ISpeak Training & Consulting, P. O. Box 362, Dar es Salaam (2026)

13/04/2018

MARATHON ACCOMPLISHMENT HAS NEVER BEEN A JOKE,
SO IS THE SUCCESSFUL LIFE
What a Running Route can teach us about Life

Life is multifaceted. It is perceived differently by different individuals based on the knowledge level and cultural attributes of the respective person. The summation of our life struggle, dreams and goals can be portrayed through everyday activities. The only thing that we all need is an eagle eye which allows us to see the meaningful aspects of our life through the reflection of daily performed activities. Marathon is one among many activities accomplished by runners that can easily be applicable in demarcating the in-depth analysis of a true meaning of life.
This piece of work is a simple reflection of the lifetime struggle through the Dar Rotary and Kilimanjaro marathon accomplishments and experiences, sharing insightful knowledge that will make us understand what a running route can teach us about life.
Our Minds Control Everything.
“Believe you can and you are halfway there”-Theodore Roosevelt
Running has taught me that my body goes where my mind goes. My mind controls every activity and action I take in life. The marathons taught me to use my mind to drive my body to the finish line. The mind has always been my weapon that dictates my bodily actions. The phrase “Run with my Mind” became my philosophy which pushes my body to believe in resilience towards accomplishment. It’s through thought that your goal can be accomplished in life. In life, how I think has a tremendous effect on what I believe, how I treat those around me, how I behave and how I feel and react. Think positive, to feel positive, to live positive.
The Importance of Great Preparation
“It’s better to be prepared for an opportunity and not have one than to have an opportunity and not be prepared”-Les Brown
Getting to the finish line has never been an easy task for the runner. It requires great preparation. The better a person is prepared for the race, the easier it gets in the end. It requires a great deal of preparation; mentally, physically, emotionally and psychologically to complete the race. Running has taught me that it cannot be reduced to just run the course ad it is not about getting to the finish line. Training plan should be the key factor taken into account by a runner. I did not want to hear people talking about running. I wanted to experience it by challenging myself and see how much I can do before leaving this world. I decided to start running after having completed 9 kilometres walks in at least 4 marathon events I had participated. I decided to start this project with 2017 Dar Es Salaam Rotary Marathon and I had to prepare myself by setting and sticking to my plan for at least one month, running 13.2 km every evening after work. I had no more spare time on weekdays and I had to work hard to achieve my target. Knowing that there should be severe pain throughout the process, I had to positively develop a concept “celebrate pain” to motivate myself to keep forging forward. I knew that I must undergo some severe pain that can easily make me even want to quit should I fail to develop a positive mental readiness. I learnt how to train myself to be resilient to overcome the set goal of 21 kilometres. I had to train myself to accept pain every day of my life, cultivating a strong mind as I made myself learn to force my feet to go further than my body might want to make me believe it can reach. I forced myself to believe that pain is temporary contrary to permanency of achievement.
This successful journey laid a foundation to my future marathon endeavour. Unknowingly, without questioning my heart, I got myself registered for the tough and painful 2018 Kilimanjaro Marathon. It took three consecutive weeks of practice, doing 14 kilometres every four days of the week to attend this international runners’ event. I have learnt my lesson that I need to get prepared for whatever goals I plan to accomplish in life. Life is not easy; I need to be ready to accept pain and torture as well as tolerance and patience during preparation period. Preparation is a must for every life goal that we need to attain, being it searching for career paths, searching for life partners, seeking for promotions in workplaces, searching for life purpose and unlocking potentials. Running portrays that we all need to be prepared for future challenging tasks beforehand should we need to be successful in life.
The painful experiences of the Half Marathon experience have toughly taught me that there will be no success in life without preparation as well as resilience and the spirit of overcoming are being accepted as the crucial processes for this successful journey.
The Value of Daily Workout
"What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals." —Zig Ziglar

