Eight Life Lessons I Gained From Running Bagamoyo Historical

Marathon

By Lusako Raphael

CEO Tansheq Limited

July 2014

Know What You Want and Set a Goal

• After doing some research on my fitness level, I set a realistic target of finishing half a marathon within 2 ½ hours. The goal motivated me to train daily.

• Life becomes meaningful if you figure what you want from it spiritually, professionally, financially, etc.

It is good to find something to live for. But, if you haven’t found something to die for, you haven’t lived yet. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Make a Plan to Achieve Your Goals

• I thought two weeks are never enough to achieve fitness level required and almost gave up

• But, I found from literatures lower body strength matters the most and can be achieved in a two-week training, so I bought and used the package

Others have been there and done that, learn from their experience. Life is too short to make all the mistakes and learn from them

But, shun from free advice (R. Kiyosaki).

Don’t Copy Strategies of Others

• I would desperately watch professionals and fitter runners pass me as if I was standing still. I could keep up with them at my own peril. Usiige kunya kwa tembo.

• LEARN FROM SUCCESS OF OTHERS, BUT DON’T COPY THEM

Do your own work well, and then you will have something to be proud of. But don't compare yourself with others (Galatians 6:4)

Encourage Others

• In marathons, just as in life, there is a room for each to achieve our objectives.

• As the race progressed I found it easier to run in a pack.

• I dared not leave them as they, overtly and covertly, encouraged me.

• We are living in a bountiful World; we can all get what we want if we try.

When you run the marathon, you run against the distance, not against the other runners and not against the time (Haile Gebrselassie)

Use the Right Tools

• I ran in basketball trunks and I wore a 100% cotton T-shirt beneath my polyester jersey.

• As the race progressed, sweat made the cotton T-shirt to weight a ton and the trunks badly bruised my inner thighs.

If you want to achieve a huge feat, leverage on right tools it will make achievement of your goal a lot easier

There is Always a Downhill at the End of an Uphill and Vice Versa

• As you are struggling to climb, rest assured you would recuperate while descending.

• Also, when going downhill conserve energy for an uphill run, which will follow soon.

Bad times don’t last forever, persevere. And prepare for the worse during good times.

Burn All The Bridges

• If I had money on me, maybe I would have hired a ride back home. As there are moments when I felt pain in muscles I didn't even know I had. But hey, when did we get a memo that life is going to be easy?

When the race gets hard to run, it means you just can’t make a pace. Bob Marley

• My wife Lilly thought I was crazy to do it

• And maybe after reading this you might be tempted to tell me "What are you making all the fuss about? It’s only 21 kilometers and you did it in over two hour". Guess my reply …

Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own.” (Paulo Coelho)

Other People’s Opinions Don't Matter, Even of Those Closer to You