Countdown to the Big 40 (October 26th):

40 year old. For some reaching the age of 40 means getting fatter, slower, more often depressed, enjoying herbal teas and quiet weekends gardening or looking at pictures taken a few years back with melancholy. Some others opt for a mid-life crisis, buy a sports car, wear tight trousers, have a mistress, sometimes of all of the above and realise eventually that they have been foolish (well at least by the time the money is running out, wife’s running away and trousers causing gastric problems).
I will try not to fall in either extreme. I belong to the “bottle half-full” camp and it has to be a bottle of wine of course. So I have decided that this year will be the ideal year to devote more time to my family and to my other love: sports. Forget the boring spreadsheets, the convoluted e-mails, the never ending conference calls, the nerve racking office politics. My new office has no door, no computer, no ceiling and invisible windows: it is called the outdoor and I love it. The pay is meagre but the job satisfaction immense. Many of my friends seemed dubious when I announced my intention to train as a fitness and swimming instructor. Right now I am busy completing my certifications in coaching sport, researching my target markets. From a personal viewpoint, having dreamt for years to compete in an Ironman time has finally come to do one. It will be in Western Australia (Busselton) on Dec. 5th 2009 and there is no way back.

So over the next few months I will attempt to demonstrate that life starts at 40. This blog is meant to celebrate nature, outdoor sports, humility, curiosity, humour and new challenges. I would like to share a few thoughts with you as I approach the age of maturity.