Calling all the Heroes - It Bites

Lyrics:- 'Call all the hero ooo oh ooo ohs' - Dunnery

Song Choice:- I bet you've sung along to this one if you've listened to it in the car, I know I have and I still love the false endings and extended version. I'm not sure why 'It Bites' never really capitalised on this #6 hit - maybe the band's name wasn't 'Memorable' enough. 

I had to Google them for this blog, but I knew the song and for a band to be successful,  they need to be the whole package and also associate themselves with bands of a similar genre, which sadly they didn't. They're worth a look though and this video is of them on Top of the Pops, 31 years ago yesterday, so near to success and yet missed it by a mile.

'It Bites', like a lot of people simply miss their calling? You see, being 'Memorable' is the most important part of being successful - especially now our 'engagement spans' have been shortened by the digital age. Apparently, we have less than eight seconds to grab peoples attention on a website and on Apple iTunes probably less to decide whether a tune will 'play or skip'. We scan people in this way too...

Having just tested this theory on 'It Bites' next album, 'Once Around The World', it was more like three seconds and all the tracks sounded like 'Calling all the Heroes'... So maybe, that was their downfall as well.

Being 'Different' plays a big part in the route to success too, especially if your product or service is stacked alongside similar products on a shelf. Being 'Highly Recommended' or having a 'Five Star' rating speaks volumes nowadays and being a 'Hero' is also about being 'Consistent' as you are only as good as your last 'win'. We all know a Premier League Manager, will soon be an Ex-Premier League Manager following a run poor results.

Second chances, are less of an option with our 'Channel Hopping' lifestyles. Making one's mark is.

So if you want to become a 'Hero' you'll need to 'Memorable', Different' and 'Consistent' especially if you are looking for long-term success. Sticking to your principles, standing out from the crowd and having a clear voice also helps - as if you don't shout about yourself who will?

Who's calling your name today? 

Rory Coleman - 997 Marathons - 244 Ultras - 14 Marathon des Sables

9 Guinness World Records - 8,623 Days' Alcohol Free - 471 Days' post GBS
& 1 Inspirational Running Memoir

Location: Cardiff, Wales.

Search for the Hero - M People

Yesterday's Heroes

Lyrics:- 'And that's why you should keep on aiming high' - Pickering & Heard

Song Choice:- There are no excuses needed for choosing this 1995 hit from the brilliant M People especially following last week's Athletics World Championships. The exit of Farah and Bolt only underlined to me that every generation needs their own Heroes to follow and be to inspired by.

It did make me wonder how long they'd remain such an inspiration as looking back over the years, I've highlighted six international Heroes above that I'm not sure that many folk would be able to name forty years on. I've met two of them, working with one of them and racing against another. So, let's see who knows the answers eh?

Anyway, my thoughts today are more about YOU becoming more of YOUR own Hero - as  Superstars, however inspirational they are, don't stay Superstars last forever.

I wonder how many of our children's generation will be able to recognise Scott, Shackelton, Hilary and Fiennes in the future, or my all-time hero Neil Armstrong.

Hopefully they'll remember yours though and why not make them proud of YOU and YOUR achievements  - so go on, 'Keep aiming high' and be a Hero.

Amen.

Rory Coleman - 997 Marathons - 244 Ultras - 14 Marathon des Sables

9 Guinness World Records - 8,622 Days' Alcohol Free - 470 Days' post GBS
& 1 Inspirational Running Memoir

Location: Cardiff, Wales.

Starlight - The Supermen Lovers

Lyrics:- 'And faith is all you need to be the one' - Wilson, Pvel & Terenzi

Song Choice:- This track from the French composer and electronic music producer Guillaume Atlan cropped us yesterday on my iPhone and the lyrics fit in nicely with today's blog. It's well worth another listen too but make sure you get the extended mix as you'll get the groove for longer.

Anyway, it's the 'Supermen' part that I'm interested in for today's blog as the curtain finally came down on Farah and Bolt's track careers last night, and the end of this era couldn't really go by without some kind of comment could it?

You see, it would be far too easy to say it was one championship too many for both guys and that the writing was on the wall especially for Sir MO's 10km and 5km double. He looked really knackered in the 5km heats although he did finish one place ahead of my bronze medal prediction.

The BIG question from all of this is - when is a good time to stop? It's a tough call as careers are short in athletics terms, with a small window of high-cash opportunity and with Nike and Puma throwing huge levels of sponsorship at both athletes, plus exclusive endorsements with 'Quorn' and 'Virgin Media' bolstering their pensions - well, who wouldn't keep going for as long as possible especially if your last race heralded your last good pay packet?

