Part 2 – Virus
Once again Brighton had stunned with me with an unexpected sucker punch, my guard had dropped and like a tiring prize fighter I was sent reeling into the ropes, dazed and shocked at what had just happened. One minute my future had an element of promise and focus and the next I was scrabbling, yet again, to regain my composure. What made matters worse was that as before I was let down by people I considered friends and to be brutally honest I was incensed at the way I had been treated. But thats business I guess, the almighty buck once again retaining its undisputed heavy weight crown. Im not naive to the fact that business’s sometimes have to make tough financially driven decisions, but I do believe such decision’s can always be handled with greater consideration to the individual, maybe thats a naive notion, but money really isn’t everything!
Losing my job had hit me hard, yet more proof in my eyes, in what had already been a traumatic three years, that I had no value or worth to society at large. I was back living at home, separated from my wife and just as I was piecing things back together my job evaporated like the morning mist. Oh well at least I could train for that STUPID desert race Id entered…
By now it was late October, the last fleeting rays of a typical British summer were migrating South and I was bracing myself for 5 months of sub 10°c winter weather training. Not the ideal preparation for the Sahara Desert but I didnt really care, my legs were well below the 100 miles a week recommendation, sun or no sun I just needed to get running. With my training schedule carefully selected, new trainers broken in and Strava downloaded I was ready to pound the streets and hills of West Sussex. What I was not going to do was hit the canvas and give up, and with the immortal words of Nike ringing in my ears ‘Just Do It’ my training began in earnest.
Sadly my newfound optimism lasted about 2 days and three visits to the doctor, 2 blood tests and an ECG later my training ended faster than a Moroccan dash for the finish line. It would be 2 months and a New Year before I could put my trainers back on…[Part 3 – A New Hope: to follow soon]
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Donate here [Just Giving] World Vision – The Worlds largest Childrens Charity which fights abuse and offers international disaster relief for children. WV has an exemplary track record of transparency around their finances. With 84% of every pound going to directly to charitable activities: .
Donate Here [Just Giving] The Youth Sports Trust – A UK based organisation that use’s sport to change young people’s lives. Such as the ‘Girls Active’ initiative which looks to tackle the negative image young girls have about their bodies.
Donate Here [Just Giving] Jon E Cassell – In addition to the primary objective of inspiring others and raising money for two organisations that are dynamically trying to shape the world in a positive way Jon also needs to raise £3500 to cover a portion of his own expenses to enter the race. However whilst covering these costs are ultimately important we dont want this request to detract from what we have said above, hence why we have mentioned this last.
Related Reading
An Unexpected Journey – Part 1 ‘Random Events’