I was never really interested in any form of exercise, and I actually actively avoided it, even though I knew its immense benefits. That being said, I do value my health, and being presented with this opportunity of completing a 3 km run thrice seemed like a great way to begin a new lifestyle and challenge myself physically when I usually lived a pretty inactive life.

LO2 – Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills.

As I have stated before, I was quite inactive in my everyday life. Hence, being asked to run 3 km, not once, not twice, but thrice was extremely challenging for me. In the first session, I was unaware of how to run efficiently, what speed should be maintained, and how often I should hydrate, how to warm up, among other things. This lack of knowledge put me as the last person to finish the marathon and completely exhausted, lowering my motivation, with my finishing time being 40 minutes. However, I still had to complete the other two marathons.

In the next marathon, I tried to copy the others warming up, and to my surprise, I actually did a bit better. While, I still finished near the end, I did not finish last this time, and also my finishing time was reduced, now being 32 minutes, showing how my endurance had increased between the marathons. I was also less tired after this marathon compared to the first one, and needed less time to recover. All of this helped me gain hope and instilled a sense of motivation in me again.

In the last marathon, I already knew what to expect, and also at least had a better understanding of how I needed to proceed in order to maximize my stamina and minimize my fatigue. This time, I finished in 25 minutes, which was my fastest time yet, and my improvement throughout the experience helped my understand the how practices makes perfect, providing motivation for my future endeavours.

LO4 – Show perseverance and commitment in CAS experience.

This CAS experience lasted several days and helped me extend my physical and mental barriers. In the beginning, I faced a lot of difficulties in finishing the marathon, especially since I hadn’t ever run before, and also a few issues with my exhaustion level, which was extremely high. However, I persisted and committed to this experience, and slowly but surely built my endurance, and figured out a few techniques to retain more of my energy throughout the marathon. I repeatedly practiced to improve myself before the next marathon, showing commitment and perseverance to this activity. This also allowed me to build my confidence in myself, since I learned that the only thing stopping me from breaking my physical barriers was my mindset.

LO1  –  Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth.

As I stated before, in just the beginning moments of the marathon, I identified a plethora of weaknesses, some of which were endurance, stamina, core and lower body muscle strength. While I improved in the following marathons, the first one was especially difficult for me, due to me being inept in any physical exercise and also due to the extreme heat at the time. In an everyday travelling sense, 3 km is not a lot, but for me while running, it seemed that I would never even reach the half mark turning point. This caused me to lose my motivation to continue with the other marathons, and even contemplate choosing a less exhaustive activity for my CAS due to the fact that I wasn’t able to run well even for short distances.

However, I pushed myself and tried to run for a few minutes everyday during the days we were given a break from the marathon. This helped me build my stamina and also think of ways to use up less of my energy and drive while running as compared to before when I had no practice. I was able to learn that my body adapted to such positive changes quite easily as I could see a rapid improvement with not a lot of effort in just a few days. To put this into perspective, while I completed the first marathon in around 40 minutes, I completed the last one in 25 minutes, showcasing a vast improvement in my running strategy and stamina based on the time taken to complete the marathon alone.