Capabilities v Willingness

Not sure what happened, it feels like I went to sleep in April with nine months until the start of the Run to Remember, and I have woken up the next morning and we are now inside?35 days!!!

It is something that I have thought about, bordering on?obsessed over, everyday for the last two years. The concept was first given breath in September of 2022, and here we are with the start line very clearly in our sights.? As I travel to Thailand to host a leadership program for a week, it is the last international?trip I will do prior to the start of the run.

If there are thoughts that you can have around the run, I have had them; If there are doubts in my abilities, I have?them; If there has been roads to run, I have run them; The story is out there on the roads of Thailand ; 1411kms and 26 days.

Training only gets us so far

The time is nigh and within a couple of weeks it will all be laid bare.? What the roads of Thailand over the 1411km journey will present, well that remains to be seen. ?The odds of a successful finish, well I guess they are in the balance and I hope to tip them in my favour.??I have run further in a days training than I will need to do on any single day during the Run to Remember. I have run consecutive days of back to back marathons in training but I know nothing can truly prepare me for what lies ahead.? We train, we prepare, we simulate and scenario test, but what I know from responding to crisis situations during my forensic days is that nothing can really prepare you for what lies ahead when it’s the real deal. ?

In my policing days we planned and ran exercises to simulate and test our preparedness for a large scale disaster.? But nothing quite prepares you for the scene presented nor scale of the task ahead when you walk into a temple that has 3500 decomposing bodies on the ground.? Granted there were skills we learnt in the training and simulation testing, but it’s just nothing close to the real thing. ?

It’s not lost on me the parallels between the enormity of the crisis work and the scale of the run I am about to embark on.? It’s also not lost on me that the training I have done to get me ready for the run, the hours and hours of time on my feet, is but a mere scratch of the surface when it comes to running 1411km in 26 days.? Nor is it lost on me that on the final day of run, I will pass through the temple that held that 3500 decomposing bodies.? That will surely be a day of high emotions.?

I have done what I can to get myself ready for the physical and mental test that lies ahead.? Whist it excites me, it also scares the shit out of me.? I know there will be good times, but they will pass, I also know there will be tough times, but they too will pass.? The time is fast approaching when what I am capable of doing will not matter as much as what I am willing to do.?

What all of this looks like come December, what the finish looks like, all of that right now is speculative, because until it’s run, until it’s done, we just don’t know how it turns out.? I’m learning that the confidence and courage doesn’t come to us before we do it, the courage comes from doing it.? It’s an outcome of the event, not something that arrives prior.?

Time to scare yourself?

When we do something big, something that is big enough to scare us, my experience is we grow.? The benefits are both measurable and immeasurable.? My resting heart rate sits in the mid 40’s.? My VO2Max is 50 (still not sure what that means) and probably without surprise, I am likely the fittest I have been in decades, if not ever.? They are measurable benefits.? But the immeasurable ones are where I count myself the luckiest.? The depth that my relationship with my wife has gone as we jointly prepare for this is a gift I didn’t see coming. I have never felt more supported by one person in anything that I have done, period.? The shared experience that lies ahead for the entire crew is something that excites me and I know I will cherish in the years of reflection after the run. ?

If you see merit in the concept, as I do, that doing something big delivers benefits, don’t wait for the courage to arrive before embarking on your journey.? Of course the Run to Remember is right for me, but for you it might be singing without fear of judgement, it might be starting or ending a relationship, or perhaps it’s walking the Camino de Santiago.?

I embark on the Run to Remember, starting the 1st of December, not with courage, not even with 100% confidence I will finish, but a wonderment for the journey and the learnings it will deliver along with?certainty of a?determination to give it a red hot cracking go.?

How to follow the Run to Remember?

Should you have interest in following the journey you can do so via instagram peterbaines, you can support via our fundraising page or join in on our activities here at home. ?We will be hosting a month long activity in?Australia, New Zealand and Thailand that you can join in with, and we will launch that in the coming week.?