Thursday 15 March 2018

Do things!

Lately, I’ve had this annoying, nagging thought in my head.

It’s probably popped in there due to some of the amazing people I have met recently, seeing people push themselves, thinking to myself “I can do more! I can do those sort of things”.

The thought I’ve been having?  I haven’t done anything.  I haven’t achieved anything.

I want to think that it is an intrinsically generated feeling, but it will be a bit of peer pressure that has helped it grow.

It's not like I haven't achieved things!
 I mean I have achieved things, like running increasingly longer distances and improving my career, but it feels like I need to do more.

And on top of this I have a feeling of inadequacy, coupled with frustration.  The feeling of inadequacy isn’t a bad thing, so long as I understand why it’s there.  I need to keep it as a feeling that is driving me and making me realise that I need to push myself further, see what I’m capable of.

The feeling of frustration is probably the main issue.  The frustration of not doing the things that I feel I’m capable of.  The frustration of not having enough hours in a day to do these things that I think I’m capable of.  The frustration of always thinking about the things, of thinking about the things others are doing, of thinking about why am I not doing the things!

 This has been bothering me for a few weeks now, and then I heard someone say something on the radio the other day:
“The difference between doing something and not doing something is doing something”*

I’d probably change it slightly for me to be “The difference between thinking about doing something and doing something is doing something”, but essentially it’s the same thing.

Go do it.

So, I’m going to get started doing something about it.  Stop thinking about the things and coming up with excuses that turn into frustrations. 

Make the time. 

Do the things.

I mean the things may be things that others have done, I’m not that creative to think of new things, but it doesn’t matter.  I want to know if I’m capable of doing them, whatever they are.

No, wait!

I KNOW that I am capable of doing them, I just need know that I can DO them.

And it all starts on April 6th.  I’m going to run the furthest I’ve ever run.  I’m going to push myself further than I have before.  I know I’m capable of it, now I’m going to take the control and show that I can do it. 

I’m going to make sure I know I can do it.  Because it’s not stopping there.  There’s going to be plenty more!

*the quote is from James Corden.  I’m not a fan of his, but this quote made perfect sense and probably explains why he is so successful.

**What’s that?  What am I doing on April 6th?  Well, I thought you’d never ask!  I’ll be completing an Everesting Challenge!  That is running up and down Castle Road, between ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem and the Robin Hood Statue, 412 times!  This will equate to 8,848m of elevation, and I’ll be covering 56 miles.  I will be raising money for Maggie’s Nottingham.  I will give more details out soon J

Wednesday 21 February 2018

Lessons Learnt

Lessons learnt
You may have noticed that I haven’t been posting any blogs for a while.  You see, I’ve been a bit busy following an amazing woman around the country as she ran 63 marathons in 63 days!
Llyn Cwm Llwch as we headed up Pen-y-Fan
The return to reality wasn’t quite as smooth as we perhaps thought it might be.  The suddenness of not knowing exactly what was going to happen every day (“What, no marathon??”), the post-adventure hangover (“oh, that thing I’ve been thinking about for the last 7 years is done now?”), the physical recovery, financial issues, they all hit us.  Some became apparent quicker than others, but the 9 weeks after the 63 marathons in 63 days finished were almost as challenging as the 9 weeks of the marathons.

So, now my excuse for not posting blogs has been said, I had a lot of time to think while cycling, running, and driving, with Nikki Love, or sat at my desk trying to work out where she was, and lucky for you I forgot most of it! 

Marathon 1 John o'Groats -
As North as I've ever been!
However, I noted a few of the thoughts down and will try formulate them into posts over the next few weeks.  They may not be in chronological order, and they may be mixed in with other posts, but I’ll try and highlight stuff that came about during the epic 63 marathon in 63 days adventure J

During those 63 days I learnt a few things about myself, what I’m capable of, and about some of the preconceived ideas that I have about things, those things being mainly running.  So, I’ve started changing my attitude to running.






Sharif’s Rules When Running
I used to have some rules for when I ran.  I think I’ve told you them before:


1. Finish
2. Don’t stop
      3. Don’t come last

I made these rules up when I started running.  And I have stuck to them.  But things changed after I met Nikki and started training with her occasionally. 

When I met Nikki and she talked about her marathons, I couldn’t get my head around it.  My idea of a marathon, or any long run, was that you continuously ran.  This is actually why I had never progressed with my running as, I now realise that, I had a huge fear of failure of not being able to continuously run the distance I had planned.  Fear that I wouldn’t be able to run 15 miles, for example.  But when I started training with Nikki I realised it was OK to stop, to eat, to drink, to take a break, and then carry on.  Your long run is all about time on your feet, and this is the important factor, not the continuousness of your running (please note that this is different from other training sessions, such as tempo runs.  I’m only referring to long run type sessions).  She told me about someone she had coached to do a sub 3 hour marathon and he would stop every 10k to stretch!

It’s OK to stop.  Rule 2 got crossed off the list.

I always had a thing that I didn’t want to come last.  In anything.  It wasn’t that I was that competitive, more that I didn’t want that stigma of being last.  Not sure where it stemmed from, and I can’t tell you some horrific story of being picked on or something, just that I don’t want to come last.  So, every race I ran I made sure I wasn’t the slowest.  To be fair, I’m an average runner so this wasn’t really an issue.

That changed in Sheffield, on marathon 21.  We had planned to run the Sheffield Castle parkrun, before continuing on and running along the canal to Rotherham and back (I’ll tell you how wonderful that was another day!!!).  However, as sometimes happens with us, we were running late and turned up at the Parkrun start about 6 or 7 minutes behind everyone.  Now as you’ll all know, Nikki didn’t run her marathons fast (she had 63 to do, what do you expect???), and because of this we didn’t really make any ground on the back markers.  We got passed by most of the runners, mind you, but the hi-vis jackets of the tail runners just wouldn’t come into sight!  That was until the final stretch toward the finish!  There they were, strolling along up the hill with some of the signs! 

“Yes, I won’t come last! “, I thought happily.

And then Nikki said that she needed to “go”. 

You finish, she said.  Don’t wait for me, she said, as she went off into the bushes.  But I couldn’t leave her.  I didn’t want to. 

And in that moment I realised, it really doesn’t matter if I come last or not.  Who cares?  I’ve still completed Rule 1, and no one can take that away from you. 

And so I waited for Nikki to do her thing, watching the Tail runners walk off into the distance (although I think they were wondering what we were doing back there!!).

Nikki finished what she was doing and we jogged to the finish where I slowed my pace so Nikki could finish ahead of me, to some applause from the volunteers and some runners who had hung on (our friend Ruth had been telling everyone what Nikki was doing and so had drummed up some support!).

And that was that.  The first time I can remember coming last in a race.  And you know what?  I smiled.  I smiled when I thought about what I had done, and the change I had made in my thinking to do it.

It’s OK to come last.  Rule 3 got crossed off the list.

And so, Sharif’s Rules When Running are now:

1. Finish 
2. Don’t’ stop
3. Don’t come last