Never give up! Get to the line...

Last night I got the fear. My first nightmare of this training for the 2011 London Marathon. I was running in a race and kept getting slowed down, diverted and never even finished! Maybe it was because I was ill last week and couldn't run, or that I didn't run over Christmas whilst my family were in town. I felt I was slipping behind where my fitness should be.

Today I had a really flat out day with work and had made my mind up to skip tonights training session at the track in Longford Park despite having less than 14 weeks to go to the big day.

With 5 minutes to make my mind up though, I grabbed my kit and Garmin watch and legged it to Trafford AC (my new local club in Manchester) just in time to join the training session. I won't blather about the details of distance or laps I did, but the coach kicked my arse so that I ran every inch and metre with everyone (however much I didn't want to). Each time I'd run round that track, pushing myself so I had to get back to the line. The thought of dropping out of course crossed my mind. But each time, you have to get back to the start and keep going. I ran even better than I thought. But crucially, in my mind, such sessions build your mental toughness, belief and resilience. You get back to the line, haven't given up and push on.

Last year I won my London clubs most improved athlete. It was a nice, flattering prize from my peers. But more important was the belief I built into my running through the track sessions I ran in the build up to the Marathon where I smashed my PB. I couldn't have achieved my improvement without building up the belief in those track sessions.

Never give up, or skip a rep (as long as you're not injured), get to the line and push on if you want to improve. I swear by it (And you'll build your self belief too!).