How To Overcome Your Limiting Beliefs, and Achieve Much More Than You Think

Here’s how doing this helped me complete my first marathon.

Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash

How many times have you written yourself off, or passed on opportunities due to beliefs like:

“I’m not smart enough”

“I’m not fit enough”

“I’m too old to do that”

In December 2022 I decided I wanted to run a marathon. At the time I had completed a couple of halves but was very much a stop-start runner — relying on the trusted walk a bit, run a bit technique for getting round.

The idea of running a marathon filled me with a mixture of uncertainty, fear, and excitement. But the most overriding feeling was one of disbelief. I didn’t tell many people I was training for a marathon as I didn’t think I could actually do it.

Then in May 2023, I completed my first marathon. Yes, it was flat, and no I didn’t smash my time. But I achieved something I didn’t previously believe was possible for me.

Training for, and then running 26.2 miles is as much a mental journey as it is a physical one. There is something about pushing your body past its limits that challenges your brain like nothing else.