Walls

There comes a time when a runner hits a wall, a mental block, a voice that temps us into taking the easy way out and quitting. If allowed it will stop us from achieving our goals and dreams. We all have different ways of overcoming these mental obstacles but for me I increasingly find my inspiration and motivation from Veteran war heroes and what they endured, in particular the POW’s held by the Japanese in World War Two. The Japanese had little regard for their own lives during the war so it’s no surprise the lives of the POW’s were worth less than a grain of rice. One incident stands above the rest in my opinion, the Bataan death march.  Thousands of Allied and Pilipino troops were captured in the Philippines by the Japanese, the Japanese ordered  that the POW’s would be transferred to Camp O'Donnell from the southern Bataan Peninsula were they were defeated and captured. 78,000 prisoners then began a march of 65 miles in the tropical heat from Bataan to Camp O’Donnell given no food or water, beaten and murdered on the way. I run ultra marathons and recently completed a 70 mile death march of my own, like any self respecting man I moaned and complained during the whole ordeal. I Later read about this story and similar stories like it and every time I hit a wall I think how easy I really have it and how men and women have and continue to endure far worst thinks then I, I am running to Rome in four days and the stories of the brave men and women in World War Two will be in my hearts.