got into the groove, the zone. I couldn’t, wouldn’t, have done it without Yaf pushing me, without the support of our friends.
Yes, I’ve run marathons but I’m buzzing now, having ran just half a marathon. I’ve reinforced my self-belief, self-concept. I was struggling but I had something in reserve and I must remember this run, I must remember that when I feel like I can’t go on, I probably can, I just need to dig deep, grit my teeth and push on…
A lesson for most of us!
This is not a self-congratulation post, I’m not asking for a medal! I just want to make the point that when we think we can’t go on, we almost certainly have more in reserve, we almost certainly can go on, the point is that we mustn’t allow ourselves to fall at the imaginary hurdles, we can keep going…
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