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TCS Sports Sponsorships: Blending Sports Technology and Sustainability
Highlights
- Paula Radcliffe, the three-times TCS London Marathon champion believes: You don’t know what you can achieve until you stretch yourself.
- Paula remains a huge supporter of the TCS London Marathon and shared her advice for sport and life at the TCS Summit in Barcelona.
- TCS constantly strives for newer ways to use technology to enhance the marathon experience for participants and fans alike.
On this page
‘Aim for the moon’
Paula Radcliffe is synonymous with marathon running.
Not only has she won the TCS London Marathon three times, but she also set the world record of two hours 15 minutes and 25 seconds in Chicago in 2003 and held onto it until 2022.
Paula remains a huge supporter of the TCS London Marathon and shared her advice for sport and life at our the TCS Summit in Barcelona.
As an 11-year-old, just starting out in athletics, Paula had a sticker on her kit bag that said, “Aim for the moon because even if you miss, you’ll still land amongst the stars.” This mantra stayed with Paula as she continued to test what she was capable of. She told us why she doesn’t believe in setting limits on performance or dreams: “Because you don’t know what you can achieve until you stretch yourself.”
Embrace technology but continue to trust your instincts
TCS constantly strives for newer ways to use technology to enhance the marathon experience for participants and fans alike, just as we help our customers around the world innovate and achieve their goals.
Paula has witnessed the explosion of sports technology first-hand. When she started running, she only had a simple stopwatch to keep time. Now there are smart watches, heart rate monitors, glucose monitors, shoe technology and GPS trackers. Paula is in no doubt that technology has helped the sport to grow, but says you still need to trust your own instincts.
“Technology is great, so embrace it and use it, but don’t become reliant on it. It’s important to trust your own instincts in life. You know your own body and your limits. You will have an intuitive sense of what you are capable of on the day.”
Approach every day as a fresh challenge. If it didn’t go perfectly the day before, the next day is a chance to attack it all over again. Let go of the ones that aren’t perfect and see the bigger picture and keep working towards that.
See the bigger picture
Sometimes, we all have runs that simply don’t click, or where everything seems to be stacked against us.
During these times, Paula says it’s important to see the bigger picture; “Approach every day as a fresh challenge. If it didn’t go perfectly the day before, the next day is a chance to attack it all over again. Let go of the ones that aren’t perfect and see the bigger picture and keep working towards that.”
Paula knows a thing or two about overcoming the tough times. After failing to finish the marathon at the Athens Olympics in 2004 she worried about her health and whether she would run again. She said: “I told myself I’m only going to run when I feel like running and I won’t when I don’t.” Fortunately for Paula and fans of the sport, she found enjoyment in running again and made her comeback at the New York Marathon. “I was so happy to be there. I had been through the worst and was back enjoying it again. I learned that I can’t make everything go my way, but if I can make more go my way than doesn’t, then I am doing ok,” she said.
Find the joy and happiness in each day
Fitting marathon training in alongside your work and family commitments can be incredibly hard.
For Paula, it’s important to take the time to reset each day. “I try to take one moment each day to find joy, happiness and relaxation—it’s my time in the day—and then I can go back to dealing with the everyday challenges. I believe that a happy person delivers results in whatever they do in life.”
When you’ve accomplished your marathon dream you may suddenly think, what next? For some runners, the marathons keep on coming. For others, reaching that finish line once is enough. Since retiring from professional distance running, Paula has carved out an incredibly successful career and continues to challenge herself. When asked what continues to motivate her, Paula’s advice is simple; “You get one life, so live it to the full and enjoy it. Life always presents new opportunities, so take a fresh outlook each day and continue to evolve and refresh your goals.”
For Paula, the key to running and to life is to enjoy what you’re doing. When things are going well, take the time to take the memories in and enjoy them and when things get tough, always know that tomorrow is a fresh new day.