New life in the country

So, I am going to copy what some of you (which shall remain unnamed) do and do this blog post in bullet point format.

-- We love living in our new neighbourhood. Our house is one of 9 on the road in the middle on English countryside and we love it. It is very quiet with lots and lots of footpaths and trails. Ideal for running. Our road is also part of the National Cycle Network which means some great rides around. It really is amazing living in the countryside again. Yesterday we had three deer in our garden and this morning we've heard and owl outside. We LOVE it.

-- I am also looking forward to joining local triathlon scene which is meant to be quite good. We miss our friends from the old tri club but I am determined to make some new ones here.

-- Still no training. I feel very fat and unfit and cannot wait to start training again. To be fair I am my own worse enemy as when I don't train I just let my eating habits slide as well. I really really need to be more disciplined. But, hurray, Jen's updated my training peaks and I start training again next week and i CAN'T WAIT.

-- Work has been busy lately with some trips to Paris. Actually, as glamorous as it sounds I am really not enjoying those. It involves a lot of travelling, sitting in a meeting room and negotiating the deal.

-- We have a new addition to our family. A beautiful chocolate Labrador called Millie and she is adorable.

Wow, has it been this long since the last time I wrote. I really won't learn, will I. That is it, I am going to try to stick to writing at least once a week. Let's see how that goes, shall we!?

So what has happened since the last time I wrote? The first and most important thing is that Shaun came back home after 7-month deployment to Afghanistan. The company he commands was on the very last flight home which made it really hard.I would see the other guys arriving home and their wives and girlfriends being really happy and relieved but we just had to wait and wait. But that day finally arrived and it was wonderful to have him back home. The post-deployment party in the officers mess was the best party we had in a very long time. Everyone was really relaxed which made it such a fun night. We had some friends staying with us as well which was fun and ended up getting home just after 5 am. A lot of alcohol was consumed and I don't normally drink which made the day after the party a rather painful day. I felt seriously ill the following day. And of course I said the famous words - "I am not drinking ever again".

So what else happened. For the past few months I was training for a marathon which was due to take place on 5 December. The week before the race we had a very snowy and cold weather (UK just does not know how to cope with the cold and snow) and the race was cancelled. I was very disappointed, especially as my training was going really well and I knew I was in for a good PR. Anyway, I have frantically set off looking for an alternative race and found one a week later in Holland. But this marathon just did not seem to happen for me as I felt ill and didn't race.

So now I am under instructions to rest and enjoy and I keep looking at my training peaks profile and there are no workouts there. I even log on every day hoping that I fill find a workout or something but nothing. I am not very good at this resting thing. It is driving me mad.

In some different news we have moved to a small village between Swindon and Marlborough, west of London. Shaun is on a staff college here until August, when we move to Wales. I am of course commuting to London for my job which is not ideal but there is not much I can do about it. We moved last week and are still getting to know the area. It is very beautiful with a lot of lovely pubs and great cycling route network. I think we will have nice time here.

So I am leaving you with a photo from the party which sums it all up - FUN!!!