8 Marathons In 8 Weeks - Semveta Challenge

For the past 8 weeks I dedicated one day every week to completing a 26.1 mile run. We are all about challenges, pushing ourselves and stretching our limits beyond what we are used to. 

It all began when I saw a David Goggins video, he was running an ultra marathon and completed it with broken feet and kidney failure. He said he saw deep into what a human being was really capable of. I am a firm believer that most of one's physical ability is earned, and while you may never have the genetic make up to be a top sprinter, high jumper or otherwise, there is likely something you could excel at, or at least become so proficient in that your life is improved leaps and bounds.

Such a belief made me realise that the level of effort this man was putting in to bettering himself exceeded my own, despite me being capable of it, also being ready for such an effort to legitimately improve my life. So I thought that I should run a marathon a week for 8 weeks. I could probably do it, it would probably be good for me, and that had to be it. Before this I had run one marathon in my life.

I am not claiming that this challenge is in the same realm as what many diligent self-improvers would undertake, but it was beyond anything I was used to at the time. My initial marathons took around 4 and a half to 5 hours, which was a large commitment every Thursday evening. I didn't enjoy the running in the least. These evenings were a mixture between zoning out and breaking down my run into ever more manageable mental segments, telling myself I only had so many more bite sized chunks left to complete. 

A few times I felt like quitting. Halfway through the first I almost called it quits. I would have done one half-marathon, a sizeable run that was more than what I would normally do. But this wasn't the challenge I had set myself, and shying away would do nothing but disappoint me. Perhaps that was the hardest part of the journey. At that moment I was already spent and had an easy way out, but dragging myself back to jogging pace for another two and a half hours dictated the next 8 weeks of my life.

One challenge in particular that I faced were my knees, which began to seriously suffer at around the half way point on every run, and the next few days after each marathon I resorted to hobbling around, desperately trying to recover in time for the next one. Sauna's likely helped a tonne with this. So that was a considerable portion of my life, recover, train, when Thursday comes hit the park for endless laps, a mix of focus, subtle anger and inspiration being the cocktail of emotion that would grant me the perseverance to continue. 

I'm glad I continued to finish it. It has made me stronger, I am able to be proud of myself for sticking it through, I am ready to expand my horizons and move onto more daring things.

Gradually that wall between the best out there and myself is coming down in my mind, I can see the bridge starting to form to the impossible heights, all that it takes is a willingness to go further than where you went before.

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.