Life of the Cliff Edge - Part 2 A Thank You

I wonder almost every minute of every day how this ridiculous journey is possible.

The answer is clear. I am surrounded a great 'cloud of witnesses': so many people who are cheering me on to victory. I'm afraid I often whinge No!, Leave me behind! Let me stop!!! For you runners out there, it's that bit where you ask yourself 'why am I putting myself through this?' 

You people are the ones carrying me, pushing and shoving me, dragging me along, cheering and encouraging and believing in me. When I would prefer to hide under a duvet and make life go away, there are all these crazy fools who keep yelling at me to keep putting one foot in front of the other. :-)

Thank you, you crazy fun inspiring helpful lot x

To win the prize
I raced a 5k with a beautiful young lady the other day – it was her very first race, and she hadn't ever run that far before. But watching her made me think about the process we all go through to win that b***** medal, to gain that prize.

She was dead excited at the start, and very nervous. Lovely evening, gorgeous setting, plenty of supporters at the start line. You know what it’s like though – once you’re past the start line, all of sudden there are fewer spectators and very quickly it can all seem like a bit too much effort. I think her words at 1000m were ‘this was a really bad idea’. Totally know how she feels.

Then came the hills. Lots of them. Unexpected. And every time I told her I thought this must be the last one (surely!!!) there was another, even higher! She struggled, of course, we all did.

The best bit though was when we came out through a gap in the woods and saw the crowd again, and in their midst, the finish line. She totally went for it. I screamed at the top of my lungs “Go go go!, dig in, don’t stop till you’re past the line.!”, and she went went went, she dug in, and she smashed it over that line. Smiles. So proud to win that medal. 

Well it’s the same for me. Every time I want to give up Running from Suicide (or however I end up phrasing that), there are so so many who cheer me on. In fact I’d go so far as to say that I’m putting in very little effort myself, you are the ones carrying me through this particular race. I know this is true. I’m being carried along.

Please watch this 18 second video. It’s James Boardman and Jemima Hilton-Berry of BSF at the Bexhill 5k race last Wednesday evening carrying Katy through her race. I don’t know Katy, but I think she has MS? (someone correct me if I’m wrong), but she’s carried and cheered on by a great 'cloud of witnesses'. There's no better picture of the way things are. 

(copy and paste this link if the vid doesn't work)
https://www.facebook.com/RmptBodyshockFit/videos/853915051402416/

Straggler….

“Greatly encourage the stragglers, and reach out for the exhausted, pulling them to their feet. Be patient with each person, attentive to individual needs” from the Bible.

Sounds like an extract from a running group leader's manual to me :-)

Come and run with me, it might just change your life.