Stephen Gavin. Westminster RDCYoungers Run Report
Run Report Wednesday 11th February: I found this run in particular, much harder than normal because I had only just caught the flu that has been going around, the day before on Tuesday 10th. Generally, when I have got sick in the past, I would just feel sorry for myself lying in bed all day. However, I love my Wednesday runs with ‘RunDemCrewYoungers’ (RDCYoungers), which is usually just a middle of the week recovery run about 4-6 miles long. So when I caught the flu on Tuesday I chose not to stay put lying in bed all day and feel sorry for myself, I was motivated to get healthy enough to run on Wednesday with my crew in just one day. So I started by sticking to my normal mid-week routine of doing a workout before breakfast, then showering, then eating breakfast and getting on with my ‘To Do List’, I was basically ignoring the fact that I had a cold – to try and defeat it. This was very hard to do but I did achieve my goal for the day. When I woke up on Wednesday morning I felt much better compared to the morning of the day before, but I knew I was not fully recovered in just one day. However, this just didn't matter any more, I had made up my mind and nothing was going to change it (I can be quite stubborn like my mother sometimes). When I met up with the crew at the normal time of 5 pm and saw everyone’s happy faces, I instantly felt a bit better due to their positive energy. We aren't just a running club who meet up and run, we are a family of uniquely different characters that treat and support each other equally and we are guided by our mentors, not just physically in running, but also mentally with talks before our weekly runs about life in a different light – which is very intriguing. This session we spoke about ‘Money & Your Purpose’ before we went out and ran; the highlights of this session were that money is like a set of "beliefs", we only know that money has a value because everyone else believes that symbol. For example, if you were on a desert island, what would be more valuable – a knife? Or a £50 note? In addition, if you've always been taught that money is hard to obtain, difficult to get, then you need to change your method of thought. Money comes easily and frequently if you concentrate on it to do so. “The law of attraction states that whatever you concentrate on having you will have.” The ‘Your Purpose’ part of the session had asked us questions like “What do you love to do in your life?” and then we went on to imagine if we could make money from doing the things we love to do and finally, we finished on this question “If you could change one thing in this world what would it be and why?” this is a powerful question that when answered by someone, it definitely gives you an idea of what a person is really like and what they’re about – and maybe even what their purpose in life is. We then got changed and went for our run, even on the warm up I was breathing much heavier than normal and sweating more because I was sick and I was dressed with extra layers to avoid getting even sicker. I was right at the back, during this whole run with our crew ‘RDCYoungers’ jogging alongside fellow younger Hollie and unofficial mentor Alex, which felt unusual because I am normally right at the front of our crew during our runs alongside a leading mentor, but it didn't feel bad due to the support of my crew and the uplifting energy that was surrounding us during our run that definitely kept me going and motivated to complete this week’s recovery run. The midpoint of our run this time was interestingly fun, scary and the perfect place to shoot a horror scene for a film; it was a canal close to primrose hill, the water in the canal was so motionless it was like death, but the crew and I cracked jokes throughout and had great banter, which turned the scary situation into a good time. At the end of this run I felt great, due to the fact that I stood up to my flu and didn't let it stop me from doing what I love to do. To conclude, I now know I can rely on my crew to support me through not only the good times, but the bad times as well. I always look forward to my next run with my crew ‘RDCYoungers!’
