A Recent Turning Point

Strap yourself in, this is gonna be a long one.

At the start of this year I was feeling pretty good about myself. Mid-November of last year I injured my wrist, so the only thing I could really do to keep fit was run. So I set myself a goal to run 10km non-stop by the end of the year, as it was something I had never done. I managed to reach that goal around the 20th December, and was pretty stoked.

And then in mid-January I travelled to Hawaii for my brother's wedding. It was such a beautiful time, in a beautiful place.

So as I've already mentioned, I was feeling pretty darn good when I got back to Australia.

Shortly after returning, I got a phone call from a friend. in short, he wanted to know if I'd be interested in running a HALF-MARATHON. Without too much thought I said yes. That call and my impulsive decision marked the beginning of a stage in my life that has left a pretty big impact. And I'm so glad it did.

After a week or so of stuffing around I got into contact with a friend who had run a marathon a year earlier, and asked her for advice in training. At this point I had about 6 weeks left before the race. I was freaking out a bit as this did NOT seem like enough time, considering it was more than double the longest distance I had run before.

With some encouragement and great advice from my friend, I was able to set up a program that would hopefully see me crossing the finish line. And this meant discipline.

So for the weeks leading up to the race, I was getting up very early in the mornings in order to run long distances and still make it to work on time. This was a challenge for me, firstly because I don't do mornings (in fact I'd rather days were made up entirely of afternoons), and secondly this was the most I'd trained in such a short period of time.

The training was hard, especially the weekends, where instead of running alone I'd run with the friend who initially asked me to run the half-marathon. He is much, much fitter than me, and as a result I had to work to keep up with him. Also about halfway through the program I caught a cold, which stopped me from training for about 10 days, which is a big deal when my program was such a short one.

However I turned a corner in my training on my first run back after recovering from the cold. I realised that I had just over two weeks left, so it was make or break time. It was at this point that I began to really understand the importance of the mind in exercise. I found that I could push myself faster and further than the point I thought was fast enough and far enough.

In the end I managed to complete the half-marathon in just under two hours, when initially my aim was to complete it in two and a half. But the end result wasn't everything.

There were a number of benefits I got from the training. First of all it taught me how to get out of bed early. However, this is a lesson I forgot pretty soon. The rest of the benefits have lasted. As a result my friendship with Tim (the guy who asked me to run the half-marathon with him) grew a lot, and we were able to feed off each others' enthusiasm. I love that guy, he's the most positive guy I know. I also learnt about the power of the mind to control the body. I realised that running a marathon (something I want to do at least once) is very achievable. I learnt that you can achieve great things as long as you are organised and disciplined.

And one final thing I realised this afternoon as I was walking home: that you don't receive benefits when you take the easy option. Real progress, real growth only comes when you leave your comfort zone. I think that's why brussel sprouts taste so bad.