I've found these quite useful when attempting other feats of endurance - climbing, long treks, panting ceilings etc.
You know the kind of thing...
"Nice and easy does it"
"Ever closer, ever nearer"
"Keep it together"
"No pain, no gain"
"Give up, go home"
etc
(mine normally in that order !)
Any better ones out there that may come in handy on the 13th ?
t.
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"Pain is temporary, pride is forever"
My mantra for 2000 up until then had been "I'm not going to be beaten by that Fat Git Doctor Fox", who I kept seeing just ahead of me. No offence to him really, it was just to help my mental state!! Respect to him for doing the marathon at all.
"Happiness starts when your dreams and achievements are in harmony"
(have a feeling he was more of a 10k person though...)
t
"I didn't spend all those mornings running 22 sodding miles in the freezing rain to give up now" i.e. all of that will be wasted if I don't finish.
I also find it helpful thinking about how it will feel when I finish. If you've never done it then it really is one of the most amazing feelings imaginable.
I also thought of other people who've run it - take a look at any coverage and you'll see the 88 year olds doing it. I actually saw one of them at about mile 13 when I was coming back from docklands, and it really spurred me on!
Also think people like Lloyd Scott (bloke in diving suit), Jane Tomlinson (terminal cancer, did the marathon in 2002, plus of course people like Chris Moon, who did it a few years back with an artificial leg. If they can do it, then surely you can't give up!
"its better to be a few minutes later
in this world than a few years earlier
in the next" your going to do it but
be careful..good luck!!!
Will have to think of a few more for the FLM though I think.
The womble one is fab.
First time I've laughed out loud today!
I do like the womble one, will try to remember that!
I try to break it down into ever smaller chunks - maybe first is two ten miles then a 10k, and so on. When it gets tough it can be to the next mile marker, or as Helen suggests, to the next lampost.
Plus of course think how lousy you'll feel if you do actually drop out, when you see people with finishers' medals. Every time you see someone wearing this year's T-shirt, you'll be reminded of the fact you didn't keep going through the (temporary) pain.
Having said that, don't be daft about it and really do yourself in by running with a bad injury!
"I will not be beaten by a womble, I will not be eaten by a womble..."
The only thing I've got against a twenty mile, then a 10k is that a twenty is quite scary on its own!!
Still, anything to keep the focus off the last 10k until you actually get there.
You won't feel so motivated if you crash and burn trying to keep up, because inside that silly costume is a hardcore club runner whose sponsorship is entirely dependent on doing sub-2:30 in costume
"are you a starter or a finisher?" (i.e. lots of people start things but how many finish them?) Thats got me through many a hard trek and long run! I've never attempted a full marathon before so I'm sure it will soon be put to a much harder test....
Bizarre but it works.....very very sad!
Did a 5k swim a few years ago, and, apart from the boredom, there was a point close to half way when I realised I had done so much work, and still had to do the same again, which was mentally draining. At that point I started counting strokes and thinking, another one gone, that's one I won't have to do again, until I could start counting down to the finish.
A pre-race mantra -"I must not forget my shoes!". I was so paranoid I stuck them in fron to fthe front door and had post-it notes up all over the place!
Funnily enough at the start last year, someone HAD forgotten their shoes and there was an announcement on the tannoy asking if anyone had a spare pair of (I think) size 11's with them.
Another thing I do is compare my position to one of my training runs - I find the distance always seems less on a familiar course, so by making the link between the two I can think of the next stage on a run I know well.
(...abbreviated version of Debs' !!)
..to remind me NOT to over-stride but "short-step shuffle" when knack'd on long runs.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Another home-grown effort I'm rather proud of goes...
"left, right
left, right
left, right
left, right
left, right
left, right
left, right
left, right
left, right
left, right
left, right
left, right"
etc
..one for the minimalists ?
t.
Iain ; "Don't forget the shoes" deserves a thread all to itself - superb !
Sore Blisters