The Pink Panther
We are sitting in a cafe in Cyprus, our new office.
We have Deryck with us, Malcolm of Running Crazy has nick named him 'The Pink Panther' because he loves to wear pink...
He has pink shorts and a pink watch and pink sun glasses. I asked him if he has always liked pink... He told me that he has; and fuscia and lilac and lavender - I love those colours too...
I told him I love turquoise, it has always been 'my colour', and combining it with purple and fuscia and gold i really like... The language of colour is such a vital part of how we all express ourselves.
I first met Deryck in Riga when I ran a half Marathon there four years ago, or maybe five... Derek and I spent time together then walking through the City of Riga, and as we walked and talked I learnt of his amazing talent to memorise the routes to drive to anywhere through simply looking at the map...
'It is logged in there', he told me tapping his head, 'like a computer'; and after the race at the party in the evening, we did crazy mad expansive expressive dancing together...
I remember getting very hot and sweaty...
And now we meet again in Cyprus... He told me at breakfast that I remind him of the golden cathedral in Milan... And that I am a trillion trillion times better looking and better dressed than Posh Beckham....!
I received the compliment laughing, thoroughly enjoying being in Deryck's company again...
He has just been telling Anadi and I about some folk back in Carlisle where he lives, who have been unkind to him and called him names... He was hurt by this, and so the three of us have been discussing how the actions of other people, and what they say is to do with them... But if it hurts us, then it is for us to heal the bit that got hurt...
He agreed with this, but said it hurt anyway... I said I totally understood, and it wasn't kind or acceptable behaviour, and that he is an inspiration to me... A person so wholly himself and willing to keep being himself despite receiving some cruel comments...
Because essentially everywhere Deryck goes, he is welcomed and appreciated for his bright energy, his enthusiasm, his candour and openness. Anadi commented 'Deryck is a good guy, I would trust him one hundred percent to be honest and 'straight up.'
Tomorrow will be Deryck's 61st full marathon and he has completed 245 half marathons...
He reckons all that running would have taken him five times round the world...!
He started running in 1985 initially to lose weight, and started competing in 1986... The year that I posted all of my best running times....
Yesterday morning and today Anadi and I went swimming in the sea after we had run...
It was the most wonderful experience, we had to climb down some steps with the waves crashing against the rocks and splashing us as we made our way down into the sea...
We didn't stay there long as it is still pretty chilly, but it felt healing and cleansing to be embraced by the Mediterranean again, our familiar friend...
I have a belief that being in the ocean cleanses and heals, that it has special magical properties within its swirling waves...
And so because I believe that...
So it is!
I emerged from the wild water, tingling all over cleansed and healed and with its magic in my being....
