So... What's It All About?

I initially intended to use this BLOG as a means of journaling my Alpine Adventure 2022 and conquering the mighty Mont Blanc on my first ever trip to Chamonix. It was an amazing trip which culminated in us being ordered off Mont Blanc in a violent blizzard, which at the time, was the single, stand-out, scariest day of my life.

I never got around to putting pen to paper.... or should I say 'fingers to keyboard'.


Emerging From The Storm


So along came Alpine Adventure 2023. This would be the year that myself and a team of like-minded people, would get to the top of that mountain. And yes! I would record it all in a super-interesting BLOG that everyone would just love and never get bored of reading. We had trained hard, we were fit and as ready as we were ever going to be.

We were due to fly at the end of August and boy Oh Boy OH BOY! was I excited.

Then... July 2023, Dione, my wife, was diagnosed with breast cancer. 

That was.... and always will be.. the single, stand-out, scariest day of my life.

After the diagnosis, I gave absolutely no fucks whatsoever about the trip to France. The thought of leaving Dione to deal with cancer, while I went playing at being a mountaineer and risking my life for fun, lost all of its appeal. It actually felt like an obscene thing to do.

Dione had to go through a mastectomy on August 9th. Then we discovered that the cancer had travelled into the lymph nodes and they would have to be removed on 26th September.. That was it. I was not going to France.

I broke the news to Aaron, our team leader. He totally understood...BUT...There's always a fucking BUT. ... and the 'but' was, that if I didn't go, the whole trip would have to be cancelled. He asked me to think about it.

As far as I was concerned, there was nothing to think about. I was not going. 

It was Dione herself who convinced / told me that I absolutely should go.

Let's cut a long story short. I went. My heart wasn't in it and I hated every second I wasn't at home. The trip was a disaster and we didn't get to the top of anything. All I seemed to do was look at the bottom of a pint glass, and worry myself to sleep.

So here I am today, sat at my laptop, 'fingers to keyboard', finally starting to BLOG. 

Yes.. It will record the training for and be about, what is going to be an epic Alpine Adventure 2024. 

But it's about so much more and has a far deeper meaning for me now.

'HOW COME?', I hear you cry.

Look. My reasons for training are what they've always been, in that:

  • I like being the fittest guy in the room
  • I like looking and feeling awesome
  • I want to inspire 50 somethings to never quit
  • I love out-gunning younger guys (the ego lives on)
  • I want to maintain as much strength and mobility as I possibly can, until the day the Grim Reaper stands at the end of my bed.
However, during the months that have ensued since Dione's diagnosis, my motivations, my reasons for, and my approach to training have changed.... dramatically. 

I went from training comfortably for myself, within myself, doing the things I knew were safe for my ageing and worn bones..... To pushing and challenging myself beyond anything I've ever done. Things I was told by the clever guys in white coats, that I couldn't and shouldn't do ever again, if I didn't want a double knee-replacement sooner rather than later.

Why?


Well, I thought my wife was going die...


To be continued.....




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