It might be shared to the entire world that, as a runner, there is a huge amount of work that you are supposed to have done before. People might cheer you on upon seeing you getting to the marathon finish line without knowing how hard you might have worked to accomplish such an activity. You will hear them say something like “Wow, that’s so awesome! I wish I could do it!” The truth behind this success will not be known to anybody, as you have always been busy, pushing forward every second of every routine day. The hours of training you had to undergo for you to make it through the task will always be within your mind. Pain and sweat should always be a part of your workout life. No one will ever experience that except you. Daily workout is a must for you to win the race. It is naked truth that running requires commitment and small steps in which you improved your performance with every new workout. Working hard daily to get used to the distance and training my body and mind to be resilient, taught me a lot about endurance in life, that nothing comes easy, it takes much practice. One thing that difficulty of running taught me endurance in life situations, that life is very tough, so you need to be tougher than life itself to conquer it. You need to have a vision of your dream, create a plan on how to tackle challenges along the way and work on it daily.
Working towards a goal on a daily basis paints a picture of hope for the future. In this case, building of a house requires an accumulation of materials in phases, preparing yourself before final examination demands full adherence to study plan every day, learning how to become an effective public speaker requires a person’s attendance to conferences only to start with asking questions or uttering of quotations. The daily workout should transform your behaviour that will automatically change you completely.
Just Take One Step at a Time
“You don’t have to be great to get started, but you have to get started to be great”-Les Brown
The truth is one needs not be afraid to run a race. Have no fear, start practicing slowly and you will manage with time. As anonymous adds that “in time even a rope may cut a rock”, so is you taking one step at a time. Challenges can be conquered by taking the first step. Running taught me to value every small victory in my life knowing that I need to start with one today to have two tomorrow.
Just the thought of running 21kilometres had me feeling overwhelmed and tired. But my mind reminded me to focus on a single accomplishment without questioning myself if and how I can make it to the finish line. Every step counts and it should push you further toward the destination.
I learnt that I need to take it one kilometre at a time and stay present in the moment, pushing toward the end of the race. People will applaud you for the great achievement. It is very true; this accomplishment is just a sum of a lot of very small steps you took to achieve that big dream.
The same is true in life. We should accept hardships of life, facing the struggle and take every challenge one moment at a time, every goal one stage at a time. The truth remains that small victories and actions repeated day by day transform into meaningful milestones.
Build the Positive Attitude
"If you're going through hell, keep going." —Winston Churchill
As a runner, you must stick to your training plan regardless of the emotions you find yourself in. Sometimes while in training you might not feel motivated to move forward because of being tired and exhausted. But because everything you do is the sum of all the small things you encourage yourself to do it, you will have to make your brain believe that pain is always temporary. It is a normal process of transition from one stage of an activity to another.
Running has emotionally and physically taught me to separate my actions from my feelings. It very difficult to control your mood, but you can always control your actions. “You can decide to do it nonetheless. You can decide to do it even if you don’t feel at your best shape right now. It is this choice that makes you become a stronger version of yourself, because it is this attitude that separates the successful people from the people who say they want to be successful”-Anonymous.
Life is always tough and I have learnt that becoming stronger version of me requires development of a new cultivated behaviour of perseverance. I needed to tolerate enough pain to get to the finish line. This creates a habit of perseverance to challenges of life, whether a person is searching for a job, struggling with relationship or being discontinued from college. Positivity in everything builds confidence and hope to people to overcome whatever challenges they face in life.
Take ownership of your own race
It’s your road and yours alone. Others may walk it with you, but no one can walk it for you”-Rumi
Just like what Jim Rohn remarked that “no one can do push ups for you”, so is running. Nobody can run for you. You must run the race by yourself. It is true that there might be some friends running with you, yet in the end you are the only one to put one leg in front of the other. Nobody can force you to keep pushing but your mind and heart should work together to make you get to the finish line. It requires self-discipline to even decide to participate in a marathon. If it is your decision to do so, you have no choice than making this desire in your mind come true. Every runner suffers his/her own way during marathon event
Just like everything else in your life. There is no one to pull you from the muddy swamp. In case of experiencing hard time, don’t expect anyone to get you out of your bad life situation. Some people around may encourage you with some ideas that can assist you to get out of your crisis. But you need to stand on your own, take charge on your own life in pursuance of your goals. It is your full responsibility to handle your own business. In such circumstance, marathon has taught me that you cannot torture other people around you with your problems. Learn how to deal with them by yourself and as a God’s masterpiece, you should be an inspiration for others to do the same. You must take ownership of your own life the way you take care of your own race.
No man is an Island
"The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others." —Mahatma Gandhi

