About a week after the race my Mum had a pacemaker fitted - and being an only child you get kind of nervous of these kind of events as it reminds you of how mortal you are (even if you've just trained for the one of the biggest events of your life). The operation was a success, and all was well ... so back to normal then ... I even did some more running. The Fordingbridge 10k, Shinfield 10k and then the Bracknell 1/2 marathon - all was going so well.
About a week later, I had a call from a friend which lead up to the question "Have you had any bad news lately?", to which I answered "No, why?". It turned out that my best friend had been killed in a car accident - it's still feels wrong just typing it, and since most of his contacts were in his phone, which was in his car ... nobody had been in able to tell any of his friends - so, that's what we did for the next week.
For those that knew both me and Damon, we were friends from Uni and never really grew up. He was my 'big' brother an many times people thought we were related :) we were so similar, and so close that it feels as if part of me has died with him (I know that it sounds like a cliché - sorry)
Then, back at work things were getting a bit hectic as they do - getting 30 people to agree on any project is tricky at the best of times - unfortunately, dealing with the Lilliputian style 'debates' on really minor issues just didn't work for me. I could deal with black and white, but grey didn't appear as an option, and most of these topics were just in the grey.
In the meantime, back at home my Mum's health was up and down - and finally we accepted that she'll have to stay permanently, so we started to process the selling up of her house (fun fun fun).
They about two weeks later, another friend was found dead in a local park, which unfortunately shook apart whatever pieces I had stuck back together in my head.
SPLAT!
Finally, something snapped, and I had to talk to the doctor to help, and so for the last four weeks I've been recovering at home - very slowly getting my head/heart back together.
I'm not trying to indicate that my experience/pain is in anyway bigger/better than those experienced by anyone else, i'm just listing it here to remind me of where I am today.
So, why choose today as 'day 1', well ...
- I'm starting to go stir crazy at home - which I feel is a good sign
- I have an appointment at Life Right, later today which will help me get more things sorted
- Finally, it's my fourteenth Wedding Anniversary today!!!
So, how to celebrate ... well fitness kinda stopped as of the news of Damon, and so to re-awaken that part of my life i'm off training again, and have signed up for the 'Dorney Dash' on Saturday to get myself going. (I know that area from the pre-marathon training, so it'll be almost like home ground).
That's it for today, Marathon Gorilla is back, and will keep you all updated of his progress.
Thanks for all your support in the past - it has been really appreciated.
