Well it’s now been well over a year since I returned from Sierra Leone… and as I’ve previously mentioned, this trip and challenge ended up opening some doors for me… very interesting ones!
When you set yourself a challenge and not only meet it… but, to put not too fine a phrase to it… smash it!… where do you go next? And it’s one thing to train well and achieve a half marathon, let alone finish a full, in tropical heat and humidity… and in under 5 hours 15 minutes 😉 (yes, I’m still proud of what I achieved that day, and I believe anyone could also achieve it if they wanted to)… but anything else would surely be too huge a step up to contemplate seriously! However, I truly believe that if you really want to do something, you will eventually get there… what’s the saying?
If you really want to do something, you’ll find a way.
If you don’t, you’ll find an excuse.
~~ Jim Rohn ~~
So upon returning home, there just happened to be a half marathon a week later… so I entered, and got not too shabby a time for it. However I already knew I could finish it because 1) walking was possible and 2) I’d jogged the first 11 miles of Sierra Leone non-stop, a PB was guaranteed as it was the first time racing at that distance… and I also had in the back of my mind words repeating from another runner I met in Sierra Leone… who said: “well of course Michelle, once one has completed the Street Child Sierra Leone Marathon, they can only do MdS” (or words to that effect).
For those that haven’t heard of MdS it stands for Marathon des Sables, described as “The toughest footrace on earth”… how daunting is that?!
250km across the Sahara desert in Morocco over a week… a marathon every day, with one day being 80km (the Long March) so that’s a double marathon and a little bit more… and you have to carry everything you need for that week on your back. All that is provided is a tent to shield you from the elements and water to drink through the course.
Daunting actually is an understatement, plain crazy seemed more appropriate… but I watched the trailers, and got goosebumps so I thought I’d sign up. But it wasn’t open. So I couldn’t. It obviously wasn’t meant to be… and I’m not sure if I felt relieved or disappointed… but the seed had been planted… which was then watered with a little internet surfing via Google…
and that next challenge… will be discussed in my next rambling post 😀
Given the news from Western Africa at the moment, please keep the people from Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria in your thoughts… absolutely awful news about the Ebola virus and deaths from it. Prayers sent to those affected and their loved ones, and hopefully it won’t spread any further than it has done already.
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© Michelle Payne
Posted by Dreamweaver Consulting 
Dreamweaver Consulting 