8 WAYS TO FEEL LIKE A WINNER EVEN IF YOU’RE MILES OFF THE PODIUM!
YOU DON’T NEED TO RUN FAST TO FEEL FAN TASTIC,YOU JUST HAVE TO CULTIVATE A WINNING MINDSET, SAYS LISA JACKSON
WINNING MINDSET
Call me crazy, but I love, love, love coming last. Genetically I was never built for speed and so I’ve aimed for the place in a race where there’s also only room for one special person: the spot right at the back. And as anyone who’s been there will tell you, you often get even more of a fuss made of you for that than for coming first.
However, often when people hear I’ve come last in 25 of the 108 marathons and ultras I’ve done, they offer their condolences. “At least you finished,” they say, condescendingly. Which utterly amazes me, because I don’t see myself as someone to be pitied, instead someone to be admired for her persistence!
However, such conversations have made me realise that, over the 19 years I’ve been running, I’ve cultivated a bespoke winning mindset, a way of boosting my self-belief even in races where they’d already taken down the finish line by the time I arrived. It was this attitude, and the tricks and techniques I used to sustain it, that kept me going all the way to joining the 100 Marathon Club.