31 Dec 2019 - Flares, Flu & Finishing 2019

It's been a challenging end to 2019, I must say.

First came a flare in the back end of November, wiping me of energy, unsettling my stomach for prolonged periods and generally leaving me chronically fatigued. Whilst I am a big advocate of listening to your body, I am also pretty stubborn, and do have a habit of trying to push through and keep training even during flares like these. I should say that I don't condone this approach for other IBD sufferers, but equally, I do think that it is invaluable to try and understand where your limits actually are vs. stopping at the first warning signs from your body or first thoughts of doubt that you can't complete something that you're trying when things get tough. That being said, there was one CrossFit session in the middle of the flare where I couldn't even function afterwards and I'll openly admit that I was shaken at how weak I felt. Some of you will be pleased to hear that I gave myself a little break from training after that.

Fast-forward 7 days and I was back training hard and even broke my stair climbing record at work, completing 150 floors (150 up, 150 down) with a heavy backpack in an hour. To put that into context, that is over 600m of ascent, or taller than the Ping An International Finance Centre in China, the 4th tallest building in the world (see pic below). What a difference a flare makes...

A few weeks later and the Christmas holidays were upon us, but in what has become a common theme for me over the years, as soon as I stopped working, I got ill. Having endured 11 days of the flu, a chest infection and a stomach bug, I am pleased to say that I am finally on the road to recovery, helped especially by having received a number of very generous donations to C&C UK over Christmas, which gave me a big lift!

Whilst this has been a frustrating period and certainly not helped my physical training, having the patience to deal with setbacks such as these will still stand me in good stead for Everest. It is naive to think that during the expedition things won't go wrong, that I won't get ill (hopefully nothing too bad) or that there won't be situations where we may have to accept a higher degree of risk in order to achieve our objectives. Being able to get on with things and keep moving forwards despite these setbacks is what it's all about, so here's to 2020 and picking myself up despite December not going to plan.

Happy New Year everyone!