#167 London Marathon special episode.

___

Episode Transcript

___

0:08  
Welcome to Episode 167, of personal development mastery podcast. This is a special London Marathon episode. That's right, I ran the London Marathon last Sunday, the 3rd of October 2021. And in this episode, I will share with you my reflections, what I've learned, how I felt, how I feel now, and some interesting observations and thoughts. And the first thing that I would like to share is, first of all my my reasons why I decided to run the London Marathon. And for me, there were two main reasons. First of all, it was a great challenge, I had only run half marathons before so going for the full length is very challenging. And, you know, the fulfilment and the true inner joy come from those moments when we achieve something that we thought that we couldn't before when we go out, and we expand our comfort zone, if you wish. And for me, self growth and personal development mastery are my highest values. So such a feat certainly fulfils my value for growth and continues the journey towards self mastery. The other main reason why I decided to run the marathon was because I believe it's very inspiring, the marathon as an event, it's very inspiring to others. And I have said this a few times that initially, when I started my personal development journey, I thought that personal development was for me, like the word said personal. And there was at some point that I realised that it's not about me, because as I grow and develop, the more I can help and impact and contribute with my own ripple effect, and the ripple effect of the people that will be influenced or inspired by that. So this was the second reason why I did the Marathon, that sense that I would love to inspire others to realise that, that there is a hero inside of us, each of us, that awaits to be awakened. And once you take the decision and take the action, the hero awakens.

2:58  
So before I come to the actual race itself, I will give a little background. I have been running for four years now, and the longest distance I've ever done was half marathon. When I got the news last February that I want the ballot for the London Marathon, I thought, okay, that's great. That's interesting. There was a part of me that was not sure if they went would even take place, because of the restrictions of the time and the lock downs and so on. Around June time, I realised that this was the time to start training either way, regardless of what would happen. And I followed a 16 week training schedule. I actually committed - and there is that phrase that says commitment is an act and not a word, so I committed and I took action and I had the discipline to run three times a week for 16 weeks, following the schedule. And I was disciplined to do that. Despite whether I was not feeling like going for a run or whether it was raining or not, or that voice in my head telling me you can run tomorrow instead, you have better things to do with your time, these kinds of things. I was disciplined, I will say 95% disciplined on running three times a week. I was committed and I think that was extremely important as an element of preparation.

4:45  
Then the day before the Marathon I went to London, and in order to get registered and get my bib, I went to ExCeL centre in London, and that place brings back fond memories to me, because it was the place where I visited twice the Tony Robbins event, once as a participant when I had my big lightbulb moment, and once as a crew member, when I even enhanced that experience. So it was a great, familiar place to start my Marathon journey, been there and reminiscing those energies of that amazing environment.

5:38  
So one of the overall themes of what happened with the race, and with this reflection I'm sharing today, was the intense emotional roller coaster that happened over the last few days, and especially on the day of the race. The morning of the race, I woke up around 4am and stayed in bed until five, I couldn't sleep, I had that feeling of, and this is actually an important distinction that I want to share, which I have realised that this feeling that I had that woke me up and kept me up at night, in terms of physical sensation, it was maybe some tightness in my stomach, or some dryness on my throat, or some agitation or fidgeting. This is the actual physical description, the physical sensations in my body. However, the way I describe the sensations makes very much of a difference. And that's something that I have realised, I've learned that I can either call it nervousness, or I can call it excitement. So that morning, I woke up very excited, very excited.

7:12  
We took the train to Greenwich, and arriving at the starting point was that incredible feeling of so many people all together, very vivid, very colourful, very alive, very connected, with big smiles on their face, nervousness as well mixed with excitement. And I will add here, without having fear of a virus. And then on the starting point, there was lots of energy and too much commotion, and people coming and going, and I was trying to concentrate. And then when my start wave was going, it took me a few minutes of running to actually process what was happening. I was also warming up, but also the sensation.

8:07  
And it was after maybe one or two kilometres that we started seeing the people there, the supporters around, and the more I was running, they were more in crowds, there was music, it felt like a huge party. It was colourful, there was this amazing enthusiasm in the air and energy. And for me, it was great to see the supporters, the people watching the event, both to encourage the runners and also to be inspired by the runners. And a marathon is an event that only a minority of people participate and do something like that, so in its own accord it is inspiring. So the encouragement from the people cheering us, I believe it was one of the biggest factors in keeping me going. The training I had done allowed me to know that I could comfortably go until about 30k. But then there would be another 12k to finish which was for me uncharted territory.

