Guest Post: Drive On... by Pat Walsh

 ** Drive on **

My post on Cork was thought provoking and prompted many very insightful comments. Thank you. 

Time to draw a line and drive on. Running is what it is about.
We can have an opinion and what we do in the future is an individual choice.

I choose to drive on. If we get bad service on a Holiday, a Hotel, a Restaurant, then we as individuals have the right to choose whether we go again or not.

Some people had a great Cork day out. Within our group of socialites there was 2 PB’s in the Marathon. I will add I wasn’t training them, I was only a drinking partner afterwards. (Gladly). So ask them how did Cork go. The glory in their head will never be depreciated by medals, t-shirt or anything else. They had a great life experience that will always be part of them.

I’m not defending the organisers, so please don’t hammer me. Lack of water was disgraceful and dangerous and unforgivable.

So..; Drive on. If you are reading my posts then you love running. 
Loving running and the health benefits it brings, the joy of friendships, the shared miles is what it is about.

What you do in the future is an individual choice.
Where you spend your entry fee is your choice.

Don’t let commercial orgnisations, running clubs or charities interfere with your Hobby.
If you want to run and it is worth it personally to you then drive on.
If it doesn’t suit you for any one of a multiple reasons then stay at home.
Run when and where you want to.
Run to escape life.
Run to earn a coffee.
Run to be free.

You are the owner of your own credit card and how you use it.
Take ownership of your decisions. Be prepared to make a mistake or be disappointed, but repeating the same mistake can be another issue. 

Don’t race to be a pawn in the game of a commercial company
Don’t race if it causes you grief and upsets your sleep
Don’t run if you can’t find the time to train and fulfil your potential
Don’t be pressurised into running a race you don’t want by your buddies.

Time out to think this week.
Time out for the bike.
Time out to give the legs a rest from pounding.
Time to revisit places I have not seen for a while.

Pic is from Top of the Borlin Valley in case you need to know.

“It is good to be out on the road, and going one knows not where,
Going through meadow and village, one knows not whither or why; 
Through the grey light drift of the dust, in the keen cool rush of the air,
Under the flying white clouds, and the broad blue lift of the sky.”

Masefield – Tewkesbury Road
#PWR