10 years
10 years of thinking about it
10 years of saying one day
10 years of doubting her ability to do it
And then she did it
On Sunday Belinda Towk ticked an item of her lists of “one day’s I’d love too……”
After 10 years of doubting her ability to do it, she completed the City to Bay 12km fun run here in Adelaide, and she did it in pretty good time too – 1hr 22mins
But the big deal here isn’t so much the fact that she did the run, it’s what lead to her finally deciding to do it
Just over 12 months ago Belinda separated from her husband of 15 years. Of course this was a really tough time for her. With 3 boys, working and becoming a single mum she had every possible reason to fall in a heap for a while, but she also had the option to step up and shine and that’s exactly what she did.
Belinda was already a member of the studio; taking part in group fitness classes and the Body Shaper program. She was already reasonably fit and quite strong – but she hated to run. I mean honestly hated it; she’d pick 2 mins of burpees over running 400mtrs type of hate!!!
Despite her hate for running she’d always said she’d love to be able to complete the 12km City to Bay. The issue was never her ability to do it, it was the fact she doubted her ability. So she never tried.
Until now…. She decided to try running. She started with small distances, no expectations on herself to do anything other than try; and that’s exactly what she did.
On the 21st May 2019 I got a message from her that she had done her first nonstop 5km run – the exact message was I FINALLY DID IT, 5 fckn km’s no stopping!!!
The message itself resonated the amount of pride she had in herself for achieving that first milestone.
This was a turning point for her. Not a physical turning point, but a mental one.
She started to understand how much she could control her mind and her anxiety around situations. She still didn’t love running, she had anxiety every single run day; but she knew she just had to start and she could coax herself through it.
Some runs were easy, some runs were a big mental battle. But she learnt how to stay focused and calm when her mind and body wanted to have a tantrum and tell her it was all too hard.
For Belinda, her running became a sense of empowerment. She was overcoming something she despised something she has always avoided and struggled with; and not only was she overcoming it she was becoming better and better at it.
Her 10 year dream of doing City to bay kept niggling in the back of her mind, there was still doubt there. Could she actually do it?
She still hadn’t ran over 5km. 5km had become comfortable for her. Could she really double that?
Then on the 18th June she was running and had an epiphany. With all the emotional struggles she’d been going through the last 12 months, she had a “break through” Belinda told me she cried on this run, not because of the run but because of everything she’d gone through. She was doing her 5km run and it was at the 6km mark she realized;
She was strong enough, she was capable enough, she was enough….
And there was nothing that could stop her after that. This day she ran 8km
And 1 week later she registered for the city to bay.
She committed
She trained
And while she was putting the km’s on her legs she was strengthening her resolve and her self-belief.
Running was something she had always avoided because it made her uncomfortable, but stepping out of her comfort zone she realized just how much she could achieve
Imagine for 10 years doubting your ability and then realizing that yes you are capable
I think we can all relate on some level to Belinda’s story.
We all have or have had that self-doubt, we’ve all allowed fear or anxiety to hold us back from something we really wanted.
But imagine living a life where you no longer doubted yourself…. And all those “one day’s I’d love to” where actually achieved.
You can live that life, you just have to take the first step……..