2020 Wishing and Hoping or Thinking and Doing

2020 Wishing and Hoping or Thinking and Doing

 

Although I am sitting here wishing everybody a Happy New Year, I know in my heart that it is not going to happen for a lot of people. What I would like to give as advice is this. Do not allow anybody to tell you or make you feel that you are less than you are. Search inside yourself for who you are, if somebody is hanging you out to dry for their own purposes. Remember that the hardest step is the first one out of the door, at the very least avoid the company of people who don’t work as hard as you do to achieve goals and definitely keep clear of anybody who attempts to put you down or who does not appreciate what you are capable of, and simply judging other by theirs own lack of conviction.

What gives me the right to say this? I know it to be true from my own experiences in my past.

These days I am fortunate to have family and friends who support me every inch of the way.

My husband Stephen is also my coach and best friend for that matter as well. Last evening just after dinner, knowing that I like to mark special occasions with a special training session, Steve asked me if I had anything in mind for our New Years Day training. He said that He thought we might do a slightly longer run than is usual for our mid week run. I turned that over in my head for less than a minute before saying, “What about doing the Tuff Fitty Tuff Ten run course”. It is an event we thought up donkeys years ago in our early days in triathlon not long after we had established the Tuff Fitty Triathlon Club and taken a handful of coaching courses.

It is a hard ten miles course over the downs a few miles from our home. It takes in stretches of The Monarchs Way through Houghton Forest, some of Stane Street which is a well known Roman road and also some of The Southdown's Way. It is all off road and on the South Downs that means that what is underfoot is Chalk and Flint. In the middle of winter it has some squelchy patches that are very slippery.

We thoroughly enjoyed our run even though visibility was not great; the mist was kind of magical dipping in behind the hills and trees. Garmin Forerunner facts are that we covered 1350 feet of elevation and the there and back route took 2 hours 46, very slightly faster on the return section. That is not very fast for ten miles compared to younger runners but Steve is rising 70 and I am 80, so fast enough, all things considered.

We had not taken that route for at least ten years, apart from walking it with the dog but now we think we will include it into our 2020 training schedule. We are already entered for Ironman70.3 Graz, Austria in May, to name but a few. Maybe another 70.3 later in the year too who knows what fate may have in store for us. What we do know is that we want to do events where we can both compete in the same event. Not one for him and one for me. Togetherness.

To go back to the theme I started with today and this may not seem like they are in any way similar but Steve sprang a surprise trip to London last Monday to the British Museum to see the Troy Exhibition- Myth and Reality. One of the exhibits was sculpture depicting Thelis, Achilles mother, holding her baby by the ankle to dip him in the River Styx to make him invulnerable. Because she did not immerse his foot this became his weak point. The famous Achilles Heel. It was great display of ancient artifacts with many sculptures of Gods and warriors, very well presented indeed.

But, adding this bluntly into what I am on about today, concerning our training and motivation, this is my repeated point; don’t let anybody hang you out to dry or play on any weakness that you might have. Stay strong.