ATHLETIC LIFE

I was discussing with someone concerning human relationship and through the discussion, I realised that some journeys in life are meant to be travelled alone, while some are meant to go in packs. I do not intend to breed confusion via this piece, so follow closely, you will get the gist aight?

I’m sure it’s not your first time of hearing that “Life is a race”. Well, that is definitely true but majority of us just take quotes and nuggets without thinking deep and finding the outright mindsets behind them. Yeah, life is a race, so I have to keep running and make sure I win, but really, is it possible for everyone to win a race?

If life is a race, then definitely just one person has to be a winner. Apparently, there could be a tie, but everyone can’t definitely win the race. That doesn’t make those who fall into other positions asides the first losers, does it? So, what exactly is this race being talked about?
Let’s pick it up from the athletics phase. Whenever you hear there’s going to be a race, what comes to mind is “Which race is it? 100m, 200m, 400m, relay, marathon, hurdles? which one in particular? and you must note that not everyone fits into all these races. I can categorically say that if Usain Bolt runs a marathon race today, he’s surely going to forfeit his best runner title. Of course, it’s not because he’s a bad or lazy athlete. Nah, he’s damn good, it’s only because he is running the wrong race.

I talked about some journeys being undergone in packs earlier, let’s take marathon race for example. Note that marathon races do not start with tracks. In the start of the race, the runners are always kind of muddled together with no space and they start the race in a semi-slow pace (not too fast, not too slow) and then, they later increase the pace, and after some laps, they start running slowly. By the way, at this point, they are no longer as together as they were when they started, there’s a space now and they go on this way till they finish with a much faster pace towards the finishing line.

There’s a psychological implication to this I must say, marathons are always very very long distanced. Going that long distance alone on your own lane will result to you getting bored on the way and losing hope. As a marathon runner, as an individual with a lifetime dream and goal, you need to know that you cannot go alone on this success journey. That’s why you see some people making it better when they have partners than when they want to do things alone in their own way.

You are going to start with a lot of people but that doesn’t mean you will finish with all of them. It’s a journey (very long one at that- marathon) some will fall in the middle of the road, some will lag behind and want to slow you down, a marathon race could have 5 team mates running together, that doesn’t mean you should allow your team member to slow you down cos you want to be a team player, your team member could get tired on the way, don’t let that stop you, keep pressing on, this is not a relay race where you have to wait on your team mate to pass you the baton before you take off, this is marathon, so if a friend lets you go on the move, don’t panic, keep running your own race, slow and steady wins marathon. You will get there.

Be nice to yourself and slow down at some point, gather your strength. Don’t because there are people before and behind you keep running fast when you actually need to take it slow. You can never escape having people around you, they will always be there but be bold enough to know when to slow down in your race, take a chill pill, take advantage of the benefits around you. There would always be people to cheer marathon runners on, people to give them water and clean up their sweats and all, these are the advantages you need to take. Slow down and take some encouragements around you. You need it, else you fall on the way and you will eventually not finish the race but at the same time, don’t get too relaxed because of the cheering you are getting, there’s still a race to run.

Marathon runners will always need company no matter how capable they are, they will always need to be patient and persistent, fix your inner gaze on the finish line, no matter how long it seems to attain that set goal of yours, keep your gaze and focus on the finish line and keep running, you will get there. Most of all, do not despise the company you have, they are the forces meant to pull you up. Appreciate what and who you’ve got today.

Watch out for the next piece on other kinds of races. God bless you