So close....

After Chrissie Wellington's great success last week I was hoping for more of the same this weekend, unfortunately as I'm sure you know it was a case of 'so close, yet so far' in both the rugby and F1. Although Lewis and the England team gave it their absolute best and can return home with heads held high I can't help but feel a little flat thinking about what might have been.

A few years ago I was lucky enough to have dinner with Hamilton when Ben (Lack - my oldest mate from school) and I had been to watch another friend of ours , Jan Heylen, racing in a Formula Ford race. Even then everyone was talking about him and was touting him as the next motor racing superstar to come out of England. It really struck me then how down to earth and modest he was even as a teenager surrounded by so much hype. Although it came as no surprise to those in the know that he made a huge impact in F1 but to come second by a point in his rookie season is just phenomenal. As anyone who has been following the F1 season will know, Lewis's dad has been pretty much ever present throughout and it's his comments in particular which have struck a chord with me today. Interviewed immediately after the race, when you might have expected him to be devastated at the world title slipping from his son's grasp, Anthony Hamilton said the following...

"To be quite honest, none of us are in pain - trust me, we feel great," Anthony told ITV Sport's Louise Goodman. "We've just had one of the most fantastic Formula 1 seasons ever. If somebody had told me a year ago we'd be fighting for the world championship at this stage, I'd have told that they were dreaming. It's been a fantastic year. We lost it by one point, and we'll come back next year". Anthony added that his son still had many chances to take the championship in his career. "If we don't win it next year, we'll win it the year after," he said. (taken from itv.com)

That is truly the attitude of a winner! It is impossible to always achieve your goals, it is impossible to always win but what you can do is always give it your best. People sometimes ask me how I'll feel if after months and months of hard training and sacrifice I miss out on Hawaii by one or two minutes... knowing that I will have given my absolute all and remembering these comments I hope I'll feel proud of myself for giving it everything just as I am sure Anthony Hamilton is proud of his son tonight. I think what we sometimes forget is that the only people who fail are those who don't try in the first place, success can't be measured by a time or a place... to truly succeed is to truly give it your best, to put yourself on the line, face up to your dreams and at the end of the day know that you could have given no more, whether you come first or last.

Training last week? Nothing more than ticking over for the marathon really... a couple of swims including my first 'coached' swim with our tri club (LBT) on Friday evening, a great 60 mile social club ride also with LBT today and a 60 minute turbo a few days ago, 10 x 2 mins (18kph) on the treadmill with Tony B on Tuesday and 16 miles at 7.30 pace (2 hours), also with Tony, on Thursday evening. Not forgetting 100 press-ups on Tuesday in two goes... 60 (minute rest) then 40 ;)

Training this week will be fairly steady, although with the marathon not until Monday the 29th we're planning to stick in ten miles at marathon pace on Thursday and will no doubt chuck in a couple of easy short runs over the weekend. A few swims should keep me loose (poor-man's physio) and hopefully be a bike chucked in there somewhere... with 100 press-ups straight off becoming more of a goal (if only for fun) hopefully I'll manage 65/35 sometime over the next seven days??

Other than that, not a lot happening... next week's posts will need to be our first international efforts if we are to keep our 100% record of Sunday night writing. With the marathon on the Monday it better not be a late one ;)

Speak soon,

T.