The Year Ahead

After losing an amazing friend in extremely tragic circumstances a few weeks ago, I’m still coming to terms with the anger and sadness I feel surrounding her death.

It has made me question many things in my life, which all seem rather petty and insignificant when you compare them to the sudden death of someone you love, but nevertheless they exist.

Rob and I have decided to go ahead with plans we had shelved for a few years. Why wait when the unexpected may happen? We humans seem to think we have all the time in the world. But we don’t.

Last week I won a place in the New York Marathon ballot. These places are almost impossible to come by and it’s almost easier to get into Harvard than to win a place as an overseas runner. I entered never expecting to win one, having missed out on a London Marathon ballot 3 years in a row (I have started a collection of the rejection t-shirts they send you instead).

So I am going.

Never mind that in seven weeks I’m running the London Marathon and that three months after that I’m running the Outback Australian Marathon – when opportunities arise I am going to seize them and make the most of them because time is precious and the thought of wasting it kills me.

So on November 1st I’ll be running through all five boroughs of New York City in the freezing cold. I’ve already decided that although I don’t have to run it for a charity, I’m running it for my beautiful friend who was always so supportive of my running and who was always interested in what I was doing, even though she was suffering so much. That was her, always thinking of everyone else.

So my plan for the year ahead is this. To run. To love. To nurture my kids. To not waste time on frivolous things that don’t count. To treasure the people who matter. To grow. To let go. To laugh. To live..

To really live.

(I’ll probably eat a lot of Nutella too).