Resilience When It Would Be Easy To Quit

Photo by Barry Cornelius

Two months ago, I was targeting running sub 24 minutes at parkrun and, today, I was massively pleased with a time of 39 minutes 43 seconds…which I achieved on crutches.

So how did that happen?

Watching Rafa Nadal coming back from 2 sets down, after 5 months out with injury, to win his 21st Grand Slam at the Australian Open served as a timely reminder that even a little resilience can go a long way!

On that particular day, I really needed to remember that.

I was feeling pretty fed up with yet another knee injury that had already taken me out of action for 5 weeks and that was not improving as quickly as I might like.

Fast forward a week and I have my MRI scan results. They’re not pretty. I’m not going to be

competing at anything for a while. Resilience is needed!

What does resilience mean to me?

I think the most important thing for me is focusing on what I can do rather than what I can’t do. I also need to know what my goals are, so there is a purpose to what I’m doing. The interesting bit is then working out how I’m going to achieve my goals.

So what motivates me to get and to stay fit – what are my goals?

Firstly, I like the feeling of being fit. I like feeling my heart beat, I like filling my lungs with air,

knowing they’re going to get me up the next hill, or through the next rally. I like knowing that I can go to the tip with a builders’ bag and not be reliant on help getting it out of the car.

Secondly, I find exercise allows me to take some time out from whatever else might be going on at the time. If I’ve had a bad day it gives me something else to focus on and I always end up feeling better after I’ve done it, regardless of how I felt beforehand.

Thirdly, I do get a real buzz from competing. Sometimes, in a badminton or tennis match for

example, I might be competing against others as part of a team but, when running, I’m just

competing by myself and against myself, doing the best that I can do on that day and trying to do better than I did last week, last month, last year or even last decade!

Reconciling my goals with my current abilities

Worcester Pitchcroft parkrun…on crutches

It wouldn’t be everybody’s first choice of activity but I absolutely loved it. I got my heart rate

elevated (average 141 bpm), got out of breath, forgot my frustration at being injured and worked really hard to be the best I could be. I couldn’t see my watch whilst using the crutches so I just focussed on trying to maintain a steady rhythm and on keeping up with the lady in front of me. We had a chat at the end and it turns out she knew I was behind her so that spurred her on to maintain her pace. It felt really good to know that we’d helped each other get round and the support from the parkrun volunteers was awesome.

And that’s the good thing about being active with others, whether that be at parkrun, or at an exercise class. There is definitely something heart-warming about the support, motivation and encouragement you get from others who recognise your achievements. Sometimes, the achievement might be just about turning up and doing whatever you can on that particular day…you might not be the fastest or the strongest or the most co-ordinated, but you were there and you never know who you might inspire along the way.