Changes - David Bowie

Time may change me - Bowie

Anybody can change. But you can’t change yesterday. Lots of people live life looking in the rear-view mirror - it’s not about what’s gone it’s about the way ahead. You can’t change what’s gone but you can shape the future, and that future for me was a sheet of blank A4 paper. 

I knew the things I didn’t want to do anymore. I didn’t want to drink, I didn’t want to smoke, I didn’t want to eat rubbish food. I didn’t want to waste my time. That was the hard thing. I was wasting my time, I was wasting my life, I was going to waste my future. 

 

What I could do was to shape the things that the new Rory Coleman was going to do on one side of A4. 

 

It was a truly exciting moment. A moment when I thought, okay what shall I do? I know I’ll start by getting fit.

 

After standing on the scales, I went for a run from my front door on a very cold and wet January evening in 1994, for about 100 steps it turned out, in my jeans, my winter jacket and my leather shoes because I hadn’t any running gear. There was no Internet to go to, and research how to run, so I just thought ‘let’s do it’. And passed out after 100 steps but it didn’t matter because I’d found my thing.

 

For any budding marathon runner, London is always the bait, is always the lure, and I signed up for the London Marathon in April 1995. 56 days post my first marathon in Telford, I was lighter, faster, fitter and literally I jogged around in 3 hours 54 minutes. Marathons one and two ticked off…

 

Going past Cutty Sark, going over Tower Bridge, running over the cobbles (you did back then), and then turning that final corner by Buckingham Palace, I was caught on the BBC TV highlights coming over of the line, arms in the air, and that was it. 

 

I’d arrived and it was just the most amazing feeling ever. 

 

And I loved it so much that I went and ran another marathon the week after and another one the week after that. And I’ve been running marathons every 8.7 days since. 

 

You see, I believe everyone’s elite. We’re bombarded by eliteness. We see eliteness all of the time. We see athletes, musicians, entertainers and we look at these people. They’re household names, aren’t they?

 

I’m not a household name, far from it, but I’ve pushed myself as far as my body and mind can go. I’ve wrung out every last drop of effort I’ve ever been able to muster and put it into what I’ve done so far in life. 

 

Anything is possible. Literally anything. 

 

We all love to be inspired by people, inspirational people that can tell you just how amazing they are.

 

Well, you’re amazing too. It’s just that you haven’t realised how amazing you are.

1,232 Marathons - 290 Ultras - 18 MDS - 10 GWR - One Big Change in 1994