The beginning

I saw that quote the other day which said (and paraphrasing here) the meaning of life is to find your gift, and your purpose is to share it. I’m not convinced I’ve found my gift just yet, but I’m going ahead with the sharing part anyway. Over the past few years I’ve delved in to:

• CrossFit, strength training & mobility
• Ultra & shorter distance trail and road running
• Trail running adventures in Nth America, Hong Kong and Europe
• Breathing and hypoxic protocols and training
• Female hormones and training implications
• Issues of gender in sport
• The benefits of open and green spaces
• Planning and funding open space and recreation facilities
• Travelling, identity and my place in the world as a (late) 30s single female
• The good, bad and ugly sides of ego
• Principles and practical of stoic philosophy

These things all have a common thread. I can’t quite articulate exactly what that is just yet, but I’m motivated by: the link between physical and mental wellbeing, adventures, connections, conversations, searching for (but realizing I’ll never find) mastery.

So my plan is to think and write about these topics, attempting to draw out links and succinctly articulate some principles, to help me figure out what’s important. Many of the important things I’ve learnt have been crystallized through conversation so I’m keen to continue that here…feel free to comment if you have questions, thoughts or feedback.

My motivations for starting this are two fold: I think writing about the things I’m learning forces me to organize my thoughts better, and I think regularly writing is a good way to improve a writing skill that isn’t just emails and reports.

I’m not a doctor, nutritionist, exercise physiologist or personal trainer. These are my experiences; I’m not advocating for anything except: pay attention to what you do, how it makes you feel and how your body responds.

I’m not claiming to have any particularly amazing insights but in conversations I’ve had I’ve realized that everyone joins the dots in different ways. So I do also hope that you might find some of this useful or at least interesting.  

The first thing I’ve written about is how I’ve changed my training structure recently, and why, and I’m planning on some more posts soon…