Shine

Kids, while my blog posts are usually full of optimism and messages of believing in yourself, I wouldn't be preparing you for real life if I told you that things were always going to go your way. 

The truth is that, much like running, sometimes you are ahead and sometimes you are behind. It isn't always easy to get your head around this concept especially when you feel like you are the one behind.

But as usual I am going to tell you that lessons learned while running can be applied to real life too.

If there is one thing I would ask you to do when you feel like you are behind it would be this...

shine.

When the chips are down, when you feel like you are losing and you realise that someone else is going to do better than you, no matter how hard you try, simply...

Shine.

When I started running, I never thought that I would start winning races, that doesn't mean that the thought never crossed my mind. In the quiet moments, I would ponder that I had the ideal race, got lucky and fluked into a top 3 position. But the truth is that at 33 and having been running for 3 years, I am unlikely to see many podiums. 

In the 2011 Ashridge 5 mile trail run I came in 17th with a top 10% place. I ran a good race despite starting near the back on a single track run. I got lucky by following a Cani-X runner to the middle of the pack and went on to work my way further forward after that. I finished by running to your mother at the finish line and asking where everyone else was before realising I was near the front. In 2012 I finished well in the top half of my first ultramarathon, an achievement which four weeks on, continues to dawn on me as being great.

I watched faster and fitter people beat me and could easily have become despondent but I didn't. I realised that while I was in the shadow of others, in my own way I shone. I shone for doing my best and achieving as much as I could.

I shone because while it wasn't the cheer of the crowd that met me at the end, it was the pride of my family and those that I care about.

I never trained to win or to beat any other person, so when I didn't it didn't make my day any less special. 

I trained despite knowing that I wouldn't win, and I ran knowing that I wasn't destined for a podium.

I did this because when I'm running it is my chance to shine.

The truth is that we all live in the shadows of others, none of us are born into infinite greatness. We must seek out opportunities to shine and be bright because when we do, it allows others around us to do the same.

Kids, when you find yourselves in the shadows of others, see this as an opportunity to shine.