Motivation Posters!

likitisplit · May 2013

"Priscilla June Welch (born 22 November 1944 in Bedford, England) is a British retired marathon runner. She had a most unlikely career in international athletics, having been a smoker of a pack a day until she began running competitively at age 35. An officer in the British Army, Welch met her husband Dave while serving in Norway. She quit smoking, and under his tutelage, she ran in the 1980 London Marathon at age 35.

Four years later, she qualified for the British Olympic team at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. In the first women's Olympic marathon, Welch finished sixth, remarkable for someone who was nearly 40 years old. On her 40th birthday, Welsh qualified for the masters division and began setting age group world records.

In 1987, she won the New York Marathon with a 2:30:17. This was coupled with her second place finish in London where she set an age group world record running a 2:26:51, good for the sixth fastest time in the world for 1987. She was criticised for passing up the chance to win a medal at the World Championships in Rome that year. Welch set the age group world record in Boston by running a 2:30:48 in 1988. This record stood for 14 years.

Welch continued to run until a 1992 bout with breast cancer curtailed her career. She currently resides in Bend, Oregon, with family living in Northampton, England."

Wow! If you're looking for a running inspiration/hero...

rduhlir · May 2013

(and yes this does happen)

rduhlir · May 2013

rduhlir · May 2013

rduhlir · May 2013

rduhlir · May 2013

likitisplit · May 2013

This is exactly what running has taught me. Good find!

rduhlir · May 2013

(Had to post that...has Bob Marley lol)

Mom_Ellis · May 2013

Love these, bumping for when I need a reminder!

rduhlir · May 2013

http://www.runforlife.com/full-stories.html#anchor_tatyana

Today's posts will be stories, here is the first one:

Jim Derham
M67
Dec. 28, 2009

Over the past five years, because of medical challenges I have had four extended periods of not being able to run. It would have been easy to have retired from running after any one of these. I chose not to and am convinced that I recovered quicker than my contemporaries would have because of my running and desire to be competitive again. Each time has required a greater adjustment as I have found myself starting out slower and running at double the pace I use to complete marathons in and the people further down the field look a lot different from the runners up front. However, each time I regard the initial build up period as temporary and know that I will eventually become competitive again.

In my younger years I was a useful runner, 1957 to 1966 achieving 1:58 for 800 m to 2 Hrs. 25 Min. for the marathon.

I got tied up in my career, quit running and smoked as many as four packs per day. I had to have ear surgery when I was 40, quit smoking so the skin graft over my ear would heal. I quickly ballooned in size and weight and took up running again to reduce weight. Naturally, once I was running again, I had to race. I entered a 10k and did not believe the splits that were called out to me. Having told my wife what I expected to run the 10k in, she thought something terrible had happened to me as I didn’t show up for a long time!

From this initial restart of running, I worked at it and became competitive again. For the next 22 years I was an accomplished racer while managing a stressful career.

At the end of ’04 when I was 62, I had my first episode with my heart. In early December I did a 5k race and started to really struggle after the first mile and finished very slowly. I thought I had the flu so did not worry too much. I had my annual physical the following Monday and as I had some slightly irregular heartbeat, had an EKG as part of the physical. My doctor got really excited and told me to stop running until I could have an echo cardiogram. This subsequently showed an electrical problem which caused my heart chambers not to function properly. Hence my struggle to run. Before I could keep an appointment with the cardiologist I started to get grabbing chest pains which got progressively worse. I conceded that I had a problem and my wife took me to the ER even though she wanted to call EMS. I was admitted to the hospital. After a cardio-catheter examination for blockage which was normal for my age, I had an ablation to correct the electrical problem. Afterwards I was not allowed to run for three months. When I finally got the “all clear” I started back running wearing a heart monitor. It was several months before I felt I could go fast enough to raise my heart rate over 150.

I completed a 260 mile hike in England that May and progressed over the rest of the year, winning my age group in the 2005 Jacksonville Half Marathon and the 2006 Gasparilla Half Marathon. I then completed a 220 mile walk across Scotland.

