99 Red Balloons - Nena

Nena's world soon went POP...

Lyrics:- 'Panic bells, it's red alert' - McAlea

Song Choice:- Yikes when you go looking it's amazing what you can find out eh? A simple reference for a song with Balloon in the title revealed a different story from the one I remember from 1994 when Nena, and her hairy armpits, graced Top of the Pops with her UK one-hit-wonder (well in Top 40 terms anyway).

Wiki says of the song that drove me a bit potty at the time if I'm being honest says:-

The lyrics of the original German version tell a story: 99 balloons are mistaken for UFOs, causing a general to send pilots to investigate. Finding nothing but child's balloons, the pilots decide to put on a show and shoot them down. The display of force worries the nations along the borders and the war ministers on each side bang the drums of conflict to grab power for themselves. In the end, a 99-year war results from the otherwise harmless flight of balloons, causing devastation on all sides without a victor. At the end, the singer walks through the devastated ruins and lets loose a balloon, watching it fly away.

Who'd have thought that...

Anyway, for the purposes of today's blog it's about what happens when just one of those Balloons goes pop. You see disappointment is such a corrosive thing. You see even the slightest blemish can send folks world into a complete tail-spin and can undo months and months of hard work in just a split second.

In my experience, people are always the biggest disappointment. The biggest bang of any Balloon that's ever been blown up is usually from someone not doing the right thing - Yet the person we get most disappointed with is OURSELVES.

I had a real setback recently, a real kick in the pants and yep, it would have been far too easy to give in and become a recluse into 'Climbing back on the Bicycle after a fall'. Trying to make sense and gather strength and resolve from the negativity that surrounded the experience took time.

I've always said it's not how you get knocked down, it's how you get up that counts. Time-after-time-after-time it's proved to be right. Yes it's a shame that we mess up, don't perform as we'd wished and things didn't pan out like we thought they would BUT there's always time to regroup, rethink and re-energise ourselves. Not necessarily to try harder but to make sure when things go POP the next time, we keep going and miss out the deflated stage that stops any forward progress.

Has your World gone POP or are you still trying hard to single handedly BLOW it up? Or is someone trying to BLOW it up for you?

Rory Coleman - 995 Marathons - 244 Ultras - 14 Marathon des Sables

9 Guinness World Records - 8,596 Days' Alcohol Free - 444 Days' post GBS

& 1 Inspirational Running Memoir

Location: Cardydd, Cymru