Let’s do it again, but do it better!
So tomorrow is the start of another year and while I have never been one for New Year’s resolutions (in the belief that if I need to change something why wait for 31 December to do it) I unusually made one this time last year.
That resolution was aimed around how to have the best 2023 I could engineer in terms of my running. I wanted to be a bit faster and go further in 30-mile or longer races before the need to walk.
I decided to stop drinking, not because I was an alcoholic but because drinking made me make bad food choices which piled on weight. So a year on and I have not drunk one drop, I lost 22lb and managed to complete all the races I entered including mega races in Bhutan and Cambodia.
A few years back we used to have a game called Bop It. At the end of each game the electronic voice would say “Do it again... but better” and that silly saying has helped drive resolution success.
So do I have one for 2024? Not as such, beyond trying to stay alive for another year and do whatever I love doing as much as possible – but, of course, better if I can.
I already have running events in Lanzarote, Arran and Northern Spain lined up for the first half of the year, I want to up my training and eat a little more healthily again. Using the running, I want to do more for Prostate Cancer UK, be it fundraising or spreading awareness, and also write a sequel to my first book, Dead Man Running.
Most of all though, I want to do more with my family. My kids have all grown up and our relationship has moved on to a different stage so I need to work at adapting myself to that, even though they will always be my children.
At the same time, my wife has been on occasion neglected as I have pursued my running and charitable goals. She has been an amazing and tolerant support, and it’s time to do more together.
Hopefully you will have done some great things in 2023. Capture those memories and, where you can, repeat and build on them. However, if like me, in that process you neglected other important things, then maybe it’s time to make a resolution to make amends in 2024. As they say, “Fail to prepare, then prepare to fail”.
‘‘ I neglected my wife for running, so we need to do more together