Nifty, fifty and drinking whiskey

Something strange happened, and I'll tell you when, 'twas the night before Christmas. I was 15 mins away from finishing work, when my buddy Ron phoned and suggested we had a wee drink in our local, the Lark. Sounded like a good plan. Melody felt it was a good plan too and joined me on our meet at the local pub. When we rocked up, Ron was sat their with cousin Ade who was drinking the pint that Ron would have gifted me. Anyways, it was a merry meet and I decided my drink of choice would be whiskey this night. After a short while, my dad rocked up too and the company was great. A few drinks later and time to head home.

Once home the Christmas festivities continued and SJ cooked me a lovely Christmas curry. Friends and family text Christmas greetings and all was good. Then I got a text from one of my besties - Chris Hodge. He sent a link to a coast to coast, Rat Race event with the message 'something to consider while your stuffing your face and getting drunk...'. How did he know what I was doing? '...and pondering new challenges'. '...fancy tackling this one with me... I've wanted to do it for over a decade. 50 next year, maybe it's the year'. Wow, I'm fifty next year and just figured in my current state, this would be a challenge worth doing. My headspace decided I would do this and just short of a pinky promise I informed Hodge of same. Just gotta get a pass from my wife SJ. Nifty, fifty and drinking whiskey!

Christmas day came and amongst the presents I had was a book from the Hodge called 'Bothy'. This reminded me of my plans to adventure to a bothy this year, however, I did not follow these plans through. Hmm, this book has kinda rekindled the interest once again. How weird Hodge spoke about adventure last night and then I open a present following day which shouted out adventure again. Not long after opening presents, Lunar and I went for an adventure in the form of a 5K Christmas ParkRun in our elf hats. This was a great run with 530 like minded folks (including the 'Mitchum 3'), most of which in Christmas attire. I text Hodge and said this run would be good practice for the Rat Race event...

The Rat Race event is a 100 mile coast to coast event across the Scottish Highlands that includes running, cycling and kayaking. I've been running the odd 5k ParkRun throughout the year and occasionally go out with the Crabbs Cross Chasers running club. I love cycling and want to cycle more miles moving forward. Not sure if I've ever been on a kayak? Hmm, this would make the challenge challenging! A quick Google search indicated that I could enjoy 'a 90 minute kayaking session along the canal towards Alvechurch'. It really feels like this challenge is calling my name.

All the thinking above inspired me to resurrect this failed blog. Have always found recording my thoughts and plans quite motivating. Right here, right now, am thinking I should commit to a challenge (Rat Race coast to coast) and write a short bucket list of plans for 2025.