In March 2007 I was diagnosed with aggressive prostrate cancer. I had it surgically removed in April. I was not allowed to run again until July. I wanted to prove something to myself, so I competed in the Tour de Pain in early August (three races in 24 hours) and finished third in my age group. At the end of August I completed 100 miles of hiking around Lake Tahoe. In October, while running a 5k race I felt awful but was in denial. I subsequently had to admit I had a problem and saw my cardiologist who with an EKG confirmed I had heart flutter again. He stopped me running and put me on Coumadin to stabilize my blood before they could do any procedures. After finally getting my blood stable, I had a cardio-vent in January 2008 and a second ablation in February. I was allowed to run again in March and decided to give shorter track events a try. I qualified for the 2008 Florida Senior Games and in December won the 1500 meters and finished second in the 800 meters. I followed this up with some longer training runs and won my age group in the 2009 Marco Island 10 miler and finished second in my age group in the Hooter’s Half Marathon in March. In May I completed a 260 mile hike in 13 days.

In July 2009 I had some follow-up prostrate surgery and was off running until the end of August. I started to come back in September and have progressed well enough to win my age group in the Senior Games 10k and recently finished third in my age group at the Jacksonville Half Marathon.

In my older years I’m dedicated (as you can see) but not a completely dedicated racer. I do enjoy a martini and fine wine. Running is an important part of my life for health and sanity reasons. Competing is a critical part of my running as a means of comparative measuring and keeping score and a motivating reason for training effort and training goals. I am now setting my sights on catching Larry again!!!! (ed.: not completely dedicated you say?)

How bad do you want success?
Eric Thomas

It was young man who wanted to make a lot of money, so he went to this guru, right?
And he told the guru, "You know, I wanna be on the same level you on."
And so the guru said, "If you wanna be on the same level I'm on, I'll meet you tomorrow, at the beach, at 4am"
He thinks, "The beach? I said I wanna make money! I don't wanna swim"
Guru said, "If you wanna money, I'll meet you tomorrow. 4am."

So the young man got there, 4am. He's all ready to rock and roll. He got on the suit....he shoulda worn shorts...
The old man grabs his hand, say, "How bad do you wanna be successful?"
He said, "Real bad."
He said, "Walk on out in the water."
So he walks out into the water, listen carefully, when he walks out into the water, he goes waist deep. So he's thinking, "This guy is crazy. How am i gonna make money, he got me out here swimmin'? I didnt ask to be a lifeguard, I wanna make money."
Guru said, "Come out a little further." So, walked out a little further, then he had it right the shoulder area.
He's thinking, "Yo this ol' man crazy! He makin' money, but he crazy!"
Guru said, "Come out a little farther." So, he came out little farther. It was right at his mouth. He thinkin', "Im 'bout to go back in, he outta his mind."
So the old man said, "I thought you said you wanted to be successful." Man said, "I do!"
Guru said, "Walk a little farther." He came, dropped his head in, held him down, hold him down, the guy scratchin'.

Just before my man was about to pass out, the Guru raised him up. He said, "I got a question for ya."
He said, "When you were underwater, what did you wanna do?!"
He said, "I wanted to BREATHE."

He todl the guy, he said, "When you want to succeed, as BAD as you want to breathe, THEN you'll be successful. You dont care about no basketball game! You dont care what's on TV, you dont care about nobody callin' you, you dont care about no damn party! The ONLY thing you care about when you tryin' to breathe, is to get some fresh air. That's it."
"...And when you get to the point, and WHEN you get to the point where all you wanan do is be successful as bad as you want to breathe, THEN you'll be successful."

And I'm here to tell you, number one. That most of say you want to be successful, but you don't want it bad! You just kinda' want it.

You dont want it badder then you wanna party. You dont want it as much as you wanna be cool. Most of you don't want success as much as you wanna sleep!
Some of you love sleep more then you love success. And I'm here to tell you today, if you're going to be successful, you've got to be willing to give up sleep. You've got to be willing to work off of three hours of sleep, two hours; If you REALLY wanna be successful, some days, you gonna have to stay up three days in a row!

Then you'll be successful.