Lukas Bates completed the London Marathon in a very respectable time this week (3hrs, 54m, 21s) and all whilst wearing a fancy dress costume of the London landmark: the Elizabeth Tower, which houses Big Ben.
What hit the news, though, was that his costume was too tall for him to get underneath the frame at the finish line without some help:
This made me smile for several reasons.
It’s a lovely light-hearted example of when the planning of a task has missed an important detail (reminding me of the ‘6 P’s principle’: proper prior planning prevents poor performance) but also:
- He did so well to complete the race in such a good time wearing all that
- Others were quick to help him out
- He was really good-natured about it – even though he was very tired and something had ‘gone wrong’ – and able to laugh it off in the interviews afterwards
- All this good humour and notoriety only added to the success of his fund-raising efforts
What a great role model for doing something really worthwhile (and not easy), dealing with adversity – and not taking ourselves too seriously in the process.
Really well done, Lukas!
Whole People 