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Life Lessons From a Half Marathon
The other day I saw a picture from my secondary school days that got me reflecting on my school years and some of the highlights from that time. I attended King’s College Lagos, and one of our traditions was to participate in the Ikoyi Run each year as part of our inter-house sporting activities. The run was about the length of a half-marathon, and took us all around Ikoyi and Victoria Island. I ran the race almost every year, and by my final year I set a target for myself to finish the race without stopping to walk at any point, and within the top 100.
As I run the race of life, I consider the lessons I had learned from that half marathon that I participated in my secondary school and find that these apply to our everyday lives.
Prepare for the race
Running a half marathon or any long distance is no small feat. Therefore, you need to be mentally and physically prepared for the race. In this particular year, one of the ways I prepared was looking at how I ran the previous races and the likely areas I could improve upon. This is something I still do; when I’m starting a new project, I look back at similar projects I have worked on. I consider where things went wrong, what surprises I found, and prepare a plan to respond to these issues if they arise again.
