‘We sang as we paddled across the water’
LESSON LEARNED: THE IMPORTANCE OF GRATITUDE
I first met LUCY GOSSAGE more than four years ago in a tiny town nestled in the mountains of southern Chile. On that day, I heard her before I saw her. Her raucous laugh rippled infectiously across a sports hall where she was lining up, like me and about 120 other hardy triathletes, to register for an extreme triathlon called Patagonman.
As the five times UK Ironman champion, with 14 ironmen distance wins under her tiny tribelt, she had finished twice in the top 10 at the legendary Ironman world championships in Hawaii. Those results are impressive on their own, but one of the most remarkable things about Lucy is that she won the majority of those races at the same time as working as a cancer doctor. She had to squeeze in her training around long shifts, as well as taking exams to qualify as a consultant oncologist specialising in the treatment of testicular cancer and sarcoma.
I finished that Patagonman triathlon a full five hours after Lucy. That’s why, for my task for the book, I deliberately asked her to join me in a team event where we all had to stick together. Just eight weeks before, I’d had a knee operation, so I was excited but a little apprehensive as I watched Lucy lead the way for our first team challenge, the 18-kilometre hike. The 56-kilometre bike ride that followed was treacherously hilly, but somehow I managed to stay on, and we stopped for waffles at a local cafe – Lucy’s suggestion – which was the motivation I needed to keep going. I was worried about the stand-up paddle boarding at the end, but the sense of camaraderie buoyed us and we sang as we paddled for two kilometres, the sun sinking below the horizon.
If ever I thought about giving up, I remembered Lucy and the patients she has to give bad news to. I’d chosen to be on a mountain in the rain and cold, but some people are not lucky enough to have those choices. It reminds me to appreciate my health and respect my body’s capability, and never to take it for granted.