Just a quick post as I realised it’s been a week since I wrote.

Of course the big thing was my race last Sunday, and I’m proud to announce I not only finished my 6th Ironman, but that I did it in my best time ever of 13:39 (previous best was 14:01), with record splits in both the swim and the bike. I will be posting a full race report shortly so won’t go into details here, suffice to say I was chuffed and happy…. well, for about a day!

Because, as we all know, as soon as we finish, no matter what the result, we start to analyse and look for areas we could have improved. Our initial happiness quickly gives ways to frustration we didn’t achieve more, in my case I was doing the maths and realising with a few tweaks, a bit more effort etc I could have potentially broken into the 12 hour range.

I think the vast majority of us who lace up a pair of shoes and get out for any form of exercise are probably somewhat competitive, even if we don’t admit it openly. The fact we are also competitive with ourselves is what drives us on, and is a good thing I believe, although it’s also important to enjoy our successes, even with nothing more than a little fist pump and a smile. We did it, we got off our arses, moved out of our comfort zone and challenged ourselves, we ” got the run done” and we have every right to be self satisfied, sit back, relax and be proud… until we set our sights on the next challenge and it all begins again.