Running Through Life

CHAPTER 1: – LIFE IS JUST A LOTTERY In life a lot happens, often at the same time and a truism is “If you want something done, give it to a busy man”. This story is about one man’s approach to life, a man who worked hard at his job and who was a competitive athlete, and who suffered many periods of unemployment. The same experiences will apply to many people, to women as well as to men. In the UK there has been for many years a strong sporting tradition of personal involvement in physical activity at the professional and amateur level and many people enjoy intense physical activity, which coexists with their professional or working lives. Some follow a professional sporting career while others earn their livings in every type of work. This book is a personal account of the world of a male club runner, who competed regularly for his Athletics club in what is called “Grass Roots” Athletics. It is a world unknown to most people, but there will be understanding nods of agreement from many people who have competed in other sports. I wasn’t a star and remained a club runner and I did my best. My race times were towards the bottom of that ladder which leads from complete obscurity towards mid-range mediocrity. But nowadays my times would take me much further up that ladder, if only because of the lowering of standards as time has passed. For me the five-minute mile, to run 10 miles in the hour and then to beat four minutes forty seconds for the mile on a cinder track, were major performance barriers and then the three hour marathon, each of which I achieved after a lot of effort. I feel that my experiences will strike a chord with many people who experience similar situations, particularly with regard to the mishaps, camaraderie, the humour, which I suspect will exist across all sports and probably across much of life itself. They will relate wholeheartedly to the laughs, tears, the incidents, the potential hazards and the solutions, Probably the two most appropriate expressions which define human existence are: “There’s nowt so queer as folk.” and “Each of us is a prisoner of our own history.” The first of these sayings comes from the North of England and is succinct, being composed of six single syllable words and is in my opinion, absolutely true. The second comes directly from my own observations and thought processes; although it is so fundamental that someone must have said it first. There are of course many such sayings throughout the ages, which are not dependent on religious belief, technology, social status, nationality or historical epoch. They stem directly from human experience. Another two fundamental truths are firstly “The road to hell is paved with good intentions” and secondly that “Most people seek to maximise benefit to him/herself.” The first of these usually manifests itself in the legislation passed by our politicians with our best interests at heart (and of course their own) but assume always that all they need to do is to pass a law and that there will exist adequate financial and technical resources needed for their legislation to be successful. But they don’t check and don’t think their ideas through and disaster beckons for many people. The second of these truths is seen often in the failure of political projects to reach fruition because someone did not get the appropriate benefit or recognition or other people were paid more than he was. Nothing in life causes as much trouble as money, especially for those who have little, or don’t earn much anyway, or those who think they are worth more. Everybody spends money and consequently everyone obtains money. Some are paid from employment, some steal money, some beg for it, some inherit it. Most people go to work to pay their bills, to bring up their family, and to fund their hobbies, sporting, academic, horticultural, etc. They reach their limit in terms of promotion well before they reach middle age and many accept that further promotion is not for them, and their sport or hobbies dominate their thinking for most of their lives. An active sporting interest can be a lifeline to self-respect and sanity, as it was in my case. The office or factory can often be a place of shattered dreams of promotion because of restraints imposed on freedom of action by company practices, by human nature and often viciousness or incompetence of managers. I believe that the most over-used word used nowadays is “Stress”, which is blamed for so much, but which is one of life’s fundamental and necessary forces. It is possible to combat stress in one area of life with stress in another, totally separated area, in accordance with the truism “A change is as good as a rest.” Many aggressive people do not realise that the most powerful and effective words in obtaining results or cooperation from people are “Please” and “Thank you”, especially if delivered with a smile. The sports pages of newspapers and much of the rest of the media bear witness to the many sports clubs and people participating in sport as competitor, official, fan or spectator. I have always enjoyed sport, primarily as a competitive athlete or player, but also as coach, official or spectator and have followed regularly the fortunes of our national teams on TV. “Running” plays a major part in most sports and I have often criticised player performances because so few of them were taught to run efficiently, particularly when they were young. It is noticeable that in much professional sport, many people are obviously overweight, cannot move easily, cannot speak eloquently, but remain earning large salaries because of their one-time high skill levels. My attitude may well be interpreted by my readers as sour grapes on my part and they may be right. After trying football, cricket and rugby, I settled on Athletics as my major competitive sport. However I accept that many people find physical application of the body distasteful and they find different hobbies and interests.