Posts Tagged ‘the unexpected’

Dealing with the Unexpected

Sunday, October 26th, 2008

Last night up to 1,000 fell runners were unaccounted for up in the Lake District.  Torrential rains meant that for the first time in 41 years the race was abandoned but not before around 2,500 had already started it.

Now fell runners are a hardy breed and many of them would have been properly equipped

to survive a night out in poor conditions, but there is a limit to what one can prepare for.  Both the runners and the organisers would have invested a great deal in getting ready for an event of this scale and it is not something to be lightly abandoned.  However, you only have to check out this video to get an idea of how nasty it was and I suspect it, in reality,  was much worse than this!  At the very best they will have spent a very cold night out in some bleak conditions.

There are two thoughts that interest me about this.  Firstly the very ‘can do’ attitude that allows these people to cope with the pain and suffering inevitable in this kind of sport is the very thing that would put them at risk in this kind of situation.  I suspect that mere mortals would have taken one look at the conditions and said “No way!”

The second thought is that being well prepared can be both essential and also make it harder to come up with new, unprepared responses.  In other words they had prepared for all manner of contingencies but not for saying “Let’s not do this..”

I’m in awe of these people and what they can do, but there are lessons for all of us about listening to our inner voices, scanning all options and being cautious of over relying on our strengths.  I hope they all find their way safely home to a warm meal, a roaring fire  and and pint or two!!

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An unexpected gift

Friday, March 28th, 2008

One of my great loves is walking, and I am lucky enough to share this with a good friend, who makes time every week to be lead off into the wilds of South England. I try to keep finding new places to visit, but obviously we revisit old favourites to enjoy them again, in all their different seasons and aspects. Sometimes we are pushed for time and just have to stay close to home, which in reality, is no hardship as we have some of the most beautiful countryside in the world right here.

Yesterday was such a day and I was taking us back to an old and special favourite of mine up on Puttenham CommonÂŒ. Now, despite this being a place that I love, a little bit of me was disappointed not to be going ‘somewhere new’. There is a strong vestige of the little boy still in me that loves to go off and explore.

We set off with a new GPS I had been given for Xmas because I needed to check it out as it had been faulty. I’d programmed in a route, solely from a map and wasn’t sure how much of this route I would actually be familiar with. I knew the area well enough that I’d be able to get back if I or the less-than-reliable GPS got us lost!

So off went the intrepid pair, following the little line of electronic dots on the virtual map. We quite quickly diverged from my favourite route and initially it was a little dull, we were on a ‘green road’ rather than just off in the wild. However, we tramped on enjoying the views and each others conversation. Little by little, we got to areas I had never seen before, and they just got prettier and prettier. We had a wonderful time, in a beautiful place, under blue, blue skies.

The lesson for me was that we can find wonderful surprises in places (and people) that we think we know. When we surrender a little of our usually tight control we open the door to all sorts of wonderful gifts. So today, my gift you is the chance for you to enjoy a similar wonderful surprise in something or someone familiar.

“Be ready to be surprised” Loeje (a dutch fictional character)
“Man is always more than he can know of himself; consequently, his accomplishments, time and again, will come as a surprise to him.” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

 

 

Resources:

  1. Puttenham on Google

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