Dealing with the weight of expectation!

As I sit on my sofa, Strictly on the TV and Isabelle up way past her bed time due to a cough and being “scared of the dark” lol, I’m looking forward to tomorrows (Sunday) race. Although for the first time I find myself dealing with the weight of expectation.

Followers of my running and in particular, my Instagram, then you may already be aware that I have been targeting a sub 1hr30 half marathon time for a while now.

I arrogantly thought I could do it at Tewkesbury in April but I wasn’t ready. Now I am. My time at Bristol has proved that.

So does being ready both mentally and physically to achieve my goal bring added pressure? Yes and no. I always put a certain amount of pressure on myself to perform, even in training runs. But this feels different.

My running club seems to be expecting me to smash 1hr30 and claim the prize for first local male in the absence of Matt, the clubs fastest runner. Unfortunately Matt is injured and I do wonder whether the expectations on me would be so high if he was fit. There’s a part of me that is glad I don’t have to go up against him as it improves my chances of finishing first local male but the competitor in me would rather try to beat him.

So how to deal with this new found pressure. Well, I personally think when we’re put under pressure we go to Darwin’s fight or flight mode. Some of us rise to the occasion and handle the pressure like a boss while others fold under the pressure. There has been plenty of “pressure cooker” situations in my life and when I was a lot younger I was the type of person who would run away from bad situations or bury my head in the sand and hope it would sort itself out.

I’m no longer that timid young man and I rarely back down from a challenge these days. While this may seem a bit off topic its actually very relevant in my opinion. Years ago when I played football, I was average at best, if I had a decent game one week I could never follow it up the next week and struggled to deal with the pressures of my peers and opponent’s.

Now I often find that I thrive under pressure. While I would much rather rock up tomorrow with no one expecting anything of me, its actually a testament of how far I’ve come with my running that I feel this way.

What’s going to happen tomorrow? Well, nothing in life is guaranteed and a lot depends on the conditions but if I run like I know I am capable of running then I’m confident of smashing my goal. I have had a number in my head for going sub 1hr30 for months now. In my thoughts and in my dreams 1hr28 is always the number I see when I go sub 1hr30 for the first time. There, I’ve said it. Now the pressure really is on!

Is it realistic? Who knows, but we don’t have long to wait to find out. Taking another 2 minutes off my time will be a big ask but I have such unwavering confidence in myself and my ability to visualise that I believe I am capable of doing it.

So here’s hoping I can back up my own bold prediction with the performance of my life. Either way, its going to be a great morning of racing for all involved and I can see a number of Burnham harriers getting new PB’s, especially the young upstart Ieuan, who is also looking to get a great time tomorrow.

Hopefully in my write up of tomorrow’s race I’ll be celebrating a another smashed PB!