Achieving Your Goal By Relieving Yourself In Public

Most marathons provide more than their fair share of heroes and heroines who provide great examples. The London Marathon in April 2005 provided one or two especially heroic examples. The competitors have much to teach about achieving goals.

On Sunday 17th April 2005, Paula Radcliffe was running in the London Marathon and had to stop for a call of nature. Instead of running off the course and possibly losing the race, she decided to answer the call close to a drinks table at the side of the road.

She knew that this might well be filmed and broadcast to millions but was determined not to stop for longer than necessary. I am more impressed by her answering the call of nature in public than by the fact that she won the marathon. Her priority was to win and not to save herself embarrassment. Her sheer guts and determination have never been more obvious.

Some really ignorant person wrote in to complain that Paula's behaviour was disgusting. She clearly had no idea what running a marathon can do to your body. The organiser offered the critic a place in next year's marathon to provide a chance to find out!

Paula stopped 5 miles from the end of the race and squatted on the ground. She had endured stomach cramps for several miles before that and was losing 10 seconds every time her stomach cramped up.

Later, after she had won the Flora London Marathon in 2hrs 17 min 42 sec, a world record for a women-only race, she apologized for having to relieve herself in the street. She was embarrassed but was also smiling because she had achieved her goal of winning the race.

She commented: "I've got to apologize to the nation for having to stop but I was losing 10 seconds every time my stomach cramped up. I didn't know how far I was ahead but I felt I just had to stop."

In fact, Paula had more than a two-minute lead over Constantina Dita, of Romania. Paula had joked about finding one of the 950 Portaloos. "That would have been OK but I would probably have had to fight my way through the crowd and then sign a couple of autographs on the way out." That could have taken at least two minutes and stopped her achieving her goal.

"I was annoyed because I was feeling good and looking forward to running faster in the second half of the race," she said. "But my stomach got so bad I thought, why not stop, and then I would be able to concentrate on running properly again."

In 1985, another top runner had felt compelled to take a toilet stop in London. Steve Jones relieved himself behind a sentry box at the Tower of London before going on to beat Charlie Spedding in the 1985 race.

However, he at least had some decent cover available and so I would not rate him in the same class as Paula!

Paula's mind was focused firmly on the goal of winning:

"The main thing was to win the race - when you are in a race all you think about is getting to the line first and that's what I had to do. Everyone is paranoid about it. You try to eat as plain food as possible but you can't get much plainer than plain pasta. It's the first time it has happened to me in a race."

The organizer tried to shed light on the loo situation: "We had every single Portaloo in the country around the start, finish and along the way. The route is lined with houses and pubs so for the average person it's not going to be a problem but there is no way that's an answer for someone running at the speed of Paula."

Paula's call of nature has provided the world with an inspiring example of the kind of determination that might be necessary to achieve a big goal.

Clare Forbes, 10 years younger than Paula at the age of 21, provided another example of ferocious determination. She took 19 hrs and 10 mins together with a 3 hour break to cross the finishing line.

She was moving on artificial legs. 4 years ago she had suffered from meningitis. It was uncertain whether she would ever walk again. She entered the marathon on behalf of the Meningitis Trust to raise money to help sufferers. She must also have inspired many other people with artificial limbs to realize what can be achieved with courage and determination.

About the author

John Watson is an award winning teacher and martial arts instructor. He has recently written two books about achieving your goals and dreams.

They can both be found on his website http://www.motivationtoday.com along with a daily motivational message.

The title of the first book is "36 Laws To Ignite Your Inner Power And Realize Your Dreams Now! - Acronyms, Stories, And Pictures...Easy To Remember And Use Everyday To Grab Your Life And Soar With The Eagles"

The book can be found at this URL

http://www.motivationtoday.com/36_laws.php

The book uses acronyms, stories and pictures to help readers remember 36 laws that can gradually transform your life if you apply them.

Ezine editors / Site owners. Feel free to reprint this article in its entirety in your ezine or on your site as long as you leave all links in place, do not modify the content and include my resource box as listed above.

---

Do you Have the Burning Desire to Lose Weight or Reach any Goal?

NOTE: This article is one of the component parts of... Read More

The Magic of Writing Goals in your life!

Goal setting is an important technique used by athletes, successful... Read More

Why, When You Set Goals, Do You Fail to Reach Them?

Why is it when you set goals for yourself most... Read More

What Do You Really, Really, Really Want?

If the 90s British pop sensation 'the Spice Girls' ever... Read More

Six Keys To Build Vision - Point Six

6.Recognise that all vision has seasonal components within it· Vision... Read More

A New Conversation About Dreams - Integrity: The Key to Getting What You Want

The most critical attribute for realizing our dreams is integrity.... Read More

The Promise: The Key to the Successful Achievement of Your Goals

Decide what you want, decide what you are willing to... Read More

Mountain Climbing Over Molehills

Someone has said that the greatest cause of ulcers is... Read More

Make This Your Most Productive Year Ever - 26 Tips

Each year we start the year thinking about our goals,... Read More

Driving To Your Goals

Every time you get in your car to go anywhere,... Read More

Goal Setting: 5 Simple Steps

One of the things that frustrated me while in school... Read More

Priorities

Last month's edition of Footprints and Monuments was about living... Read More

Living The Real Life Beyond Goal Setting

In many of his wonderful talks the motivational speaker Zig... Read More

The Process of Developing Meaningful Goals

DEVELOPING A GOAL-SETTING CHECKPOINT: The process of developing meaningful goals... Read More

eaziGOAL Review: Practical Goal Setting Tools for Everyone

I love the internet. I mean, anything at all you... Read More

Put Wings On Your Dreams

We Need DreamsDreams are important. Not the dreams you have... Read More

The Importance Of Having A Goal In Life

At the age of twenty two, I read a book... Read More

The Top 10 Secrets to Achieving Any Goal

We all have goals that are important to us. They... Read More

Increase Your Knowledge: Read-and-Reap

Did you know that you see with your mind as... Read More

Cheerleaders

This week's article assumes that you have chosen a goal,... Read More

Quick Tips On Achieving Your Goals

Want to achieve your goals faster?Edward W. Smith, motivational speaker,... Read More

Goal Setting and Goal Getting: What Would You Like to Accomplish in 100 Days?

Here's a question for you:What would you like to have... Read More

Goals - If You Don?t Know What You Want, Then How Are You Going to Get It?

Recently, I spoke with a client who wanted me to... Read More

Simple Ways to Super-Charge Your Goals and Make Them Work!

Goals. Most people have a love-hate relationship with goals. They... Read More

Obtaining Your Desires

For one to achieve their goals or obtain their desires,... Read More

If You Cant See Your Way to Completing Your Goal, Its Time to Check Your Vision

Have you been having trouble achieving a specific goal? Are... Read More

Make Goals Specific

Saying that you want to be rich isn't enough. However,... Read More

Personal Goal Setting and Management - Planning for the Year Ahead

The start of a New Year is a great time... Read More

How to Improve Your Life Every Day

Growing Towards ExcellenceWould you like to become a better person?... Read More

Plan, Prioritize, Play 10 Strategic Ways To Be Time Rich And Stress Free

1. Retrain your self-talk, to remove selfish from your vocabulary... Read More

Goal Setting - Get Exactly What You Want!

I am writing you from the quaint sea town of... Read More

Keep Your Attention On What You Want

Have you ever wondered: "How does this 'Law of Attraction'... Read More

Goals On The Wall - What Do Minnie Driver And Genghis Khan Have In Common?

Surprisingly few people regularly make lists of their goals and... Read More