Yesterday I dared participate in the 2.01.39 world challenge. This challenge was about running against the world marathon record set by Eliud Kipchoge at 2.01.39 in 2018, and seeing how far you go within that time.
Dreams are valid and miracles happen but realism keeps us humble. What was so intriguing for me as I prepared for this was realising how much there is to be achieved in life where others have done it. There is always room for improvement. Isnt that what keeps us going atleast partly. I mean think about it. Anything that shows you the possibility of achieving better than you have drives you towards pushing, working harder.
In my days, the teacher walked in class, with Room for Improvement
Yesterday I dared participate in the 2.01.39 world challenge. This challenge was about running against the world marathon record set by Eliud Kipchoge at 2.01.39 in 2018, and seeing how far you go within that time.
Dreams are valid and miracles happen but realism keeps us humble. What was so intriguing for me as I prepared for this was realising how much there is to be achieved in life where others have done it. There is always room for improvement. Isnt that what keeps us going atleast partly. I mean think about it. Anything that shows you the possibility of achieving better than you have drives you towards pushing, working harder.
In my days, the teacher walked in class, with a set of marked exam papers, called these out. The more organised teachers, arranged in order of performance and if you were last to be called out you knew too well, your ranking in class. Your paper marked “room for improvement”, the longest of the available compliments before the teacher’s red pen ran out of ink stained by coffee stains. That was me with Mrs. Simba my swahili teacher. You couldnt blame, needed caffeine to keep her awake marking hundreds of papers. I saw this first hand, My mother was an English teacher. Just retired 4 years ago. A great one, otherwise my blogging dream would have been buried. She still reads my blogs and picks out grammatical errors. Told her it’s for fun not a composition. She asks whether I dont write reports at work, told her I do, but business language for finance professionals is about explaining variances (fun!). I saw her mark lots of compositions and pen down a set of marked exam papers, called these out. The more organised teachers, arranged in order of performance and if you were last to be called out you knew too well, your ranking in class. Your paper marked “room for improvement”, the longest of the available compliments before the teacher’s red pen ran out of ink stained by coffee stains. That was me with Mrs. Simba my swahili teacher. You couldnt blame, needed caffeine to keep her awake marking hundreds of papers. I saw this first hand, My mother was an English teacher. Just retired 4 years ago. A great one, otherwise my blogging dream would have been buried. She still reads my blogs and picks out grammatical errors. Told her it’s for fun not a composition. She asks whether I dont write reports at work, told her I do, but business language for finance professionals is about explaining variances (fun!). I saw her mark lots of compositions and pen down good, excellent and room for improvement. When it was my composition she didnt need to put the comment, she said it with pride if a great read or worse pinched me from the frustration of repeated mistakes like “advice” and “advise”, “player” and “prayer”. She pinched me anywhere, anytime. Body part of her choice, cheeks, arms, thighs, ears but never the stomach I wonder why? She loved my cheeks even on a good day her palms on them. A mother’s love. Her fingers would fracture if she tried pinching my arms aka biceps/triceps or calves today. After years and thousands of kms running, chasing the wind in lots of beautiful places, trails of hard knocks like Ngong , Kerio , Iten her favourite freshy body parts have toughened. Her nails would crack. The loveliest woman, she taught me to love reading. If doing nothing, you must have been holding a story book. Room for Improvement. Today, lucky them edmondo does automatic marking in a flash. Teachers log on to zoom from the comfort of their homes. I see our sons click an icon to raise their hands virtually, they type their answers and someone puts a thump up or down. Just two icons left to your interpretation. Thumps up and thumps down. No room for improvement icon. No pinching just a thumps down.
Why was there a “room for improvement” because someone else had scored higher than you, because someone else has run faster than you. Well, there will always be a standard higher than ours and we must not waste the room created for improvement. We must learn within that room. We must look at the things that worked for those better than us. But we must also not miss the opportunity that presents for us to create a “room for improvement” for them. That means they dont have to be our wall builders. We too can create walls for them and get them into a “room for improvement” Yes. Even Kipchoge. He set a Marathon World Record at 2.01.39 in on 16 September 2018, Shortly after on 29 September 2019, the year I too participated in the BMW Berlin marathon, yes me slaying and hanging around the room for improvement (Story for another day, but you must be in the room with these champs, doesn’t matter what you’re doing just be there, even for a selfie) Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele won in a time of 2:01:41 hours, which fell short of Kipchoge’s world record time by just two seconds. Picture that. Close. Very close. 2 seconds. Eliud’s wall was close to coming down for a competitive official marathon in just 1 year!. Even at the top he knows there is room for improvement, everyone is chasing. And now next weekend Sunday, Eliud Kipchoge and Kenenisa Bekele shall have a face off at the 2020 London Marathon. Cant wait, the Adrenaline. There’s room for Improvement.
You too. Do you see your “room for improvement” Are you playing in it? Are you learning? Do the possibilities in the room excite you? Maybe that’s all you need to revive your dreams. To be better. Then a Thumps Up! Because we are in the Digital icons Era. No more red pens! Just selfies! Zoom! The lessons remain – Their is Room for improvement for each of us, somewhere. Blessed Sunday!
