…leave with memories not regrets…
“What are we doing today?”, this is one of my earliest memories. I was looking out my bedroom window on an estate in Palmerstown, Dublin. I guess I was about 5 or 6 and life was pretty simple. Except that I couldn’t figure out what we were doing that day. It wasn’t a school day, … Continue reading Earliest memory
To do... It's taken me a while to get to the point where I have space to write. To be fair, I've made a few notes about stories I want to write but that's about it. I was also incredibly industrious and put a training plan together and that is where it ended up... in … Continue reading Finding focus…again and again…
It's no secret that I have a full on life, I've pushed myself in as many aspects as I can... career, sport, learning and development since I was very young. I've no idea why, I've just always wanted to do something more with my life than what I was seeing in the lives of some … Continue reading No training weekend…
I have no idea where the time went... it seems like a few minutes ago I was leaving the airport and waiting for the monorail and now, I'm all packed and ready to go back to the airport. I feel so privileged to have shared time with so many amazing people and to have been … Continue reading Not again…
Whilst the training to this point has been awesome, nothing beats standing in a hall with hundreds of international karateka! So much has happened here, I want to drink in every moment and somehow bottle the motivation I've found for those days when life has me down and I can't or don't have the heart … Continue reading Day 5-Training Day 2
Naminoue Beach Today is registration day, that means that over 1,000 people need to arrive to the Karate Kaiken and collect their individualised registration pack. I've been trying to stick to my training regime and so because we needed to be at the Kaiken at 09:00 I headed off for my morning run at 06:30. … Continue reading Day 2-Gishiki 2019-Registration day
I'm calling Sunday my first day in Okinawa, in truth a lot of us arrived on Saturday and despite getting to the dojo and training, the rest of the day was a blur. That welcome mix of not having slept for almost 2 days and the excitement of being back in my spiritual homeland. So … Continue reading Day 1-Gishiki 2019
Another trip to Okinawa begins. I'm gonna admit, this trip I've had a count down for about 5 months and it seemed for ages like as it was just not getting any closer. Then 1 week out and I get sick, not just your normal garden variety sick, no my entire immune system decided to … Continue reading …and we’re off
I don't know how many messages I've had in the last few weeks and months about this years Gishiki! I'm still getting used to calling it that and not Budosai by the way... I think it was in Denmark that people started saying "see you in Okinawa" and it all started to become real. So … Continue reading Going home… sort of
I am a daydreamer. Always have been, I can put earphones in, head for a run and I am gone....I don't even feel the miles tick by at times. Is it an escape mechanism? I don't really know, but I do recognise there are times when an active imagination can just confuse a situation or … Continue reading Not another meeting!
