Resolute determination will turn dream to victory
Turning a dream into a goal and then a reality has always seemed like alchemy to me. I’ve never been good at focusing on something and sticking to it. I’m stubborn, but I tend to psych myself out when it comes to audacious goals, opting instead for something lesser.
It’s easy to find reasons to back down when confronted with an enormous challenge, to convince yourself that you’re not good enough.
And, besides, the comfort that comes with taking it easy rather than pushing on is always an attractive lure. Yeah, I have an inherent desire to be lazy.
That’s why my running has always been kinda middle of the pack. And I kinda like it like that.
Which is not to say that I don’t strive for things – races I want to run, times I’d like to hit, adventures I’d like to be fit enough to tackle.
So I think it’s worthwhile listening to people who are good at turning dreams into an actual thing. Besides being fascinated by them, in an armchair psychologist way, I think I can learn from them.
On the Dirt Church Radio podcast this week, co-host Matt Rayment and I spoke to Sam Manson, Christchurch trail runner and multisport athlete.
Manson is the epitome of someone who has worked hard to achieve what he has, with his best result second place this year at Coast to Coast, the epic oneday race over the Southern Alps.
A former Air Force aircraft technician, he only started running competitively once he’d left high school. But it was back at school that he first imagined himself as an elite athlete, and particularly, being interested in doing Coast to Coast.
‘‘I wasn’t just intending to do it, I was intending to try and win it,’’ Manson said. ‘‘I can’t really
explain why, especially with not much sporting experience. I never did well with athletics or cross-country – I was always midfield and I would give it 100 per cent. So there was nothing really to prove that I could win it.’’
He thinks the inspiration may have come from watching competitors in the Lake to Lighthouse race near hometown Wairoa in Hawke’s Bay.
Seeing them paddle past his house along the river to the startline somehow inspired him.
‘‘I remember studying for NCEA exams and going down to the river and watching them and thinking, ‘I really want to beat these guys.’ And it’s really stuck with me, and I never let it go.’’
It’s brilliant for young people to have dreams because you never know where they will lead.
I remember talking to Hamish Carter at the 2004 Olympics, just after he’d won the triathlon, about how he had first dreamed of gold as a kid, watching John Walker win the 1500 metres at Montreal.
It set Carter on a path to that day in Athens, just as watching those multi-sport athletes set Manson on his own path.
But it’s one thing to dream, it’s another to achieve those dreams. For Manson, it meant figuring out how to train, and getting stuck in and doing it.
He started with trail running and it turned out he was pretty good at it, winning races.
He’s still trying to achieve his goal of winning Coast to Coast, but he hasn’t given up trying. I doubt he ever will.
It’s that kind of resolve, that kind of commitment, that kind of methodical, strategic approach and determination which will get him there. And it’s those traits which I reckon can apply no matter where you’re aiming.
Eugene Bingham and Matt Rayment are hosts of a trail running podcast Dirt Church Radio. Learn more at dirtchurchradio.com or get in touch via email at dirtchurchradio@gmail.com