22/03/2019

Half Measures

O let not Time deceive you, 

You cannot conquer Time.

Lines from the sixth stanza of W H Auden’s ‘As I Walked Out One Evening’ which pretty much summed up my initial feelings last Sunday evening.

Compare and contrast.

Thirty-one years and about an hour and twenty minutes separate these two post-Half Marathon photos...

But the inexorable passage of time does not alone explain the paucity of my performance around the roads of Reading last Sunday morning... and unfortunately, early afternoon!

To be brutally honest, I underestimated the challenge and I didn’t prepare properly. I was complacent. I’d even go as far as to say arrogant. I deluded myself that having done something moderately well in the past, I could do so again in  the future without reflecting, learning and adapting.

As the saying goes...

It’s a message I will be shortly be sharing with Year 11 and Year 13. You’ll understand why, I’m sure.

But, all that said, the glass is not a half empty one. Because there was also a bigger picture, and goal...

www.justgiving.com/fundraising/leading-from-the-back

So I’d like to end by raising a very full glass to all who have so generously supported - and continue to support - my half-baked, half marathon efforts. You provided the inspiration that kept me going.

Cheers! It means a very great deal.