Reminisce - A Sporting Trinity

Earlier this week I had attended my final rehab class, in a course of twelve sessions following a cardiac procedure back in February. As I was sitting at the bank of the River Thames, watching the flocks of swans, ducks and geese hanging around the water's edge in anticipation of a feed from a benevolent human, I mused over the future, the coming days, weeks, months, and years, and what could be lying ahead. I thought of retirement from my daily grind as a self-employed window cleaner, and anticipated the many occasions when I can sit by the river and blissfully watch life carrying on without a care in the world. Maybe that is a wonder about growing old, and letting the more vigorous younger generation bear the world on their shoulders, as I have done for nearly half a century.

But for me it's far from having one foot in the grave as I rose to make my way to the Leisure Centre. Behind me, at Alexander Park, something very unusual was shaping up. Rows upon rows of empty scaffolding, already set up, along with billboards and direction signs still lying on the grass waiting to be positioned accordingly, booths and other paraphernalia all testifying that just two days hence, the 25th Windsor Triathlon will have its transition centre right here. I was fortunate enough to find myself in a conversation with one of the organisers, a dear elderly fellow in his eighties, yet could pass as someone in his fifties, as he himself was an active athlete in his heyday. He told me how he got involved in setting up the facilities needed for the smooth running of the event, and how he was also involved in the 2012 London Olympics. He explained to me about the entry fee of £100 per entrant, with an already full capacity of a thousand competitors, with more triathletes "on standby" should a no-show occur on the day. Wow! With a revenue of £100,000 raised out of entry fees alone, it was of no surprise to me that the organisers could splash out on every feature and facility one can imagine, including the closing of roads to traffic during the event. 

Then he made me feel how I was left behind when he explained about the fashionable bicycles each competitor owned, nearly all running into thousands of pounds to buy, and would never be seen leaning on a lamppost in the High Street - with more of the idea of "keeping up with the Joneses" rather than just practical purposes, together with wetsuits, high performance running shoes, along with other expensive regalia to ensure that the modern triathlete is "with it" and not feeling left behind when fashion moves on. Indeed, we both came to an agreement that the Triathlon has evolved into an elitist, rich man's sport - practically all participants in highly lucrative professional careers which to them with such high salaries, competing in a Triathlon is merely "ten a penny" throughout the Summer season.

All this I could not help but reminiscence back thirty years when Triathlon, with an average entry fee of about £12, was within easy reach of Joe Public. I was a typical competitor during mid to late 1980's, very much a Mr Average man in the street. But this triple-discipline event of swimming, cycling, and running bestowed upon me the highest level of physical fitness, mental health, and as a believer, spiritual stability - all three combined - I have ever enjoyed throughout life. I recall reading the story of the birth of the sport, in Hawaii, back in October 1977 when three athletes were having a discussion in a bar to which of the three activities resulted in greater fitness - swimming, cycling, or running? Unable to draw a conclusion, a solution was conjured up - why not combine all three into one event? So the first Ironman Triathlon was held in February 1978, consisting of a 2.4 mile sea swim, immediately followed by a 112 mile cycle ride, then finished off with a 26 mile marathon run. It was won by Gordon Haller in just under twelve hours.

This event spawned many others, particularly scaled down events across America, including the Tinman, before catching on in Britain and Europe. The inaugural UK Triathlon took place in Newham, East London, in the Summer of 1984. Just less than two years later, after running half-marathons to raise funds for a charity, I was introduced to the sport in Spring 1986. This opened a door to a very exciting opportunity for physical fitness, together with the camaraderie which came with it, an almost street-party-like festive spirit as each one of us dared to stretch our bodies to extreme physical endurance. And where the fun lies was that the Triathlon was not in any school curriculum, therefore there was no regimented coaching and serious competition which characterised the mood of school participation.  And that was back then the whole object of the sport - to attract the general public to a challenge and its resulting euphoria. There were no wetsuits, each competitor had normal swimwear, which to me was a pair of shorts only, to begin with. As for bicycles, any roadworthy mount would do. For around £30 from a second-hand bicycle dealer, my first two or three triathlons were completed using such a machine. In one of the events, there was even an elderly gentleman leaving the cycle compound on an old-style traditional roadster, complete with shopping basket under the handlebars. Such was the spirit of the day.

