Are You Running Up That Hill?

These seriously need scuffing up a bit....

When was the last time you properly sprinted?  For those of my friends that race competitively, yes, I know you probably did that at 5 o'clock this morning, but for those of you that aren't yet an Iron Man or Woman, when did you last run like you did in the 100m at school? Or like you did when you were five and you were being chased by a parent who was threatening to tickle you?

Having been in part inspired by an ad (Nike perhaps?) where a woman is sprinting along a pier, I decided to give it a little try. When I'm out running I do build in some interval training (or if I'm out of breath and stop, I count it as interval training ;) ) but never do I go for an all-out, lung bursting sprint.  And so I decided that I ought to fix this fact the other day and really went for it.  And my hands started fizzing, my head started throbbing and my chest pounded in quite an alarming way but it was so exhilarating that I wanted to laugh out loud. I was also very grateful for living in the countryside which means that you can do these kind of things (largely) unobserved - had I tried this down the Oxford Road where I used to live in Reading it's highly likely that people would have thought I'd either:

a. Stolen something

b. Was being chased by someone who wanted to steal from me

Anyway, what the hell has this got to do with anything? Well it made me question how enthusiastically I am pursuing my goals in life in three specific ways:

1. Am I putting every ounce of effort in?

2. Am I challenging myself

and crucially....

3. Am I enjoying myself?

Depending on the day, the answer isn't always a resounding yes, but I'm working on making sure that it is. I know that life can be cut very short.  I also know it can be very bloody long but with a quality of life that is massively eroded thanks to poor health.  So during these years when I have the brain, body and willing to do something with my life, I owe it to myself and the people that I love to get out there and do it, and not in a half-arsed way either.    

But how to keep on top of these things?  Well one way is making a public commitment; sharing goals with friends and family, so if I bang on about stuff to you, or on here, I'm hoping you'll see it less as harping on and more as finding a way to stop myself from chickening out of things :)  I've also taken the rare step of downloading an app - this one's a beep test that I'm hoping by virtue of improving my speed is also going to remind me to keep sprinting towards my goals.  Perhaps I'll get there just a little bit faster :) How about you?  What will you do?

Soundtrack: Running Up That Hill - Kate Bush

Note: A shortened version of this post appears on my LinkedIn profile.