“Why on earth would you want to do that?”

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

Old Chinese proverb.

Eighteen months from today, I will turn fifty. Fifty! How did that happen?

Reaching the half century mark – or approaching it, at least – really makes you think. It makes you think about life choices, life experiences and life ambitions. And all of this thinking about the past has led to me thinking about the future, too. What do I want to do? Where do I want to go? What do I want to be when I grow up? And the answer to all of these questions?

I have absolutely no idea.

That wasn’t a particularly satisfying answer for me, so, until I can answer those questions, I’ll try to fill the void by embarking on a new challenge: Fifty to 50.

“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.”

Les Brown.

Over the next eighteen months, I’m going to try to do fifty new things in the run up to my fiftieth birthday. Some of these will be small and easy-peasy, taking only an hour or two to complete; some, however, will be much more challenging, taking months or maybe even over a year to tick off the list, like the one that I started preparing for today: do a Tough Mudder.

Fifteen kilometres. Twenty-odd obstacles. Lots of pain and hard work. It doesn’t sound like a lot of fun, does it? My mother summed it up beautifully: “Why on earth would you want to do that?” My answer was a familiar one: “I have absolutely no idea.”

Idealess or not, training began this morning. I hadn’t done any sort of training in the last two months, so the hardest part, believe it or not, was just getting up early and getting started. Once I got going, though, it wasn’t too bad, but I made sure that it was a nice and easy session and completely refused to push myself too hard. Some stretching, a few plank exercises and a two mile jog was a satisfying way to begin my Tough Mudder preparations. Now all that I have to do is make sure that I am relentlessly consistent in my training over the next five and a half months. It shouldn’t be too hard, should it?

“But they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength … they shall run and not grow weary, they shall walk and not faint.”

Isaiah 40:31.