when you start settling for anything thats not the best
thats when its over
thats when you can tie your shoe laces together
and throw them over the telephone wires
make them as far out of reach
because thats where your dreams and goal will always be

in this sport, its not about enjoying life
its about being the best
its about eating oatmeal for breakfast even though you don't like the taste
its about running an extra rep even though you have nothing left
its about staying at home recovering even though you haven't seen your friends in months

its about sacrifices
its about discipline
its about hard work

its about crawling and fighting your way through every set back

its about being the best

18 months ago.

18 months ago,

no one really even knew my name.

no one ever spoke my name,

no one noticed me on the track

or noticed me at all

no one wanted to talk about me, 

to me or 

behind my back.

18 months ago,

no one believed in me

i barely believed in myself

18 months ago,

i made the choice to change.

i had two options.

be nobody. 

or be somebody.

i chose to change 
almost every aspect of my life;

to train harder

eat healthier

aspire

inspire

today, i cant honestly tell you 

im everything i wanted to be 

18 months ago

im much more then that

im much more then  

i ever thought i could be

why?

because i dared to dream.

you should too.

dont give me a footnote when i deserve a chapter

I CANNOTDO IT

Never let it be said that to dream is a waste of ones time.

For dreams are our realities in waiting

In dreams we plant the seeds of our future

Fear is nothing more then an obstacle that stands in the

way of our progress;; in overcoming our fears we can move

forward, stronger and wiser within ourselves.

If you want to live a happy life,

tie it to a goal, not to people or things.

&& dont let anything stand in your way

The only time you run out of chances

is when you stop taking them.

So stand for whats right, even if you stand alone

THERES
LIGHT
EVEN IN
THE DARKEST
PLACES

Dont Let It Pass You By.

Its amazing what we, as people and as athletes are truly capable of.

Over the last year i have been told over and over and over again that i cannot do it.

That i cant run a B-qualifier.

That i cant PB by that much in one season.

That i just cant do it.

It's Impossible.

But i believe in myself, when no one else did, i believed so purely and worked so hard that massive impossible achievements became possible.

Looking back now, i remember i was asked by a certain coach, "why not aim higher?"

I scoffed at the thought.

Higher? Thats absurd, Im already aiming for something beyond anyones capabilities and expectations.

Im already aiming for the impossible.

And he wanted more.

I thought, 'how unrealistic is that?'

i even remember wondering if he was taking the piss.

But it wasnt until today that i realised.

An A-qualifier is very very possible.

and i began to realise, that someone like me,

with unwavering believe

with daring impossible dreams

i began to realise i hadnt set the bar high enough

i am no different to everyone else

and there was a limit to my own belief

i had resigned myself to only a B.

i had put walls up infront of me

and i had shot myself in the foot.

I like to believe that i know what im capable of,

but i, just like everyone else, have no idea whats within me.

maybe the truth is my capabilities are endless.

maybe i could conquer the world, if only i believed i could.

my friends ask me all the time: "Do you think you'll ever win an olympic medal"

i laugh and tell them, "im not talent, just hard work, and hard work will only get you so far"

but who's to say im not talented.

who's to say one day i wont win a medal.

who's to say what i can and cant do.

i'd like to think that I have fought a good fight, I have kept the faith.

but i havent.

i am limited in my success because i was trying to be "realistic"

but again, my body knows only the boundaries of the mind.

not anymore.

"you have to think anyways,

so why not think big!"

Always Smart. Always Forward.

If you want something you've never had,

you have to do something you've never done.

If you keep doing what you're doing,

you'll keep getting what you're getting.

There are people who put their dreams in a little box and say, 'Yes, I've got dreams, of course I've got dreams.' Then they put the box away and bring it out once in awhile to look in it, and yep, they're still there. These are great dreams, but they never even get out of the box.