9:24  
There were quite a few times during the run when I was having tears of gratitude for being able to experience this. There is that phrase that they say the runner's high and I was experiencing the runner's high; I was during the majority of the race, I was running with a smile on my face and cheering back at people who were cheering and enjoying and having fun. And there were other times, as I said that I would have tears of joy and gratitude for being able to experience this, and I mentioned that roller coaster of emotions. And that was happening even from the beginning, or even before the beginning of the race. There were there were so many emotional moments, I remember at some point in front of me, there was an elderly couple, they were in the 70 to 75 year old category, and they were running together.

10:30  
Running in in central London is beautiful on its own. And I remember in particular, the sensation running on Tower Bridge, which was one of the most popular parts of the course and most crowded. And that was the 20k mark. And then I kept going, and I realised that the longest route that I have ever done was 30k. But I knew, I had this feeling, I could understand my body that I "had it", that it was possible for me to happen. And I actually went around 35k, without stopping running, I kept on running. Then the last parts, there were some very interesting things that happened. From around 35k, and onwards maybe for another three or 4k, I would feel so tired that I needed to stop running and walk for short periods of time, maybe 30 seconds, certainly under a minute, because otherwise it would be very difficult to pick the momentum again.

11:47  
And then the strangest things happened. All along the day, during the day, there was a beautiful weather with sunny spells, incredible weather for running. Around the 37k mark, all of a sudden, a heavy rain came which lasted about 10 minutes, but it was enough to make everyone very wet. For me it had a very strange effect, because when it stopped, that left me with the last around 3k that were left for me to run. And then I had the most unique feeling that I have to say I was completely unprepared for!

12:39  
Suddenly, my legs just started moving ahead, there was no aching anymore. There was no tiredness anymore. Like I had become the running - it was such a unique sensation. Because I started asking myself what is happening? Why am I not feeling the tiredness anymore? What's going on? And my mind could not give me any answers. I was in the zone and it was an incredible feeling, completely focused, there was no no fear, like a connection between my body and my mind.

13:22  
There is something that Kristin Armstrong, the Olympic gold medalist said, that there is something magical about running, because after a certain distance it transcends the body. Then a bit further, it transcends the mind, and a bit further yet and what you have before you, laid bare, is the soul. And that flow state that I went in those last three kilometres of the race was for me exactly this. My body was transcended, I couldn't feel the ache anymore. The mind was transcended, because I didn't have this negative inner dialogue, the inner dialogue had subsided. It was one of the most incredible feelings and most unique experiences.

14:22  
And during a reflection like this, there is a great reflective question to ask, which is why was the experience meaningful for me. And there are two reasons that come to mind immediately. The first one is it was meaningful because there was this tremendous sense of achievement. The second reason was the roller coaster of emotional changes that happened before the race, during the race, and after the race. So, from the exhilaration and excitement, joy, and cheering and laughing with the crowd, to the tears of gratitude. And when I crossed the finish line finally, my first emotional reaction was to shout, yes, I've done it! And just one minute afterwards, when I got handed the foil blanket and I started getting warm, and I realised what I had achieved, then I burst into tears. The emotions, that's what I mean, there was such an alternation of emotions, waves up and down. And it was incredible to experience.

15:55  
It was great fun. There was tremendous energy from the runners and from the people, there was a festive feeling, colorful, a huge party of people, and I am really grateful to have seen that connectedness, that's how I felt, there was this running together, connectedness, hope and inspiration for humanity, for a humanity that is united, and runs forward all together in the same direction, celebrating each other, cheering each other.

16:42  
And before I wrap up and conclude this short reflection, there is something I have to make a special mention, because it was the first time that I did it as a practice before the race. And that was an mental rehearsal or visualisation. So, I saw myself running the course, and feeling the feelings and crossing the finish line over and over again and feeling it. Tony Robbins calls it creating results in advance of reality. And I utilised this mental rehearsal technique, and I'm certain it was one of the factors that allowed me to complete this race in under five hours, actually, my initial target that I had was four and a half hours. I ran it, I did it in 4 hours 59, so I was extremely happy with with myself for this time.

17:53  
So as a conclusion, I will share the three things that made a very big impression on me from the London Marathon, and I will remember them as long as I live. The first one was this unbelievable emotional roller coaster, which I've mentioned already a few times. The second was this hope, inspiration, humanity running together, being together, being connected, celebrating each other. And the third, that's actually personally the most impactful for me, was experiencing that flow state that I went into. I felt like I was meant to do this race, I was called to do this race, and my growth and progress allowed the expansion of the, the field if you wish, I was blessed to be able to do that. And I felt that the experience, the whole experience happened through me, allowing me to, to experience it. So I'm very grateful and it's going to remain vividly in my memory forever.

19:31  
I want to thank you very much for listening. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with someone you think might find it useful. And if you have two minutes for me, please go to Apple podcasts and leave me a five star review. I would very much appreciate it.

19:54  
Until next time, stand out don't fit in!