Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana

'Here we are now, entertain us' - Novoselic, Groh & Cobain

Well, if I had some 'Myrrh' maybe it would smell of 'Teen Spirit'. And 'Ok' it's as close as I could get for today's festive scribblings so I'm very sorry for the 'Weakest Blog-Song Link' of the year and I know it's a bit childish but Christmas is all about the children and brings out the child in me every December.

Let's face it we need something to brighten the mood as it's been a tough year for EVERYONE, me included. Trump, Brexit and Terrorism have dominated the news and no doubt 2018 will dish up another serving of unwanted headlines and life-changing incidents for the innocents. But let's forget that lot for now and write our own headlines.

Until then, there's just over seven days to enjoy the peace and harmony of the 'Annual-Mid-Winter-Yuletide-Time-Out'. It's an ideal opportunity to get some 'daylight' miles in the tank and work off some of the excess calorie-count that Christmas Dinner and all the trimmings offers. A good fifty miler will get rid of your main meal btw...

Anyway, in the best of Christmas Spirits have a good one. Enjoy the break. Crack in some miles. And enjoy the fact that tough old 2017 has nearly passed us by and a completely  fresh 2018 is all set to go and ready for action, just around the corner.

Nadolig Llawen

Rory Coleman - rory@colemancoaching.co.uk

1,007 Marathons - 245 Ultras - 14 Marathon des Sables - 9 Guinness World Records

Welcome to the Pleasuredome - Frankie Goes to Hollywood

Lyrics:- 'Got to reach the Top'... Nash, O'Toole, Gill & Johnson

Now, I’m not aware of many songs with ‘Frankincense’ in the lyrics to use for my ‘Advent Blog’ today - so how about one with some  ‘Frankie-Sense’ instead? I’ve always loved ‘Welcome to the Pleasuredome’, especially the moment the long intro kicks into the main hook. It’s a classic piece of clever 'Trevor Horn Production' IMO.

Moving at one million miles an hour…

Anyway, in the lead up to Christmas, EVERYTHING is moving at one million miles an hour. Except the traffic in Cardiff and the shoppers in the City Centre that is. Folks Christmas Shopping would take half the time if they simply got a move on. A ‘Fast Lane’ like the one in Liverpool’s City Centre can’t come quick enough for me.

But then again, I’m just not your typical shopper. Amazon is SO good :-)

Shooting stars never stop...

Well they don’t do they? And to quote the American actress Lucille Ball, ‘If you want something done, ask a busy person to do it’ – and she’s not wrong? Looking back at 2017, I can’t think of a time when I wasn’t busy, in fact I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t. But that's me isn't it...

Hopefully the Christmas period will offer all of us the opportunity to recharging our batteries.

Keep moving on...

I’m looking forward to attacking 2018 with a full battery, ready to take on another fun-packed 365 days of ‘Ups and Downs’, with hopefully more ‘Ups’ than 'Downs'.

The World is my Oyster…

It’s something I’ve always believed and it’s such a great mantra. Every time I hear Holly Johnson say the line, it shouts a very clear message to me in 6ft high, bright neon-green letters that reminds me that the World is a huge place to explore and enjoy.

So, please enjoy some ‘Frankie-Sense’ this Christmas and 'Enjoy'.

Welcome to the Pleasuredome…

WELCOME...

Rory Coleman - rory@colemancoaching.co.uk

1,007 Marathons - 245 Ultras - 14 Marathon des Sables - 9 Guinness World Records

Gold - Spandau Ballet

In the lead-up to Christmas I thought I’d get all festive and use 'Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh' as suitable themes for my Advent Blogs. And luckily for me, ‘Gold’ written by Gary Kemp, is a great theme tune to accompany my thoughts for the day.

‘Gold’ ironically peaked in ‘Silver-Medal’ position in the UK Charts in 1983, being held off the top spot by KC and the Sunshine Band if you were at all interested. Anyway, it’s always been a favourite Spandau song of mine, especially the 12” Version, and it’s Tony Hadley’s 24-carat vocals that have always really made it for me.

