Personal Best – ‘Great things never came from comfort zones.’ – unknown

What’s your ‘PB’?

If you’ve been keeping up to speed with my other blogs, you’ll know that I’ve had my ups and downs with training for the Potter’s ‘Arf Marathon, and running in general – it’s a love/hate relationship.

However, I tend to challenge myself at the weekly parkrun, where you get your time and place and if you manage it – alerted of your personal best.

Last week I managed to achieve my running Personal Best for the fastest time of the year so far, and my quickest mile yet – I finished at 30 minutes and 26 seconds, 153^rd place out of 232 parkrunners. Okay okay – not fast, and not highly placed, but it is a recognition of improvement and gives me a boost to try to beat it again next time.

This got me thinking of how setting a personal best for other activities can be beneficial to achieving higher. If we set our goals and then always try to push the boundary a little bit further to beat our ‘Personal Best’ and acknowledge when we do.

I have find that if you set a ‘Personal Best’ in other activities – such as sport, work, exams, health or anything that can be measured to some degree, you will be able to focus on achieving better each time and really realising your full potential. You might go a little further, score a few more goals, or gain a few more marks – they will all equate to achieving your personal best.

NB: Personal Best ‘PB’ – when you smash all your other attempts!

There is now only 50 days left until the half marathon, and I’ve upped my game in regards to training, trying to run three times a week and running for longer each time and each time it does get easier. Now running on roads that challenge me with an uphill – I’ve also signed up to the Mow Cop Killer Mile which (if it doesn’t do what it says on the tin, and kill me off) will give me the training I need to make it through the hills in Potter’s ‘Arf. If you’re training for a long distance run, you can read advice on pre, during and post activity to make sure you’re at the top of your game to achieve your personal best.

I’ll be raising money for Cancer Research UK, and you can read more about why I’m running it and sponsor me at: www.justgiving.co.uk/lall1990