Moving Targets

One of the benefits of Thunder Run was that 50Km gives you a lot of time to think and ponder. I’d noticed recently that I don’t get the same mental relief from running, but that’s generally because I’ve become more focused on the task at hand. So the chance for a few hours’ worth of ‘relaxed’ running was a good chance to mentally process some things that have been on my mind recently.

One of my biggest annoyances with my running has been the size and fragility of my Ego at times. I’ve found that I can have the skin of an Elephant one minute and the delicacy of bone china the next. Trudging through the mud, I think I’ve came to the answer of where it’s all come from.

For those of us who were never sporty as youngsters, the fact that we’ve taken it up later in life can often mean we approach our chosen sport (or indeed any passion) with a verve or eagerness that is slightly OTT at times. With this drive, improvements often come thick and fast – maybe the first time one does a Sub-7 Erg or a sub-45 10K run. With this increase in performance, I think there is a co-incidental sense that you are in a sense punching above your weight.
For the vast majority of my life I’ve been fat, sometimes obese and it’s only relatively recently that I’ve stopped thinking about myself as a ‘fat bloke’. In some ways I’m still a fat bloke trapped in a runner’s body- just see the look of lust on my face near a buffet...

This sense of punching above your weight can lead to frustration and anger, two qualities that aren’t known to aid athletic performance. What I realised at Thunder Run is that performance is the running buffet of life, running off further into the distance.

It’s a good thing to never be satisfied (although the odd feeling of job well done doesn’t hurt). You are not punching above your weight, you are performing at a level appropriate to the amount of training and fitness level you are currently at and there’s no point getting frustrated. Yes, compared to a few years ago you are doing things you only dreamed of, even a few months ago the idea for a sub-3 marathon was a drunken pie-in-the-sky idea.

So keep the faith, people are not going to applaud every time you put a pair of trainers on. Just get out there, put the work in and do it for your own satisfaction, not the approval of others.