Mid-life-crisis

So, it's the official beginning of spring - 21st March - and I am a quarter of the way there. After 250km I am starting to get the hang of it and, in a way, my 1,000km challenge [aka the Challenge] is defining 2010 for me. When I meet those of you who know about it, "how's the running going" is one of the first questions to come up. And whilst the stream of donations has dried up for now, I am confident of meeting my fund-raising targets.

Yet still, for some reason, I don't seem to feel a change. Objectively I am most likely fitter than I was. However, I do not consider myself as fit. Realistically, I probably managed to get a couple of people thinking of the plight of children who suffer from cruelty. Nonetheless, I don't feel like I made any difference.

All of which got me thinking about something MBB (My Big Brother) S said. You see S has, from a rather early age mind you, sustained an image of someone with the intellectual depths of an ocean yet the emotional depth of a spoon. Whilst not necessarily flattering (and by no means accurate on both ends) this image allows him to on the one hand ward off any question more personal than "would you fancy a cup of coffee" and, on the other give him the licence to analyse others.

So, how did MBB S analyse the Challenge? Well, S says it is both evidence of an increased feeling of Britishness on my side and the manifestation of a mid-life-crisis. Now I don't mind the first bit, but the latter? That's insulting. No, I don't mean I am too young for a mid-life-crisis but I do resent the thought that I cannot get myself a proper one! Leaving one's job and turning one's hand to water-colours; taking 3 months off to live in an ashram in India; buying a Porsche 911 are proper mid-life-crises. Going out for a run every now and then? Come on!

And still, something does feel right about S's analysis. Just as buying the 911 doesn't suddenly make one young and attractive [and only for the sake of some of my friends who have a 911 I will not mention what it does make one], the Challenge may be defining my year but I don't see it defining me. And, in a way, this is a rather comforting thought.