There’s no excuse. My cycling gear has been staring forlornly at me for weeks, and I’ve been pretending not to notice . . . or blaming my exercise (and blogging!) neglect on the rhino, since we’ve been so tied up filming for them. That’s not fair, though. It’s not as if they asked for it. No-one held a gun to my head, unlike poachers have been doing to theirs.
Why is it that balance seems so tricky to master? I guess it has to do with priorities, and mine have been focussed on serving the cause of saving the rhino and creating WordPress websites and blogs, one of which has led to true inspiration. A special friend of ours recently launched In-Touch, a by-invitation, business networking initiative for the purpose of synergizing, strategizing and recharging – based upon connecting with like-minded people who share similar values.
An inherent benefit is the opportunity to inspire others and be inspired by shared success stories about business and life. It has been my pleasure to create the website for this group, and being passionate about writing, I was approached by one of the partners, Keith Fairhurst, to transcribe his story, which incorporates a profoundly inspiring, lightbulb moment. This spans a ten-year period, during which Keith found himself neglecting health and fitness goals in favour of striving for (considerable) work success.
Having previously been exposed via the media to the first Ironman extreme triathlon in 1978, he had developed a vision of this series being the pinnacle of sporting achievement, reserved solely for superheroes. Yet, through the course of the story, Keith unwraps a precious gift, in the form of insight into his phenomenal experience of witnessing the American, Randy Caddell, a paraplegic man, complete an entire Ironman event, including a 3.8km ocean swim, 180km cycle (using a hand-powered bicycle/wheelchair) and 42km “run”, also in a hand-powered wheelchair.
It turned out that Randy had been the victim of a drunk driving accident, before dedicating his life to participating in Ironman and sharing his personal story around the world, highlighting the perils of drinking and driving to all who would listen.
As a direct result of watching Randy’s amazing accomplishment, Keith went on to complete 6 Ironman SA events and sums up by sharing his dramatic realization that “no goal is too difficult, and if we just stop finding excuses, we will achieve so much more than what we thought possible”.
Isn’t that the truth?
Here is a link to Keith’s special story Ironman: Event, Sport, Lifestyle or Metaphor for Life and another to a moving video tribute for the late Randy Caddell, who passed away in 2005 after being knocked off his hybrid racing cycle while training in Hawaii:
Sincere thanks to both of these exceptional men for their true inspiration and powerful life philosophy. Now it’s time to get my cycling gear back in action, instead of being solely the subject of my studio photography!
