Karen Darke | Athlete | Speaker | Author

A few leaves have dropped off the trees this week, fluttered through my bike spokes and reminded me it’s that ‘change’ time of the year. My partner Andy, aka ‘The Troll Hunter’ has just left for Norway on unfinished business - his fourth attempt to climb the Troll Wall (follow his progress on twitter, @psychovertical) and what astounds me once again is that he actually seems to get excited about driving a few thousand km on his own, carrying rucksacks bigger and heavier than himself uphill, and then soloing an overhanging, wet rock face that’ll take him at least 5 days or maybe double that to climb. His passion for it fuels me up as I pack to leave in the morning for Denmark - the Paracycling World Champs at last - the big one that decides who gets a chance to go forward for the London 2012 Paralympics.

In our little world, the next few weeks will decide a fair bit about what comes next (hopefully I won’t have to climb off the bike to do a ‘proper’ job again just yet). But its got me thinking about change. All week I’ve been anticipating us parting ways, our separate adventures, the possible highs and risks, the end of something (summer, living in Sheffield instead of Inverness, being together) and feeling curious about what’s to come next. But change is the only certain thing in life, and so I’m coaching myself to embrace it: to look forward to the races next week instead of feeling fear or dread (‘in case it doesn’t work out’ - it will!) - my friend reminded me this morning “What’s meant for you won’t pass you by”); to look forward to the purple heather and smell of the Highlands again; to time to recover after the intense training of the last few months; time with friends…and so it goes on. There are so many things to look forward to, whatever the outcome of the next few weeks.

So I remind myself not to look back with a sense of loss at the good of what’s been and gone this summer, and to look forward to the good and the new of whats to come.
Good luck Andy - you’re my inspiration x