The shame I thought was how quickly the public and the media quickly switched their attention from this anti-climax to the GB 4x100m Relay Gold Medallist’s, as you and I both know, the great British Public really loves a winner, but it must be the latest winner and sadly the 'Mo-Bolt' is now part of history.

Amen.

Rory Coleman - 997 Marathons - 244 Ultras - 14 Marathon des Sables

9 Guinness World Records - 8,621 Days' Alcohol Free - 469 Days' post GBS
& 1 Inspirational Running Memoir

Location: Cardiff, Wales.

Devil's Food - Alice Cooper

Eventually you need to leave the Devil behind...

'You're just another spirit on parole' - Cooper, Ezrin & Fordham

Song Choice:- Taken from the brilliant 1975 album 'Welcome to my Nightmare' there's probably no one more qualified than Alice Cooper about 'addiction' and about 'living' in ones own 'living nightmare hell'.

Well apart from me of course... and this week has really tried my patience with folk being so daft in one way or another.

You see, the thing that really makes my blood boil is when folk think that their ' 'nightmares' are over, dip back into their own ways thinking that they are back in control, and their 'Failure Enabler Peer Group' go all 'Mr. Floppy' on them and say 'There, there' and we are all human etc. etc BS.

When will people ever realise that 'addicts' simply can't dip in and out of their 'addictions'. Erm that's to the 'addicts' as well as their 'Failure Enabling' friends.

Scrolling back 23 years, I had to ditch EVERY single person associated with my own 'addiction' and RESET my standards of being 'alcohol' and 'Failure Enabler' free. If you really want to be clean, you have to avoid these people and situations where it can be only too easy to slip up. Why stop smoking and still have a couple of cigarettes if you do the rest of the week fag free? Why eat a handful of nuts if you've already lost 30kgs if you are a food-a-holic?

Believe me you have to STOP for good, that's FOREVER and these people aren't your friends. Take the 'Devil' out of your life that's messing it up as the 'Devil' will live on in those that keep dipping into the 'Devil's Food' and if you are one of those so called friends saying that it's ok to have a 'relapse', it's not - so please SHUT UP.

These 'Spirits are only just out on parole'...and haven't found FREEDOM yet.

Amen.

Rory Coleman - 997 Marathons - 244 Ultras - 14 Marathon des Sables

9 Guinness World Records - 8,620 Days' Alcohol Free - 468 Days' post GBS
& 1 Inspirational Running Memoir

Location: Cardiff, Wales.

Promised you a miracle - Simple Minds

Lyrics:- 'Life throws a curve' - Burchill & Kerr

Song Choice:- Oh dear, I've got my preaching head on again today and I've really got a bee in my bonnet about Facebook Groups for folk wanting to quit alcohol for good or, significantly reduce their boozing habits. Or should I say 'addiction' as that's what it really is. There you are, I said it - although I would as I'm someone who's prepared to talk about the 'Elephant in the Room' and not dance around the subject.

What I don't get is for the 5000+ people I've been watching who are in two such groups is that they are SO forgiving of each other's weaknesses and on seeing others trip up's say 'there, there' instead of 'TRY HARDER AND NEVER EVER FAIL AGAIN AS BEING ADDICTED TO ALCOHOL IS MESSiING UP YOUR LIFE YOU IDIOT'. But you can't write stuff like that can you? If you do, you get a lot of stick but folk should be able to take that as they have self-declared their addiction by being part of a group of other addicts in the first place.

One person wrote to one of my posts about a book not being the answer to getting plastered, 'Lots of people find(Ing) it helpful to understand a bit more about alcohol and how it works. I think it's great that people use books as a way to reflect on their own drinking'. My reply was that it's actually NEVER drinking again. To that one I got the 'We are all different' 'One size doesn't fit all' response which really sucks as it simply isn't true. We are all human. We all need our serotonin agitating and adrenalin pumped to keep us HAPPY and can function a lot better without alcohol in our systems. 

I wonder when we'll finally wake up to the fact that alcohol is a very powerful drug that over one million people in the UK are addicted to it. Two million children live with parents that are alcohol dependent and is the cause of 10,000 deaths due to driver intoxication each year. So yes, you can read a few books, do a Google on the subject, find some others whom are in the same predicament as you are BUT the real answer is to STOP.

STOP promising miracles, Stop talking and writing about it and bloody well START living your life alcohol free. When you do, your own miracles, you know the one's you promised will then START to happen. 

Mine did...and yours can too. 

Keep the Faith...

Rory Coleman - 997 Marathons - 244 Ultras - 14 Marathon des Sables

9 Guinness World Records - 8,618 Days' Alcohol Free - 466 Days' post GBS
& 1 Inspirational Running Memoir

Location: Cardiff, Wales.

