Reflections on the Run – Part 1
Hi Everyone
So the Rickshaw Run is over and I am safely ensconced at my parents house in Lincolnshire enjoying a few home comforts before returning to work…as I rush around to see friends and family and report my experiences I am getting a great opportunity to reflect on the rally and how it has affected me, yet trying to blog about this is proving difficult as one question beats my brain into submission: where on earth do I start?
Well, I’ve been thinking about this and decided the only thing to do is start at the beginning, so I am going to write a series of blogs over the next month entitled Reflections on the Run…In traditional style I am not planning these too heavily just seeing where the writing takes me and what I want to discuss along the way.
In this first blog I want to set the scene, discuss an early event that shaped the Run for me and take an opportunity to say some massive thank-you’s to some very special people out there.
So let’s deal with the first thing everyone keeps asking me; why did you want to do this? Well that’s actually pretty simple, I wanted an adventure, something beyond the bounds of any of the travelling I had ever done; one last hurrah before trying to push on and finish my PhD. The Run gave me the opportunity to do that with a level of organisation and tied it to an opportunity to help people along the way…Did I have realistic expectations of the trip or how hard it would be? NO, oh and just to clarify this has probably been the hardest thing I have ever done in my whole life, it’s gruelling, difficult and incredibly stressful…especially when I had to rely on Kieran to drive (for which I will always be eternally grateful, as he probably saved m skin more than once)… don’t get me wrong the Run has been an amazing experience and I would recommend it, the trip gives you the opportunity to see India from a unique position, to whiteness its highs and lows; from soaring beauty to crushing poverty and industrialisation…but as you whizz by putting in the KM’s you only ever really scratch the surface…and that was something that did disappoint me.
I said that in the this blog I wanted to talk about an early event that really hit me, although I suppose it should be an early event in which I hit something…You see after we arrived in Jaisalmer after our first taste of India driving we got down to the business of learning about our little Tuk (Hermione). Meeting some people who would turn out to be great new friends (Canuk-Tuk One and Two) and starting to realise just how out of our depth we were (I must at this point I must thank Norman from Fort Knox for his comprehensive lesson in Tuk engines and maintenance, all the good it did me). During these first few days we also had the opportunity to do some test driving on quiet roads; at first I was doing OK and mastered the basics, however on my first long solo run I turned and clipped one of the Tuks (not badly) but the event really shook me, after I got back I remember sitting on the sand and shaking…this started to cause a real mental block for me, I just couldn’t get back up on the horse (so to speak) all I could think about was, what if I hit something bigger? As we got out onto the roads and saw real insanity I totally lost my nerve, this was crushing for me (I really did want to drive) and put a lot of weight on Kieran, leading to many arguments – some because he was stressed, many because I couldn’t deal with not being in the driving seat.
Relying on Kie in this way was hard for me and I very often didn’t know how to cope; I am just really not used to relying on anyone that totally, and it’s made me realise that this is something I need to work on in the future where I will have to rely more on other people and their abilities to do jobs I just can’t…so I think that’s been a pretty useful (if a costly) life lesson; if someone’s capable and you can’t do it, don’t try and backseat drive, just let them get on with it and focus on what you can do support them and the rest of the team…I just hope i can now put this into practice.
Finally I said I wanted to say a few words to some people who made this all possible, firstly to our sponsors and supports including; SimVenture, Opeus, PbArtWorks, Travel Counsellors, My Dad, Glyndwr Universities Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning and all of you who read this blog, made donations and gave us words on encouragement thanks for all the help, backing, products, cash and time that you have donated to make this possible and secondly I would like to thank our new Canadian friends; Grant, Ted, Marc, Lorne, Kevin and Tamara we would never have made it without you guys.
Well that’s it for me for today…see you all soon for more Reflections on the Run
Peace
Matt
Interesting reading, very brave of you to share such personal thoughts with us. We have all found ourselves in difficult positions where are nerve has failed us, the biggest thing is to ride it out, dont beat yourself up about it and do as you have done, thank your friends for helping out. I for one have great admiration for what you both achieved and I am sure it will have been a fairly good opportunity for you to assess your life, and think how easy everything will seem from now on. I am looking forward to the next blog.