Still Running (weakly). Issue 49

PAST – inspiration – Monday 6th May saw the 70th anniversary of Roger Bannister running the first sub-four-minute mile. You can of course read all about the significance of this elsewhere online. Suffice to say, such was the fascination with the barrier at the time, that many people feared it was impossible, with some doctors predicting that trying to achieve it could result in death! It has been called the greatest athletic feat of the 20th century.

Bannister, and his two pacemakers, Chris Brasher and Chris Chataway, naturally trained progressively for the event – running regular sessions of 10 times 400 metres with two minutes’ rest, starting at 66 seconds and aiming to bring that down to under 60 (a level of fitness that their coach, Franz Stampfl, considered indicative of four-minute potential) – but the fascinating bit to me is that it didn’t quite go to plan.

By April, they could average 61 – and there they stuck. So Stampfl, fearing that they had gone stale, sought to freshen them up by sending them climbing in Scotland. Sure enough, on their return, they were able to average 58.9 seconds – and the record attempt was on!

PRESENT – perspiration – But how would one compare the speed and athleticism of Bannister with the sheer grit and determination of Steve Edwards, who, again on 6th May, completed his 1,000th marathon at a world record average time of 3:21:47!

Edwards, a 61-year-old retired IT worker, made me a cup of tea after the Royal Berkshire Marathon in 2011! Nice man!

What I hadn’t known until now is that he can trace a lot of his present success back to being bullied at school. He was born with a deformed left hand, making him the subject of taunts. But “growing up, I was always saying ‘I am capable, I can do this,’ and running gave me a new type of self-confidence that I didn’t have in my school years and I’m now very resilient and stubborn.”

How often do our so-called weaknesses or disabilities turn into, or give birth to, our superpowers?

FUTURE – suggestion – Bannister is held up as the epitome of natural talent, a man who survived the challenges of wartime rationing and the limitations on his training time, to achieve what he did.

Edwards, whose quest for his world record has lasted 43 years, displays qualities at the opposite end of the sporting spectrum.

Our path lies somewhere in the middle, doesn’t it? If we can seek out and develop whatever talent we may have, and, in so doing, utilise as much resilience and endurance as we can muster, then we too can achieve our potential, which, while probably falling short of the Guinness Book of World Records, should still give us maximum satisfaction.