I love this time of the year. As I write the sun is streaming through the windows of our London office and the pink magnolia in the courtyard is heavy with waxy blooms. In our local woods the delicate pinky white wood anemones will soon bow out as the magnificent bluebells demand their all too brief moment of glory.
This is the sort of stuff that would have made my fifteen-year-old self cringe – although she is never far from the surface. When I get together with my school friends we laugh until we’re gasping for breath and I still go weak at the knees if I see Tim Matheson or David Soul on television (youngsters are referred to Google).
I’ve discovered to my great surprise that there are many pleasures to getting older – apart from finally realising that the best things in life are free! There are downsides of course – and one is that if you’ve never been the sporty type it’s a lot tougher to start now.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m no couch potato – my dog makes sure we have long walks whatever the weather but if I cycle to the pub, I’m only halfway up the hill before I’m forced to hop off and puff my way to the summit. And these days I prefer watching football to playing it.
Which is why as Team Like Minds takes part in this year’s Warwickshire triathlon I will be cheering loudly from the side lines and holding towels, plasters and blister pads.
This year, we’re entering three teams in the relay race which consists of a:
- – 400m swim (Vicky, Moira and Jude’s husband Bill)
- – 18 km cycle (Jude, Danii and Mim)
- – 5km run (Ollie, Chris and Nick)
The course runs through the historic town of Stratford-upon-Avon, just down the road from our Kenilworth office. Starting at the Leisure and Visitor Centre’s 33 metre heated pool, the swimmers hand over to the cyclists who race one lap of the cycle course before zipping out towards the town of Warwick returning to Stratford to hand over to the runners.
Chris, Ollie and Nick will run alongside the beautiful river Avon before returning to the finish line.
Doing things together as a team is always great fun and if we can raise money for charity at the same time – all the better!
This year Team Like Minds are proud to be supporting Cancer Research UK – an amazing charity which is fighting more than 200 cancers by funding research and lobbying governments.
On a more sedate note, I’m looking forward to the inaugural Like Minds Dog Walk in the beautiful Cotswold countryside. We’re a group of dog lovers at like minds with seven dogs between us. I look forward to introducing my German Shepherd Ruby to the group.
The Warwickshire triathlon takes place on Sunday 2 October. If you would like to support us, you can so do by visiting our Just Giving page: www.justgiving.com/like-minds. Any donation, whether big or small, is greatly appreciated.
- – Sue Cox, London Office
