At this time of the year, I normally review what I have done in the previous year and set out some aims for the year ahead. I started this 28 years ago when I realised that between family life and work, I had little time for pursuing other interests. My reading was almost entirely work-related or reading Roald Dahl and other children's books to three young children; I had given up football, skiing and mountain marathons after breaking my leg in a parachuting accident, and travel was not easy or affordable with three young children and a hefty mortgage.
Over the years these aims became extended to a variety of activities. In 1983 I set a target of running at least a hundred miles a month and managed it consecutively every month from 1984 to 1993, this target was dropped to 50 miles after 1995 when I became a CEO. In 1987 I set a target to read at least 12 but ideally 20 or so novels or non-fiction books each year and have achieved it, often by an intensive spell of reading between Christmas and the New Year. Since 1990 I set out to climb fifty-plus Munros each year and usually made it with something to spare. I have used every day of annual leave to go away with the family on holiday or to go on long walks in the Highlands. I also had a rather sad objective of never missing a day at work which was achieved for all but three of the 38 years that I worked. In 1972 I contracted Dysentery in North Africa and spent a week in an isolation hospital, in 1977 I broke a leg and spent a fortnight in hospital and in 2001 I was laid low by Campylobacter after a First Minister's reception at the Glasgow Hilton causing me to miss two days. All the targets were admittedly a bit obsessive but it worked well for me and I seldom missed the targets.
When I retired in June 2009, I chose not to do any work for the first six months, I needed to clear my brain and, as several good friends astutely observed, slow down to a normal pace. I had a health scare in the two months before retiring and was unable to exercise for three months. I soon recovered over the summer so that I was running better than at any time over the past five years, I overdid the gardening and manual work and damaged my sciatic nerve so that I was unable to walk let alone run for the last two months of the year. I did not take on any work in 2009 despite several offers of lucrative employment - I knew I needed a sabbatical to recharge my batteries.
In 2010 I didn't set any targets as I was recovering from my back and leg problem and did not know how long it would be before I could run or make longer hill walks. It was May before I could run without any pain but I had set another objective to walk the GR20 in Corsica. I spent 32 days in the mountains, more than usual, but 13 of these were walking the GR20. The remaining days gave only 14 days in Scotland for 33 Munros and 4 Corbetts - the lowest total since 1988, although I made good progress towards finishing the Wainwrights in the Lake District with 3 days walking and I managed two excellent days walking in the Tramuntana mountains in Mallorca. I managed to run just less than 300 miles - the lowest total since 1982 - although I lost 5 months through back problems at the start of the year and was unable to run for much of the last couple of months through the darkness in Shetland and then deep snow and ice for the last five weeks. Holidays featured less than I expected after retirement although 2 weeks in Corsica, 2 weeks in Mallorca, a week in the Lake District and short breaks in Orkney, Gigha, North Yorkshire and the Lake District were well spread out over the year. I made new friends and renewed acquaintances with several others from 40 years ago.
But there were other exceptional events: we had a family wedding to arrange for one of our daughters; we carried out a lot of work on the house - re-slating the roof, a front porch, a new bathroom and the subsequent decoration of rooms was demanding on both time and cash. I had decided in January when setting up a company that I should work for between 50 and 100 days a year including some voluntary work. My business plan was to pay for the wedding and the house repairs. This was achieved as I worked 62 days, 11 of which were for voluntary projects. Another outcome, which I had not anticipated, was 68 blogs with well over 3000 hits. All of the above meant that I read only 15 books. So despite the lack of targets for 2010, there were some positives but it was not the best of years because I had not been as methodical as I should have in setting out my ambitions for the year.
I think on reflection that targets are worthwhile and provide a framework to assuage laziness and create the adventures that really spark the spirit. So I will return to setting some tough targets for the year ahead, and here they are - no pressure then! I will use traffic lights to show whether I am ahead of target (green), within 10% of target (orange) or falling behind (red).
At the year's end (31/12/2011) progress was mixed - the time for all the walking and travelling was curtailed by spending much of January to October in Shetland.