You see, every time I hear the song, the lyrics always get me pumped up, especially as I love winning – don’t you?

These are my salad days, slowly being eaten away…

I was reminded of this only the other day as of course ‘these are my salad days’ as I’m no spring-chicken at 55. I mean, have you thought how long your body can survive your current level of loading and future expectations? I speak to lots of folk with ‘Fast-moving-consumer-mind-sets’ that have the Private Health Sector working overtime fixing knees, ankles etc. in a bid to keep the body moving, the mind sane and the impossible, plausible. 

I’m not preaching either, as I’m just as guilty following my fractured shoulder. Yielding to a steroid injection to improve my range of motion and reducing the miserable pain for a mere £240 was the best money I’ve spent in ages. 

My word, the aging process has a lot to answer for.

Just another play for today…

Well in real terms, all we can do is worry about today. Lots of folk I meet are still evaluating their yesterday’s or too busy playing out other folk’s lives. ‘Live for Today’ is such a driver for me as you never know what’s around the corner - take it from me it’s never quite what you expect.

Oh, but I'm proud of you but I'm proud of you…

And yes, be proud of your accomplishments as they take more than blood, sweat and tears. They take Courage. Thinking BIG is one thing but having balls, (proper ‘Big Balls') will only help in the long run as it's far better to regret something you have done, rather than regret not doing it at all.

Nothing left to make me feel small, luck has left me standing so tall…

I’m happy I’m proud and feeling tall today. But there’s lots of folk that don’t feel that way and believe that ‘Luck’ plays a huge part in life’s richness. Well, I believe you make your own 'Luck' and can ‘Design for Life’ to a certain degree, so why not adopt a ‘New Year – New You’ policy for 2018?

You're indestructible...

It really works. It did for me in 1994 and it can work for you too. Yes, I’ve had some luck, made my own luck and I'm proven to be indestructible. Well that’s what I believe, which can’t be a bad thing can it?

Anyway, I’m off to find a song with Frankincense in it for tomorrow’s musings (If there is one) and why not start being ‘Gold’ for once.

Always believing…

Rory Coleman - rory@colemancoaching.co.uk

1,007 Marathons - 245 Ultras - 14 Marathon des Sables - 9 Guinness World Records

Message in a Bottle – The Police

This was the band’s first UK#1 and Sting’s first as a song-writer. And at the time, I’ll be honest enough to say I wasn’t much of a fan as their bleached-blond-hair and chiselled looks weren’t hard enough for the prog-rock image I liked to project. I mean, what kinda message would I have been sending about myself at an all boy’s school in 1979, if I’d broadcast that I’d just been out to WHSmiths and out bought a copy of Reggatta de Blanc?

In hindsight, of course it wouldn’t have mattered. But within my peer group, the albums you carried around with you projected what kind of person you were. Pink Floyd and Genesis said one thing about you and The Boomtown Rats and The Buzzcocks said another. Afterwards at Art School it was more The Talking Heads and Peter Gabriel as my skin changed colour to match my creative surroundings and my ‘Message’ changed.

Just a castaway, an island lost at sea…

Anyway, it’s the ‘Messages’ (not in a bottle I hasten to add), that you and I emit and transmit all the time, that I’m interested in exploring in today’s blog. By that, I mean the ones we send out without really knowing and not the Facebook Posts of doom, gloom and failure I see, which btw must negatively affect employment and sports sponsorship opportunities.

Another lonely day, with no one here but me…

Hmm, you see you’re never alone, someone is always watching. Personally, I’m a person that enjoys the solitude of the long-distance run and I find the time and space a very enjoyable experience that doesn’t need to be messaged out to the world afterwards. In fact, the more private the experience, the more enjoyable it is I’ve found as having to small-talk away the miles distracts from the enormity of one’s surroundings. Getting a feeling of the vastness of the planet has always made me appreciate just how lucky we are just to be alive. Being ‘Smart’ and ‘Smart about it’ are great reminders about sending out the right message about ourselves. I try to be both in writing what I believe and I’m always hopefully consistent in my blogs.

