I am now 5 weeks out from the Brighton Marathon and training has taken over my weekends. My long run now ranges from 2 – 3.5 hours and I have to plan my entire weekend around it. Look at the weather forecast, which day is supposed to be the driest? I have completed two runs in the wind and rain and neither were the slightest bit enjoyable, but I know I can run in those conditions, just in case the weather is bad on marathon day. When do I eat, it needs to be at least 90 minutes before I run, what other commitments do I have, work, children, etc?
This weekend my watch decided to go into meltdown and it took 30 minutes to reboot it and reinstall my music paylists, it would be a very long run with no playlist or running buddy. It was 3:30pm by the time I left my flat and after 60 minutes of running, I wasn’t looking forward to the second half. I even thought about not running that last hour, but everyone knows I’m training, how would that look?
I’ve told everyone I’m running a marathon, it’s a constant topic of conversation in my gym and its all over my social media. Many, many people knew that I was supposed to complete a 2.25 hour run. My ego couldn’t cope with telling everyone I only ran half of it, so round again I ran and it ended up being a new personal best.
There have been difficult days when I haven’t felt like running, there have even been days when I feel like pulling out altogether. That is to be expected, but that’s also the reason I told everyone. I feel they are holding me to account, my personality couldn’t allow me to go to the gym and tell people that I’ve given up or didn’t train this weekend, maybe it’s ego but it’s what works for me. I’m also raising money for charity, people have already donated, that’s another reason I can’t back out.
The learning point is that if you are doing something challenging, tell everyone, sometimes we need other people than ourselves to hold us accountable. They can also encourage, motivate and praise. In a moment of weakness, it can be the difference between success and failure.