The Mantra

I love this, this is me, what a privilege this is, you paid for this, this is when it counts, you're on the finish line.That is the loop that runs in my head when a race, or a session, goes past the point of being enjoyable and into the part I secretly turn up for. I mentioned it in passing after the 70.3, and a couple of people asked about it, which made me realise I have never actually thought about where any of it came from. I just say it. It has been assembled over the years without me noticing, a line picked up here and there, and it turns out that a lot of them belong to someone else.“You paid for this”This one is my wife. Whenever I tell her I'm a bit worried about a session, or fed up of training, or I'm just moaning about how tired I am, she says the same thing back to me every single time, and she says it in the same flat way. You paid for this.There is no sympathy in it whatsoever, and that is exactly why it works. Nobody made me enter, nobody made me hand over the money,…