if I can do it, so can you (maybe)
I do not want to run the National Cross Country champs this year. I don’t want to do the 3 and a half hour drive. I don’t want to run around in the mud. I’m tired. I’d rather stay here with my family. But the problem of being an athlete/ coach, is you have to lead by example. I wouldn’t be very happy if one of my athletes said they didn’t do a race that had been in their schedule for months, because they couldn’t be bothered.
If you look at my race results for 2019, it has been a disaster. No legit Personal Bests anywhere, two atrocious road marathons, 2 failures to make the GB team, and even a few DNFs (Did Not Finish) next to my name.
Thankfully, the results aren’t what I remember. Well, of course I remember them, but they are not as important to me as all the adventures I’ve had. It has been an incredible year for adventuring, both in running, in life, and in running life. Silly.
I have struggled with my running since the ON Snowdonia Trail Marathon. It was probably the best opportunity for me to qualify to run for GB, but I blew it. I wrote an honest blog about it, hoping it would give me closure, and it kindof did. But also kindof didn’t.
I am driving on the way to the race when an extremely rare white rhino steps onto the road, so I swerve, lose control, and smash through a barrier, off the Golden Gate bridge and into the river, where I have to break free from my sinking Delorean (purple) and swim to the bank, chased all the way by robot piranhas. I make it to the race just in time, but I’m a bit tired and wet.
I am aiming hard for the ON Snowdonia Trail Marathon. It is the GB Trial for the World Mountain Running Champs in Argentina. I want 3 things; to win, to gain my first GB vest, and to represent GB in Argentina. I want these things so badly that I am prepared to wake up at 6am every morning for training, except on Sundays, where I wake up at 4.45am instead.
I decide to put the hammer down. I want to win, and I’m not going to hide it. The first 2 miles are uphill, the four of us are together, but I won’t let anyone past me.
