Hi all,
In training to break 3 hours I have to draw on others for inspiration. It helps greatly if I can draw on the wisdom and achievements of others to meet my goals.
I normally read a lot of inspirational quotes via email, blogs and Twitter feeds. One of the quotes I enjoy reading is rather long, but it is one that I can easily relate to. The quote comes from Deena Kastor, American long distance runner and Olympic bronze medallist in Athens 2004, so she knows what she's talking about!
We make choices. I hate to say 'sacrifices.' When I speak to younger groups, to colleges and other younger athletes, I say 'we don't make sacrifices. If we truly love this sport and we have these goals and dreams in the sport, the classroom, or in life, they're not sacrifices. They're choices that we make to fulfill these goals and dreams.' Sacrifices makes it sound like 'oh, poor me, I have to do this in order to get to this,' and I don't really like that word. It was just really the choice to take care of myself and live a proper lifestyle. In doing that, I feel like a healthier person, I feel focused in everything, not just in my running. In following this one dream, I feel like I became an even more well-rounded person.
When I first took up marathon running, I was forced to cut back a lot of my other activities. I suppose I referred to them as "sacrifices". After finishing Berlin last year in a good time, I contemplated stopping marathon running to concentrate on other activities that marathon running prevented me from doing. For example, I'm currently doing my O.E. so that means that I should be travelling as much as possible while I'm living in Europe. Travelling while juggling marathon training is very hard work, maybe even more of a hassle than I could afford. Then there are other activities that I wanted to spend my free nights on (and I can list quite a large number of them); with marathon training I hardly have any free nights available to me to do other activities.
Then I came across Deena's quote on her Wikipedia entry, and it got me thinking about why I do marathon running and what running means to me. I quickly realised that out of all the activities that I have chosen to do, marathon running was the most rewarding and the most exhilarating. And I love to run, it's as simple as that.
I choose to run because I really love the sport. I want to better myself in running, and in life. In doing so I'm taking care of myself, living a healthier lifestyle, and becoming more focused in everything else aside from my running. Finally I have a sporting goal - to break three hours in a marathon. I made a conscious decision, not a sacrifice, in order to meet this goal.
So, thank you Deena for that piece of inspiration.
Another inspirational quote that I found, though probably not for the right reasons, comes from Japanese long-distance runner, Toshihiko Seko.
The marathon is my only girlfriend. I give her everything I have.
Riiiiiiiiiiiiiight! I'm not sure if that's a good thing, but it does show his dedication to the sport. And if I want to break three hours come the 26th September, I need to display the type of dedication that Seko-san is talking about. But calling the marathon your girlfriend, well I don't know if I can go that far.
Already inspired,
Aaron
