1 Million Dollars in 365 days…

Ok, so maybe it was JUST 42km, but it may as well have been 1000 miles! This is the start of the 45th Rotorua Marathon, complete with Maori Warriors giving us runners some extra motivation.

It turns out that 42km is quite a long way. This was certainly such an amazing experience and I stil can’t really come to terms with the fact that I actually completed it. You reach different milestones on the race. There’s the 1km mark, you feel great, charged and full of energy. I was still feeling great at 10km.

At 18km I couldn’t take it anymore and had to start walking. I had managed to injure my right knee (which did happen once during training). I was alternating between running and walking, but eventually it was too painful to run.

When I set out to achieve this goal and complete a marathon, I envisioned myself running the whole thing. Sometimes life doesn’t always work out exactly how we plan, but don’t let that stop you. I certainly didn’t let it stop me. I decided before I even ran the marathon that I was going to finish.

I wanted to complete the marathon (my first ever) in under 5 hours. I had trained for 12 weeks and put a lot of effort, sought lots of advice from experts, and drank a lot of water and ate a lot of carbs! I also was doing this to raise money and awareness for STOP THE TRAFFIK - an international organisation dedicated to freeing people across the world from slavery.You can read more about the fundraising at http://www.justgiving.com/ryankilfoil

I didn’t make the decision to start walking easily. I tried to run through the pain as long as I could. I had never walked any long distances before, so wasn’t sure how my body would react or how long it would take me.

“It didn’t matter that I didn’t know those answers. I knew the outcome -I would finish this marathon today.”

That really helped me get through this. It’s crazy because you don’t realise how long it takes to walk 1km until you have to walk 25 of them in a row! I kept picturing myself walking over that finish line.

The last 10km were really tough…..then the last 3 were even tougher. They were tougher physically but, mentally, I knew I had made it at about the 36km mark….when I turned the corner and saw my beautiful wife standing there, so happy to see me. It gets lonely on the road…

This is a picture of myself, walking the last 100 metres, with my beautiful wife and our daughter Sophie, cradled in her arms:

Walking with her gave me more energy. I couldn’t stop to moving because my legs would seize up so I just kept on walking as fast as I could. She walked with me for a few seconds, gave me a kiss and moved back to the car, where our 12 week old daughter was still sleeping.

At the 3km mark I got another boost, when I saw my dad walking towards me. He walked with me for those final 3km. It felt like ages, and it was so great to have him by my side. When I got the final 200m, I was greeted by the rest of my family. It meant so much to have them all there, cheering me on. I felt like I was about to cross the finish line in the Olympics for gold….what a feeling!

As I walked over the finish line, there was more cheering and the announcer called my name. 6 hours and 26 minutes of constant movement. I did it. I completed a marathon - my first ever. Sure, I was in a lot of pain and my body ached from fatigue, but I felt like a million dollars!

Sometimes in life we get thrown some challenges, and it’s all about how we respond to those challenges and the support that we surround ourselves with, that will decide the outcome.

This is me and my good friend Dan Necklen, after finishing the marathon. I couldn’t have done this without you mate. Thank for the support - you’re a legend!

I would just like to take this opportunity to thank all those hundreds of people that have supported me in this effort. Those that had the courage to make a donation to make a difference for those people in this world that are still sold into slavery - by supporting my charity - STOP THE TRAFFIK.

For all those amazing people that gave me advice about running and training - thanks for your efforts, it was all worth it! To my wife and two kids, thanks for your patience, especially on my long 2 hour runs. Your support has been invaluable! To everyone else that I haven’t mentioned personally, sorry but my goal tonight is not to make this the worlds longest blog post…although it probably getting there!

I would like to end this entry, by saying to everybody - don’t be afraid to challenge yourself. This is how we grow and evolve. When you next challenge yourself, throw everything you have at it. See yourself crossing that finish line, whatever it may be. Until next time, keep those dreams alive….

 All the best - Ryan Kilfoil

I did it! I completed my first marathon! Man am I glad to get that goal achieved! Thanks to everybody who sponsored me and donated to STOP THE TRAFFIK. While I didn’t reach my goal for fundraising, we still managed to raise well over $1000 in just a few short weeks - so top effort if you helped out!

We’ll save all the detail for the next post - still waiting for some photos so I can include those too. Now, I thought it would be an opportune time to talk about achieving your goals. It turns out:

“The world is full of people who really want to help you achieve your goals”

Since I completed my marathon, I have been working on some amazing projects. I didn’t actually realise how much time and energy preparing for a marathon takes!! The clock is ticking and there are 152 days until I achieve my goal of $1,000,000

It’s all pretty full on at the moment:

• I’ve just started a new company specialising in online marketing for small to medium businesses. I’m really excited about this service and the value that it adds to businesses. I’ll let you know once it’s all up and running
• I’ve been pricing up some quotes for printing my book. It’s almost finished and should be available for sale in June! I’m really passionate about telling my story to empower other to achieve their goals!
• I can’t stress it enough - if you want to achieve something, just take action! It’s amazing what happens when you put your intentions out there!

One of my recent goals was to generate extra income every week. Although this has been one of my goals for a few months,  and I’ve been thinking about it. I’ve only started really focusing on it this week. Since then, I have received multiple business offers, to work alongside some very creative people on different business ventures.

I can’t actually believe that these have materialised out of nothing! It’s crazy!….or is it? I think it’s pretty simple. I’ve put my goals out there, and I’m backing them 100%. I’ve not afraid to tell people what I’m doing, because:

1. I know that I can achieve these goals
2. I really don’t care about people’s negative comments

So - that’s me for now - better keep on top of it. I also can’t believe how far I’ve come in just over 200 days. My current life is worlds apart from my life back then - and I have so much to be grateful for - and all from simply changing the way I think…