I'm Gonna Win - Foreigner

Quote:- 'Hemery 'killed' his rivals to win ... takes the gold, in second place Hennige and who cares who's third? - David Coleman

Song Choice:- Taken from the brilliant 'Foreigner 4' album, which marked the completion of the band's shift to hard rock from their AOR late 70's sound, the title 'I'm Gonna Win' seems a little vulgar in this day and age. You see, I believe society has been attacked by the 'Failure Enablers' and 'Energy Vampires' that's made the whole nation no more than average especially at athletics.

I wonder what folk would say if Steve Cram came out with David Coleman's famous commentary from the 1968 Olympic Games today. I'm sure there would be uproar but apart from Sir Mo (who is Somalian really and trains in the States but a nice chap), we aren't a nation of 'Winners' any more - we just seem to be making up the numbers.

I mean, where's the bite, where's the venom and what return are we getting from the 15 GB Athletes receiving up to £65k a year from UKA? What return can we expect from the 2020 Olympics when in Rio the medals reportedly cost £5.5m each to win? It might be even less next time round.

In these World Championships, apart from Sir Mo, the closest we have got so far, is a 4th in the 800m Men's race by an athlete that isn't even part of the 'UKA Groovy Gang's Band A Funding'. (Laura Muir was also 4th but her losing margin was more). The GB athletes simply aren't living up to expectations and instead of the 7 or 8 medals UKA predicted, it looks like we'll only get 2 and both will be Sir Mo's.

So what has he got, that the others lack? It's simple, the will to WIN, at all costs as his livelihood and his families future depends upon it. It's amazing how hard we can all try and how hard we can all work when the chips are down and our livelihoods depend on our ability to stay on task.

It's easy to tell just how much work Sir Mo has put in over the years whereas some of the other athletes obviously haven't given as much to their event as he has to his. The medals aren't won on the night, they are won over years and years of training mixed with with pure hard graft and determination.

Personally I love working hard and giving things 100% because what's the point if you are just free-wheeling along and not enjoying your lot. Working hard is fun too and you don't even have to be a UKA sponsored athlete trying to win a medal, you just have to give things your best shot and if you do, they become more enjoyable and become your own champion as well as anyone else's.

So here's a question... if you were racing in your particular field of expertise, where would you finish? First? Or are you making up the numbers?

Amen.

Rory Coleman - 997 Marathons - 244 Ultras - 14 Marathon des Sables

9 Guinness World Records - 8,617 Days' Alcohol Free - 465 Days' post GBS
& 1 Inspirational Running Memoir

Location: Cardiff, Wales.

Time - The Pink Floyd

Lyrics:- 'No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun.' - Gilmour, Mason, Waters & Wright

Song Choice:- Taken from the 1973 Multi-Platinum selling album 'Dark Side of the Moon', this is an easy choice today following our latest #Average2Awesome Day with Rugby-Based Construction company Stepnell Ltd.

You see, I find the whole concept of 'Time' fascinating. Maybe it's because I'm 55 and have fewer 'Tomorrows than Yesterdays' or possibly because I feel I wasted a lot of 'Time' in my 20's and early 30's. OK, you could say that in the last 20 years, I've crammed in more 'Life-adventures' than most to compensate for what I might have lost, but the 'Then one day you find ten years have got behind you' lyric has always deeply resonated with me. For me, I always wished I'd started this game earlier...

So for the record, since GBS, I've decided to get the most out of every day I can, and make the most out of whatever 'Time' I have left on this wonderful planet of ours and  encourage as many people as I can realise their true potential - as I believe many folk 'Fritter away the hours', days and years, just as I did.

Well, today was just one of those cracking days where I witnessed that the proverbial penny has dropped with our Stepnell Group and folk have grabbed life by the balls and are making what they do with their 'Time', really count. 

It's only taken 42 days to reach this point it too...Yep, six short weeks of 'Waxing On and Waxing Off' has worked miracles it would appear.

For me, the physical transformations that have already taken place, are super-encouraging and it will be interesting to see over the next part of the programme how the team convert this positive energy and commitment into their work-life. From what I've seen anything is now possible and I'll keep you posted with their progress following the final group challenge on September 8th. Their numbers BTW speak volumes, as they've already lost 51.8kgs as a group and clocked up well over 6.5 million steps between them. 

How 'Awesome' is that? And today's made me really look forward to seeing them in four weeks 'Time'.

'Well done' Gang!

Amen.

Rory Coleman - 997 Marathons - 244 Ultras - 14 Marathon des Sables
9 Guinness World Records - 8,616 Days' Alcohol Free - 464 Days' post GBS
& 1 Inspirational Running Memoir

Location: Cardiff, Wales.