If you had asked 2014 Me, “What do you see yourself doing in two years time?” My answer would have been about as far removed from “About to run a 24-hour track race” as possible. 5K was the pinnacle: a weekly event that required days of planning and a final 30-minute flurry of motivational videos and newly-discovered stretches. It’s not that I didn’t like running; I just wasn’t very good at it.
But here’s the thing: few people are. You can’t expect to be ‘good’ at running straight away, just as you wouldn’t expect to be good at any sport – or any thing for that matter – without practice.
Gradually, that weekly 5K – the one-time subject of such dread – became doable (dare I say it, enjoyable) and one run in seven days became two. Two runs became three. Three runs became four. Four became five. Five led to an injury and I was taught the most important of running lessons: don’t overdo it.
The point is that running, like anything, requires a certain amount of persistence. To paraphrase the 26th President of the United States – and I can only presume keen runner – Theodore Roosevelt: “Nothing in the world is worth having unless it means effort.” And I can think of few things worth having more than the in-the-moment, stress-relieving, clear-headed joy of running.
