KEEP GOING

I am now nearly 5 weeks into my advanced training programme for the London Marathon which takes place in April next year. This is my second marathon; I am so excited to take part and also to raise money for my chosen charity Alzheimer Scotland.

I am training 6 days a week and it is a tough challenge. This morning I went out for my usual run but today I took a different route – I wanted to tackle a couple of hills to build up my strength and endurance. Needless to say I struggled running up the first hill and I really feared running up the final hill before heading home. I was psyching myself up as I approached the bottom of the long hill and to be honest I was really dreading it, my legs felt heavy and tired. Just at that moment a voice from behind me shouted “KEEP GOING” – I looked to my right and there was this cheery smiling cyclist, passing me by, giving me some much needed words of encouragement. I smiled back at him as if to say THANK YOU, that was all I needed – those two simple words catapulted me into another gear and I was doing a Sylvester Stallone in the film Rocky, running up the stairs to the entrance of the Philadelphia Museum of Art – now famously known as the “Rocky Steps”. My local hill to which I refer, well, I have now renamed it “Clarabelle’s Hill” it sits on the Bellshill Road heading into my home town of Motherwell – and it is to me, one tough cookie. But this cookie ain’t crumbling, “Keep going, keep going, keep going”, I repeated the cyclist’s words in my head and I embraced his words encouragement with open arms until I reached the top.

I just wanted to share that moment of today with every one, because we all can offer real words of encouragement to others around us – when I ran the New York Marathon in November 2007 I was completely uplifted by the thousands of cheering crowds as I chased my dream of completing the 26.2 miles through the wonderful city.
Think about who you can offer your words of encouragement to today – it just may give that person the kick start they need to make a positive change in their life. Who would benefit from your “keep going” chants? – I believe they will be very grateful, just like I was today. Thank you Mr Cyclist unfortunately I couldn’t keep up with you to offer you my personal thank you.