I’ve had a busy weekend.
Born Survivor Saturday morning – my youngest’s 4th Birthday Party in the afternoon – my last match in Sheffield in the evening (still tickets available for the final match in Macc on the 11th BTW www.macclesfieldwrestling.co.uk) – Macc Half Marathon Sunday morning and a Flash Mob in Macc on Sunday afternoon.
Mostly great fun.
Except the half.
That was horrible.
But I’ve got a parallel for you.
I’d decided to do it as one of my 52 new things to do in 2014.
Not really a fan of running to be honest.
But thought it would be a challenge.
I wanted to get under two hours.
Nice round number like.
Was roughly on for it till about 10.5 miles.
But I really started to unravel then.
The heat and exhaustion caught up with me.
Head spinning, vision blurry, nauseous, etc.
Walked most of the rest with a few gentle jogs.
Felt awful.
But I finished.
All the way round though there was a voice telling me just to stop and walk for a bit.
Up the hills from mile 5 to 8 particularly it was very vocal.
Bit like the voice that tells you to have that biscuit or slice of cake.
We all have that part of us that wants the ‘easier’ choice.
It’ll never go away.
But learning how to ignore it as much as possible is one of the best skills we can develop.
I managed to ignore it most of the run.
If I hadn’t have ignored it before it became to much, I’d have been much further behind.
Same with your journey.
Make the good choices as much as you can.
Work on that ignoring that voice as much as possible.
The one telling you “One won’t hurt” and “You deserve it – you’ve had a hard day”.
And then, if occasionally you don’t manage to ignore it, don’t beat yourself up.
Accept that the times you were able to ignore it have got you in the right direction.
And that you’re considerably closer to your goal the you would be otherwise.
And put the times you don’t manage to ignore the voice in context.
I didn’t think “Screw it, I’ve failed now” and head off home.
Put setbacks in context and you’ll still get to the finishing line with time 🙂
Much love,
Jon ‘Never been a runner’ Hall and Matt ‘Used to be the fastest 13 year old in Buxton’ Nicholson
