Today I watched my girlfriend Ellen (@physiogirl) complete her first ever marathon.

To some, it may be a surprise, and it certainly was to me until recently, that she had never ran one before today. But having set herself a beast of a goal for 2015, this was only a step in the journey she chose for herself, way back in spring. In order to achieve her goal, she is ticking boxes in her preparation, and today was a milestone she needed to get over…

The triathlon race season will start again soon here in the UK, and with the plethora of winter running races and other duathlons available — not to mention overseas racing — I can see a lot of my friends and twitter buddies getting in some fast action over the week-ends.

However, I noticed a trend lately: this also comes with plenty of them doubting themselves for the goals they have set a long way back. For most, they’ve been reasonable in setting those up, so it’s all about confidence and re-adjustment.

About 11 months ago I started my first personal coached plan with Jo Carritt through the training business she runs with her partner Steven Lord: Every Day Training. 10 months of discovery of what such a plan entails, of performance improvements, and ultimately discovery of myself.

Some of 2013's medals haul

It’s interesting to see the news about doping in sports, Lance Armstrong going down and others around him. Interesting also to see how many people are/were looking up to him, and more generally in sports, to the elite competitors. Be it football, cycling, swimming or any other sport that has a profesional elite representation, you’ll sure find someone that will aspire to be them, to whom these elite few will be heroes and models.

Some of them are true heroes and have sacrificed a lot to get to the top of their sport. But more often than not, I feel this is the case in sports that are not largely publicised, and do not benefit from consequent investments that main stream sports have. Some profesional sports are riddled with overpaid elements that do nothing else than complain while still getting large pay cheques. Take football as an example: there is way too much money in and around it, and that plagues the sport. You’d be hard pressed to find a town in the UK where no one likes football, but I feel this ‘adoption’ is fabricated, and a giant marketing farce. If you really think about it, why would you be in awe of players who make millions every year, yet don’t seem to show much respect for each other on the pitch. That’s not a great models for kids is it?

On the other hand, you’ve got athletes in sports which aren’t in the media often, and are only publicised when big events like the Olympics happen. Athletics, swimming, show jumping, triathlon, you name it! Who knows how hard they train and what they sacrifice for these races, for hitting their own dream of getting to the top of their sport, regardless of funding and publicity?

I do triathlon, and although it has recently benefited from a bit more exposure in the UK thanks to the amazing achievements of the GB team at the olympics, it is still not a majorly publicised sport. Yet it draws attention from plenty of people, new comers from all sorts of background, and is doing all it can to be all-inclusive. The great thing about it is that you mostly get to race on the same courses, on the same day, and, in some races, at the same time than the pros! Race Organisers are making a point, even in large events like the London triathlon, to allow everyone who’s up for a challenge and can swim far enough, to compete amongst all others. I’ve seen people swim breaststroke, ride the bike course on a fully equipped dutch bike ringing their bell around the course, and walk the 5Km of a sprint “race”. It’s about participating, completing their challenge.

Being involved with the ESC D3 Triathletes club and having done my level 1 triathlon coaching qualification, I can vouch for what I consider the real heroes of the sport, and more generally, the real heroes of any sport, seeing it first hand. They are those who set themselves a goal, and then go and do it, no matter what. They are the ones who take an event as their ultimate achievement, and don’t care how much effort they put into it, because that’s what they said they’d do. Real heroes don’t roll on the ground 5 times because someone brushed passed them running after a ball. They stand up, and keep going, and they finish what they set out to do.

So next time your neighbour is telling you they’re targeting a 5Km run or a charity bike ride as their event, give them a sign of appreciation, and if you can, help them on their journey. They’ve set out to do it not because it’s easy for them, but because it’s hard. And they WILL do it! No matter what.  They should be your heroes too.