rage against age

I should have known it was going to be tough when I delayed the start of the run just that little too long-9am start is too late in Wet Season Darwin. The program told me 45 mins easy and the first 20 minutes weren’t bad. Then my legs decided to sap away all energy through Suits the moisture that comes with 30.7 degrees celcius (86 Farenheit) and 72% humidity. Very rapidly, easy became difficult.

It reminds me of my last event, the Variety Club Santa Run. We were all very excited dressed in our Santa Suits and ready to join the two hundred other Santas participating in the 3 km event.

It was three weeks after the Bangkok Marathon and I thought I was ready for a short hit out. This was ignoring the fact that experiences evoked through the term ‘hit out’ don’t really apply to me but I am an optimist. I positioned myself a few rows back from the front and at the gun shuffled forward with the crowd ready to open up once there was space. This was going to be ‘easy’. This is what my brain was saying but there was a severe miscommunication with my legs which seemed determined to mimic two pillars of concrete; I pumped my arms urging my legs to follow but it just did not work. The race became a run / walk for me and taught me the following lesson – easy is not always there; in fact when it comes to my running it seems to be a foreign concept to me. I remember what it feels like but, like young love, it belongs to another me, long gone. I wonder what might be a suitable substitute.

Last year I ticked a box on my interior “bucket list” by participating in a bike making workshop at the NY Bamboo Bike studio. This was one of the best things I did last year, apart from visiting family, for a whole range of reasons.

Firstly I fell in love with New York City. The traffic is crazy but the people were incredibly friendly (their reputation of being brash and rude was not evident on my visit). NYC is alive and it is stimulating. I got to see Robert di Nero in Shakespeare in the Park and ride my bike in the craziest places.

The guys at the Bamboo Studio are fantastic and guide you every step of the way to ensure you have a safe and aethetically pleasing bike fitted for you. This year they are commencing production of these bikes in Ghana in a project in association with Columbia University.

I use the bike to commute and it is a joy as it is so light and manouverable.

Another box on my list is to participate in the New York Marathon. Last year I entered the lottery and have done so again this year so it will happen someday. My body is not really made for distance as I’m no whippet but I love the zen of training long and the challenge of distance events. Whenever I feel as if I am fooling myself I think of the account of the race and the pics posted by “the Fat Cyclist” http://www.fatcyclist.com/ and my enthusiam for future participation returns threefold. The Fat Cyclist is funny, real and irreverent. He is worth reading.

I am at the tail end of the baby boomers and already I am forgetting words, running slower, swimming slower, and being treated as fragile by the marine and the scientist, my kids. So 2011 is going to be all about turning the tide. Cripes I am not even 60; not time to be written off yet!

2010 was where aspiration did not meet expectation; 6 hours for my first marathon did not match the 4 and a half to five hours expected. In spite of that it was a good year; travel, teaching, coaching, grandkids, an ocean swim, a triathlon – it was fun. 2011 is going to be better; another marathon trained for properly, more swimming with another ocean swim in mind (difficult where I live because of the box jelly fish) and a couple of mental challenges – to unlock the mysteries of photoshop and to gain some proficiencies in creating infographics. When done well they are beautiful and satisfying artefacts of social and personal reportage.

And strumming away in the background my two passions, teaching English Lit and Communications, and swim coaching. Life is full and 2011 will make it awesome.

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