Fear is a reason for these dreams to stay in this little box. Nobody like to bare the souls and come up empty. No one likes losing, but the trick is; You start as a loser. If you do nothing about it, you stay a loser. The only way to become a winner is to shut the fuck up and train. Millions are training to win. Millions are doing more work then you. Millions are suffering and sacrificing more then you are. They are faster, smarter and more hard working then you are.

But at the end of the day,

YOU CANT CONTROL what everyone else does. You cant control their speed, their power, their belief. You cant control their race, the only thing you CAN control is YOU.

You control your training. Your Belief. Your race.

You cant control the time's they run.

You can only control YOUR TIMES.

It takes an uncommon amount of guts to put your dreams on the line, to hold them up and say, 'How good am I' That's where courage comes in.

Someone in the world is training when you're not. When you race them, they'll win. Unless your the one training.

Imagine what you could do if you knew you wouldnt fail.

Dont give up on you.

Belief is the psychological state in which an individual holds a proposition or premise to be true.

The biggest challenge we will ever face in life is ourselves. What we believe about ourselves and how we perceive ourselves both stem from what we think about ourselves. The mind is a powerful tool. Like a computer, it is easily programmable, adapting and performing according to the specifications of the information received. For that reason, it is important to realize that if you don't control your mind somebody else will.

How many people have never achieved a goal, or a dream, or even stepped out to try because someone told them, "You can never do that! You're not smart enough! You're not talented enough!" That information was processed, then programmed into the "computer," and the thought patterns and actions adapted to coincide with what was accepted as fact or reality. One of the great paradoxes of life is that many of us believe things about ourselves that are not even true. It is important to realize that a lie is as powerful as the truth, if you can get someone to believe it.

Many people have held back in certain areas because of the things that they believe about themselves. They think thoughts like: "Well, I don’t know…." "I'd be embarrassed." "My mother may not like it." "My father may not like it." "They may not like what I have to say." "What if I fail?" Many dreams remain only dreams, never becoming reality, and die unborn because of the belief in the negative words of others or because of poor thinking that produces low self-esteem.

Take some time to examine the stories that you believe about yourself. Are there areas in which you have held back, or are there dreams and goals that you are not pursuing because of what others think or have said about you? Don't let others control your mind. Look at where you have come from, what you have attained, and what you have accomplished so far. Take those achievements and begin to reprogram your thinking. Take control of your mind and begin believing in yourself and seeing yourself as successful.

today is the first day of the rest of your life

Here i sit. With high hopes and big dreams. But i am no different to most. "I wanna do this, I'm going to do that" but am i really willing to do what others don't to achieve what others wont? I'd like to think i would do everything to be the best i can but some days that is a lie. The capacity to learn is a gift; The ability to learn is a skill; The WILLINGNESS to learn is a choice and some days its just easier to choose to be mediocre. Why must this pursuit for perfection rule my life? To myself I seem to be like a girl playing idly on the seashore, now and then finding a prettier shell than ordinary, while the great ocean of success lay undiscovered before me. I have had my solutions for a long time, but I do not yet know how I am to arrive at them. I work hard, believe, suffer and sacrifice. The idea that so much suffering can be in vain is intolerable to me, i know persistence is the key but which door does it open? My mum told me when i was very young that God will never give you more then you can handle. and i try to keep this in mind on days like this. Day so dark you wouldn't know them to exist.

But I must get up, dust myself off and pursue these dreams. Maybe I made you believe that it was easy. But I've worked on this these dreams, every single day of my life.

Which is exactly why I must push on, and persist. To chase my dreams through the struggle and hardship because if I don't, the last 16 years of my life had been a build up to nothing. A giant drum roll.

The graveyards are full of irreplaceable people, but only winners are remembered.

Running Free

I beg you to sit back and take stock of your life.

Think about all the memories. The good and the bad ones. And the insignificant ones. Think about your epic failures. And your greatest achievements. Take stock of all the people you've hurt, and those that hurt you. I beg you to just take a minute to think about everything that really matters to you.

