How To Survive A Lockdown Run (And Life) Like A Pro
Doing a half marathon in my garage is not my idea of fun, nor would I have even contemplated a couple of weeks backthat I would even think of doing something so daft to be honest! But here we are – week 3 of Lockdown in South Africaand being “locked – in” makes one do all kind of cray. That includes you “Karen”!
Disclaimer: I have run all world Marathon Majors, done a 3-day stage trail event (pebbles really are not my friend) andhave completed a few Ultra Marathons. Running is not new to me but introduce a couple of squares in a garage and wellit’s a whole other ball game.
If you have ever run on a treadmill I know you feel me and if not, imagine running in peanut butter – there - you get mypoint! No matter how many kilometers one has done, a treadmill has never let the miles pass easy…. ever! Flashback to abusiness trip in Hong Kong a couple of years ago where I was on a strict training program for an Ultra Marathon andWednesday was suppose to be my “mid-week" long run of 25km (Thanks Dad). The weather was terrible that Wednesdayso I headed up to the hotel gym and started my session. After trying every trick in the trade, you know the ones, whereyou cover the time clock up on that machine with your towel so that one minute does not seem like a lifetime of runningon the spot, hell whatever it will take to get your mind off the task at hand and then …wait for it….a whopping tenminutes in …I bailed! I’m not a quitter but I am not stupid either and well yes, we will just park the rest of the story here.
Fast forward to April 2020 and I had signed myself up for a virtual half marathon and dragged my other half into it too.He thought he would be manning my drinks station and cheering from the sidelines with his beer in one hand and his whiskey in the other but I had other plans for him and well a woman in lockdown is a woman who is not to be messed with. This is the part where you probably think I am all mean and nasty but I promise you he was actually pretty gamewhen I sold it to him as a mental challenge more than a physical one because we knew the legs will handle the distance,it’s the mind that plays tricks on you and being the challenge hunter I am, I wanted to knock this run on its head orperhaps (facepalm) redeem my poor Hong Kong treadmill attempt.
“Race Day” arrived and we headed down to our tiny garage all kitted out to do circle loops for the next few hours. Mylegs got tired (it’s all the turns, not the age – I promise) I can't speak for my racing snake partner but I had flirted with thedark side a couple of times – but 2 hours and 5 min later – we were done! Mission Accomplished. When we got back toour apartment (a whole 10 meters or so from the garage) and were glowing in our achievement, it got me thinking of somany other challenges (big or small) that have required me to push through to get to the other side. I think “challenges”and “goals” all require some basic element inside of us that will make sure whether we either get to that other side or not.Maybe they are obvious to you or maybe not but I wanted to share my take away from “doing doughnuts” in the garageand coming out of a challenge that to be quite frank I hope I don’t have to repeat any time soon ... BUT I know that I canif it is required of me.(come government and COVID 19 ….play nice now)
1. Show Up – No matter what life throws at you or you even if you sign up for a self-inflicted lockdown run, you justhave to show up. Face the beast in the face. I can promise you it is the hardest step to take but the game is half won whenyou rock up no matter what the final result will be. It tells your mind you are committed; you are in the game and you areready to do what needs to be done.
2. Break it Down – Sometimes life is shitty and when it is, it’s always so hard to focus on the bigger picture. We alwaysget swamped down with the negative detail and lose sight of the “this too shall pass”. The only way I knew I was going toget through my run was to break it down into 5km segments with the last one being 6.1km. It gave me something to lookforward to (drink break, breather or an opportunity to check I still had my knees) and it made the task at hand not seem sodaunting. In Africa they say, how do you eat an elephant, and the answer my peeps – is one bite at a time.
3. Forward is Forward – Every step counts on your journey to hitting that goal or challenge in the face. Speed does notmatter, trust me, in a garage it was just not possible even if I wanted to go faster. But each step counted and it finally gotme to my end goal. Be kind to yourself with whatever you are faced with and just take one step at a time, one minute at atime and one day at a time and I promise you, you will reach your destination.
4. Uncomfortable equals Growth – This I learned from a mentor of mine, Tony Robbins and repeated it to myself onnearly every loop I did. It’s in the tough moments that we grow : spiritually, financially, emotionally or physically. Beinguncomfortable requires a different level of us that sometimes we are not aware exists and we can use these moments orevents and experiences to either grow or suffer. So on that note - suffering I was on my run (honesty alert) but I knew Iwill come out the other end of it stronger and more confident in my ability and perhaps less stupid to sign up for the nextone!
5. What’s your Why? – If you ever want to accomplish something you need to know why you are doing it. Sounds pretty obvious right, wrong? It took me a while to figure this out and now I swear by it before I do anything or even makecertain life decisions. While clocking 21.1km in a garage puts my challenge to bed, I needed something more. Myrunning sidekick and I committed to run for a charity and help give back. Raising some funds for the COVID 19 ReliefTeam was our way of making sense of some of this madness and contributing in our own small way. I tell you this not toget a tap on the back (as there are some amazing, insane overachievers doing Ultra’s in the garage, balcony etc andraising some insane money too) but to show you when your why is bigger than you – you push forward – sometimes a lotharder than you would if you were just banking on yourself.
6. Confidence – This sounds crazy right – but have you ever committed to doing something and when it's accomplishedyou feel like you can take anything on. Yup, that’s what happens folks. When you push through the toughest times or hityour goals irrespective of the challenges that were in your way, you come out the other side confident like ConorMcGregor apologizing to absolutely no one for being the first ever UFC fighter to hold two world titles in two differentweight divisions. There is some level of self-assurance that you followed through, you committed to you and there issome beauty in that. It makes the next challenge or goal that much more easier to take on!
In closing, you don’t have to run a Half Marathon in your garage or even on the road, but you do have to push throughwhen life throws lemons and you can’t bring out the tequila because your bottle store is closed (thanks Lockdown andNational Government).
So here is to navigating your way through your challenges or your goals during this unprecedented trying time the bestway you know how and to remind yourself that you will never let anything make you play small, because why - becauseyou are way too big for that!
Go Team!
