Lions, gazelles, and great role models

‘Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up, it knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn’t matter whether you’re the lion or a gazelle – when the sun comes up, you’d better be running.’

This is not a new quote, but I came across it again today. Unfortunately at the moment I am neither a lion nor a gazelle. I am injured. I have a problem with my sciatic nerve, which is causing my varying degrees of pain in my left leg and, at the moment, in my left calf. Being injured 'sucks', as today's youth would say. Where running is good for managing one's mental health, injury has the opposite effect. Combine that lack of running with regularly interrupted sleep, caused by the pain, and it is fair to say I have not been my usual cheery self for the last couple of weeks.  I have a lot of sympathy for my wife and my work colleagues who have had to put up with me.

But there is a positive.  Tomorrow is the Lindsays National Cross Country Relay Championships, at Cumbernauld.  My injury means I cannot run.  That in turn means that a) I will be able to enjoy the day in my dual roles as Chair and representative of the title sponsor without the pressure of racing, and b)  I won't get lapped by Callum Hawkins, who is making a very welcome re-appearance at the event.  Isn't it wonderful to have an athlete who was 4th in the recent world championship marathon taking part in this?  It will inspire not only the many youngsters taking part in the junior races, but also everyone else, who will undoubtedly be thrilled to run in the same race as one of the world's top distance runners.  Last week Andy Butchart ran in the East League cross country at Stirling, with his girlfriend Lynsey Sharp watching.  They spent a significant amount of time afterwards getting their photo taken with some of the junior athletes, which was so good to see.  Laura Muir and Jake Wightman have taken part in recent Scottish cross country championships too.  We are lucky to have such great role models in Scotland.