People around you might wish to be like you, dream to own a medal like you. It is refreshing to know a lot of people will always love what you do and they won’t hesitate to show their support in time of need. It is a life lesson from partners sharing the same route with you. You will never run alone. Someone will extend hands to support you when faced with life challenges. I noticed some people wanting me to try running their race, some smiled at me at the toughest part of the race and others gave a thump up sign to motivate me to step further when I was about to give up. I saw Alphonce Mpeka and Bernard Barnabas, my co-workers holding out their hands for me to give a high five in 2018 Kilimanjaro Marathon. Drawing strength from them to push forward, made me more comfortable, as they overtook me. “See you on top”, that is what I told them.
Other runners become your friends and the only family you get in the route. I can still recall the face of the unknown brother who bought bottles of water for some of us including my friend Laurian Francis Kasavubu who was running with me then after being informed by one of the organizers that no more drinking water for the runners when approaching one of the route’ stations in 2017 Dar Rotary Marathon. We didn’t run with money and it was almost 18 km distance covered! I had realized a lot of little things around me all the time that made the journey more enjoyable. So, in life, people are always around you to give you more encouragement as you face hardships. They are the greatest gift in life. You just should keep an eye on them!
Pain is Temporary
“Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever." - Lance Armstrong
I was about to give up in 2018 Half Kilimanjaro Marathon after getting a muscle cramp. Running through the rough muddy route, freezing from severe cold, sliding on some wet stones and hills of the tarmac tropical land created painful moment my mind will never forget. I had my running philosophy established some days before to inspire my soul and body to be ready to face the monster. However, my philosophical slogan changed from simply “run with your mind” to “never walk, slow your pace and keep running” soon after such a painful experience. This phrase gave me strength and courage to move on without stopping. In my mind, I had been repeating these motivational words as I pushed forward. In much painful feeling experienced in exactly 8 kilometres to go, I felt courage and strength to move on and running became easy and possible without stopping. I had such a joyful pain during my medal celebration at the finish line and I enjoyed it.
Every time I put my eyes on my medals hanged on the wall, they remind me of the painful moment enjoyed in every marathon I participated. The sense of accomplishment prints the picture of the positive rewards I have always been getting from sticking to my workout and finally finishing the marathon. These rewards learnt from the marathon are the actual development of the habit of perseverance and commitment, clearly focusing on one goal to be accomplished in life, increasing of the self-worth and removing of fearful doubts which might be holding me back for years, pushing my limits and unlocking potentials and abilities deep inside my heart which I did not know they exist in my life and seeing myself becoming healthy and stronger today as a result of strengthening muscles and weight loss. These are core ingredients for a happy and healthy life all human beings require. Prioritization and time management in life can also be learnt from running in a way a runner manages time effectively in working on the daily workouts and marathon events participation.
Impossible is Possible
“It always seems impossible until it’s done”-Nelson Mandela.
During the 2nd or 3rd kilometre of a marathon our focus is on the fact that we still have 18 kilometres to go, it’s easy to get overwhelmed and feel afraid. We can decide to question ourselves if and how we can make it to the finish line. But if we take it 1 kilometre at a time and stay present in the moment, we will soon overcome the challenges. The same is true in life. Whether we’re starting a challenging new job, becoming a parent for the first time or struggling with a relationship, we should take every challenge one step, one day, one moment at a time. Just as in running, progress starts with self-belief, patience and consistency. We can do hard things, but we have to soften our hearts and minds, give ourselves permission and time to win life.
Hard work pays
“If you do what is easy, your life will be hard. But if you do what is hard, your life will be easy”-Les Brown.
I have a belief that there are no shortcuts to any place worth going. In running, there are no shortcuts as well. You must follow the route to get to finish line for you to accomplish the objective. Doing what’s right, not what’s easy is the secret to success. It takes hard work, dedication, commitment, discipline and sometimes sacrifices to achieve our goals. Whether a person is dreaming of building a house, getting married, saving money, or writing a story book. If we are willing to put in the work, our life will always become easy. We will be happy and we will give our lives more purpose and meaning than we could ever imagine. Running has taught me to keep my struggle alive, without allowing fear to conquer my dreams. Working hard in a smart way will ultimately take me to the highest level of my life accomplishment.
