If you’re thinking…OH NO, not another Marathon metaphor, but you’re still reading…then you clearly love what I write enough to still be here. (HUG!)
So lap it up!
Yes, the subject says what it says, and that’s what I mean.
I ran the Dublin City Marathon (DCM) in a time of 03:09:28 last sunday.
That is my personal best for the distance.
A few years ago, that would’ve meant a lot more. It wasn’t what mattered to me at the finish line on Sunday.
Finishing the 2023 marathon in my slowest ever time (03:41:36) or the Madrid marathon in April somewhere in between each meant every bit as much to me.
On Sunday, I had to run without my Heart Rate strap. As my main data point, it tells me how my body is coping as I run. I know when to pick up pace, when to ease off. I plan my race strategy around my heart rate.
For me, this meant HUGE uncertainty. As I ran to the 03:10 balloon (never done before) would my body hold up? Would I blow up? Should I ease off and enjoy the race?
12 months ago, I had to get comfortable with ‘uncertainty’. I help my clients do the same. I write about it a lot.
I could think about that….that would help.
But no…
Doubts, concerns, worries.
About 10-11km into the race, I didn’t feel I could go any faster. That’s not a great feeling to have with such a long distance to go.
More uncertainty…
Then, things began to change for me, because they began to change in me.
What do I mean? Let me explain.
Up until then, I was trying to think my way through the problem I faced. I had initially thought it was a physical problem (which initially it was, my body’s ability to cope with the physical strain my choice of pace was putting it under).
But it had stopped being a physical problem. I had addressed that and committed to a plan.
The fact that I kept returning to ponder on the problem meant that it was morphed into a ‘thinking’ problem. I don’t know about you, but I’m sh!t at trying to think my way through thinking problems.
In an endurance event, your thoughts can go everywhere. I could sense what was happening to me.
As I got into a rhythm, I wondered (no longer thinking about a ‘problem’) if this could be a gift of some sort? Or was that just false positivity?
As I contemplated this, I ran through the crowd at Inchicore, a well supported section. I felt a massive lift, and a surge of energy.
It didn’t last long, but long enough for me to realise that I felt stronger physically when I felt better emotionally and psychologically. Whilst I couldn’t necessarily trick my body into feeling stronger throughout the race, I didn’t have to contribute to its inevitable struggle either.
My lessons, for me to capture:
- The joy I felt at the end was sourced in accepting the uncertainty I faced during the race. I was happy with how I responded to it.
- It was in the camaraderie I enjoyed with Ciara, Rob, Marcus and other runners whose experience I could identify with.
- I felt huge respect for those running for much greater causes than their own. Yet I had respect for my own cause at the same time.
Acceptance, Camaraderie and Respect are my core three values.
That’s why it mattered to me.