Overcome by the frustration of a job hunt on the internet, I started clicking on any link that says, no experience required, opportunities for amateurs, your background does not matter and happen to find myself deep in the web of the internet (My wealth of experience in technical and non-technical fields had to be humbled). Somehow I was reading about the Berlin Marathon. Initiated in 1974, the race normally happens in the last weekend of September, enrolling both professional and amateur runners in the city –wide road race.
Since
its inception 41 years ago, the Berlin Marathon world record has been broken only
seven times, the first record being broken 25 years after it was initiated. If
the Berlin Marathon is anything to go by, this may be an indication of how
challenging it is not just to be a champion, but a world record champion.
A
lot of patience, perseverance, and hard work are required to attain that
status. And for the case of Dennis Kimetto, who until four years ago was a full
time farmer, a lot of skills must have been acquired and applied really fast. In
one of the interviews, the new world record holder says he was declared fit
only two weeks to the event, following an injury he was sustaining from his
training sessions. And my highlight of the interview was when he said he did
not go to the race with any plan of breaking the world record but just to race
and run his personal best (Yes, I had to
look for his interview. I tend to enjoy the Kale athletes’ interviews more than
the race).
For
most subsistence rural farmers, their main aim wouldn’t be competing on whose
farm yields more produce than the other, but doing a little more extra to
ensure that they surpass their previous season’s produce. Simply, this is what
I call breaking your own record and it makes your whole body smile.
Do
not get stuck in the good old days and lose sight of the better new ones.
Stretch yourself, never get contented with past success when there is room for
improvement. How many times in your conversations do you tell people what you
used to do or who you used to be? Both individuals and organizations speak this
language, not realizing they are limiting their way of what and who they need
to be.
Life
is a marathon race. It is not for the swift, but for those who endures its
tests. Like a marathon, life signs up everyone, the skilled and the not-skilled
as its participants. Through a funnel like course, we are meant to race with
only a few expected to cross the finish line. Similarly, life gives you a
chance to improve on your performance, to break your own record because life is
full of abundance and all you need is to believe you can better your best.
Never
give up.
©Olegamba 2014.
No comments:
Post a Comment