With my 41st Birthday only a couple of months away, I’ll leave the pleasantries and whimsical reflections until I draft my concluding remarks. For now it’s enough to note that what started as a playful concept to substitute making a New Year’s Resolution has burgeoned into a list of forty 40-themed challenges or events and a movement that others have embraced, contributed to and in some cases evolved into their own.
Below is the final list, you will note that some of the original challenges remain outstanding but I have been progressing them. For example, I intended to run 40 kilometres in 40 minutes well before now but had been leaving it until I had completed the Ironman and the Marathon, my logic being that I would be in fine form to then concentrate on running only for a while post these two events. The trouble is that both events kept being postponed due to the pandemic and although I will complete them in the next few weeks, its been really tough training hard enough to bring my times down through the heat of summer in Riyadh. It’s also looking doubtful that I’ll be able to climb Puncak Jaya (my fourth of the World’s Seven Summits) before I turn 41 (again, due to the pandemic) but I’ve not ruled it out just yet. Whatever happens, I’ll do it as soon as I can get into Indonesia.
That being said, going with the flow and remaining adaptable has really made this fun and I’m really excited to be back in the UK to do Ironman 70.3 Bolton and Manchester Marathon in quick succession.
My Garmin 245’s race predictor time now says 5k 20:37, 10k 43:44, Half Marathon 1:42:06 and the full marathon 3:58:25 and I can actually run at a 4 minute per kilometre pace now so I’ve definitely made progress.
By way of a summary:
I’ve completed 63% of the 40 challenges and with the few that are ongoing the completion rate is up at 73%. I’ve got a route to finishing most of the remainder before I turn 41, any that I don’t I’ll deal with as part of the conclusion.
I’ve also given away £1,480 (37 x £40) to some very worthy causes and that in itself has been very rewarding.
So here’s the list and some statistics:
