A Vintage Year...
Since I last wrote my half century has come and gone and I find myself in my 51st year.
I think that the first 50 years have gone reasonably well. I find myself blessed with a solid family life, generally interesting employment and –for the most part- good health. Any regrets are about things over which I have no control.
I may blog more on this at some point once I get my thoughts together. Then again I might not – wouldn’t want to over-share now would we? And in any event, the first 50 have just been the warm-up gig for the second and my eyes are firmly on the future, not the past.
After some prezzies and cake on Friday night, I spent my birthday itself in Inverness where I should have been running the Loch Ness Marathon on Sunday had blood pressure problems not intervened. The trip up on the train was pretty wild, weatherwise, but Sunday dawned very chilly but bright. As I was not able to run I had volunteered to be part of the race organisation on the day so I went along to the stadium at 9.00 and set about being of assistance.
My first task was to assist in the unpacking of 7000 bananas and generally setting up the finishing area. After a quick cup of tea, my next job was to be on the track handing out the goody-bags to the 5K and 10K finishers. By this time the sun had been out long enough to warm up the air and it was a very pleasant Autumn day as the first marathon runner came home in a course record time of 2hrs 20. I stayed at the finishing line and was essentially getting water to the finishers while – more importantly – keeping an eye out for runners who were not well and either fetching medics or accompanying the runners to their family or the medical tent.
It was an interesting – and in many respects a privileged – position to be in although I had some serious pangs of regret when people were coming in around the time that I had been targeting.
When my pals Malcy and Murdoch crossed the line I managed to be the one who presented them with their finisher’s medals which was another privilege and a rare wee treat.
As for my wee legs, I haven’t done much running at all since the BP thing was diagnosed. This is partly because I usually run at lunchtimes and I’ve been busy but it is also because, with no marathon to train for, I lost motivation to make the time. I do now have a watch with heart rate monitor, though, so I really ought to get jogging.
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