Nobody is accidentally in Alaska. The people who are in Alaska are there because they choose to be, so they’ve sort of got a real frontier ethic. The people are incredibly friendly, interesting, smart.

Marcus Sakey

Could Alaska be a mindset, rather than a place?

A mindset that people don’t find themselves in accidentally, but that they purposefully choose?

People with a frontier ethic who push boundaries and who are incredibly friendly, interesting and smart?

Last week, I felt this frontier ethic a few times.

First, Pádraig experienced a couple of sessions in the Lokomat that were truly outstanding. Sessions he actively participated in, way beyond of what we had expected. Sessions were his supporters allowed him to push those frontiers further out. Sessions that were true game changers.

On day one, they experimented a little.

On day two, a method emerged: he pushed himself up straightening his legs; then he moved his legs, left and right; and only then did he walk on the treadmill of the Lokomat.

It was phenomenal.

Then, on Saturday, I did a bit of pushing the boundaries myself, attempting the Dublin Half Marathon.

Have a look at the pictures. There is a ‘before’ and there are two ‘after’ ones of myself, plus a view of the thousands of runners ahead of me – and a handful of them behind me: a reflection of how fast (or slow) people intended to run.

You can see: my ambitions were low. I just wanted to get over the finish line. Time did not matter in my case.

My friend who joined me in the park to cheer me on took a video just before the finishing line.

You can hear him shouting:”Come on, Reinhard. A few hundred metres more. Keep going.”

I was shattered after the race.

But I thought that what my friend had said to me was so true. No just in this situation, but in life. In many cases, we just need to do a few hundred metres more and keep going.

Several times during the race I had wondered why I was doing it. Whether I should stop and just go home. I’ve also thought that a few times in my life. Why making the effort? What for? Why keep going?

When I look back at Pádraig’s extraordinary exercise sessions of last week, and at my half-marathon, it was my friend who gave me the answer. We do this because we want to cross that finishing line which is often just around the corner. So we need to keep going.

Being able to do it requires friends and supporters: people like those from Alaska.

People who choose to do what they are doing. People who got a real frontier ethic. People who are incredibly friendly, interesting, and smart.

Frontiers are there to be overcome.

And that is exactly what we will be keep doing.