I love the Running Channel. If you’re not one of their 624,000 You Tube subscribers then I recommend you head on over and check it out, after reading this running tip of course.

Andy Baddeley is the man behind the Running Channel and without going into too much depth about his credentials, he’s someone you should be listening to when it comes to advice.

That’s where this running tip comes from. I might even stretch as far as saying this is my favourite piece of advice I’ve come across yet.

We all struggling at times. Whether it be at the 20 mile point of a marathon or at the 4km marker at parkrun (Hastings has km markers you know), we all reach a point where the struggle is real. Our brain is telling us that stopping or at least slowing down is the only sensible option.

I’m almost certain every single one of you reading this has taken that easier option at a point in a race. I know I have, plenty of times. It’s the logical thing to do, isn’t it? Why put ourselves through pain and exhaustion, we only run for enjoyment, it shouldn’t be this miserable.

The other option is to keep going, to push harder, endure the suffering for what remains of our race or session.

This is were Andy Baddeley’s piece of advice comes into play. At that crossroads where you are ready to give up on your goal, see it as an opportunity.

If you’ve signed up for a race and trained for a specific time, then you wanted this.

You knew this moment was going to come.

This is your opportunity to grasp it.

Who knows when this moment will come again, why bother reaching this juncture in the first place if you are simple going to stop.

Life itself can be tough at times, but what would happen if everyone just gave up in those moments. It’s the same with running. It’s a great metaphor for life at times. Especially in moments of hardship when our legs are ruined and our lungs are burning.

It might come at parkrun tomorrow where you feel like you can’t keep up your pace.

It might be the Sunday long run where the end feels too far away.

Millions of runners are going through that same experience. Don’t let yourself down, you’ve come too far, grasp the opportunity when it presents itself and achieve your goals.