Disappointment is a source of massive accomplishment
“The best revenge is massive success”- Frank Sinatra
I had Les Brown’s powerful words linger in my mind as I stood with my shaking legs that, “anytime you suffer a setback or disappointment, put your head down and plow ahead”. But these words didn’t seem enough to make me understand the situation I had been going through. I closed my eyes for a minute and heard other motivational words crossing my mind. “In running, falling short of a big goal on race day can feel defeating. When we put our heart and soul into training, it can be devastating when that commitment doesn’t pay off on the course. It’s ok to fail. In fact, failing makes us better”-Anonymous.
I personally learnt this lesson in 2017 when I was very ready to participate in the then Half Kilimanjaro Marathon. I took enough time to prepare, quenched with a thirst of testing the salt of my own body, desire of watching the flowing blood from my own ni***es and experience of the cold blood wet condition of Kilimanjaro land. Just like a blink of an eye, on the starting line of that special day, my heart felt tears of disappointment after realizing that I had been registered by a trustworthy friend of mine to walk 5 kilometres for fun instead of 21 kilometres challenging run. I had no choice than to wipe my tears, dry my cheeks and swear to participate in the 2018 Kilimanjaro Marathon to ease the existed pain. Man proposes and God opposes. God had reasons to take me out of the race on that day. He might have foreseen the naked-eyes unseen prevailing problems. I believed that He might have seen that I was not ready enough to hit the route running. I accepted the situation and stood along the route to watch the runners while waiting for my colleagues to finish the race. Like most things in life, the moments of disappointment are often where we learn our greatest lessons that make us do differently or better in the future. We should embrace our moments of hardship or failure so that we can better prepare ourselves for battle and joy on the next journey. We normally feel that the pain would never go away when we broke up with our first love, fail in our final examinations or got passed up on a job interview. Setback is very normal and all of us have different experiences resulted from being disappointed. We should all know that we learn something from those experiences that makes us stronger and wiser every day. And, we must often realize the truth behind that there is something better waiting for us down the road. I accomplished my 2018 Half Marathon because I failed to run for 2017 Half Marathon of Kilimanjaro.
Never Give Up
“Just because fate doesn’t deal you the right cards, it doesn’t mean you should give up. It just means you have to play the cards you get to their maximum potential”-Les Brown.
Marathon has always been tough. As well, life is not meant to be easy, it is meant to be lived. It’s true that life can go up and down sometimes, as it has never meant to be straight. It sometimes become amazing and other times rough, but with every up and down experience, we learn lessons that make us strong and confident. As a human being, when you are being faced with difficulties on your down day, you wonder whether you will find the strength to overcome the setbacks in your life. Never give up, stay positive and strong as great things take time. Give yourself a belief that everything will come to pass. It is perfectly normal to feel small when you are being attacked with tough situations, but we need to keep pushing harder despite the painful feeling we experience in life. I believe that winners are not those who never fail, but those who never quit. Don’t ever forget that quitting is giving up! Running has strengthened me, cementing my mind with a belief that, it is okay to be scared, knocked down, disappointed, lost in battle and fail. It is very okay, a person should never give up in life no matter how hard the situation may be. I know that it takes a lot of courage to push through hard times but the difficult moments will soon pass and something beautiful is going to happen. Never give up as good things are coming your way. Marathon routes are always tough, rough and hard but runners with winning mentality get to the finish line despite the challenges. The truth remains that this life has been given to you because God knows for sure that you are strong enough to live it. The courage to continue running taught me the slight difference between losers and winners that never give up attitude is the only difference between successful and unsuccessful people. We all have dreams in our life and most of us lose faith in overcoming our struggles because of the time it takes to accomplish them. The time will pass anyway and life will go on. If it is something you really dream to accomplish in life, never give up. It is difficult to wait, but more difficult to regret. As Albert Einstein remarks that “it is not that I am too smart, it is just that I stay with problems longer”. Your dreams do not have an expiry date. Stay focused, never lose faith, take a deep breath and try again. I