When the idea of the Arch to Arc challenge came up several months ago and Julian was asked to consider joining the team, I thought ‘Here we go again – another one of Julian’s mad schemes’. I should be used to them by now. It is, after all, not the first time. Amongst other things Julian has run 2 marathons, swum solo across the channel and again as a relay, and learnt to fly (aeroplanes – he’s not quite that mad). All this alongside working very long hours in a relatively stressful job. Now Julian would say that the later is precisely WHY he has to take part in ‘mad schemes’ to contrast his work as well as ‘to get fit’ as he is not a natural athlete.
It is because we have been through it all before, that I had quite severe reservations about Julian taking part in what will be the most gruelling of challenges so far. We have four children aged 5 to 16 and I knew that the training schedule, by its nature 3 times as time consuming as the channel relay alone, would mean that we would be seeing even less of him. We had several discussions about the pros and cons of Julian taking part and in the end Julian said that he would not do it if I did not want him too. Of course, I would have to live with the consequences if I said no (a sulky husband) but ultimately giving me the opt out option was a very good strategy on his part, since whenever I feel negative about the project, I remind myself that I could have said no.
Now, other than my husband’s general mood, there were other reasons why I wanted to support Julian in the Arch to Arc, not least of which are the good causes for which the team are raising money namely 1) replacing the ancient and dilapidated scout hut to benefit dozens of children in the area currently and, no doubt, many more in the future and 2) The Spinal Injuries Charity. Secondly, for the sake of his health, Julian needed a motivation to get fit – although you could say (and I have) that this is a fairly extreme motivation. Thirdly I liked the idea of being part of a team again. No, that is not a typo, I did mean me, personally.
During the 2006 Relay Channel swim training, all the 5 swimmers and their spouses developed a strong sense of team. Regardless of whether they were to be involved on the day (Liz and I did accompany the swimmers on the boat, but the other spouses stayed to look after the children) I think everyone felt they were a part of the team, with all attending the monthly planning meetings, which took the form of a dinner hosted in the houses of the five swimmers in rotation. These were great fun as well as useful teambuilding and planning sessions. Furthermore spouses and children all came down to Dover at various points to see the swimmers in mind numbingly cold action. With some understanding of what was going in to the venture, the spouses were happier on other occasions to be left looking after children or other aspects of family life.
