“From the first kilometre, I was really comfortable. I have been training for this for four and a half months, I have been putting my heart and mind to run under two hours for a marathon and make history. – Eliud Kipchoge, marathon world record holder.
The thing is, we could say this is true, and it’s false.
It’s false in that in 2017, Eliud attempted to go sub two hours already in the Nike “Breaking-2” attempt. He came in 25 seconds behind his target (still setting the fastest marathon ever at 2:00:25).
In fact, when we look back, we could argue that Eliud has spent his whole life “training” for his sub-two hour record.
It’s true however, because of his intent.
For athletes, intent is extremely important. Once intent is created, a good athlete (of any level) will go to war on the task. And when the time comes, she will be ready, and comfortable.
Why would she or he be afraid or overly excited? Intent has been there this whole time. This means that everything is prepared. Everything has been done.
It will unfold as it will – there is nothing left to do except execute. Even a negative surprise will be OK, because they have done everything they can.
It’s only when we haven’t cultivated intent with our task that we become distracted or nervous. We know we haven’t done our best in the preparation.
The fact that Eliud ran his whole life was key. But the fact that he created intent over four months before this event took place was critical.