A year has passed since I wrote my note…

An interesting line, so I thought I’d look back to my blog of December 10, 2016 to see what I was thinking about last year. It says, ‘I feel that I'm nearing feeling back to my old self but haven't achieved anything in the past year. Well here I am 12 months on thinking along the same lines but I’m 25 marathons including an MdS better off which can’t be bad eh? Since then, I’ve certainly learned that presentation is a 365-day project especially in work situations and I how act is extremely important as in truth, you are never ‘off-the-record’. Looking and acting the part whether it’s when presenting to a Multi-National Company or speaking on a Skype-Call from the Office – anything less than 100% isn’t an option. My ‘Message’ is all about consistency, all the time.

Seems I'm not alone at being alone, a hundred billion castaways…

That’s a lot of ‘Castaways’ but I get the sentiment. ‘Castaways’ are everywhere. I talk to them, every day and most of them believe that they are the only ones experiencing the loneliness of their predicament or possibly the pain of changing their behavioural process. Connecting the dots and being their ‘Catalyst’ to a brighter future is something I now relish. My own ‘Castaway’ Days of the analogue world of 1994 are long gone thank heavens and yours could also be soon.

Sending out an SOS…

Soon we will have demolished Christmas and will be racing headlong in January - is it time to start thinking about the messages you will be sending out to the world in the New Year? Maybe sending out a special SOS to ask for some help in making 2018 a whole lot brighter and enjoyable than 2017 would be a good idea?

Rory Coleman - rory@colemancoaching.co.uk

1,005 Marathons - 245 Ultras - 14 Marathon des Sables - 9 Guinness World Records

No Self Control - Sir Peter of Gabriel

Taken from his ‘Melt’ album of 1980, this brilliant song features Phil Collins on drums and Kate Bush on backing vocals so it’s well worth another listen if you’ve forgotten just how good it was and you’ll also get the gist of today’s blog from the lyrics.

‘Self-Control’ has been the vital ingredient in my running achievements over the years and having been someone with ‘No Self Control’ in my 20’s it’s fascinating years later why I didn’t feel the need to rein in my behaviour back then.

Got to get some food, I'm so hungry all the time

I don't know how to stop, no I don't know how to stop

You see, I believe ‘Self-Control’ is about consistency. Then again, having ‘No Self-Control’ could be deemed as being consistent - ‘consistently inconsistent’. Every day being a carbon-copy of failure, repeatedly making the same mistakes, falling down the same open man-holes, time-and-time again.

Sadly, a day, a week or even a month isn’t enough time to say you’ve become positively ‘consistent’ in my opinion, and it’s probably 365 days before you could say that you’ve been ‘consistent’ at anything.

Got to get some sleep, I'm so nervous in the night

I don't know how to stop, no I don't know how to stop

If you are training for the Event or a lifetime PB, ‘Self-Control’ affects every aspect of your life – or it should. Sleep is a huge factor in being at one with yourself. The lack of it can crush your expectations and if you are ‘nervous in the night’, there’s hope as running 80-100 miles a week is the best natural sleeping draft I’ve come across – that and having two children under three!

Got to pick up the phone, I will call any number

I know I'm gone too far, much too far I gone this time

And yet we don’t call, we don’t shout out to anyone, we wait for things to become ‘Critical’ instead of ‘Acute’ before we start fixing them. How many times have you heard of folk leaving an illness for too long before going to their Doctor to be told it’s too late for a cure?

It’s the picking up the phone moment of weakness that none of us like yet it’s the moment that ‘No Self-Control’ becomes ‘Self-Control’. My world became a whole lot brighter on April 20, 1992 after I made my call. Hitting the ‘Panic Button’ doesn’t create ‘Panic’ it stops the ‘Panic’ and asking for help is actually a very strong thing to do. You’ll find the right people are always only too happy to help. I mean it’s part of our DNA to help and be a good Samaritan, isn’t it?