Over the years these aims became extended to a variety of activities. In 1983 I set a target of running at least a hundred miles a month and managed it consecutively every month from 1984 to 1993, this target was dropped to 50 miles after 1995 when I became a CEO. In 1987 I set a target to read at least 12 but ideally 20 or so novels or non-fiction books each year and have achieved it, often by an intensive spell of reading between Christmas and the New Year. Since 1990 I set out to climb fifty-plus Munros each year and usually made it with something to spare. I have used every day of annual leave to go away with the family on holiday or to go on long walks in the Highlands. I also had a rather sad objective of never missing a day at work which was achieved for all but three of the 38 years that I worked. In 1972 I contracted Dysentery in North Africa and spent a week in an isolation hospital, in 1977 I broke a leg and spent a fortnight in hospital and in 2001 I was laid low by Campylobacter after a First Minister's reception at the Glasgow Hilton causing me to miss two days. All the targets were admittedly a bit obsessive but it worked well for me and I seldom missed the targets.
When I retired in June 2009, I chose not to do any work for the first six months, I needed to clear my brain and, as several good friends astutely observed, slow down to a normal pace. I had a health scare in the two months before retiring and was unable to exercise for three months. I soon recovered over the summer so that I was running better than at any time over the past five years, I overdid the gardening and manual work and damaged my sciatic nerve so that I was unable to walk let alone run for the last two months of the year. I did not take on any work in 2009 despite several offers of lucrative employment - I knew I needed a sabbatical to recharge my batteries.
In 2010 I didn't set any targets as I was recovering from my back and leg problem and did not know how long it would be before I could run or make longer hill walks. It was May before I could run without any pain but I had set another objective to walk the GR20 in Corsica. I spent 32 days in the mountains, more than usual, but 13 of these were walking the GR20. The remaining days gave only 14 days in Scotland for 33 Munros and 4 Corbetts - the lowest total since 1988, although I made good progress towards finishing the Wainwrights in the Lake District with 3 days walking and I managed two excellent days walking in the Tramuntana mountains in Mallorca. I managed to run just less than 300 miles - the lowest total since 1982 - although I lost 5 months through back problems at the start of the year and was unable to run for much of the last couple of months through the darkness in Shetland and then deep snow and ice for the last five weeks. Holidays featured less than I expected after retirement although 2 weeks in Corsica, 2 weeks in Mallorca, a week in the Lake District and short breaks in Orkney, Gigha, North Yorkshire and the Lake District were well spread out over the year. I made new friends and renewed acquaintances with several others from 40 years ago.
But there were other exceptional events: we had a family wedding to arrange for one of our daughters; we carried out a lot of work on the house - re-slating the roof, a front porch, a new bathroom and the subsequent decoration of rooms was demanding on both time and cash. I had decided in January when setting up a company that I should work for between 50 and 100 days a year including some voluntary work. My business plan was to pay for the wedding and the house repairs. This was achieved as I worked 62 days, 11 of which were for voluntary projects. Another outcome, which I had not anticipated, was 68 blogs with well over 3000 hits. All of the above meant that I read only 15 books. So despite the lack of targets for 2010, there were some positives but it was not the best of years because I had not been as methodical as I should have in setting out my ambitions for the year.
I think on reflection that targets are worthwhile and provide a framework to assuage laziness and create the adventures that really spark the spirit. So I will return to setting some tough targets for the year ahead, and here they are - no pressure then! I will use traffic lights to show whether I am ahead of target (green), within 10% of target (orange) or falling behind (red).
At the year's end (31/12/2011) progress was mixed - the time for all the walking and travelling was curtailed by spending much of January to October in Shetland.
- 24 books - exceeded
- 72 blogs - an average of 6 per month - DONE
- Set up a Munro website - done but only loaded a few walks
- 500 miles of running - missed 4 months running June - October with Plantar Fisciitis. A good couple of months in November and December saw me reach 400 miles.
- 1000 miles of cycling - too much time away from home restricted this.
- 50 Munros - only 20, the lowest total since 1988
- 20 Corbetts - only 5
- Complete the 226 Wainwright hills in the Lake District - only 10 to go at the start of the year - DONE June 2011 during Langdale week
- 75 days work - DONE with a final total of 110 days meaning less time for many of the other activities
- Finish either the Welsh (6 to go) or Irish (3 to go) 3000 foot mountains.
- A mountain trek in either Europe or the USA - Pyrenees, Alps, High Sierras?
- Complete the 19 Marilyns (hills with at least a 500ft drop) in Shetland, 18 completed by July but three aborted flights to the Fair Isle prevented completion
- Lose a stone in weight to get back to my 1990 racing weight of 75kg - lost 2kg
- 6 weeks of holiday- DONE Andaluccia, Lakes (2), Paxos, London (2), Deeside
- Three new European cities - DONE - Seville, Cordoba, Grenada
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