Again this choice is routed in triathlon. The first ever ‘Ironman’ branded race I did was in Mallorca it was a so called 70.3 race. The half distance of the full Ironman. Here again were closed roads and all the fun of competing in the same race as professionals and elite athletes. Better still Liz was in the same race and as older athletes in this race we were in the first wave of the race such that we entered the water first and hopefully exited it before the masses caught up. I remember clearly emerging from the water and seeing mass of humanity on the beach forming a tunnel. Each face searching for a loved one. The crowd was huge. I ran through the throng into the bike park where literally millions of pounds worth of TT bikes were lined up awaiting their owners. As I did so the Black Eyed Peas ‘Tonight is going to be a good night blared out’. I was so psyched by the feelings I experienced I sort of sobbed for joy.
All my life I have enjoyed to celebrate. Enjoy a beer with mates. Enjoy the camaraderie and celebrate success and put failure into perspective. I have found the best way to encourage this most pleasurable feature of human behaviours is sport. I played Rugby to a decent level but I laughed more with my teammates way more than I had any right to enjoy. I played cricket and laughed too but also a shared beer helped relive some magic moments of skill. I took part in some daunting marathon races, often with Liz, but it was the look in the eye over a raised glass that cemented the achievement. I have taken on some daunting cycling challenges, skied thousands of miles and many other things and through sport I have made life long friends created some incredible memories and ticked many boxes dreamed up in the darkest of nights.
I was 68 when my running legs finally gave out and I knew that was the case because the marathon leg of ‘Ironman Copenhagen’ was by a mile’ the hardest thing I have ever done. All the wonderful things I have experienced in my life were set in my mind against the pain I felt in my legs on that day and some how I got to the finish line, just before the cut off time. I had made it my business in other Ironman races I had been in to encourage others those who were really struggled but on this night in Copenhagen it was two people who made sure I got to the finishing line. Vanessa Glynn Jones all but bullied me to ‘get on with it’ when I was faltering in the dark reaches of the course. Elliott Maslan ‘marched me’ round the final six miles or so. A man I have not met since but whom I still message-I will publish the full story sometime soon.
With perhaps 600 meters to go he made polite excuses and left me to ‘enjoy’ the final steps alone. Like many times in my life events seem to begin and end on a similar note. Yes you have guessed it as I passed Copenhagen’s Opera House and the lights of the finish beckoned me home the Black Eyed Peas blared out. I was welcomed at the finishing line and presented with my medal by the woman who had won the women’s race outright that same day. She kissed me gently on the cheek held my shoulders and looked in my eyes. Her words will live with me for ever. ‘ Today was one of the hardest of your life but you know this because you are an Ironman’. Not quite sure exactly what she meant but heh who cares. I waddled off and looked for a beer. That beer and many others was sipped with Liz some fellow team mates who were more than that. ‘Brothers and sisters in arms’ if you like. Maybe it all routes back to my early days in rugby I cannot say. But if anyone reading this has experienced any sport with me or any of my many adventures you know that you will be welcomed for a beer. With any luck it may turn into a ‘good night’!
My final song: The Black Eyed Peas Tonight is going to be a good night.
Tales of a Life Well Lived 