It had been an amazing year. I was stronger than I ever thought I’d be. My strength endurance was good and the hard work that I put in over the winter perfectly transformed into speed. The first race of the season, I ran the fastest time in the country!

I couldn’t ask for a better start to the season. But the first race doesn’t mean much. It’s show you progress during the season that counts… it’s all preparation for one race. That race was the final of the World Junior Championships. And the national championships was a stepping stone to what I’d worked so hard to achieve.

So, did I qualify for the World Junior Championships? No. I didn’t even quality for the final of the national championships!

What went wrong?

I asked myself that question for months. But I didn’t have an answer.

The wonderful thing about being 18 is that there’s always next year. That’s what I did, I just focused on the next season.

The next season was my first year in University and my body kept breaking down. I’d start training hard and then catch a cold. 3 weeks later I’d start training again. After a week or two I’d really start to push myself and then I’d get sick again. It was frustrating to watch myself stagnate. The mind was willing but the body wasn’t.

I entered the season overweight and out of shape. It was fun to compete but I was nowhere near my best.

Then at the end of the summer my body broke.

I was exhausted all the time. I don’t mean tired from a tough week at work or a night out. I mean, you’ve got a newborn baby and haven’t slept in 3 weeks exhausted.

It was only when I dropped out of University half way through my second year that I realized that I didn’t choke at the National Championships, I was sick. Years of training masked what I knew, I wasn’t performing at my best. I was still running quick. I was still ranked in the top 10 for 110 meter hurdlers. But I knew I was capable of so much more. Two year later I finally connected the dots. My body had started to break and I just hadn’t seen it.

For the next 2 years, I watched everything that I knew in life, slowly disappear. I stopped training, I stopped university and I stopped seeing my friends.

And while I was looking over the abyss the most amazing thing happened. I started following my passion and letting my heart guide my decisions. That’s why I started a photography business. Because I liked taking pictures. Not because I knew anything about business or how to run a photography business. I thought I’d just figure that out along the way.

And I did. The turnover doubled every year (which is not that hard when you start from nothing) and I started working for some international clients that flew me all over the world. Wow! I was living the life of my dreams and it started when I listened to my heart and not my head.

Then in 2008 it all went wrong! My big corporate clients weren’t looking to invest in marketing and the number of people that got married dropped to a 90 year low. I burned a hole in the safety net that I’d woven over many years trying to spend my way out the problem rather than learn my way out. I was in check mate and couldn’t admit it to myself until I’d lost all my savings.

I knew that marketing was the key to business growth so I looked for a job in Marketing and started down the traditional route of education.

This was 2009 and I was 31 years old. I was terrified because I didn’t know if I’d be able to work a full time job. You see, the beauty of working for myself was that I could rest in the middle of the day if I needed to. This was a luxury I wouldn’t have in a corporate environment.

The good news was that my body coped. I was shocked and delighted so thought I push it a little further. It was New Year’s day 2010 when I went for my first run in 13 years. I ran for 20 minutes and felt delighted. I have no idea how far I ran and I don’t want to know. That only would have discouraged me from doing it again.

So, once a week I ran for 20 minutes. Not a big deal, right? After 6 months, I thought I’d test the waters and run twice a week. These baby steps were giant leaps forward for me because I’d spent over 10 years recovering from an illness that still baffles the medical profession.

Over another 2 year period I increased the frequency of my running to the point where I was running for 20 minutes 4 times I week. I still had no idea how far I was running. It just felt great to fill my lungs with fresh air at the start of the day.

It was only when I was on holiday in Romania that I joined a gym because I didn’t feel comfortable running on the roads. If you see how they drive then you’ll understand my fear.

The problem with a treadmill is that it tells you how far you’ve run, how long it’s taken you and when you’re getting tired and slowing down. That realization was not pretty. But I did use this to my advantage. You see, one day I set the distance to 10K, just to see if I could do it! To my amazement, I could.

It took me about an hour and a half, so it wasn’t quick but that wasn’t the point. I finally proved to myself that I could achieve the impossible.

After that, I fell in love with the treadmill. Why? Because I could set goals. Mine was to run a 10K in under 60 minutes. Now that I’d proven to myself that my body wouldn’t break by running 10K it was just a matter of getting faster.

Today, I run 10K 3 times a week. But I don’t take it for granted. Every time it feels like a blessing to be able to do this.

I still don’t push myself to exhaustion because I know the dangerous consequences.

So why am I telling you all this?

Because anything is possible if you believe it and never give up!

My hope is that you too can live the life of your dreams.

Carpe Diem

Roland Eva

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