Time to reflect, potato head

I am currently in that lovely time between achieving one goal and not yet starting work on the next. It is a great time to reflect back on what you have recently achieved and cement it into the memory.

This is a process I learnt from my father-in-law, Jonathon. When my children were younger we used to have family holidays on Anglesey with their grandparents.

Every evening, during a relaxed supper, Jonathon would ask the children what was their best experience that day. This made the children reflect on what had happened, analyses and then select the best experience. We would discuss their choices and the reason why they were the best. Thanks to Grandpa my children have wonderful and vivid memories of their holidays and I have learnt how to have wonderful and vivid memories of my runs.

The goal I have just achieved is to have completed the Kalahari Augrabies Extreme Marathon (KAEM) for the fifth time.

My best running related memory from that event is how a project I am working on helped me during the event. I am creating a website that will be a reference for artwork that has a running theme. It includes poetry, photographs, film, sculpture and anything else artistic. One of the items to be included in 'Onward' an animated film of a potato-head runner.

On day three of KAEM  I was struggling in the heat and stopped, bent slightly, place my hands on my knees and exhaled. This was just like a scene in Onward and I remembered potato-head running through the rain. I felt cooler. I ran on imagining myself to be potato-head who runs with an effortless style over hills and up steps all day and into the night. I finished that day well thanks to potato-head.

When the chips are down its amazing where you can draw inspiration from.