It Takes Determination.

 Let me begin by apologising to those of you who got in touch to check that I was alright. How kind of you to do so. I did not make a thing of my being away, I was so sure that where I was going I would have no problems with internet. As it turned out the signal was weak and writing a blog became a big no.

I am back feeling that I have achieved much. In the time I was away I ran each morning, 6 miles. On one day I then walked for four hours, another I walked for five hours, and another 3 hours. I have very nearly completed the whole of the coastal path. I am making my task more difficult by the method chosen. I am parking my car and walking out then returning to my car. Once I have done the whole path I will have completed some 180 miles of walking. Now that may not seem a great deal, but I can only walk with the aid of painkillers, having had so many injuries to my feet with years of running mountains. After my accident falling from my caravan roof I never though I would mange to run or walk again. It has taken a lot of determination.

As Walt Disney said, “It is kind of fun to do the impossible.”

On one of my walks I saw a young girl walking towards me on the path. (When I say path I mean a trodden path not a made up track). She was certainly not dressed for walking. Thin trainers on her feet a bright pink t shirt and fluorescent green shorts with the obligatory tops of the underwear informing me she was wearing, “Girls Boxers,” in bright red. She had a number of piercings and tattoos, one on her hand that read, “Believe.”

She stopped to ask how far she had to go to reach her hoped for destination. She was a bit down when I told her how far she still had to go. She had set out to prove to herself she could do it. I asked about the tattoo reading believe. She told me it was there as a reminder to her that she was not useless and could and would achieve something. I felt greatly moved. She was a girl with a mission and a pleasant personality. I left uplifted and I heard her hum a tune as she carried on her way. I had no doubt she would reach her destination. To make sure she did not have to walk back I slipped her the bus fare.

Somebody once said, “You have to be determined to be determined.”

My father always told me that to do something you have first to tell yourself that you can, if you do not then you will be telling yourself you cannot.

"My mother taught me very early to believe I could achieve any accomplishment I wanted to. The first was to walk without braces." --Wilma Rudolph 1940-1994, Olympic Gold Medallist.

The other great joy of my last few days is that for the first time in two years my weight slipped ever so slightly below the 70kg mark head towards my target running weight.

I hope you are all well and be assured I missed you and will catch up with all your blogs over the next two days or so.

Have a great day and reach you target destination.

This is the way of the Tao.

This blog is linked to my other.  The Mirage