almost quit 2018 half Kilimanjaro Marathon when my left leg experienced muscle cramp. That painful feeling wanted to take me out of the route, exactly 8 kilometres down the road but my mind had strongly denied and wanted me to stay on line more positively. I did not want to compare my struggles with anyone else’s, as some runners became walkers, others quietly stepped out of the route, some were down seeking help from officials and others were overtaking me as if we were in the initial steps of the starting line. In this regard, the feeling of not being discouraged by the success of others was something to be learnt at that point. I was the only one to make my own path, running for myself as a master of my own destiny. It has been learnt that success in life comes when a person simply refuses to give up, with goals so strong that obstacles, failure and loss only act as motivation.
Every Medal is the Foundation of a New Race
“Every finishing line is the beginning of a new race”-Lil Wayne
Every accomplished marathon sets a ground for a new race. Running made me realize that as human beings, we normally set goals and work tirelessly to accomplish them. However, we usually feel uncomfortable because of being unsatisfied with what might have been achieved, once we are done with such accomplishments as they make our eyes open to clearly see other aspects of life we might have always been missing. We feel like going on with our desires because our lives have never stopped demanding new things from us. Every successful peak we make in life requires us to keep fighting for what lies ahead. Marathon accomplishment has taught me that nothing is ever impossible to get and the demand for what might have seemed impossible to be attained becomes an illusion. It has made me realize that much more kilometres which seem to be impossible for me to reach can be done as well. In my mind, doing 21 kilometres had seemed impossible by the time I started joining marathon events for 9 kilometres fun walks, forcing my head to accept that I belong in the corporate world which requires network building accomplished through meeting new business people on routes. Then with time, I learnt that my body wants more painful challenges than what might have been experienced. My heart, mind, body and soul agreed on one objective of establishing a desire to accomplish the next marathon level. The half marathon which requires intensive discipline and hard work to be done made me a slave of my own desires. One thing that we should all learn can be portrayed by a clear picture of amazing elementary schools we attended in our early academic journey or the joyful sound of hand claps by our relatives or colleagues after being recognized for commitment and hardworking in our workplace environment. The blue prints of every step of accomplishment we made along the way tell us a lot about fighting once more we are done with one achievement. My heart wishes to see me making 42 kilometres one day! I still need room to engage my mind before making such a wonderful decision. One of the runners, among others who inspire me to even think of this new step is known as Jazzy, got her in the “Runners Family”. I bet she is the running monster and I really admire her. She makes me realize that even a slow paced 42 kilometres full marathon is very possible for every one of us to make should we decide to participate. Our success is a result of a combination of several activities and projects done one after another. We should all embrace the hopeful feeling that every accomplishment is a foundation laid for the forthcoming challenges in life.

Running is the Vital Ingredient of Life
"The meaning of life is to give life meaning." —Ken Hudgins
The greatest lesson I have learnt from running is the highest expectation that all human beings should live the way we run. Every time I start to think about the way I run, I see smiling faces and laughter I have always been sharing with my running partners during race preparation and marathon participation. I have been meeting several runners on the road working on their daily routines or fighting in the marathon battles to get to the finish lines. Knowing that we have common interest, I normally see passion on their faces as they run. This makes me think about the joyful moments I have experienced every time I cross the finish line and exceed my expectations. Running wants me to embrace it, protect it with love and passion throughout life. It has always made me realize the existence of the inspiration found in the running community. I have always been having a picture of my true inspiration, Yassin Mchondo who introduced me to “The Runners”, a huge community of professional and non-professional runners. This running community has changed me a lot. It has made me think about the sense of empowerment I get from choosing to keep running when giving up would be easier. Running offers healthy friends to run with every day, add runners with joy and happiness, growth and empowerment, passion and love. Running is the vital ingredient of life in a sense that successful life requires same things running offers to runners.

Peter Celestine Bahemana
Executive Director
Keen Insights Training Agency

ISpeak Training & Consulting

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