A New Year Message from Gavin:
This isn’t just a post about Orienteering. I do want to say Happy New Year and here’s to a much, much better 2021.
This has been far too strange a year to end it with a trite, generic blog post. I want to invite you all back to mine and crack open a bottle of what’s left and hear the stories. That’s what I want. Instead of writing a blog. And say thanks to all the people who have made it that bit easier, despite what they themselves have had to go through. And we’re still here.
We are tied, I assume since you’re reading this, in some umbilical way, by the fact that we have missed our Orienteering and running with friends. I know I have missed running in groups, meeting up with friends and sharing experiences and spinning the yarn. All of that. I want to be able to say to myself ‘take a look back and think, we made it’. But then I look ahead and think, ‘we ain’t there yet.’ Bit like running a Mountain Marathon. But I won’t strain the metaphor.
Physically, most of us runners are alright. We are self-disciplined and know how to get out of the front door. But spiritually and mentally we’ve all taken a right kick to the solar plexus and that makes it harder. Yes it’s been a tough year. Yes income has taken a knock and our presents were frugal this year. So what. We’re still here.
Life has reinforced to myself and my family, once again, a far more important lesson in 2020. Your health and your ability to show love for each other are the only things that matter. Running may be a motivational tool, a source of mental wellbeing when the chips are down, or a physical reminder of the freedom we embody. I should say, I can run and running is part of who I am. But it is not everything.
My father used to say, ‘It’s a good day for the race’. To which I would ask ‘what race?’ and he would reply ‘the human race’. Not the funniest joke. But its message has gone full circle and it’s no longer a joke but a stark fact. It is a good day for the race.
I really do hope that in 2021 I will be able to say to my grandchildren ‘it’s a good day for the race ‘…again!