I’m not a bad swimmer and can knock out a couple of kilometres in reasonable time. Nothing competitive but swimming is something I’ve been doing for several years, purely for fitness. Swimming’s a great way to exercise. The water’s gentle resistance works most areas of your body and it’s an activity any age can do.

It’s the middle of a Gold Coast winter, although it’s a sub tropical climate and quite mild, it’s just the diehards that turn up this time of year. The summer swimmers have all hibernated and no doubt will return in due course.

You get to know the regulars even if only by sight. I had noticed John was a regular all year round and he had quite an odd stroke for someone that was a regular swimmer. It was more like a twisted and unbalanced version of freestyle. I thought maybe he had suffered a significant injury at some stage in his life.

One Sunday morning I said hello to John and we introduced ourselves and started talking. We spoke about swim distances and how often we swim. John said he swims there regularly and unfortunately is very slow in the water – which I could vouch for.

I then noticed John had very swollen and distorted wrists, which as it turned out, is the result of severe arthritis over many years. Most of his joints were also a problem. I said to myself “that explains his swim stroke, he’s really working so hard in the water”.

But against what most people would regard as just too hard and challenging – John swims two kilometres non stop – that’s 40 laps of an Olympic size pool. John feels he has to swim to fight his dreaded condition. The resistance of the water works his muscles, which assists him physically and mentally. Now each time I see John doing his weird but wonderful laps I see a true champion.

Then there’s Bob – Bobs is in his nineties. Each morning when I’m out for my jog I pass Bob. We say “good morning and have a great day” ! Every so often if I catch him close to home, I’ll walk with him and chat about the world – past and present. He’s usually on his walk at 4:30am and if I come across him a little later than usual he reckons I slept in! – even at ninety he’s still got a sharp wit.

I didn’t see Bob for a while and thought maybe his time had come, but then one day, out of the blue, there he was again with his walking cane. He was extremely slow and I could tell he was doing it pretty tough. Turns out he’d had back surgery and a hip replaced. He said he was slowly improving but it was going to take a while. I thought to myself somewhat cynically “How much time do you think you have Bob” ? Here’s the thing, he isn’t about to give up just yet, his determination and discipline actually rubs off on me – it keeps me honest.

If Bob can do it, so can I.

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When the sun still hasn’t risen and it’s a cold winter morning Bob’s there pounding the pavement with his walking stick, even if it’s at a snail’s pace. In jest, as I jogged past one morning I asked Bob “Hey Bob, does it ever get any easier” Bobs’ classic reply was simply “No” ! He said the moment you’re doing it easy, you’re not trying hard enough, then he humorously, mentioned something about we’re doing penance.

Ugh damn it ! I knew it all along, no matter how much I wanted to hear a different answer I knew he was right !

John and Bob are just two examples of many, many people who regardless of their physical hardship keep turning up and pushing forward. Why ? Because they believe they have to. They could use their age or their arthritis as an excuse to live a sedentary existence and throw the towel in  –  but they know what the cost will be if they choose to take that path.

I’m always humbled by folks with disabilities that just keep pushing through the barriers. Determination that I can only describe as ‘True Grit’. Champions that set such an extraordinary example to the rest of us in getting the most out of what you’ve got.

So for me and my wishful and apparently misguided thoughts on trading exercise time for couch time ,would appear to be a bad idea. Looks like I’ve got no excuses. I gotta toughen up !! – RD

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