Monday, July 10, 2006

Issue 374 - Mon 10th Jul 2006

Hi,
I hope everything is ok where you are.

Thanks for all your birthday wishes last week.
It fair warmed my cockles I can tell you.

Long time readers may remember way back in the summer of 2003, I wrote about how big achievement it was to be the first from your country to achieve things, in particular when Roger Federer became the first Swiss male to win Wimbledon.
Yesterday he won it for the 4th time running!
Impressive, eh?

Last week I was saying how I shouldn't be surprised to now be able to do a half marathon, because I was following an established plan which specifically got me to that stage.
Well yesterday the plan had me doing a 6 miler.
It was tempting to carry on increasing the mileage, but because the plan didn't just say 'this works', but actually explained, I understood.

Now I am at a certain milegae, alternating with shorter runs gives my body more time to recover.
Makes sense to me, and next week I can up it to 14 miles.
It also beds in my mind that I can do 12 minute miles as my standard now - my comfort zone has been pushed!

Today I also want to talk about Mike Fossum.
You might not know who he is, I didn't until a week ago.

He's an astronaut, and as I write, he is currently on a space walk with Briton Peirs Sellers, tethered to the International Space Station 220 miles up.

Incidentally, did you know that the first Briton didn't go to space until 1991?
It was a woman, Helen Sharman, who answered an ad in the paper!

Ok, back to Mike Fossum...
His father was always interested in the space program, so it was no surprise that Mike had the same ambition as most kids, to be an astronaut.
Also like most kids, he dismissed it as a silly idea, something that 'other people' do.

He joined the Air Force, and found himself posted to Nasa of all places, working as an engineer.
He got to know the astronauts, and the realisation that they were just normal people reignited his astronaut dream.
He got to know a Japanese astronaut in particular, who gave him some advice he didn't really want to hear.

He told him to leave Nasa.
He told Mike that a common route to becoming an astronaut was to go to test pilot school, and it was something that he himself had done.
Fossum didn't want to leave Nasa, but accepted that it was an established route to achieving the goal.

Guess what he did?

Yep, he left Nasa to join the pilot test school, and it was another 8 years odd before he rejoined Nasa.
In 1998 he was accepted into the astronaut program, leading to him being on his first space flight in 2006.

It's a goal achievement classic.
He learnt of an established plan, and although it seemed to take him away from where he wanted to be, he took it, enjoyed the experience fully, and found that as predicted, it got him to where he wanted to be.

I found out in my research that he is 49, and got onto the space program early in his 40s.
Hmm... Gordino in space maybe?

Maybe not, that would have to be one hell of a sick bag.

Ok, that's it for today, how much are you prepared to give for your goal?

Have a good week.

'Til Next Time,
Health and Happiness,
Gordon
Get involved with my Marathon Milllion at:
http://www.thegreatgordinomarathon.com

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