And I don't want to think what I've done

Let’s be honest, we all have things that we regret when we’ve been ‘Out of Control’ with ‘No Self-Control’. The thing is that we start every day with a clean slate and the opportunity of living life with a set of rules that will help us take control of our lives, for a lifetime.

So, when folk say, ‘I don't know how to stop’, well they probably do, it’s just that they have ‘No Self-Control’ and lack the positive ‘consistency’ that giving your ‘Remote Control’ to someone else to operate can produce.

With Christmas and the New Year on the horizon to trip you up, maybe 2018 heralds a new YOU - back in the driving seat, filled with 'Self-Control'...

Rory Coleman - rory@colemancoaching.co.uk

1,005 Marathons - 245 Ultras - 14 Marathon des Sables - 9 Guinness World Records

D'You Know What I Mean? - Oasis

D’You know it’s twenty years since D'YouKnow What I Mean? was a #1 in the UK? Written by Noel Gallagher (the less angry of the Gallagher brothers), it’s my favourite OASIS song and one I’ve used often to illustrate my blog.

With that in mind, I’ve used it again today as I want to write about something I’ve discovered about myself and in others this past couple of years.

You see ‘It’s not who you’ve been, it’s who you are now that counts’… and who you are going to be in the future for that matter. Wow, that one burned my fingers as I typed it but it’s so true. How many people do you know that are holding onto and milking their past achievements, when in fact they are a spent force? It’s hard truth to take on board especially if you are in denial but one that’s well worth considering from time to time. A new dawning can actually be a very positive thing.

Step off the train all alone at dawn…

Every day is a new dawn in my book. And if you’ve had a life-changing experience (and I’ve met a lot of people who’ve been there as well as me) you’ll know as you get off life’s train and start a new day, it can be a very frustrating experience. It’s a time when you sink or swim. Become a victim or victor. Bleat or beat in fact…

The fool on the hill and I feel fine…

You’d be a fool of course to think that everything’s fine when it’s not and I’m guilty as charged when I say, ‘I’m fine’ when in fact I’m not and I’ve been struggling to find my ‘old’ self. The stupid thing is that the searching has been a futile waste of time as I’ll never find the ‘old’ me. Ever. So why am I still searching?

It must be down to my ‘Rose-Tinted-Rear-View-Mirrors’ – you know the ones you probably have too that make our life-histories look so perfect in hindsight, only it wasn’t, was it?

Don't look back cos you know what you might see…

I’m not sure it wasn’t, it’s just that we’re comfortable about the past. It’s a ‘known’. However, if you could go back, would you do it all again? What would you change? I’ve had some proper life-howlers along the way but tend to gloss over them with a thick coat of achievement in the hope it will cover my short-comings. Maybe you do too?

I think I know, but I don't know why…

You see, at heart, I’m still Superman. The guy that can do anything and is totally indestructible. If a body-part breaks, the procedure has always to assess, replace if necessary and carry on regardless. Why? Well because I think I know ‘better’ if I’m being honest. How wrong can one be?

The questions are the answers you might need…

The Answers are all you’ll ever need and the discovery and coming to terms with one’s own limitations is most liberating. I mean why kid yourself that you’re the third Brownlee Brother when you find it hard to squeeze your beer belly into an XXL wetsuit? Then again if you’re comfortably clocking sub-20’s at your local parkrun without needing oxygen at the finish – you need to change your levels of expectation. You already know the answers and all you need to do is to take a large breath and start living the dream.

 
No-one can give me the air that's mine to breathe…

And when you breathe, breathe in deeply. Breathe in some fresh-air and fresh thoughts about your future. No-one can do that for you, and be honest to yourself about your capabilities. I’m always wary of folk that say ‘No problem’ on being asked to complete a task, as normally it will become a huge one. However, if you are suffocating, there are always people to help you get back on your feet – all you need to do is to ask for help. I know, I’ve been there.

Get up off the floor and believe in life, no-one's ever gonna ever ask you twice…

In my experience people do ask twice or even more but eventually stop asking and with time it was down to me to get up off the floor and kick my own backside into gear.

