Many of you are probably quite surprised to see that I’ve started a blog. After all, I still wear corduroy pants, drive a car with a manual transmission, telemark ski, paddle an open canoe in whitewater, take notes with pencil and paper, and my cell phone spends most of its days in the car’s glove box.

One might say that I’m an old man in a young man’s body. My own mother has described me as terribly old fashioned, and my friends have taken to calling me Old Man Jan – a moniker which I have come to embrace.

I’ve been a reluctant adopter of internet technology (especially the mobile kind). I feel that we spend too much time in front of our screens (a habit which I too am guilty of), and not enough time outside or in public spaces with friends. There is a mad rush to publish “news” online as soon possible, which has led to some downright shoddy reporting as of late.  If I had to make my living as a writer (what a terrifying prospect for all involved!) I would imagine myself as a novelist, with ample time to revise my work, as opposed to a poet, blogger, tweeter columnist, or reporter rushing to meet a deadline. In today’s world  15 minutes of fame have seemingly shrunk to an even shorter 15 clicks (of the mouse) of fame.

So given all of the above, why this blog? From a pragmatic perspective, today is a day off work and training and I need something to do! I am likely going to have a very interesting 10 months ahead of me, and during this time I will likely be even worse at keeping touch with all of you than I am already. Perhaps this blog will help. I’ve also been asked and encouraged by some of you to start a blog, and as my coach pointed out, this site may serve as a nice retrospective 10 months from now. Ultimately I hope that you enjoy the blog, if you do perhaps it can be my small way of saying thanks for supporting me.

With this blog I hope to:

• keep friends, family and supporters updated on my attempt to qualify for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi.
• share any nice photographs I manage to take along the way.
• inspire you to get in touch with me and other friends so that we can get out for a run / bike / ski / paddle / climb or meal together.
• perhaps comment on subjects other than training and skiing if they seem interesting enough.

A rope thrown into the abyss is at the mercy of the wind and unseen obstacles below. In some ways this is what starting a blog feels like to me. (Photo: Steven Roy & Courtney Lester)

I’ll try to keep the posts succinct and frequent, and I’ll try to make sure that any introspection doesn’t stray too far into navel gazing. I’ve spent a good chunk of time getting this site and the first five posts ready to go – let me know what you think.  Happy reading!

Jan