Fading Lights - Genesis

As a life-long Genesis fan I’ll freely admit I wasn’t too endeared with some of their later material and I only bought their 2007 album ‘We Can’t Dance’ earlier this week. On closer listening however, I think I’ve been missing out. Maybe I was thrown by the bands ‘Spitting Image’ portrayal and by their more romantic pop offerings and heavily led keyboard songs but ‘Fading Lights’ is actually a stand out classic. It’s a track I’ve had in my library on their live album ‘The Way We Walk Vol 2 - The Longs’ for a long time but sadly overlooked. It’s well worth a look or a listen I believe and if you do you’ll see perhaps what I’m getting at.

Anyway, it’s perfect accompaniment for today’s blog. A blog where I want to come across sounding upbeat rather than a sapping ‘Energy Vampire’. You see, the aforementioned album really got me thinking about ‘Life’s Progression’ and how Chapters open and close, years go by and people sadly come and go.

Another time it might have been so different
If only we could do it all again…

Right now, death seems to surround me - see I told you it was dark - but it does. I shouldn’t really be surprised though now I’m getting on a bit at 56. Apparently, it’s a time when you start going to more funerals than weddings. That’s true enough as only recently, one of my close friends collapsed and died, right out of the blue - which I will admit really shook me. Another of my friends is ‘living’ with terminal prostate cancer and another is fighting a stage 3 breast cancer nightmare. It’s all a bit much, especially after being so ill myself a couple of years’ back. In fact it’s worse than that, it’s frightening.

Maybe I’m just coming to terms with how close to the edge I really was with GBS in a PTSD kinda way. I know it made me consider that in another time, whether I do it all again.

But now it's just another fading memory
Out of focus, though the outline still remains…

Thinking about it, most of us would, as we wouldn’t have found love, had children, accomplished feats and created life-long memories. Maybe that’s what the very old ‘Genesis’ songs and albums represent. Memories - and that’s why I overlooked the later lighter songs, so in a way I wouldn’t blemish the adolescent landmarks of my youth. Hmm, that sounds a bit slushy and sentimental for me but I do cherish those years in a spotty faced pre-digital ‘World of Change’.

Far away, away, fading distant lights
Leaving us all behind, lost in a changing world…

Ah, the ‘Changing World’. Well, I’m as aware as the next man that our modern world is changing at an alarming rate and I’m doing everything I can to keep up with it. The 4K Ultra-High-Definition, digital world offers an amazing visual notebook of the world around us. The distant lights of myself in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s are literally just that - limited to a few snapshots and school photographs that document thirty years of life’s progression. Not that it matters that much I suppose as I can remember the highlights package and have edited out the bits I care to forget. Luckily for the current generation, Facebook will deliver the instant image capture of everyday life and will catalogue our children’s lives and adventures. It will also provide a legacy for those whom are currently living all their future years on a much shorter time scale.

And you know that these are the days of our lives so remember

Like the story that we wish was never ending…

Gosh, this is sounding really dark now, but I’m just wanted to highlight that ‘these are the days of our lives’ – the BEST ones actually. It’s something I was reminded of during the ‘Flora 1000-Mile Challenge’ in 2003 by London Marathon Race-Director, David Bedford. I didn’t know what he meant at the time but get it now. I remember that I wasn’t too happy about one thing or another and he told me in a very direct ‘David Bedford Way’ to ‘consider the bigger picture and enjoy one of the best days of my life’. He was SO right and I’ve quoted the story many times over.

We know some time we must reach the final page
Still we carry on just pretending…

Do we pretend it’s never going to end for us or just ignore it? Is the last page something you consider? I’m not sure if I do or I don’t. Maybe I’d consider it more if I knew my days were numbered like my friends. The thing is most of us don’t know just how many ‘pages’ we’re going to make and for most they don’t want to either. In writing my own book I managed to cram 53 years into a mere 164pp and 16 pictures. There were some passages of time, some of them of many years long that didn’t feature. In an ever-changing world, living through some of the most formative years of the developing human race, I had nothing to say – What a waste.

That there'll always be another day to go

Far away, away, fading distant lights…

Making the days count, that’s what really matters. As another of my ‘Life-Chapters’ is coming to a close, I feel it’s time to take in a few last breaths before moving into new territory, start breaking ground and making fresh footprints. Like most people of my age I’m now realising that nothing lasts forever. I’m sure that the Genesis band members would agree with me on that one. To me it’s a shame that they’ll probably never play together again and that their early back-catalogue and video footage isn’t of the quality it so deserves.

Another chance hello, another goodbye
And so many things we'll never see again…

I feel like that about my early years of running marathons. Then again, on seeing a photo of me in my running gear back 1995, the high-waister shorts with my vest tucked in wasn’t a good look. I did have a good head of hair though. Anyway, it’s the marathon dates and times matter the most. Things would have been different too as if I were running from London2Lisbon now instead of 2004, I’d be broadcasting from the run live, sharing the experience. Even since 2013 things have really progressed in terms of accessibility and social media since my ‘Stoptober’.

Days of life that seemed so unimportant
Seem to matter and to count much later on…

And there’s the rub. You don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone. It’s the same old song, playing that same old tune - but how true it is. I wonder what value you’d put on life itself. Ask the people facing death in the face and they’ll probably have a much higher asking price than yours. They’re making sure that every day from now on counts, double, without regrets and without missed opportunities.

I’m writing this on the 0515hrs Cardiff to London Express wondering what the 1,000 or so other people crammed on here wondering what they will achieve today. I wouldn’t imagine that there will be too many ‘World Records’ set but no doubt there will be a vast amount of energy expended writing emails, pacifying clients, fighting colleagues and worrying about things that simply don’t matter.

Unlike them, I’m running 10 miles around the City’s Landmarks to test out a route for our Average2Awesome Challenge on a day that I’m sure I’ll never forget. Luckily for me with my iPhone I’m able to document it in in Hi-Res and enjoy it again whenever I want to in the future as it’s bound to be one of the most enjoyable days of 2018.

Will 9^th March 2018 be a day to remember for you or will it soon be a ‘Fading Light’?

Rory Coleman - rory@colemancoaching.co.uk

1,013 Marathons - 245 Ultras - 14 Marathon des Sables - 9 Guinness World Records