For most runners, the beginning of a running journey is often challenging, and Boston's was no different.
In our new More Than Miles story, we're chatting with Boston Freestone, an Australian living in Manchester and a member of the Plodders Running Club, to learn more about his journey from overcoming mental barriers to embracing the transformative power of running.
From Self-Doubt to Strength
“My relationship with running started when I was 12 years old. I hated it,” he admits. Even running a kilometre seemed impossible. “It was the worst thing I could think of, getting on the treadmill and trying to run a kilometre was like a no-go.” It wasn't until he found a love for basketball and a desire to lose weight that he was inclined to embrace the temporary discomfort and “lean into it more.”
And he soon realised that the mental barriers he had put up were surmountable.
“I remember I couldn’t even run 1K,” Boston recalls. “It was this big idea I had in my head ‘You can’t do 1K! It’s impossible! You’ll never be able to do it!’ and then I did, and I was like ‘Woah! That’s actually a barrier I put up in my mind and that I could actually break through it.’ I just needed to gradually get there.”
The Power to Push Through
The real challenge is not just physical but mental. Boston speaks candidly about his ongoing battle with his self-doubt, “there’s always that background noise I have, like ‘This is going to suck. I don't want to do this.”
However, he finds motivation to keep running, even in the face of challenges, from the daily wins over these mental hurdles. “What motivates me to keep running is that continuous accomplishment that I have on an everyday basis of me pushing myself through my own mental barrier of not wanting to do it.”
Thanks to running, he now has the tools to control this inner voice: “Running continuously surprises me that that noise that I have in the back of my head, I can control that dial and how much it’s going to influence me doing that run or not.”
The Half-Marathon Challenge
One of the defining moments in Boston's running journey was his first half-marathon. “Three weeks beforehand, I came down with a really bad tonsillitis,” he recounts. “My penicillin wasn’t working for me, so I was really not well.”
Despite his condition, he was determined to push through. “For some reason, I had in my head that if I don’t do it, I’ll be worse off – which wasn’t correct – but pushing through and doing the run whilst tonsillitis was hands down one of the best but also stupidest things I could've ever done in my health journey and even running journey, actually.”
Lessons Learned on the Run
This experience changed his perspective on his own capabilities.
“That’s what running really reminds me of on a daily basis that we all have the negative voices in our head telling us not to put in the work. But we have the ability to turn up or turn down that noise. Some days, you’re going to want to work, you're going to want to chill out. That’s cool but knowing that you have the ability to dial up or dial down that background noise, I believe, will keep you consistent with your running because at the end of the day, it's hard work but what good has not come out of hard work.”
Running has taught Boston that hard work, persistence and the ability to manage self-doubts are not just key in running but in life. “An easy life requires hard work, but a hard life requires doing easy things.”
Embracing Resilience
Resilience is a core value for us at SUDU, and Boston perfectly embodies this through his running journey. “At the end of the day, you have to push through your own mental limitations and be resilient and keep going.”
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