| Time for a more reflective posting which is sort of running related. In a way. Kinda. But… a couple of minor running bits first since I’m here! Firstly, since the end of Juneathon (5 whole days ago!) I have been steadily getting used to running more than once a day. So far, I’ve mostly made time just for a couple of shorter runs but my best day so far was Friday when I squeezed in a breakfast, lunch and dinner 10k! This is to prepare me for the part I’ll play in the UKRunChat team at Adidas TR24… So far, so good! Excitingly, I have also finally got my T-shirt for pacing the Liverpool Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon! I was supposed to wear it on the day but it went postally absent. Totally the coolest shirt I’ve ever got for running though, I love it to bits! Huge thanks to the Rock ‘n’ Roll team and CEP sports for that little treasure! And no, I can’t take good photos of my own back. Anyway, yes, the meat of the matter… Are you a drop in the ocean? |  Best Running Shirt EVER! |
 | On Monday this week, I went to a talk in which the speaker discussed our perceptions of how much impact we have on the world around us, questioning if we could really be making a difference through our small sphere of influence in such a troubled world, and if it was an effective use of energy for us to even continue trying. He discussed this from many angles but the part that particularly caught my attention was his ponderings on how we have a tendency to both over and underestimate our influence in different situations. He reflected on his experience doing charitable work, summarising that for various reasons he’d probably had less impact on campaigns than he hoped or assumed, but then also gave examples of when it had become clear to him that he had exerted a positive influence on a person or a situation, whilst being at the time completely unaware of this. I immediately agreed with these sentiments, initially considering my ‘right on’ teenage years of activism in the form of tree climbing, leafleting and banner waving, which I now see probably achieved the sum total of zero political change. |
I also thought fondly of my recently deceased friend in memory of whom I ran the London Marathon this year, who had so subtly and gently improved the quality of my life in so many ways that I probably never verbalised to him and who to this day continues to indirectly have a positive influence on the world he left behind, having inspired me to fund raise getting on for £650 that will improve the environment at the London Wetlands centre. His tiny little actions, his kindness, openness and support may not have obviously amounted to much on a day by day basis but in accumulation had and continues to have a huge effect on me and many of his other friends.
It was then, with this in mind that I reflected a little more on my recent ‘exposure’ in the Runner’s World article that I requested on weight gain (or at least maintenance of healthy weight). Though I felt very vulnerable when I first read the article, not expecting to be named in it as the reason for its publication, or to have personal information shared so publically, I eventually realised that if it helped any other runners it was worth my discomfort.
It was then, with this in mind that I reflected a little more on my recent ‘exposure’ in the Runner’s World article that I requested on weight gain (or at least maintenance of healthy weight). Though I felt very vulnerable when I first read the article, not expecting to be named in it as the reason for its publication, or to have personal information shared so publically, I eventually realised that if it helped any other runners it was worth my discomfort.
| This more balanced attitude was vindicated in the latest issue. The star letter is from a lady who says she almost didn’t read the article following a battle with her feelings around eating, but that having done so she is motivated to regain a healthy weight and become a stronger, happier runner. When I first wrote that slightly cynical, largely pissed off letter at the beginning of the year, fuelled by my own exasperation at the constant barrage of ‘Lose Weight Now!’ articles I didn’t really expect it would be printed. I certainly didn’t expect I’d actually get the requested article and it never in a million years occurred to me that it might end up helping others. |  The letter that started it all... |
What does that have to do with running? Well, it’s indirectly related of course, but in many ways not much. But what it does do is demonstrate that yes, we do make a difference. Be nice to people. It adds up. If my mate hadn’t been a genuinely lovely bloke, the London Wetlands Centre wouldn’t have their new bird hide (or whatever they’re doing with it!). Be nice to people and speak your mind. If I’d not raised my digital voice and risked making myself a bit open then that lady, whom I will never probably meet, might not have got herself on the road to recovery quite so fast. We all have a responsibility to the world around us, we all have the ability to make it a better place. Smile at the guy on the bus, hold the door for the lady coming up the stairs, donate your £3 to the friend doing their first 10k because no single snowflake blames itself for the avalanche and I may only be a drop in the ocean but I’m damn well gonna make the biggest wave I know how.
