Feel better

After that great start to the year, last week it all came tumbling down. On Tuesday I started feeling ill with fever and generally just very weak. It has lasted until Sunday - by Sunday afternoon I was feeling quite good. It is very frustrating not being able to train. That is what we do and it is a big part of our day so not training just leaves this void. And frustration. And generally I am not a nice person to be around when I can't train. And this illness has been an annoying one: you know the one where you feel well enough to get out of bed and go to work but then you get to work and you feel miserable and sorry for yourself. ANNOYING!!!!

So I was only too keen to get back into training yesterday. I did a great swim back in my local pool, watched what I ate, blah, blah, blah. Then I woke up this morning with a sore throat. Didn't think much of it, but as the day went on I felt worse and worse. And now it's back to square one. I am in no state to train. Can you hear me screaming right now???

I am trying to be positive and I think that tonight I will get some rest, go to bed early and will wake up in the morning raring to go. Let's hope so!!

2010

There is something exciting about 2010. Don't know what but I hope it will be a great year. And I have kicked it off with some changes.

First of all, I am moving out of London back home to Folkestone. This means I will get to see Shaun every day - yay!!! (unless he is away with work), which was the main drive for this decision. He is getting deployed in March/April for six months and I know that once he is gone I will regret not spending more time back home. Also, I am kind of fed up with living in two places. It has worked for us well whilst I divided my time between London and West Point, but I don't like it when these two places are only 50 miles apart. So, I will be commuting daily on a speedy train service which will get me from Folkestone to London in 45 minutes. The main downside?? No more bike commuting. But...... I think have found a semi-solution for that. Once the days are longer I can ride to the train station 20 miles down the road and get some great training in the countryside lanes. Yay!!!

I will miss my commute past all the great London landmarks, but at the same time I am so looking forward to living away from the city.

So, that's the latest living news. On the racing front, Shaun and I did our club annual Bra run . It is held every year on New Years Day in the aid of Breast Cancer Research charity. It is a lot of fun. Shaun came third overall and I did a 5km PR (I know, this is slow for you guys, but for me, it was great). Great start to the new year.

Also, on this past Sunday we've jumped into a x-country race. It is part of a county x-country league and our club is a member of that league so the race was all about DEAL TRI team. It was my first every x-country race. It was soo hard but sooo much fun. I definitely want to do a few of those.

So the last couple of days I have been finalising my racing season with Coach Jen and I think we are nearly there. I am so so excited to train and race this year. And hope to see many of you out there.

Good-bye 2009

I thought you would find this photo funny - Shaun with his best dance moves :)))
The photo is from the Officers' Mess Xmas Party and I have finally recovered from it. I have no idea what I am trying to do - dance probably. And yes, that is a spiderman next to me and yes Shaun is dressed in table-cloth.

Christmas was lovely - we had few people over for Christmas lunch which made me panic so many times in the run up to it, but once the day arrived I was extremely (and unusually) calm about it. Shaun and I had lovely few days off work where we just relaxed reading books and watching TV - things we don't do that often.

I cannot believe there is only one day left of this old 2009. I think that 2010 will be exciting and we have many things we hope to do, aims and goals we want to achieve. But more about that some other time. For now, I hope you all have lovely New Years' Eve and all the best for 2010.

Christmas week

We only need this much snow for this country to get into chaos:



We've had some cold and snowy weather here lately which caused chaos in our transport system. When I say cold and snowy, most of my American friends would think I am talking about 5 feet of snow and very very cold temperatures. No!! For us in the UK any little sign of snow means it's snowy and anything below 34 degrees is freezing. I know, I know, we are all moaning about nothing but this country is not designed to deal with snow and cold. So the trains have been a mess since last Friday which meant that for 2 out of 3 days I worked from home. Not bad, if you ask me...

