Inspiration

Embrace your glory wall (A Medal Displays giveaway!)

OperationMove · March 16, 2017 · 25 Comments

I’m a big believer in glory walls. In fact I have TWO. One is my medal display, and the other is my bibs which are on a different wall. Although quick note: if you are doing this – do what I didn’t do and laminate them. When we moved, not all of them made it off the wall in one piece.

I’m such a believer in glory walls, that it’s one of our key challenges in the Learn to Run program. This is because it is easy for things not to feel important, or for them to lose their context, or for you to minimise their value if they aren’t on show. In the old house I had this rack in the kitchen, which is where I spend the most time so I when I am in the everyday routine of everything I’m being continually reminded of the things that I have done outside the ordinary. The brutally hard things, the epically out of reach things, the fun social things, the joyful things and everything in between.

On days when I’m feeling like I’m failing at most things, there is a tangible reminder of what I’m capable of. What you are capable of is about so much more than running.

See that shoelace that I used to hang it up? That’s the lace out of the shoes I wore at my ultra on the Gold Coast. And the medal rack was a gift to me from a certain special someone who is training for her second marathon. Surrounding yourself with things that have meaning, breathes life into your passion and will remind you of what’s important when you need to be reminded.

The medal rack is getting a little bit full now, which is a testament to my keenness for bling in general, as well as my running! And Medal Displays have asked me if I might need a second one now, which is pretty ace of them! They would also love to give one to a member of the Operation Move community too which is even more fantastic. They have a huge range so you can pick something that is meaningful to you.

To enter, it’s really simple!

Leave a comment with which medal display you would love and why (most creative answer as judged by our Operation Move coaches and mentors will be named the winner!)
We would also love it if you would head over to the Medal Displays facebook page, and like them over there so you get notified of some of the great promotions they have too.

Entries close on the 31st March and the winner will be notiifed by email.

What patriotism, Learn to Run and loving your body have in common

OperationMove · January 23, 2017 · Leave a Comment

I know. It seems out there. Stay with me.

This morning I was listening to the Tim Ferriss podcast. I’m way behind. Two years behind because I like to go back and listen from the beginning. Lots of interview style podcasts will have certain questions that they will ask everyone, and having that common thread makes it even more interesting to me. One of the questions is “what are you world class at?” which can be a kind of confronting question if you are used to being a humble or a modest person.

But I was thinking about that today on my run and the thing that I am world class at is improving systems. I know it sounds really boring. I spent five years working for a drug and alcohol rehabilitation charity and a huge part of my work was taking an organisation with no administrative systems to having policies and procedures and systems that worked like clockwork with no single point of fail, but more importantly systems for continually improving. When I was implementing all of those things I was not a very popular person, because I not only had to convince people to do it, I also had to convince them as to why it is important.

You only have to ask the coaches in Learn to Run and they will tell you how often I change things in the program. It’s in a constant state of imporvement. I add things, I take things away, I fine tune things. CONSTANTLY. Almost to the point where I can’t quite keep up with it. If you love something and you appreciate something, you love it enough and respect it enough to continually reinvest in it and make it better. Nothing is ever done. Nothing is ever complete. There is always room for more. There is always room for better.

Which is a bit like populist politics at the moment, don’t you think? People will try to convince you (especially coming up to Australia Day) that if you have any criticism about Australia, you should leave, or you aren’t patriotic. But I think it’s the oppostie of that. Patriotism is loving your country enough to recognise it’s great strengths, celebrate it’s great achievements and love it enough to make changes.

In January, I kind of think about loving your body in the same way. There’s a tension between people wanting to appreciate their body, but also wanting to change it. How can you love something, if you want to change it? But you can do both. And more than that, you can love your body for what it can do, even when you aren’t particularly keen on what it looks like. The hard part I guess is separating that out. There is no situation where you should withdraw that love and appreciation from your body. It doesn’t respond to shame and punishment as well as you’d think. But it doesn’t mean you can’t be dedicated to improvement either. There are things I’d like to change and that’s ok. Willingness to improve is willingness to invest even more in what my body can do.

So the next time you think about improving something, remember that’s a sign of love, not rejection.

Ever feel like time is getting away from you?

Zoey · August 11, 2016 · Leave a Comment

Did you look at your calendar this month and think what the hell happened?

The other day I noticed it was August. August. Which is practically Spring. Which means it’s a few months until the end of the year. I confess I panicked a little. Where did it go? There were so many things I was going to get to this year. And some I have, but a whole lot of others have fallen by the wayside of life.

It’s easy to feel frustrated when you think you are starting over. But you aren’t starting over, you are moving forward. Even so, when you feel that way, it’s easy to get overwhelmed and throw everything out the window. Convince yourself that you can’t do it and give up.

What’s that great thing I heard? Change the plan, not the goal.

Most of the time people give up when they are moments away from success. But why do they do it? Because they don’t know how close they are – if they knew they would stick it out. So maybe the goal isn’t out of reach, the timeline is just slightly unrealistic. Maybe you need to change tactics or take a slower approach.

Once you start thinking about it in terms of a lifetime, instead of a year things get easier and harder.

I was listening to a journalist being interviewed on a podcast the other day and he was talking about how he had this assignment to live his life for 6 months as if he was dying. He really invested in it. Towards the end he stopped taking photos, or talking to people because what was the point? He was going to die anyway. He noticed how easy it was to lose your humanity once you don’t have something to hope for. It was just a writing assignment, but the idea stayed with him. He stopped thinking about his accomplishments in days or years and started thinking about it in decades. He has estimated how long he is likely to live and has a count down clock at his desk. It is equally comforting and terrifying. Because he has time. But it’s not that much time. He has about 14,000 days. It’s a lot. But it’s not that much.

