London Marathon #6: 15 weeks to go

I was reading an old article from a 1956 edition of Sports Illustrated. It was about Franz Stampfl, the man who coached Roger Bannister, the first runner to break four minutes for the mile. Born in 1913, in Vienna, Stampfl came to Australia in 1955 to take up the position of Director of Athletics at Melbourne University. It came through strongly in the 68-year-old article that an underlying principle of Stampfl's coaching methods was the importance of mind over matter. The ability of an athlete to control his/ her own mental state was, he believed, as imperative as training the physical body. Furthermore, he was adamant that “the athlete must be a master of himself, not just the willing slave of his coach.”  Before I go any further, a summary of the past week's sessions...

• Tuesday: Tempo run, Las Catalinas, Costa Rica

• Wednesday: Recovery run in Tanzania, at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro

• Thursday: Interval run around Mount Longonot Crater, Kenya

• Friday: Recovery run, Maspalomas, Gran Canaria

• Saturday: Rest day

• Sunday: Long run, Mount Tunupa, Bolivia

• Monday: Walk to Maggie's Peak, Lake Tahoe, California

Based on the Stampfl article, the idea of controlling what you can control and letting everything else go is the self-leadership lesson I latched onto this week. It is certainly not a new concept, having been identified by a number of ancient philosophers including Epictetus, a Greek philosopher, born around AD 50. He taught that; "Happiness and freedom begin with a clear understanding of one principle: Some things are within our control, and some things are not."

I've been thinking about this, and I believe there is an important distinction to be made between choosing to do something that is hard (like run a marathon) and life throwing you a curve ball, that you didn't choose, but is extremely challenging or even devastating. Each scenario is best managed by focusing on what is within your control, not wasting time and energy on what you can't influence. But when I compare running a marathon to some of the life challenges people face, my reaction to the marathon is...Pfft! Woopty-doo!

Recently, I reunited with two longtime friends, we have known each other for 24 years. The three of us worked together for many of those years, developing a very strong bond, we formed a kind of sisterhood. Both of these women are my heroes. Life has dealt each of them very difficult things to deal with, one has been diagnosed with an incurable cancer and the other grew up with a mother who suffered from serious mental health issues. They have met their respective challenges with grace and courage, even humour, at times. They have also been scared, angry, sad and devastated. For as long as I have known them, they have always focused on the wellbeing of others, constantly giving, never taking. What they have done is met the challenge, focused on what is within their control, influenced things where they can and continued to be amazing, loving, resilient human beings!

"You can't control the cards you're dealt, just how you play the hand" - Randy Pausch