Trail Team ...an unexpected journey.

Just before I headed way out west to the USA, I got a phone call from Simon at Freestaksaying I had got through to the final selection stage for the 2014 Trail Team. It was a great note to end the week on and I let Simon know that I would be offline for a bit and not to worry, I was stoked to still be in with a chance of a team place.

With being disconnected from the online world due to visiting some relatively remote areas in California, I did my best to put things out of my mind since the final selection would be whilst I was living in the van and couldn’t do anything more to influence the final decision.

I like sending real postcards and needed some addresses so turned my phone on whilst in Yosemite valley. Much to my surprise and with one bar of signal, I got a text from Simon asking me to contact him if possible. I stared at my phone and considered the situation – surely if it was bad news Simon wouldn’t have asked me to contact him from the USA whilst on the way to the Born to Run UltraMarathon but that very Scottish self-doubt crept in thinking “och …cannae of made the team surely”. The next step was discussed with Sally over pizza and beer – she was right …I had to send something back. I searched for that one bar signal again and explained I had a sketchy signal but was up for it and happy to find out either way by text. Would like to say that I then forgot about it …but that would be a lie.

Next day, we were high above Yosemite Valley and approaching Glacier Point in the van. I knew I would get a signal and as Sally took photographs looking over to Half Dome, I turned on my phone again …and stared at the screen. Apparently, my smile said it all and a beer was opened to celebrate …nice touch was the Berghaus bottle opener given to us at the Lakes selection weekend.

As the news started to sink in there was a whole pile of emotions …almost all positive but also a wee sense of embarrassment verging into guilt. Without exception everyone I met on the selection weekend would have deserved a place on the team – how the final six folks were picked out, I’ve no idea. The upside is I feel a real sense of responsibility to make the very most out of this opportunity since anything less would be letting a lot of people down. Now looking forward to the training trip out to Chamonix and beyond …braw times indeed – slainte !