Xmas festivities have totally taken over our lives. On Friday night there was a Xmas party in the Officers' Mess and it was loads of fun. I would post some photos but some people would hate me if I do that. So no photos.... For now (*insert evil laugh*). Yet again we were the last married couple there (this really needs to change!!!) with other young officers and some of the girlfriends. We got home at 4 am. OMG!!!! I didn't drink but I was completely trashed for the rest of the weekend. Wow, I am not a spring chicken any more and late nights really take their toll these days. I remember the days at University when we used to go out like this every night. And be at lectures the following morning. Not any more.

So I wish I didn't have to work these days but I do. We have half a day tomorrow (Xmas eve) and then no work until Tuesday next week. Woo hoo!!!

Heroes at play

When I got back home from work last night I got a call from Shaun asking me to pick him up from the Officers' Mess. He clearly had few drinks. They were hosting sargeants in the Mess that afternoon but by the time I got there most of them were gone. However, there were still a few officers around. And they were playing some games.

First I saw this.




You can just about see Shaun's feet there. Then they started playing some touch rugby, or what looked like it. (Note there are some swear words in the video). Have a look at Shaun in the front with Nick trying to lift him or something. Too funny.





It is incredible to think that all these young men will get deployed early next year to fight for our country but I LOVE the fact that they know how to play as well. Tonight is the Officers' Mess Xmas party. No doubt there will be lots of fun and games.

I have a life

So, after all my moaning about the work last week, guess what? The deal I worked on fell through. The client decided to pull out of it. Seriously???

So, it was meant to complete last Friday. On Tuesday night we were all getting ready for an all-nighter, stocking up on food and generally being fed up with life. Then the email from the client came in saying they had decided to pull out of the deal and we should stop all work on it. It is hard hearing this when you have put so much time and effort into it but at the same time we were all exhausted and needed some break. The cheering went on for a bit. And I actually got home at decent time.

The following day the partner in charge took us all for lunch. It is funny how charming and lovely he was considering the hell he's put us all through. But I will not be fooled that easily (insert evil laugh). We got back from lunch around 3 pm and our boss (not the same partner) told us we deserved some rest and to go home. And that we could work from home on Thursday. Yay!!!!!

Thursday was lovely, run in the morning, lunch with Shaun at home and an afternoon swim. Then there was Xmas decorating of the Officers' Mess in the evening. It was lovely - nice music in the background, mince pies and mulled wine. I LOVE this time of the year.

So I have my life back now and it has been great. This past weekend was the first weekend in a month that I didn't have to work but the annoying thing is that Shaun was away on exercise.

Oh and after wearing few of my new splish suits to the club swims past few weeks, apparently I am now known as the "one with many swimsuits" :)))) Not a bad name I guess.

W for....

Work which has totally taken over my life. For the past 3.5 weeks I have been working on a transaction for one of our clients whom I've known and worked for for 3 years now. The transaction is really interesting and I love the work but the hours have been crazy. I have basically been working between 12 and 15 hours every day including last three weekends and I am totally exhausted.

But that is not the hardest part. The partner leading the transaction is someone who is not even in my department (it all got a bit complicated) and I have never worked with him. And it is certain to say that I never ever want to. I will not go into too much detail but it is enough to say that he reduced me to tears on couple of occasions (and I never cry because of work). The whole team felt the same way so I am glad I am not the only one. Shaun saw me working from home on Sunday and I was soooo stressed that he said "If you carry on like this you'll get a nervous breakdown". Anyway, I am trying to keep it cool and collected and the team is basically now using his patronising emails to have a laugh at his expense. What else is there to do!?

The good thing is that, although it was incredible hard, and I was totally sleep-deprived I have managed to get all my workouts in. I have only missed one long run in the last 5 weeks which is not too bad I guess. But I was so annoyed I've missed it. What I did find is that I would rather get less sleep and get out for a run or swim because it helped me to de-stress and recharge my mental batteries for the day ahead.

So I better go now and back to my "mine".

P.S. Has it been over a month since my last blog entry??? I really need to get a life.