Still Running (weakly). Issue 102

PAST – inspiration –“Today we got up at 4am.  As usual, it was tough.  If I died, I would die happy because I was doing what I wanted to do.  How many people could say that?  I went out and did fifteen push-ups in the road and took off.  I want to set an example that will never be forgotten.”

You may not have heard of Terry Fox (born 1958), who, having had one leg amputated due to cancer in 1977, in 1980 started his Marathon of Hope, running across Canada to raise money and awareness for cancer research.  YouTube footage shows his incredibly brave hop-cum-run.

After 143 days and 3,339 miles, with the cancer spreading to his lungs, Fox was forced to end his run.  He had raised $1.7 million up to that point.  A week later, a nationwide telethon raised a further $10.5 million. 

Terry Fox’s condition deteriorated further, and he died on 28th June 1981, aged 22.  Such was his fame by this time, that government flags were lowered to half-mast and his funeral was broadcast live on television.  He remains the youngest recipient of the Companion of the Order of Canada.  The annual Terry Fox Run is now staged in over 60 countries and has raised over C$900 million to date. 

EVER-PRESENT – perspiration – Do you know why the steeplechase is so named?  I did not know until recently.  The current athletics event over 3000 metres with 28 fixed hurdles and 7 water jumps has its origins in 18th-century Ireland, where horse races were run across country, negotiating the natural obstacles such as fences and rivers.

The riders would navigate from town to town by sighting the highest point of their target – the church steeple – hence “steeplechase.”  And the term was adopted by the running event.

The early Olympic Games featured steeplechases over 2500, 3200, 4000 and even 2590 metres!  It was standardised to 3000 metres in 1920, except in 1932 when lackadaisical lap-scoring meant everyone ran an extra 460 metres! 

Interestingly, Britons dominated these early events, before Finns, Swedes and more recently Kenyans came to the fore.  Women were only allowed to run the event at the Olympics in 2008!   

FUTURE – suggestion – In my humble opinion, what defines us is not the stuff we must do, but the stuff we don’t have to do – the good deeds that do not feature on our original to-do lists, the kindnesses that are not demanded – the cars that we do not have to let out of side-roads, the thankyous that we do not have to say – and especially the achievements that we fear may be beyond our reach.

That is why the concept of, “they were told they couldn’t do it, that it wouldn’t work, that it was impossible, that they would die, BUT THEY WENT AND DID IT ANYWAY,” is so powerful, persuasive and poignant.

As Robert Browning wrote, “Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp,/ Or what's a heaven for?” 

In 1973, Dave Bedford, who set a world 10,000 metres record that year, said: “You don’t start doing things because they are easier.  The reason why you aim at things is because they are hard.  If you have failed climbing Mount Everest and climb the Eiger instead, that does not mean you’ve achieved anything fantastic, because the thing you should be trying to achieve, you could not do.”

This year, I am trying to run a 5km in less than 30 minutes – something which many of you could no doubt accomplish in your sleep, but which for me is on the far-out fringes of feasibility.  I have not managed it since 2019, and, given the medical challenges of the last few years, it is still far down the comeback road.

And so I ask you, what achievement could you reach for, that at present exceeds your grasp?