Don’t limit yourself: Brighton Half marathon 2020

Don’t limit yourself.

I do it all the time, last week I ran the Brighton Half Marathon in 1:39. My previous time was 1:49. I didn’t think I could do much more than 1:45 and with the wind I thought I’d do well to do 1:46/1:47.

Truth is, I was scared to achieve 1:39 – my coach told me I could do it the week before but I clung on to every excuse as to why I couldn’t – because I didn’t want to fail so instead I let myself off and gave myself an easier target so I wouldn’t disappoint myself.

I’m going to start holding myself to a higher standard more often, so far, anything I’ve set my mind to I’ve achieved in some way so why do I continue to doubt myself? And so what if I fail?

During the race I allowed myself to believe in myself, I found the courage and turned all the shit I’ve been through into fuel. I kept below 8 minute mile into the wind and 7 minute miles with the wind.On the last 3 miles straight from the Lagoon to the finish line, I told myself to forget everything that had come before, it was in the past. I reset. I had a park run left to run, at park run pace, I had the wind on my side and ran the last 5k in 23 mins looking at my watch all the time realising that if I worked like a motherfucker I’d actually have a chance of achieving my potential.

Go get it, don’t let anyone, especially you, mainly you, stop you achieving your potential. x

Never give up: South Devon 55k 2020

I set out with a rough plan knowing that getting to the start was all I needed to do, from there I could move forward bit by bit.

I had my first experience of hitting the wall around 40k, I applied the David Goggins 40% rule, when you’re at your limit, you’re only at 40%. I told myself to push forward positively and guarded against my mind’s negative feedback.

The last 15-10k was a totally different run, earlier in the day the phrase “Pain is power” came to me and I was able to now use this power and push forward hard with a lot less perceived effort. I updated my story and told myself that whilst it was tough, I was strong….and so I was.

Halfway through the 55k around the hills of Devon