In my work as a running guru, motivational speaker and life coach I speak a lot about fear for women…so much so that I am currently writing a book on the subject.
Often we know we have fears, lots of them…but sometimes we don’t really take time to think about them and look at how they are impacting on our progress in life.
I call these micro fears…they are the little niggling voices which stop us from doing things we know will be of benefit, because of an underlying often unfounded belief that something will go wrong, it will cause us pain or some level of embarrassment.
One of my annoying micro fears is using the phone. I would much prefer to send an email or a text, than pick up the phone and call people, and I know this is absolutely detrimental to my business and possibly even my friendships.
The thing is I often act on these fears without even knowing…like yesterday I was trying to organise childcare for the weekend and rather than pick up the phone to my nearest and dearest friends and family, I instead sent some texts, contacted folks on Facebook and then sat and waited. The waiting was agony…and all it should have taken was a simple phone call.
So what exactly was I afraid of?
Being told no. Being judged. Losing friends. Sounding like an idiot or looking like a bad parent.
None of which was going to kill me, or was likely to happen anyway.
So what has this got to do with running?
Recently we started a new cohort of 5 weeks to 5K, my online running programme for beginners…we have 107 ladies signed up and they are doing really well.
In week 1 we looked at facing our fears and I got the women to list everything they were afraid of…and trust me the lists were long and detailed, all the normal
- I’m scared I might fall over
- I’m scared I’ll give up
- I’m scared my neighbours will see me
- I’m scared I’ll get injured
I knew it wouldn’t be long before the real whammy came
I’m afraid I might actually do it
Imagine that, a woman afraid to succeed. And once one woman admitted to it, everyone else started agreeing too.
I think there is a bit of fear going on at the moment with the programme I am promoting currently, the one where I help women knock significant chunks of time off their 5Ks
Women have been telling me for years that they hate being slow, or that they wish they could run faster so they could take part in parkrun, or join traditional running clubs…
So I wrote a book on the subject “Scream if you want to run faster” which sells very well on Amazon, and has some amazing results.
I then created an 8 week online training programme to help women who needed the structure and accountability of a group to train with.
So far more than 300 women have been through the course, with some incredible results. 6 minutes off, 15% improvement, PBs, Sub 30 minute parkruns…YES this programme works.
It’s a very reasonably priced course, just £39.99…less than £5 a week, and we offer a full money back guarantee if you complete all sessions and don’t improve your time (Spoiler Alert…IT’S IMPOSSIBLE)
Edited – It has 50% off at the moment until tomorrow
So I can only put it down to fear.
Are you scared to get faster?
Sounds silly but let’s just think about what some of the reasons for this might be.
- Being in the spotlight for actually being good at something, or having improvedAs a slow runner I just blend in, nobody is looking at me, I am invisible. Nobody expects great things from me. If I improve my speed I might place in my age group, or get noticed. Perhaps you don’t like drawing attention to yourself.
- What if people put me down, don’t want to run with me any more or think badly of me because I improve?What if my other slow friends think differently about me now? What if people slag me off “Oh she’s changed” “Who does she think she is?”
- What if I get faster and then get slower again”It would be really embarrassing if I get my time right down and then it goes back up again. Is it really worth all that effort? What if I attempt a PB in a race and don’t achieve it…I’d be really disappointed.
- What if I turn into one of those fast runners I don’t like?”We all know that fast runners are horrible right? Nobody will want to talk to me. I will have to be competitive. I won’t fit in with all those whippets.
- What if I become faster and then people expect me to do other things better like losing weight, or running further?Success sounds kinda stressful doesn’t it, then. I’m too busy to achieve great things, I’m already stretched. People will expect me to enter races I don’t want to.
Basically, we are scared of change. Therefore the status quo seems so much more appealing.
But seriously ladies think about how it would feel to knock 3 minutes off your time, think about how good it will feel to run more frequently and to push yourself more than you normally do?
Think about the excitement of going for it on race day? The sense of achievement?
You don’t need to be afraid.
Running faster comes with all kinds of benefits and rewards…and how do you know you won’t like it until you try?
Check out what past participant Dawn has to say about it in this video
Come on 8 weeks of your life, £40, the chance to work closely with me and make new online friends….
Seriously, what’s the worst that could happen? And what is the best?