Normally this post is about running, but today is a little different. As I mentioned on Friday when I wrote, I was about to head off to the Tour de Bois annual golf day. I’m a terrible golfer and, as such, was afforded the most generous of handicaps, playing off 36. The next highest handicap was 19, which shows how much worse I was than the next person. But that’s at least partly because I almost never play golf. And it’s what handicaps are all about, attempting to bring everyone back to a level playing field, with the one who performs best on the day relative to their handicap being the one who prevails.

That said, I’ve never scored more than 31 points in the past when playing off a handicap of 36. Which effectively means I should have been off an even higher handicap, but 36 is the maximum. Needless to say, even with a good handicap, I’ve never been the winner in any round of golf I’ve played.

But the world is full of surprises, and without having swung a club for nearly a year, I came out on Friday and scored 42 points, with the next best being 39. Who’d a thunk it – within three weeks I’ve had my first ever official race win and my first ever win at golf. Strange days indeed.

Today’s photo is one from the vault. Sorry about the poor resolution. This was taken within seconds of me starting my run around the world at the Sydney Opera House. You can see one of the Opera House sails in the background. The crowd formed a gauntlet for me to run through at the start. It’s now almost four years since this photo was taken. Must be time for another world run!