Not long afterwards, I bought a new bicycle from a catalogue, a lighter and a more faster racer, along with a lycra Trisuit. This odd-looking one-piece garment allowed me to swim, cycle and run without having to change clothing during the two transitions. But as the eighties gave way into the nineties, I saw a gradual change within the event itself. I believe it came with a few words spoken by the reigning American Ironman champion, Dave Scott, who shouted, This is not mere endurance. This is a race! Those words, I believe had changed the sport forever, separating the elite from the public, with the latter dropping away in droves, while attracting more of the super-fit. 

Competing in a Triathlon, 1987.

But as one who believes in Jesus Christ as Saviour, there was another dimension in which I perceived the Triathlon as a sport. That is as a Trinity, and therefore associating it with the Triune Godhead. Unlike the Pentathlon, the Heptathlon, and the Decathlon, where in each of the three totals up points over a set number of events that can cover several days, the Triathlon is one continuous event consisting of three distinct disciplines to complete a course, and with non-stop timing and monitoring from the marshal's stopwatch. As I see it, this Triune sport reflects the Godhead, and to add to this, three benefits are achievable - physical fitness, mental health, and spiritual wellbeing if the competitor is also alive in Christ. And I believe that back in the 1980's the Triathlon had a sense of fulfillment which, as I found out to be, not existing in any other sport I participated in. 

The Trinity! Not only is this the essence of the Godhead, but can be perceived in space and time. For example: the Past, Present, and Future are so familiar to everyone, as a length of string, a sheet of paper, and a solid brick. As with the brick, or any cuboid solid: length, width, and mass makes up the solid, and interesting enough, no matter what the cuboid is - whether a cube, a brick, a closed book, or even a piece of furniture - you can only see up to three sides regardless of from which angle it is seen from. The same applies to the circle, which circumference is always able to pass through three points making up a triangle, no matter how these points are arranged, or how far the third point is from the other two. A perfect picture of the Eternal Trinity.

But the Biblical story I have always found moving, yet could not clarify the work of the Trinity any more explicitly, is to be found in Genesis 24. Here is a story of the aged Abraham, who sends his head servant east to find a wife for his son Isaac. Abraham does the sending, the unnamed servant goes on a journey, and eventually ends up at Laban's house, who is related to Abraham. Laban has a sister, Rebekah, whom the unnamed servant pleads for her to journey home with him. She was willing to go, and becomes the bride of Abraham's son Isaac. That is how God calls us. The Father sends the Holy Spirit to convict us of our sin, and to bring us to the Son, Jesus Christ. After cleansing us and giving us eternal life, one day we will be the Bride who will be joined to the Son as well as being in the presence of the Father himself. This is the work of the Holy Spirit in us, like Abraham's servant, leading us to Jesus Christ, at the Father's command. It is such a beautiful story on how the whole Trinity is involved with our redemption.

This is just one of many Biblical stories which as connections with the Trinity, but to me, this one is my favourite. As with the Triathlon, this is tied with the Triune Godhead as well, and perhaps unlike most of my fellow competitors, the sport has added an extra dimension which, I think, only a true believer in Jesus Christ as Saviour can perceive. 

London Olympics Opening - A Taste of Heaven?

Last night my wife and I stayed up until one in the morning to watch the London Olympics Opening Ceremony in its entirety on television. From the rural green and pleasant land of William Blake's poem Jerusalem to the rise of the Industrial Revolution, the "satanic mills" in the poem with its six furnace chimneys rising from the floor, to the onset of the swinging sixties, with Paul McCartney singing Come Together, followed by Hey Jude, Rowan Atkinson as the bumbling Mr Bean tapping at the single key as Vangelis' theme to the movie Chariots of Fire played on. Then the emphasis of the National Health Service, filling the arena with giant hospital beds each illuminated to give a spectacular sight with the acronym GOSH, as the young dancing patients at the Great Ormond Street Hospital for children began to see their dreaded monsters of their nightmares come to life, only for the timely arrival of Mary Poppins to fly down from the sky with her open black umbrella to drive away the terrors. Even Her Royal Majesty the Queen dropped into the stadium from a helicopter hovering above, with the aid of a hesitating James Bond. Indeed, it really was the greatest show on Earth, carefully thought out and put together by Oscar winning director, Danny Boyle.

The chimneys of the "satanic mills" of Blake's Jerusalem rises from the floor of the Olympic Stadium.


