Bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce…..
Last week I was in the middle of getting a little grumpy about the training. The end felt a long way away and I was suffering a little from a lack of mojo. I was also feeling a little on the tired side from Silverstone. It all adds up. Someone also told me I talked a lot about what I couldn’t do, not what I could do. This is absolutely right and something I hear pretty frequently!
Once of the weird things about losing motivation is that it happens so quickly. You can be out enjoying your runs one day and struggling to get out of bed the next. The flip side to that is that you can get your enjoyment back as quick if not quicker. Last Sunday I did my third 20 mile run, my legs were sore when I started and I figured it would be a bit of a mental battle to get round. As soon as I started though I loved it, it went really quickly too. It was just a really nice run. I do this thing now at the end of my runs (don’t laugh) but I live on the third floor of a pretty old building – so when I get back from the 20 miles runs and my legs are a little dead I spring as fast as I can up stairs. When I’m doing this I say over in my head ‘You’ve always got more left’, you’ve always got more left’. Yes it’s silly, yes I’m almost certainly a bit mad, but your head always gives up before your legs and I’m trying to convince myself that despite how tired you are after a long run I still have a lot left!
Anyway, once I got back it suddenly dawned on me how close I was to the end of this training. Two weeks before I start tapering, it’s practically just around the corner. Then on Sunday it was a beautiful day, I saw a tweet from the Marathon people saying it was only 5 weeks left. 5 weeks! That sent me bouncing off with excitement.
I guess through all this training I have been concentrating so hard on training hard and hitting the numbers I a bit forgot what this was about. It’s such a crazy, beautiful race. A million people cheering you on. Tower Bridge. The finish on the Mall. Feeling like a rock star for four hours. The intro song, go on, you know it. This one:
(after writing that, I got this video from YouTube. I’m typing now a little, err ’emotionally’!). In a way it’s crazy to want to run this thing as I can. Why wouldn’t I want to take my time and just enjoy the day??
Bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce…..
Then what do you know the weather picks up. Running when it’s like this isn’t a chore it’s an absolute pleasure. It’s light outside when I wake up. I’ve got to see some stunning sunrises over the past few days. And now I only have a few tough sessions. Two pace runs, one sprint and a 20 miles and then it tapers off. I’m actually going to do this.
To say I’m looking forward to it now is an understatement. It may go well, it may go badly, but I’ll be there alongside 35,000 taking part in the greatest marathon in the world with my friends and family there cheering me along. What is not to look forward to! Bring. It. ON!
I have a Virgin Money site here: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/NeilWilkinson. I’m raising money for the MS Society and I’ll love you forever if you consider donating. Oh and extra finally, I added this thing on the blog that let’s you sign up for email updates if I add a post. If you want to you can sign up below. Thanks for reading!
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