The PUMA Running Bug Challenge
I am part of an online running community at therunningbug.co.uk it is a site dedicated to everything running, and each year they host a number of different challenges that all site members are able to take part in. All of these challenges are built around progressing as a runner, as well as building on current fitness levels.
The latest challenge is being called The PUMA Points Challenge where all members have been added to one of four teams. All the members will be running their
socks off, and sweating those cake shelves away in order to earn points for their
respective teams.
Each team is also assigned a captain.
These captains will be required to motivate and inspire, to
lead by example, and to get the most out of their teams as physically possible.
I have been lucky enough to have been given the absolute honour; and pleasure; of one
such captaincy spot, and shall be leading #TeamMomentum from the front of the
field as best possible.
I can’t tell you how excited I was to be given one of these
places. I was sitting at my desk during lunch, checking my Gmail and saw this
email sitting there with the header; PUMA Captains Emails. I opened it;
completely oblivious to what was written within; and gave a slight yelp out
aloud. Nearly jumped out of my chair too.
My heart was beating through my chest, my skin was tingling,
and my mind was already racing with different ideas of exactly what was to come
in the coming month. Just what could I do to get the best out of my team? What
could I do to help the team as much as possible? How could I help people
progress, and develop their abilities the way I have been helped by so many
more experienced bugs over the past year?
It may seem to some like I am being a tad over dramatic, but
this for me is huge. I have spent the last year and a bit working my ass off in
order to develop my running into something actually worthwhile. I have put a
lot of time and effort into making sure that I am as healthy as I can be to
achieve the very high standards that I impose upon myself, and to reach the
targets that I have set for myself. Through all of this work I have sacrificed
a lot, and I have been ridiculously strict on myself for about 90% of the time
with regards to what I eat, drink, the time I go to bed, wake up to train etc etc etc…
Through all of this I have already tried to help people to
be inspired to do more. I am regularly approached by work colleagues; and by
friends outside of work; with questions
about what recipe to go with in order to be more healthy, or what someone
should do to help a pulled muscle that they have given themselves through doing
some form of weight training. I am not a qualified instructor, or nutritionist,
but I have found that I have this passion for healthy living, running; and
everything else that is related to these topics; so much so that I believe it is
something I am meant to be doing with my life full time. It is my aim to get my
qualifications; at some stage; to be able to turn around and say yes, yes I can
help you with this as I have the actual knowledge, as well as the certificate to
prove that I have this knowledge.
Seeing; and hearing; people come back to you with such
positive remarks off the back of some small suggestion you gave them is such an
amazing feeling. Seeing people be happy and positive about their lives because
of something you did for them is brilliant. It is for these reasons that I have
this desire to learn this trade of life coaching, nutrition, and personal
training.
It is for these reasons that being given the opportunity to
be one of the PUMA Points Challenge Captains means so much to me. It is
basically my first actual step in the right direction towards proving that I can
lead a team of people; motivate them; inspire them; and even possibly help them
to achieve their own personal gains that they set out for themselves.
It wasn’t too long back that I myself only
completed the C25K challenge; June 13th 2014 to be exact; and since
then I have completed three half marathons, one full marathon, and a handful of
10k races. I have continued to improve my ability as a runner with each
training session that I put myself through, and continue to build on what I want to achieve with overall fitness and wellbeing.
I am a walking, talking example of someone who didn’t believe
that they would be able to do anything related to running, let alone a run a bloody marathon. Someone who mistreated
their body for years, but has turned it into a fully-fledged running machine. I
still have loads of work to do yet, but it is the belief I have in myself now
that I know will keep me progressing in the manner that I want to, and I believe
that I can help many other people gain that self-belief too.
This is what the PUMA Points challenge is all about. It’s
about building on our foundations of fitness through this summer period, and
getting into a state of wellbeing that people are happy with. The bonus
of it all is that we Running Bug members get to have a friendly little battle between ourselves;
what would a competitive sport be without a little competition from time to
time?
The captains also have the added bonus of being given places in
the Great Newham 10k Run on July 19th in London; an event which looks to be a
really top day out if the website is anything to go by. I can tell you right
now, that; from my side; I will be pushing like mad to achieve the best possible
result I can. I had finished my 10k season for the year, and was about to go
into my full half marathon training program, where I aim is to reach a sub 90min time;
but one more little 10k isn’t going to hurt, so why not finish with the biggest
bang I can.
And so with that I say good luck to all the other teams;
Team Ignite, Team Energy, Team Drive; you all have top dog leaders, and then
there is me, Captain of Team Momentum; more drive, more energy and more fire in my belly that I need not require any ignition.
Team momentum are going to start strong. We are going to build on that
strength. We are going to gain force, and we are going to use that momentum to
push on through all the way to the end and then some.
So where to from here? After everything that has been said
already, what more can you expect? A lot of blog posts, facebook messages,
instagram pics, food idea postings etc etc etc… Although I must admit, they will all
be directed at Team Momentum.
For all the team mates I have behind me, look out for the
following social media tags:
Twitter: @PUMARunning
Instagram: pumarunning
Facebook: PUMA Running
We at Team momentum wish all the other teams well, and if
you are merely a spectator; enjoy the show.
May July 1st be the start of something great for
each and every one of us!
#TeamMomentum 100% All The Way
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