Then, after the performance about Britain's history and culture, it was time to bring in the athletes in their national teams into the arena. Starting with Greece, from where the Olympics originated, each team entered the stadium in their country's name in alphabetical order. I was surprised at the number of nations I have not heard of, let alone knowing their geographical location! My heart went out to these small, almost obscure lands who can only send around four or five competitors to the Olympics, compared the the USA, for example, with several hundred. Finally, the greatest cheers went to Team Great Britain, being the hosts, were the last to enter, led by flag bearer Sir Chris Hoy.

Each team was led by a flag bearer representing their nation. How my heart was stirred to see all these different nations putting aside any dispute they may have between them in order to participate in the Games together. To see so many happy faces, smiling over the wonderful privilege to compete in such a tournament made me want to shed tears. Not tears of sorrow, but of joy. And behind each smile, behind every facial expression of the competitors was hiding a sense of nervousness. Every athlete in the stadium wanted to return home with a gold medal for both his or her country as well as for himself or herself. But everyone also knew that there were far, far fewer gold medals to go around than there were participants, but at least there were also two runner-up medals, silver and bronze. The competitor to be most pitied, in my mind, is the one who finishes fourth in the final.

Watching the Opening ceremony of the London Olympics warmed the cockles of my heart. But it has also brought into mind what it would be like in Heaven. Some time ago, a well-loved church member and devout Christian died of leukaemia without having a high number of years on his milometer. After the funeral, someone in the church had a kind of "vision" or picture of this fellow running as if in a race. The course twisted in turned, went uphill and down, was smooth in some places, had obstacles or was rough elsewhere, then suddenly, the path opened out to a vast stadium, every seating had a spectator who had ran the very same race himself, loudly cheering this guy as he sprinted towards the finish line. The entry into the stadium marked his physical death. In Heaven, the vast crowd of saints cheered him on as he completed the one lap. The thunder rose to high intensity as he crossed the finish line, into the arms of the Lord Jesus, who is to place a crown on his head.

The flag bearer of Team GB can be likened to the Lord Jesus Christ leading his saints home!

What a beautiful vision of electrifying joy! And furthermore, with the heavenly Olympics, there will be no Closing Ceremony to follow. The joy in Christ's victory over sin and death and our redemption will bring everlasting celebration and joy. As one song goes, we will praise God for a thousand years, then for evermore.

Paul the apostle was not unfamiliar with the Greek Olympics. He also used it as a model for Christian living. To the Philippian church, he gave this testimony:

I press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. 3:14.

And to the Hebrews:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 12:1.

This brings us back to the heavenly stadium as well as the Olympic stadium in London, where athletes will compete for the prize of a gold medal, not only to the packed grandstand of spectators, but to the world at large through television.

Today I watched the men's road cycling race, covering a distance of 156 miles 250 km. I watched with excited emotion the line of cyclists pedalling with an all-out determination to win the race. Months, maybe years of hard, determined training had prepared them for this very event, the highlight of their lives. I watched as each rider craned his neck as forward as possible, pushing as hard as their energy permit on the pedals. Nothing got in their way because no one would dare get in the way. The same with the swimming event this evening. Each competitor had the gold medal in his sight, and no one would dare get in the way or try to slow them down.

We Christians should be like that. We have a heavenly crown in our sight. It is the prize worthy of our determination to live as holy as our spirits are capable of. If the cyclist and the swimmers won't allow anyone or anything to hinder them, so we should be the same against any potential adversary. And we have an enemy who, given the chance, would cause us to crash, just as one of the riders crashed into the barrier in today's race. With this in mind, James wrote an instruction for us -by drawing close to God, God will draw close to us, and by submitting to him, the devil will flee. (James 4:7-8.) I don't want to trip up any reader here. I'm not talking about salvation. Salvation is the free gift of God given to all who believe, through grace. In this context, I'm talking about rewards. In the Olympics, the gold medal is not given to every competitor. Instead it is given to the one who finished first, the result of good training, determination and the ability to win. We can do the same by allowing ourselves to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit, who is given to all believers.

The next two weeks the London Olympics will dominate the Media. But it will all end with the closing ceremony. We are in a race that once finished, the celebration will go on forever.

Weight loss, Triathlons and such...