So if this year has gotten away from you a bit, don’t think about one year, or a few months – think bigger.

If you think about running as a lifetime sport, or 10,000 hours, it becomes a whole lot easier to appreciate just what you are capable of achieving. Imagine what your life could be like in one year or two years if all you have to do is keep going. Make a new plan, dream a new dream. But don’t give up. Chances are you are millimetres away from success.

Learn to Run starts Monday. Or you can check out our Training Programs which you can start at any time.

Lessons from Finishing Last

Zoey · August 1, 2016 · Leave a Comment

A while ago, I was at CrossFit Kids attempting to entertain my then five year old (Piper) while Riley (who was 8) did her class. Piper was almost at the stage where she could join in, but still lacked some of the focus required for a whole class. So I split my time in between keeping her out of trouble for 45 minutes and checking out what Riley was up to. Trust me, keeping Piper out of trouble for 45 entire minutes is challenge enough.

At a certain point as they were going through their workout (so many burpees!) I noticed that Riley was coming last. By the time her group had finished she still had a few rounds to work through. The best part about it was seeing her one-pointed determination. At no point did she pause, or hesitate or think about stopping until she was done.

But later on, she was upset by it. Coming last. Which is something I know a fair amount about. I came last at pretty much any sporting event in school. I’ve come last in races. And I’m always last at CrossFit. Always. I’ve had plenty of time to think about where that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach comes from. I don’t think it’s necessarily because you feel badly about yourself, or even that other people will think less of you. I think it’s that deep-rooted fear that you don’t really belong. That is probably the hardest feeling of all.

Finishing last tells you less than nothing. It’s easy to internalise being last as some kind of performance critique, but in reality it is meaningless. It is not a measure of effort, or progress or commitment.

It is confronting. At CrossFit, in particular – coming last will put you in the spotlight because people who have finished will cheer you on. Which is awesome. But it is also really confronting in the beginning. In the beginning you feel exposed and uncoordinated and sometimes you want to disappear into the floor. I don’t feel that way anymore, because I’ve been there long enough to receive that encouragement as it was intended, but it took time.

Belonging has nothing to do with where you finish. Communities are built on a shared passion, not a shared finish time. People bond over shared efforts, shared experiences, shared struggles and shared victories. You don’t need to run a sub-20 minute 5km to know the value of hard work or the joy of progress. And that elation you feel when you PB your 5km run and break the 40 minute barrier is exactly the same elation someone feels when they break the 20 minute barrier. The hard work to achieve it were the same, the challenges were the same and the sacrifices were the same.

Don’t let someone else’s opinion, dull your achievement. Sometimes people ask me what my marathon or half-marathon time is and sometimes they are impressed and sometimes they are deeply underwhelmed. But they weren’t there when I did something I thought I could never do. They weren’t there when I dragged myself out of my warm bed to run fifteen hill sprints. FIFTEEN. Their reaction to my achievement is nothing to do with me. My achievement is mine and how I feel about it is mine too.

Having the courage to start is more important than where you finish. It takes a whole lot of bravery to walk out that door and start running. Outside. Where people can see you. It’s a really big deal. Starting says something about you – how many minutes or hours doesn’t say much of anything at all.

The next morning I was driving Riley and Piper to school. I’d gone to CrossFit that morning for a 6am class.

“Hey Riley?”

“Yes?”

“Guess who came last at CrossFit this morning?

She cracked a huge smile.

“Me!”

Then she laughed, delighted.

Reading the map inspiration gives you

Zoey · July 22, 2016 · Leave a Comment

Nature - Mount Cook (1)

In 2004, I visited New Zealand. We spent a bit of time in the North Island, but most of our time in the South Island which I loved. It was probably my first experience of DOMS (delayed onset of muscle soreness) because we did so much hiking, got lost a few times and found our way back eventually.

When we got to Mount Cook, my travelling companion was a bit unwell so she stuck to the hostel room. And besides, she kind of hated the barrenness at the bottom of the mountain. But my reaction was completely the opposite and I went exploring. It was a stark picture at the bottom of the mountain but everything above was spectacular. I hiked a nearby mountain to get a better view of Mount Cook as high as I could up to the point where you would have needed climbing equipment to go further. My legs were a bit like jelly at that point so I was lucky to make it back down in one piece.

I left Mount Cook with a sense of wanting to come back to climb, but not really having any idea of how I would do that or how to train for it and I was convinced when I left New Zealand I would return home and do all sorts of hiking at home because I loved it so much.

But what happened when I got home was nothing. Which is so easy to do. I went back into the habits of what I would normally be doing, things that were well within my comfort zone. I never explored or tried to seek the peacefulness I’d found on top of the mountain. I kind of just accepted that. In hindsight it is miraculous to me that I did, because when I was on that Mountain I was so ready to change my life. But I didn’t. I just went home.

And then seven years passed before running came back into my life. Because I’d missed my moment and seven years seems like a long time but it’s not really. It would be ten years before I re-found my love of mountains. When people talk about wishing they’d found running earlier I kind of think I wouldn’t have had the discipline for it. But I’m not sure if that’s 100 percent true. I think I just struggled in between seeing what I wanted to do and not knowing how to get there and so I just defaulted to the norm. Instead of allowing that slide back into my day to day, I could have paid more attention and followed the path that inspiration was lighting up for me.

I still think about that mountain a lot though. As a place I’d never been, but felt completely at home with. The truth is I probably don’t know how much strength that experience has given me over the years and how much it probably gave me all those pushes forward out of my comfort zone when I did take up running.

So the next time you feel that pull out of your regular life and out of your comfort zone, don’t push it to one side. Let it stay front and centre. Even if that’s uncomfortable. Even if it means you have to change your entire life.