Guest Post: World Athletics ...by Pat Walsh

 * World Athletics *

Fantastic week watching the World Athletics on TV and marvelling at the feats that unfold daily with some superb performances. I feel proud of all of our Irish Competitors and how they are competing. In a small country like ours of 5 million+ people and limited facilities, to have a team of 28 at these games when qualifying standards are so high is fantastic. 

Ciara Mageean and Rhasidat Adeleke who are proven World Quality missed through injury. Fearghal Curtin who barely missed out making the Marathon team by a few seconds broke the Irish record last Sunday for the Half Marathon in 1.00.22 and he didn’t make the team. That is how high qualification is for these games.

That some have made it through to the Finals, even at the time of writing we have no medals, is amazing. They are in the Top section of World sport and can rightly hold their heads high. Some might be disappointed with where they finished and could have done better maybe, but that is haggling over fine detail. They did us proud. 

As a runner to have male and female (Sarah and Andrew) in the 1500M finals, one time the Blue Riband event of the overall games is massive. As I write we await Cian McPhillips in the 800M on Saturday and Kate O’Connor in Hepthatlon. Nicola Tuthill at 21 years of age in the hammer final, the list goes on of our World ranking performers.

What is that to do with you and me, you might well ask? 

Can we learn from them?

Of course we can. ‘Is feidir linn’.

While we haven’t a fraction of their talent we can follow their dedication to some degree to get the best out of ourselves.

Make a goal. Make it realistic, feasible to do with the amount you can train.

Create a plan and stick to it.

Don’t try to conquer everything from 5K to marathon. Ask yourself why do the elites stick to one event that is deemed their best. You don’t see the 400M winner in the 5000 final.

Believe in yourself and get people around you who believe in you as well. 

Dump the naysayers and the negative people. They drain you.

Don’t moan about facilities and weather, just get on with it.

Don’t neglect stretching and strength training.

Get your warm up and cool downs before and after runs.

Don’t race too much, get the balance between training and racing.

Rejoice for our elite and take heart, inspiration and confidence from them. They are not overnight successes. They are years of training, dedication, recovering from setbacks, driving on again and again in the pursuit of excellence. 

We may not achieve the same heights but we can certainly dream and better ourselves. 

As I watched Cian McPhillips win the 800 semi-final and break the Irish Record on a windy and wet  Thursday I had 3 thoughts. 

1. What a phenomenal race and a historic performance. YES

2.  When will my heart settle again and my voice recover

3.  When am I going for my next run 

May we never grow too old to stop dreaming or to lose hope. Be the best you that you can be. If you run Saturday, wear Green.

#pwr