GBH – The man in black rants back

I started thinking about the eleven events of toughguy i have done in the last 7 years
and 3 stick out
obviously the last is most potent in my mind
but i have 3

the first Toughguy was a summer one
and i was goaded by my gym instructor to give it a go
so i did
he thought i was joking when i said i was not keen on water but he assured me there was no real swimming in it
and left it at that

that first one really hurt i was ill prepared in clothing and expectation
but i became hooked

my first winter was terrifying as i was doing it alone my first summer was the only one where i was chaparoned and guided after that it has been a pilgrimage of self awareness and life affirming pleasure
and to top it off there had been a fatality the year before when an otherwise healthy runner just had a heart attack on the course
turned out he had an undiscovered medical condition
but you do not need to hear this as you attend your first solo winter
and have to do a minutes silence ….
but it was ….. addictive

and the final one is
the year i ran with my neighbour
for sheer pleasure and helping someone achive something
seeing them push themselves and do something that they were not comfortable with but
come home ranting about it
unbeliving the things they had managed to do that in the real world
they would never have tried
the feeling of comradrie when every one mucks in to help or guide someone they dont know

thats toughguy

anyway

here is my list after a little back checking