We all wear different masks or faces, different suits, armour even, from time to time. You know those phrases like putting on a brave face, they’re two-faced, she’s got thick skin or there’s a chink in their armour. Please indulge me and follow my train of thought for a second. Ever since Michael Keaton pulled on the Batman suit I’ve really enjoyed those ‘darker’ super hero movies or those characters who show real emotions (even if indeed the character is fictional). My favourite comic book hero moved from Batman (not the very camp one) to latterly Iron Man. I love the capacity of both characters to be able to put on something to conceal, or even to show who they really are or think they are. Now, I’m not saying I’m two faced or there are two sides to me but I do think that most people have different characteristics that sometimes are hidden and sometimes shown, in equal measures we can be proud or frustrated, angered or loved by ourselves so imagine my surprise when someone thought that I had similar mannerisms to Robert Downey Jr (don’t know what they saw in me but Mrs Cassidy was adamant she had seen something), I really took it as a compliment, proper chuffed I was.
Now, I didn’t mention in my last blog but if you are reading this you must by now realise that I’m about to do something that I think is beyond me (but want to push myself to the limit to achieve) and run ten consecutive marathons in ten days around Windermere for Brathay. The reason I’m doing this is I want to demonstrate for myself that change is possible. I have ever been the procrastinator, the almost man, as Mr Beech (one of my old GM’s encouraged me to try to get me to realise that apparently I had some talent) said I was the perennial under-achiever. I’ve had obstacles, niggles and may well not have done all the training I wanted to but I’ve done more than I ever have, I’ve fitted in runs when I didn’t want to, in short I’ve stopped procrastinating (as much). Therefore, I line up at the start line for the Ten in Ten with another nineteen hardy souls. For me getting to the start line was like slaying the Nemean Lion, I’ve pierced the skin of procrastination, it’s not dead in me yet but I’m definitely on the way to killing it.
Maybe, I will see more of the hero in me when I finish and appreciate what my parents, my sisters and best friends see in me. So, the first of my Herculean Tasks was getting to the start line, fit and healthy and prepared to run, ‘World, I’m here’.
