Nearly 2009!

I know I am so bad at blogging so my first New Year's resolution will be to write more often. At least you can all see whether I stick to it.

So we went and came back from Hawaii. We had an amazing time and Rachel and Maggs (if I only knew how to link to their blogs that would be good - I am useless I know) were really helpful with their suggestions of where to go and what to do. Shaun loved the Koko Head trail hike and it was our favourite thing that week.

The picture above is me coming up to the top. I was hot and exhausted.

I got back to London on 22nd only to find out that whilst I was on holiday half of my department has been made redundant. How is that for Christmas present. I am apparently not at risk but with the current economic climate you just don't know what may happen.

Flew back to NYC and West Point on Christmas Eve and Shaun and I had a great and quiet Christmas. I've got some great presents from him and pretty much the whole day we just chilled out and watched some running DVDs - all very motivational. Then flew back to London on Sunday night because I had to work these few days between Christmas and New Year and I am flying back to the US on New Year's Eve. Ah, and my bank account balance suffered big time. My other new year's resolution is to spend less time (and money) on the planes.

Shaun and I have talked a lot over Christmas as to what we want to do over the next few years and he has decided not to do any triathlons over the next 2-3 years and to concentrate purely on running and getting faster. We figured that his marathon times are pretty good with minimal training and that if he concentrates on running and drops biking and swimming he could get much faster. We shall see what happens. First stop for him is Boston marathon. So all the tri races next year I will be doing on my own - oh, dear!

My coach really wants me to concentrate on running and swimming over the next couple of months so I guess for me, biking will be on the backburner.

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and wish you all the best for 2009.

Hawaii here we come

Well it has been a while since my last blog entry and I have pretty much spent that whole time being ill. There is some virus going around London and a lot of my colleagues are off sick. I am glad that I only had to miss one day of work but unfortunately I had to miss at least two weeks of training. After a lot of thinking and discussing it with the coach the decision has been made - Honolulu marathon is off.

I haven't really done any of my long runs and I do not want to go out there and not enjoy this run. In addition Shaun has been slightly injured and he is being all grown up about it and was the first to decide not to run it. Instead we are going on holiday. Wooohoooo!!!!

I think it will be the first holiday in quite some time that does not involve some sort of racing or serious training so it is all new to us. It is like we are kind of lost and not really sure what to do. No biking? We definitely plan to do some swimming and running but the idea is to have fun. Also my coach said that my priority should be working on my suntan. Is he great or what!?

So I am flying over to NYC on Thursday night and then we have a direct flight on Friday from NYC to Honolulu. The plan, for the time being (but everything is subject to change here) is that we shall spend the whole time on Oahu and have fun, fun, fun. I can't wait. All my friends are so jealous especially considering how cold it has been in London lately. And I will be in my bikini by the end of the week. Oh I am excited already.

But in the meantime I have couple of days here in London being miserable. I am meeting a friend of mine tonight for a dinner and I am quite looking forward to it. We used to work together until she decided to quit last year - had enough of being a lawyer. Clever girl. I am sure I will be sitting there all envious at how she is not doing much and has all that free time. Anyway, i won't think about that right now. I am going to Hawaii!!!!!

To all you parents out there, I salute you

I have spent last weekend with a very good friend of mine whose husband is in the Army and currently in Afghanistan. She has two adorable children, both under the age of four, one of whom is my gorgeous two-and-a-half year old goddaughter.

Belinda (my friend) needed to get few things done so I offered to look after the little ones. Oh boy, that was tough. Trying to entertain kids for 2 hours + is not easy. We played with toys, watched kiddies TV and chatted. Then we did some jumping on the bed and generally goofing around and finally bed-time stories. The weather was awful so we couldn't go anywhere.

By the end of the night I was absolutely exhausted. And then "rudely" awoken the following morning by the little people. There and then I was ready to go home, crawl into my bed and get some rest. I was so tired. Although I spend a lot of time with people with kids this has been a real eye-opener for me. My Mum gave up work when she had us and when I was younger I always used to think that she had it easy because she didn't have to work. How wrong was I. It turns out it was my Dad who was the lucky one. I really admire and respect all those parents out there who are trying so hard to jiggle the family, work and in our case the sport. It is simply incredible. God knows how I will do it one day.

Next week, next week

The photo above is of Shaun (hubby) after this year's NYC marathon. He set his PR there of 2:43:something on what was a great day. A week later he did Silverman full and came second in his age group. Well I am so excited that I will see him next week - he is coming to London. 

Although we've been married for over 6 years our marriage is not your typical (at the moment at least). But still for us it is brilliant. He is a British Army officer currently posted to West Point. I am a lawyer working in London.... When he got posted to West Point we were planning for me to join him. But somehow it never happened. My good job and great salary meant that we could afford our gear (this sport is expensive) and all out travels so we've decided to keep it going for as long as we could. And we are nearly there - 7 months left. 

It certainly wasn't easy and I have flown an enormous number of flights, spending my time between London and West Point. At least 2-3 times a month. It was pretty tiring to say the least but I am so happy now because next week he is flying over for few days. It will be so much fun, I can't wait. 

Looking forward to it darling!

The week of rest

Well I have finally decided to start writing this blog, it has been a long time coming. I do read few blogs out there and they are some of my favourite reading material. So it is time for me to start.

Now that Silverman half-ironman is out of the way (and I absolutely loved that race) I am back to London and back to work (oh joy). The first thing I did when I got back was signed myself and Shaun (hubby) up for next year's Silverman full. We are both so excited about this race and I am ready to face that challenge. Shaun did the full this year and came 2nd in his age-group. I think he wants to go back and take that 1 st place.

So this has been a week of rest. I finally got back on my bike today, if for nothing else, then the commute to work. My commute takes me from south-west London (Fulham to be precise) 7.5 miles east to the centre of the City. I love that commute as I cycle past the Houses of Parliament and the Big Ben, London Eye and Buckingham Palace. Nothing beats waving the Queen every morning. Unless it's raining, of course, then it is utter misery.

So what next for me? We are doing Honolulu marathon in just over four weeks time. I am so looking forward to it. Not the marathon really but our first holiday in Hawaii. Yeah!!!! I think the plan is to fly on Friday, do the marathon on Sunday and then just have fun for a week afterwards. So I expect my coach to ramp up my training again next week, but I won't complain really. I love it.

Have a great weekend everyone!!!