Nothing lasts forever
Everything ends eventually – as if at my age, I didn’t know that!
Even the biggest hills will have a downhill at some point. Life will forever have its ups and downs so always be ready for the next climb.
Achievement is actually quite simple
It all comes down to putting one foot in front of the other and not stopping until you get to where you want to be. Tiny steps.
Stick with it and you’ll see results. Don’t chop and change. Good things take time to show up.
Take time to appreciate the small things
Now more than ever. Soak it all in. Just stop awhile and enjoy your surroundings.
The best days running are the days when I make a point of focusing on the beauty around me.
Don’t put happiness on hold until you cross the finish line. Enjoy as much as you can along the way, even when the going gets tough.
Age is NOT just a number
I completely understand that much of the ageing process is about how you feel, and most of the time I still think like I’m in my twenties. But physically, you can’t and shouldn’t ignore the other stuff going on.
I see little point in pretending aging doesn’t exist, but we can work with it – the key now is to train smarter, listening very carefully to your body’s signals (it will soon let you know if it’s struggling!)
Get up. Dress up. Show up.
Beginnings are hard. Starting anything new in life is be hard and it’s often especially difficult later in life if your experiences so far have not bolstered your confidence much. You will need to invest lots of time and energy, and so many times you will want to give up.
Showing up is the most important part. As long as you keep showing up and taking action, you will get better.
It’s okay to be different
It doesn’t matter if everyone around you is sleek, young and fit – if you’re the oldest and perhaps likely to be the slowest on the field – you can still join in.
You don’t have to be Picasso to enjoy painting.
Work on your mind, as much as your body
You are not too old, too slow or too ‘rubbish at this’ as your little internal voice will insist on telling you. Your mind can be so cruel and will certainly quit on you before your body does.
Awhile back I was doing some hill work; running up the short hill as fast as I could and then slowly jogging back down. I was aiming to repeat this eight times but as I raced up on the sixth go, I honestly felt incapable of running another step. My legs and lungs were screaming and so was my mind: ‘I have to stop – no more, just no!’
I was about to quit when a couple of other (older!) runners came jogging down the hill towards me. And guess what? I found I did have a little extra to give after all!
My mind had convinced me that I absolutely had to stop, when there was obviously still fuel in the tank.
Be the master of your mindset.
There is no perfect time
There is no perfect time to do anything in life.
There is no perfect day to run. Every day you’ll encounter obstacles; rain, heat, tiredness, internal resistance.
Do it anyway.
At any age, your body is capable of much more than you imagine
Giving birth! I rest my case.
Seriously though, once you put your body to the test mentally or physically, it will astound you by pulling off more than you ever thought possible.
Who was it that said: ‘I thought it was impossible for me to run a mile, until I ran a mile’ ?
You have to run your own race
If you’ve been a runner for some time, you may feel that now you’re older, you’re falling behind and not performing as well as you used to, and perhaps that’s true. Never worry that folk seem to be overtaking you and hitting the finish line way ahead of you. Accept that things have changed. Learn to race against yourself, better what you’ve done before or if things aren’t working, aim to do something different.
Rain is AWESOME
After all those years of wrangling with blown out umbrellas and sweaty rain hoods, I’ve had an epiphany. Don’t fight the rain. Relax and embrace the storm. It’s liberating.
Breakfast is overrated
Just because everyone says you must, it doesn’t mean you should. Question things in life.
Remember to have fun
Running has brought so much laughter into my life. The Gorilla Run over London Bridge (google it, hilarious), a baby in a nappy, the legion run which is mud, mud and more mud. Have fun and laugh hard.
It’s never too late to start.
And when you do, you’ll find your tribe – a huge community to support you.
