Sometimes you may need to lose the battle to win the war!  You need to look at the battle as being the “current picture” and the war as being the “bigger picture”.  There will be times when you have to concede defeat.  You may be nursing an injury that is just not improving.  This may mean that you have to withdraw from running a particular race.  Rather ‘lose’ this race so that you are able to be on the start line for the main race, namely Comrades! 

The “battle” may also represent a personal issue that you need to resolve before being able to apply the necessary focus to training and running Comrades.  A friend of mine, Briggett Smit, was pulled off the road around the chicken farms during the 2004 up run.  It was her novice run and things were not going according to plan.  She was also pretty distracted, for good reason, she was getting married the following week!  See my pages on focus and baggage!

 I invited Briggett to share the stage with Lindsay Weight the following year and relate her experience of 2004 with the Fish Hoek Athletic Club Comrades training group.  What struck me most about Briggett’s approach was how she turned a negative encounter into a positive experience.  She used the words “did not succeed” rather than “I failed” to describe her 2004 attempt.  The following year Briggett was able to use this losing experience in a very positive way and was able to complete her first Comrades Marathon.  For Briggett, Comrades was both her battle and her war! 

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Key words: lose, win, battle, war, running, positive, Comrades
Internal links: injury, keeping the focus, Comrades, no baggage allowed, Lindsay Weight, novice run, chicken farms, up run
External links: Official Comrades Marathon website, Fish Hoek Athletic Club

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