Rewind 35 years. I am in a comprehensive school gym wearing
a very unattractive navy pleated gym skirt and a pale blue Trutex top. My heart
is pounding, but not from exercise… I am full of anxiety wondering how long it
will take one of the ‘popular girls’ to pick me for their netball team.
Gradually I watch as the sporty girls are fought over, then gradually most of
the girls in my class are chosen, one by tedious one, then yes, as usual, I am
one of the last.
Filled with shame I trudge out to the netball court, am
placed in Wing Defence, or wherever it is I can do the least harm. I am lucky
if I get to touch the ball even once during the whole match… so I can’t really
blame the team leaders for not picking me.
A few months previously, and it was the same story with
hockey along with my extreme reluctance to get muddy or to join in the scrum.
Fast forward a month or two to tennis and the excruciating embarrassment of
lining up to practice backhand, repeatedly missing, being made to keep on
trying and attempting to ignore the giggling of the bored girls waiting for
their turn. So, it is fair to say, PE was my least favourite part of the school
experience.
The present day. It is 4 weeks until I do the Cardiff Half
Marathon. It will be my third, and probably my last, given my age and physique!
I was out on a long training run with my dog yesterday, when it suddenly
occurred to me that I was really enjoying, really loving doing ‘Cross Country
Running’! Yes, I hated that at school too, probably something to do with being
sent out over Stafford Common in freezing fog every winter…
So I was enjoying Cross Country Running.
Why?
What has changed?
I have blogged before about drive and determination to
overcome setbacks and hurdles (was rubbish at athletics too). I’m also well
aware of all of the research about how many hours practice you have to put in
to become expert at something. (Not sure the PE teachers who put me through
sheep-dip PE hell week in week out had that in mind though.) I think what
changed for me was finding ways of keeping fit that I enjoyed, realising the
importance of fitness for health, doing things at my own pace etc. And to be
honest, when I did my first half marathon, there was a huge element of wanting
to prove them (PE teachers and sporty girls) wrong.
That was ten years ago, and to be honest, I have had many up
and downs since then, otherwise I would now be on my 10th or 11th
half marathon, whereas this will be my third. I have had injuries, which I have
overcome, a half marathon I trained for but pulled out of a few days before due
to illness, career highs and lows, times of being incredibly busy and therefore
too exhausted and time poor to train, a time I was working away from home, and
a family to look after. But that feeling I got ten years ago, when I finished
that race and learned that fitness can be fun and rewarding is up there on my
list of major achievements.
So yes, I suppose this is another blog about the importance
of drive and resilience in the face of setbacks. But it is also about:
·
trying different approaches
·
finding what motivates you as an individual
·
finding ways of doing things you find difficult,
but know to be important, in ways that fit in with you and your life.
(The picture is one of the views from my cross country running - the boatyard and Uphill church)
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