Time - The Pink Floyd

I was looking back at my blog to see what I was writing about ten years’ ago. And it made for some really interesting reading, well for me anyway, looking at what was important in my world in the Autumn of 2012.

Like most of the UK I’d enjoyed the London Summer Olympics and I was also enjoying the benefits of being in the 50+ age group where I felt I could maybe win some age category prizes. The blog's common theme back then was about my performance and training and what I was doing to make myself better - not a bad thing.

 

It was all about 'leading from the front' - a kind of this is what I’m doing, you should be doing it too approach. Only leading from the front, I now believe is fraught with issues, especially in my game. I notice it even in the simplest of ways. On client runs a half step behind instead of a step ahead makes a huge difference. I’ve witnessed so many people being ‘paced’ by someone in marathons, racing ahead shouting an encouraging ‘come on!’ in the knowledge that the person following is thinking ‘I wish you’d just shut the f@ck up and f@ck off’…

 

Sure, it’s good on my part to be out there practicing what I preach but ten years ago I was far more regimental in my coaching approach. Believing that A plus B plus C would Deliver. It did, but it could have delivered more.

 

In a blink of an eye for 2012 has become 2022 - well that’s how it feels. A decade in a moment, and yet so much happened. A busy ten years with a busy life, a busy wife, three very busy young children, a life-threatening disease and a mere 325 marathons. Well, that's the highlights package anyway.

 

In reality, it’s been a time where I’ve learned the most about myself but also about what makes other people tick. I realise it’s not a perfect world and that for most a long, happy and healthy life is all they are looking for - it’s that simple. And it's my job to make it happen. I get it now.

 

I’ll be interested to see what I’m writing about in 2032, if I’m still blogging or even still here. And, I hope it will be as interesting to look back at the next ten years and relive some of the life-events that made any day stand out enough to write about.

 

What life-story are you writing today?

1,145 Marathons - 270 Ultras - 9 Guinness World Records - 15 Marathon des Sables