I have just been revising my post about positive mental attitude healthunlocked.com/couchto5... and adding a fascinating tale which I thought might be worth posting for everyone else to read, without going back over my old post.
Here it is……..
Between 1952 and 1954 an Australian, John Landy, ran between 4 minutes 2 seconds and 4:03 no fewer than six times in his attempt to become the first runner ever to record a sub four minute mile. In December 1953 he only needed to run the final 220 yards in 30.6 seconds to break the four minute barrier, but he tied up in the home straight and finished in 4:02. He told reporters after that race, “I feel I could go on for ten years, but I don’t think it is worth it. Frankly, I think the 4 minute mile is beyond my capabilities.”
In May, the following year Roger Bannister famously became the first man to break that barrier, running the mile in 3:59.4.
Forty six days later John Landy smashed the mile record with a time of 3:57.9……….four seconds faster than he had ever run the distance before………..this is the man who had spent two years trying to knock two seconds off his time.
Nothing had changed physically in Lander’s training or form and although his feat has been dissected time and again, the only conclusion is that a barrier in Landy’s mind had been removed, enabling him to achieve what he believed impossible just a few weeks earlier.
Those of us who have completed C25k know that most of us can achieve considerably more than we believe. We constantly tell the newer participants with doubts that they will get there and at some point it dawns on them that they truly can. A phrase that crops up on a daily basis is “I would never have believed…………”
We all need to believe in ourselves. We are amazing.
Keep running, keep smiling.
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly: Part Two (The Good)
Still going, and now just a little bit faster.
Week 1, Day 2 - Can you believe it?
20 minutes we will never regret
5K in 13m 17secs
