January 2019 ... here we go again!

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

25 January 2019                     16,330 steps                          17 minutes running                               weight 77.8kg

   Accumulated weariness, plus warmer conditions this morning made the outing somewhat tougher today, but I was only five seconds slower than yesterday, so I’m happy with the run and my progress in general. That also completes another set of four consecutive 3:45 a.m. runs, with just another hour or so tomorrow to complete my target for this week.

   You might say it’s all going very well, touch wood.

   Also going well are the numbers one and two male tennis players in the world,  Novak Djokovic and Rafa Nadal, both through to the final of the Australian open tennis championship. Along the way they have ousted the up-and-coming young stars who have been playing superb tennis and threatening the demise of the ‘old guard’. When young Greek star Stefanos Tsitsipas beat the greatest ever tennis play Roger Federer in four tight sets in the fourth round it looked as if it could indeed be the beginning of the end for the top four players who have dominated for so long: Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Murray.

   It was fascinating, then, to see Djokovic demolish Tsitsipas in the first semi-final in straight sets, and then Nadal even more convincingly remove French giant-killer Lucas Pouille in the second-semi. Both young players, who had looked so confident in the preceding rounds left the court after their matches looking despondent and fearful, almost, at the realisation of the amount of work ahead of them if they are indeed going to ascend to the top few spots of the tennis rankings.

   Now the prospect of Djokovic and Nadal in the final on Sunday night awaits us. It’s one of the sporting highlights of the year, and it should be a beauty.