"Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it." Michael Jordan.
Twelve days ago I crashed paragliding - it was the first time I had tried this sport, which really pushed my comfort-boundaries. I tore a number of ligaments in my ankle (the details yet to be determined by MRI scan on Friday), which hugely disrupted my plans for the next thirteen weeks. I had plans – great plans, which are now all hanging in the balance, waiting to see if my ankle recovers, or if it needs surgery.
I have never managed to focus on my health and fitness for twenty weeks at a time, like for this challenge. I usually start with a hiss-and-a –roar. Big plans, huge expectations, limitless possibilities. Then I push too hard, run too long, lift too much and my body rejects the idea: I get injured, burnt-out, over-trained or just find that life doesn’t allow me to perform day-after-day like an ironman athlete, without the background of years of training like one.
So I’d throw in the towel, make excuses “I’m too old/young/fat/lazy/busy…..”…… the list continues. I’d give it all up, say “exercise is not for me”, and sit on the couch and get depressed and overweight. And then the cycle of weight-gain, self-hate, comfort-eating, weight-gain, self-hate would start again.
NOT THIS TIME!!!!!
This time: I have been injured. I can’t run, the exercise that I find is the best way for me to control my weight. I can’t climb mountains, as I had planned on doing in my ’20 peaks in 20 weeks” challenge. But I can do a WHOLE LOT of other things. I haven’t had a leg amputated. My marvellous support crew of my fiancé Aaron and personal trainer Amanda Armitage are still here and cheering me on. I can swim, bike, lift weights, and do so many activities that have previously been discarded from my thinking because I was too busy planning my “Everest” trip.
I forgot to appreciate the smaller achievements – including swimming a PB of 110 lengths (2.75km) in one go, or doing 20 press-ups when I previously could only do three. I ran for FIVE MINUTES on the treadmill last week, and it’s the biggest achievement for me for this competition yet, after concerns that I would never run again.
My recommendations to everyone in this competition are THINK BIG (I still plan to climb Mount Aspiring - but maybe next year, and would love to do a half-ironman), BUT…. appreciate all the small achievements along this journey. Obstacles to your goals don’t have to stop you. They re-route your path but really make you think about your priorities in life, make you appreciate the support people that are standing behind you, and the small goals you achieve along the way.
What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger…..
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