For the last couple of years I have been on a weight loss program with the loss of  up to seventy pounds (32 kilos) which included a change of eating habits. This would include a smaller breakfast and supper, along with cutting down on sugar intake, cakes, biscuits, ice cream and (worse of all) chocolate, and eating more fresh fruit and yogurt, along with replacing hard cheddar cheese with low-fat cottage cheese, in addition to taking a snack of double toasted cheese sandwich and an apple to work every day.
But all this alone would not be enough. After all, as a domestic window cleaner, it would be considered rude to refuse an offer of a biscuit or two, as keeping good relations with the customer is a necessity for the health of the business. But I did ask them to cut down with the sugar.
Along with the dieting, exercise is the key to weight loss, as strenuous activity burn calories. Excess of these calories being the cause of that unsightly roll of fat bulging from the waist. So a set of floor exercises were prescribed for me by the nurse who is monitoring me on a monthly basis. These floor exercises, such as sit-ups which workout the waistline, I do before breakfast at home.
In addition to the floor exercises, I visit the gym at Coral Reef Water World in my hometown of Bracknell once or twice a week. Here I concentrate on the elliptical cross-trainer, which has the advantage of exercising the whole body, including the arms, shoulders and chest, as well as the waist and legs.

Over a course of a year I gradually built workout intensity from the basic 20 minutes on low resistance to the present 50 minute workout (including the final five minute cool-down) which burns up to 1,130 calories in a single session. This approximates to roughly half of a full day's calorie intake. The exercise can be tedious, I think being at the same spot all the time is the cause of it. One remedy is setting the wall-fixed TV to Magic Radio, a channel delivering near non-stop music appropriate to my age range. Who could ever think of the idea of music while you work(out). To you, Coral Reef management, I could give you a hug for being so thoughtful...!
Then there is the running. No, not on the treadmill - those horrible, noisy, supermarket checkout belts, but out in the open country. Running through the woods early on a Saturday morning while listening to the birds sing was quite exhilarating. But for this workout I needed strong motivation. It is much easier to come home from work and crash out on the sofa than it was rubbing my legs with Deep Heat in preparation for a run. Therefore having a running partner calling weekly at my home, and having a slap-up meal afterward created the ideal atmosphere for such a workout. Like on the elliptical, we started with a short mile-and -a-half, which at the end of I slumped on the armchair gasping for air and soaking half a dozen bath towels with sweat. This developed into an hour's run (distance uncertain) with little more than slight shortage of breath.
Running. There is nothing new about this exercise. Back in 1968, at age 16, I was running the 880 yards (800 metres) in the summer, and splashing through mud at cross-country fixtures in the winter. After temporal retirement, in 1983 I began to train and run the Bracknell half-marathon. This was done to raise sponsored funds to save a hospital radio station from insolvency and to keep the station on an even keel until the hospital itself was re-developed, including the introduction of modern in-patient entertainment technology.
It was during the 1985 event that I met a fellow runner who introduced to me the idea of Triathlon, an American sport of swimming, cycling and running in that order, all in one race. So I joined a club, Reading based Thames Valley Triathletes, at that time the UK's largest triathlon club with well over a hundred members. After investing in a brand new racing bicycle along with crash hat (compulsory), the Tri-suit, a one piece outfit compatible for all three disciplines, along with a new pair of running shoes, I began to compete in Triathlons around the country.

About to complete the run at the Winchester Triathlon in 1987 and just began the cycle section of the Farnham Triathlon in the same year. In both events I wore the tri-suit, which was compatible for swimming, cycling and running without the need to change at the transitions.

Triathlon was, and is, an expensive pastime. For venues further away from home necessitated the need for an overnight stay at a hotel. This was due to the early morning start of the race, at times as early as 7.00 AM, as on a Sunday morning the roads are generally free of traffic. Winchester, Swanage, Bournemouth, Romford, East Grinstead and Eastbourne were places where I had to spend the night at a hotel. This was not needed for Wokingham, Reading, Hampton Court or Farnham. I guess this was the consequence of not having a drivers licence, one of a minority who never mastered the steering wheel. So I see it as a toss up which was more expensive, train travel at weekends or owning and driving a car 24/7 all year around.
As for cycling, long distance burn-ups to the coast from Bracknell, roughly 60 miles (97 km) coincided with my Triathlon days when not competing, and for some years afterwards. Of the three, this was my strongest discipline, at one event at Arborfield, I came second or third in this discipline, out of a field of more than a hundred. It was both swimming and running which had set me further back in the overall position. But that's what's exciting about triathlons. It's a multi-discipline sport.
Would I have another go at the sport in the future? Well, as I'm now nearing 60 years of age, how would my body take it? Then expense is another factor, but it's unlikely these days that I'll be booking hotels. Perhaps with a second hand racer, a new crash hat and (if they still exist) a new tri-suit...
There is always an event not far from home. Who knows, it would certainly do my weight loss a lot of good.