Get on the bus…

Being a victim isn’t my style and although I wanted to return to ‘normality’ (whatever that was) I’ve realised that I’m now on a very different bus and taking a much different route in life. The journey is just as tough – but it’s different, with different expectations and a different destination.

It’s alright though, as I’m happy in the knowledge that I’m still making progress and making the most of what I still have as you never know when you’ll wake up one day and find your whole world has turned upside down.

It’s changing…

Right now, D'You Know What I Mean?

Rory Coleman - rory@colemancoaching.co.uk

1,004 Marathons - 245 Ultras - 14 Marathon des Sables - 9 Guinness World Records

Chasin’ the Feeling - Biters

Biters are a relatively new American Rock Band to me and I particularly love this track from their paradoxically titled ‘The Future ain’t what it used to be’ album of May 2017. It was a late change for today’s blog as I was going to use U2’s Desire to highlight my thoughts about the passion that drives us on to greater things. However, the Drug references in the U2 lyrics didn’t really match my message and the Biters lyrics are far more positive IMO and as ‘Desire’ is all about Chasin’ a Feeling and I feel there’s enough logic in there to justify the link.

Anyway, back to the plot - and it’s been a very busy and most interesting week in ‘Coleman-Coaching-World’. You see, I’ve been finding folk increasingly more fascinating when I speak to them about their levels of ‘Desire’. You see ‘Desire’ comes in so many strengths. The synonyms highlight the fact beautifully. In its mildest of forms ‘Desire’ is a ‘Wish or a Want’. A ‘Thirst or Hunger’ if the ‘Desire’ is stronger but a proper ‘Desire’ if it’s a ‘Crave or an Ache’ – that’s the true ‘Desire’ that I like to see in the folk that I like to help.

'Come on!'

I’ve seen it manifest in many people’s attitude this week and it’s marvellous thing to witness as their goals become closer and small victories along the way are made. All marvellous stuff. However, it’s easy to shout about success but it’s the folk that start off with the best of intentions yet can’t stay true to their ‘Desire’ that I really want to help.  

'I keep looking for that one thing, to get me loose'.

I always ask folk what their goal is, it should of course be every Coach or Personal Trainer’s first question to their client. People’s level of ‘Desire’ determines the level of ‘Projection’ of fresh thought needed from me to help them stay true to their goal.

You see, I can’t project ‘Desire’, I can however ‘Project’, a mental upgrade offering a different personal operating system which simplifies how folks feel about how they live their lives and more importantly, how they see themselves. It’s the one BIG thing over the years I’ve found that sets folks free.

'Set me free'.

Having been in a similar situation myself and finding my way out of a situation that at the time seemed hopeless and suffocating, I understand how hard it can be for anyone experiencing their ’Point Zero’. Sadly, there isn’t a skeleton key to everyone’s heart and soul but there is one common denominator – People don’t realise just how lucky or how good they really are. They also spend far too much time over-thinking, procrastinating and analysing rather than ‘doing’ something to help them find the freedom and the creativity they ‘Desire’.

'I'm still chasin' the feeling'.

I’m surrounded by people who ‘say’ they want to achieve, yet most will spend their precious time and energy ‘Chasin’ the feeling rather than ‘Feelin’ the Feeling - or in fact ‘Livin’ the feeling – missing out forever on ‘Livin’ the dream. As that’s what we’re all chasin’ isn’t it?

'Climbin' the ceiling'.

The lyrics are so strong and continue, ‘I gotta get it before it's gone’ and if you’re like me, you’ll understand it when I say ‘I got the feeling in my bones’. I’ve had that feeling for as long as I can remember. A ‘Desire’ to be my best, to achieve the best I can and be the person that I’ve always known I could be.

One thing I’d ask you to consider is what are you going to do to satisfy your ‘Desire’ as your future depends on it but maybe you’ve ‘Never had a future to lose’… it’s worth a thought isn’t it?

'Come on!'

Rory Coleman - rory@colemancoaching.co.uk

1,004 Marathons - 245 Ultras - 14 Marathon des Sables - 9 Guinness World Records