Written a few days after pacing Marina Striker for 100km through the night on her incredible Fatdog120 (200km) journey:
Sometimes it’s difficult to stay motivated.
You work really hard, over a long period of time, towards lofty goals. You love what you’re doing, because you know it’s making you a stronger, better person. You’re seeing progress towards those goals, and you’re filled with passion, joy and optimism; great things await!
But then something happens. Life kicks you in the balls, and it’s your own damn fault; you should’ve seen it coming. And everything changes. The passion and joy are gone. Those goals seem ridiculous and a waste of time. But you’ve put so much time into their pursuit, and to stop is to lose everything; all that hard work over years. So you keep pushing forward, but it sucks. It’s just like throwing good money after bad.
But then something else happens. You get to be a part of something special, and see another ‘normal person’ do something completely incredible and nearly unbelievable, with the main tools in her toolkit being simply that same passion and drive that you once had, not so long ago. You see the look on her face as she crosses the finish line after years of training which led to 36 hours of running through remote mountains, and you suddenly find what you’d lost. It all comes flooding back with those finish line tears.
Thank you Marina. Thank you so much.