Month: June 2016

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Perseverance, Endurance & Determination.

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It’s taken me about over 20 years to truly understand what it takes to accomplish a lofty goal. These things are perseverance, endurance and determination and you have to have all three of them…

For the past six months I’ve been studying people who achieve great feats in the hope of determining what makes these people stick with something and achieve their goal to succeed! The reason I’ve been doing this is partly in my own personal battle against obesity. I want to get into the minds of these people, understand where there mental stamina comes from, what sort of mindset do they have? I figure that losing a large amount of weight is possibly on a par with the achievements of endurance athletes, explorers, entrepreneurs, those that rehabilitate themselves from serious illness, those who overcome disability.

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Recently, through a friend at work I came to talk to a gentleman called ‘Ray Matthews’. Shauna explained about this incredible, humble gentleman who was going to try and raise £75,000 for the children at Newman School in Rotherham who desperately need a soft playground so they can play safely with their varying physical disabilities. I thought this admirable but when she then told me….. “He’s going to run 75 Marathons in 75 Days and he’s 75 years old…a new world record” I thought she was having a laugh. Could this even be possible? EVER?

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And then I spoke to Ray on the phone and he started to tell me his story. Immediately I went and bought his two books, the KINDLE editions so I could read about how someone gets to achieve great feats on endurance (and believe me he has..). I volunteered to help out a little by doing some updates on social media and just passing the word around because I figured that PEOPLE NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THIS and of course I wanted to see him raise that money for the school.

BTW the fundraising page is at www.donateplayground.uk if you wanted to throw a few pounds his way for the school.

And I’m asking a big favour from all of you. We need to let people know about this, let the press know and the newspapers, let everyone know that there are great world record breaking athletes out there doing these amazing things in a selfless way…

Think about it for a moment, 75 Marathons in 75 Days and he’s 75 Years Old.

And then I met Ray

And he’s lovely, he’s humble, he’s inspiring and he tells a great story.

REMEMBER THIS NAME #raymatthews

HIS WEBSITE IS www.rwrr.co.uk

PLEASE SHARE! LET EVERYONE KNOW!

Thank you so much

C xxxxxx

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Be the tortoise not the hare…

After 20+ years of being obese, there is one lesson I’ve recently learned and accepted the fact that “it is OK to be the tortoise and not the hare…”

The key to long term success is perseverance and endurance and one is more likely to get to the end and finish if challenges are taken at a steady pace. It REALLY is OK to plod along and enjoy the scenery.

The last three weeks I’m kinda stuck in the low 250’s. Normally this would have previously been enough for me to throw my hands up in exasperation and head down to the shop on the corner to buy 2 giant bars of Cadbury’s Milk Chocolate and a large bag of chips. That’s not something I’ve done for 5 or 6 months now.

I’m accepting that the tortoise eventually gets to where it wants as it just keeps going…

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Image from Team Theos Mohican Runner – Check his website out here

And that is how I’m facing my latest challenge, my second Marathon. The Plusnet Yorkshire Marathon takes place on October 9th in the City of York. Two work colleagues and I will be running for my employer http://www.pmsdiecasting.co.uk to raise money for our chosen charity for 2016 which is the ‘Children’s Hospital Charity’. We’ll be running as part of ‘Team Theo’.

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Click here for ‘The Children’s Hospital Charity‘

Last year I walked a marathon for Cancer Research UK. I walked as fast as I could, lost two toenails, got runners trots so had to poop in a bush and came last (in 8 hrs 45 minutes) but was totally happy with that. I did something I never thought was possible for me as several months before the event I could barely walk 100 m without having to sit down because of back pain. Solution was to lose weight and keep walking…

This year, I have 7 hours to complete the Yorkshire Marathon so I have to lose more weight, train harder and even jog at times to make the time. I’m determined to do it (and hopefully not lose anymore toenails this time)

My training started today…

Will I come last again? Probably… but I’ll finish. I won’t give up.

I AM THE TORTOISE!

PS: Did my first in public 5k run last week for Cancer Research as part of the #pinkarmy. I walked and jogged it in just under 42 minutes.

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Here’s my MARATHON training plan if you are interested. Click on it to print.

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