Tapering
week.
For the not
runners under you: In the context of sports, tapering refers to
the practice of reducing exercise in the days just before an important
competition. Tapering is customary in many endurance sports, such as long-distance
running and swimming. For many athletes, a significant period
of tapering is essential for optimal performance (could not have said
it better myself, Wikipedia)
After all
of my adventures in this neck of the woods, I will hit the ground dead, then
pick my corpse up and start running once I am back on the island. For the first
time in maybe 10 years, I will be home for the end of year week. And for the
first time in 8 our little nuclear family Eman-Bradshaw will be complete!
So, no time
for jetlags and lollygagging, there is fun to be had.
But before
that, the last week in Australia will also be spend with family. While koala
cuddling was the main reason to go to Adelaide, it so happens that in this vast
country, that is where part the new Bradshaw branch is living. So more on that
next time.
This blog
is about the last days in Melbourne. What I hadn’t told anyone except my
emergency contact, is that I was doing a Spartan race on the Friday.
That
Was
EPIC!!
I am
bruised and battered and am sore in muscles that I forgot I had, but I am
hooked and will definitely be doing this again. (Actually am, March 10th,
in Vegas) Pictures take 2 to 5 days to come online, so those will added to this post as soon as I have them!
I was dead
on Saturday, so I mostly hung around, finishing another book, and letting my
mind do the heavy lifting. Going into the final week of my alone time for the
next months, got me thinking a lot about the future. And a little panic crept
in. I have no plans, no job, no idea what it will be. And for the first time
ever in my life I am feeling older. This might have to do with the other people
travelling around me, the backpackers counting their coins at the check out and
having to put thing back. I do not want to go back to that life.
And then I
got a grip. I remember when I was living in Bonaire, there was a couple, both
pilots, that was living there as well. They had traveled the world with just 1
suitcase. In that suitcase they kept white shirt, their stripes and a wok.
Everything else they bought on the spot, minimalistically. The lady pilot would
jump off the cliff in the back of their garden every morning and swim naked to
a buoy and later had a smoothie for breakfast with whatever fruit was in port
that morning. I remember thinking: that is what I want.
And now I
have this chance to start over and fill my life how I want it. Scary, but
exciting as well. Travel will be a big part of this new life. It is hard to
step out of the ‘normal’ and choose to live differently that ‘standard’ (the
2.2 kid, house, career life).
As someone
wise and more eloquent than me put it:
You should have been singing and dancing while the music was playing. I believe in that deeply. I would add, you should love, cry, laugh while you are at it. Find a way to give priority to things and people you are passionate about.
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