Well, I’m writing this at the end of a weekend of small wins.

My Couch to 5K practice resumed an hour or so ago, complete with head torch and fluorescent jacket guiding me along country paths and stretches of quiet nighttime roads. According to the app, I’ve now completed Week 6, Run 3 — 25 minutes non-stop — for the first time this year (and possibly for the first time in over two years).

Which leads me nicely to another milestone, or more notably, the two-year anniversary of my rotator cuff surgery.

I’ll never forget my consultant — and later surgeon — Cameron Hatrick, clearly outlining the pros and cons of going ahead with tendon repair. Of course, there’s a statistic somewhere about the countless operations beginning as you read this blog post. But for me, back in December 2023, as I sat chatting to the anaesthetist, I had placed my faith and trust in the person with decades of experience using a marker pen to highlight the area on my skin where the incision would begin.

A successful surgery and positive prognosis are far more than a small win.

And I’m truly grateful to the medical team involved on that day, and to everyone who has supported my recovery, rehabilitation, and near return to normal function since. So it felt right to mark this weekend in a personal and physical way.

When I say a personal celebration, I do so while acknowledging that many of us have travelled a similar path.

Surgery is often routine for countless sports performers and, for some, an accepted chapter of the ageing process too. Still, I’m happy to reflect on the remarkable healing power of the body, and the small but meaningful progress I’ve made since that day.

So the physical celebration of finally completing my first karate grading this weekend was only just outshone by my ability to complete the humble windmill exercise using a kettlebell , as shown below.

Sharing similarities with Triangle Pose in yoga — the windmill remains one of my favourite “full” or complete body movements.

So even though, at first glance, it may seem less significant than my karate achievement, to me it represents a deeply important small win along an ongoing shoulder rehabilitation journey.

Small win++