Your fights with your best friends. Your goals you didn't achieve. The insignificant memories you've forgotten. The mistakes you never learnt from.

Are you the best person you could be? Are you patient, kind, loving, caring. Forgiving? Can you wipe your hands to the past and better yourself in the future?

Now, remember your greatest success.

Did you savor that moment or did you rush on in a blur of excitement over your own glory?

I rushed mine.

So overwhelmingly excited that my failures were all behind me. So disillusioned into thinking that i never had to deal with struggle or pain or failure because i had shown myself that i CAN achieve anything i set my mind too. I thought all my hard work had finally paid off and i can start taking it easy and it will all take care of itself.

wrong.

The minute you hit the top their is only one way to go.

Down.

And its enviable. Sure, you believe you'll always be on top, you have too otherwise you wont last for a second. But in reality, once your on top, the entire world has now put a target on your back. They're going to be after you like there's no tomorrow. Yeah, one day people will catch you. One day you will fall from grace. The hardest thing about being on top, is staying on top. The key is to be prepared for the fight to stay on top for as long as you possibly can.

You wont win every time. But its important to never expect defeat.

Enter every activity without giving mental recognition to the possibility of defeat. The minute you start thinking about losing, you've already lost. Once your on top, you have to work harder then you ever had to in your entire life just to stay there. All eyes will be on you and the pressure will wear you thin. You will need to be strong. Humble. Courageous, in victory and defeat. But never forget who you are. Or where you came from. Never forget that success that threw you into the spotlight. Remember those who stood by your side when you were less successful.

After you've worked hard to get what you want, take the time to enjoy it.

Don't let your passions become your job. A chore. Never lose your grip on your love for it.

Its only then you can truly be freeee.

Persistence.

I would never want to be the one to admit this, but maybe its easier to be mediocre. To be average. Unspectacular. Unfortunately, this is not a path i choose for myself, however, some say that there is nothing wrong with mediocrity. Those people are quitters, people who are so scared of failure that they resign themselves to the gutter of society, and why? Simply, because their afraid. Not afraid of finding out their own limits and testing their own boundaries. Not overly scared of hard work. They're a little scared of what they could be. But mostly, they're scared if the best they have is not good enough. What if they put the most of themselves out there, not hold anything back, and still fail?

Before i make my point today i want to bring to light the career of possibly the greatest middle distance runner of our time.

Hicham El Guerrouj (comp number 2469)

Olympic career campaign :

1996 Atlanta Olympics. 1500m.

Fell with 400m to go.

2000 Sydney Olympics. 1500m.

Undefeated since his fall in 96, he was found crying in the alley way of the stadium because he knew he hadn't done enough to win. Despite being the world record holder in the event, he was ran down only meters from the line.

After the race he was in tears.

2004 Athens Olympics.

He chased that olympic dream for 8 years. through 3 olympic games. Finally he won his Olympic Gold. His games didnt end there. a couple of days later he ran the 5000m.

Which he won in impressive form. A few days earlier he had no olympic golds. he didnt accept failure. He was not content in his defeat. He came back stronger then ever. Smarter. Determined. He laid everything on the line. And he won. He the 1500m. He won the 5000m.

He now had two golds.

So, it doesnt matter if you fail. As long as you get back up, dust yourself off and try again. No matter how long it may take. Every failure leads to victory if you have the heart, courage and patience to persist, work hard and strive to be the best you can be.

Im not going to lie. It wont be easy.

there will be heartbreak.

failure.

disappointment.

Pain.

There will be times when you will struggle, and be mentally defeated.

Times where you will feel it would be easier to quit.

In those times you need to remember what it felt like to fail.

What disappointment tastes like.

You'll fail a million times. But when you succeed i promise you there will be no greater feeling in the world. it will be worth every second of pain and sacrifice.

There is nothing different between you or me, or Hicham. We are nothing but mere mortals. We we're born the same and we will all die.

He is not superhuman.

He is a dreamer.