Wednesday 2nd July, half of the year has now flown by! Cannot believe it’s July already, it has been a very busy few months

The patterns I wrote about in the update in April have unfortunately carried on into the 2nd quarter, my Father having some health issues associated with his Leukaemia that have led to more time in hospital and thus a change in priorities for the family and I. My niggly injuries, whilst improving have still limited my ability to do physical training to the level I had wanted to and expected to. I lost much of may to achilles tendon problems. On a positive note though, I got plenty of swimming done including some great lake swims in preparation for the Great North Swim.

Also, time has been at a premium with the focus on developing my business; meeting clients, attending and running events, speaking etc have eaten into a lot of evenings over the past couple of months. All very much worth it though.

As we now enter Q3, here is an assessment of where I am

2014: What I am making happen

  • Achieve my NLP Master Practitioner certification
    Master practitioner program commenced in late February with a great 4 days spent training with a great group and our fabulous trainer Tristan. The second segment of training was at the end of April and final weekend was in mid-June. A brilliant journey of exploration and discovery, learning and building even stronger bonds with the great group in Bournemouth. I received my provisional certification; I now need to complete my modelling project to achieve full certification – that is in progress.
  • British Military Fitness Major Series 10km event (March)
    Complete. On a very sunny but chilly and windy Sunday morning (16th March), I ran, waded and swam my way round a very muddy 10km course in North Yorkshire. 
  • Run 3 half marathons – Warwick (March), Southend (June) and Birmingham (October)
    Due to lack of training associated with the items I wrote about above, I did not attempt Warwick; I was not anywhere near the fitness levels required to do myself justice. Despite my optimism in April, my continued bouts of tendonitus wiped out May so no running and Southend did not happen. I am just starting to regularly walk again, no ill effects so far; a half marathon this year is unlikely. I have booked onto the Wolf Run in September (10k) that will test where I am at
  • Complete the 2 mile Great North Swim (June)
    A brilliant weekend in the Lakes, with time for a bit of sight seeing, much relaxation and sight seeing was topped off by a lovely swim in Lake Windermere. Swim – done 🙂
  • Complete a half ironman (70.3) triathlon – uk ultimate half triathlon (August)
    This is not attainable this year. My lack of overall fitness at this point and lack of training have driven this decision. One to carry forward to 2015
  • Do my AFF level 2 skydive
    Due to weather delays, christmas/winter break and my diary faux pas, I have timed out and now need to redo ground school and likely AFF level 1 again before I can progress to level 2. Getting to ground school is proving difficult at the moment as they are mainly weekday events; work to do
  • Achieve 8th Gup (yellow belt) and 7th Gup (orange belt) grading in Tang Soo Do
    Some good news! I passed the belt assessment for 8th Gup on March 15th. Aiming and training to attend the belt assessment in September to achieve 7th Gup
  • Complete the #LETJOG14 challenge; running the equivalent of the Lands End to John O’Groats challenge,874 miles, during 2014
    As this was largely reliant on and a by-product of the various other running/endurance challenges for this year this one is assigned to the not going to happen pile.

Not the year I was planning, however, I am positive and determined. Life is good and whilst this has not been the year I planned in terms of achievement of these challenges it is a hiccup and I can move forward knowing that the rehabilitation training and various other steps I am taking with exercise, health and nutrition will get me back on track.

Till next time