Oh how time flies

Well, it's been over 2 years since I last posted here. It has been a full time with highs and lows.

The last post talked about a 47 mile bike ride. Since then I completed a London to Paris ride in aid of the Royal British Legion. It was an awesome time. A real adventure as I set off with a load of strangers to challenge my physical and mental boundaries all in a good cause. The feeling of cycling up the Champs Elysees with tears of joy and triumph bubbling up was just amazing - all the blood sweat and tears was worth it.

Unfortunately I was ill for pretty much a year after that with various issues including SAD and migraines so exercise fell off my priorities for a while. I am just making an effort now to get back into running and cycling again. (I also did a triathlon in 2010 - also for RBL - and another amazing memory, I was 104 outof 109 getting out of the docks after the swim leg but I managed to climb to 89th place over all over the cycle and run legs).

Exercise of the body got somewhat replaced by exercise of the brain as I have been studying two courses since September 2010. I am doing a 2 year theology course, Exploring Christianity, and a 2 year MSc course, Workplace Health. It's all getting serious right now as I approach the actual research project.

I have come to the conclusion that I am always going to be a busy person. I like to have lots of things going on, to challenge myself, to give back, to collect interesting memories and experiences in all areas of my life.

The more I think about what has happened in my life since I last wrote here the more I am amazed at how much that has been. I have come a long way, learnt a lot, grown a lot - it's been quite a ride. And I thank God that I am part of his family and that I have grown in him in that time and that he has put me in an amazing family community here too. It's a blessed life.

Health, home alone and holidays

Health is generally going ok. The exercise is going well, I did a 47 mile charity bike ride which I had hoped to finish in 4.5 hours. I was chuffed to bits to finish in 3 hours 40 minutes! And I have been out a couple of times since then too. And the running and PT sessions are going well too.

This week I have been home alone. I usually cope ok but it got a bit much at the weekend when I was struggling with a migraine (the second one in a week) and feeling a bit sad and lonely. There were some good points though, I managed to get to church which was good. 'It's all God's children singing 'glory glory, alleluia, he reigns, he reigns!'

The bright news this week though is that we are off to Greece early saturday morning for a week of sunshine and family and relaxation.

Hormones and holidays

The older I get the more my ovaries hate me - I am considering whipping them out, they cause me so much grief. This week I have just been in the grip of hormones, the world has seemed against me and I just hate sounding like a harpy shouting and snapping at people, especially hubby. And yesterday, the pain in my side was excruitiating.

But on the much brighter side, we get a bonus holiday, starting in an hours time we are camping with friends for four days. I am just so excited about it.....59 minutes now.

Conference, capability and concerns

Summer Conference
I had been looking forward to Summer Conference for months - time out with God and friends, relaxing and learning and growing. The reality was rain and mud and leaving early. It was great to meet up with old friends and make some new ones and the few meetings I made it to were interesting and the worship was good. I didn't even mind the rain so much it was just the amount of mud you had to wade through to get to the shop or the toilets or even into the main meetings; after the horrendous mud last year as well I just could not cope with it. If I hadn't been the 'on-call nurse' on the Tuesday I would have gone home on Monday night. As it was we left on Wednesday evening. We had managed to pack everything up in the dry which was a good thing. I went there thirsty for God and I came away still thirsty.

Capability
One of my first jobs back at work was to go to a capability appeal hearing for an employee. I had gone along thinking it was about his capability to do his job and yet his union rep turned it into my capability to have a professional opinion - I am trying not to take it personally but it does feel personal.

Concerns
And just to finish off the first week back from holidays, I have been worrying about a good friend who is having a heart scare at the moment. All I can do is pray and be there - so leave it in Papa's hands.

Moving on

I am sitting at my desk on my last day in this contract. I started here in March as a temporary gig for a month or two and here we are four months later. It could have gone on longer but my employer said 'enough is enough'. I will certainly miss the canteen who actually cook food from fresh and it tastes as good as it looks (as opposed to most work canteens who reheat food or make stuff from packets and its all a disappointment and you end up eating chips 'cos they are the only thing that tastes as it should). Oh and the Costa Coffee franchise they have here - I will miss that too!

I have been continuing with the exercise idea and it is beginning to have a positive effect on my size and shape but boy do I ache and man it is hard work! Last night I went running with our new youth pastor - we were supposed to work on hills specifically but ended up doing a 5 mile run which incorporated three hills of varying length but also the most torrential rain which meant we looked like drowned rats half way round. It was the first time I met Paul so it was nice to make such a dignified first impression!!

Today I am trying to decide if my legs are up to a cycle ride with Steve? I can't decide yet - my legs say no, my energy level says 'you must be kidding' and yet my waistline says 'its working, keep going'.

Oh and very exciting, Womad starts today and we have weekend tickets - I am definitely looking forward to Peter Gabriel tomorrow night! Lets hope the rain holds off for that.

progress and steps backwards

Just a short one tonight as I really need to go to bed soon.

I have had a bit of progress in some areas and a step backwards in others. Yesterday I got a PB on sprints on the bike in my personal training session (I took 1 minute 17 seconds off my previous PB). And then today I managed a very pleasing PB on the rower when I was acting as timer in the gym circuits class - I did 1000m in 3 minutes 53.7 seconds!! (My previous best was 4 mins 1 secs). And there is progress in the weightloss/inch loss plan as well as I managed to get into a smaller dress size and continue to inch towards the next weight milestone.

The backwards step came on Tuesday when I had a headache which meant I had to pull out of the housegroup barbecue. Since I started the new tablets I have just had one migraine which is good for me.

Well, time now for bed because there is still one more day at work until the weekend.

Avoiding the heat as best I can

While the rest of the country has been basking in a heatwave I have been working either in air conditioned rooms or else in an office with the blinds permanently closed and the fan whirring away on my desk. However, the heat hasn't stopped my efforts at the gym - they have air conditioning and water in plentiful supply so I am pretty safe from heat/exhaustion. The wrist is still a bit dodgy so we concentrated on lower body exercises in my PT session last night - man do my legs know about it today! But I am signed up for gym circuits tonight so there is no rest yet.

Andy Murray made a better job of his quarter-final yesterday...he won in straight sets. So he has made it to the semis and the hopes of the country are raised again.

On Saturday we are off to Henley to go to the Royal Regatta - here's hoping the sun shines for that (although not too much - I don't want a repeat of the W shaped sunburn from last year - it was a V shape when I was still in the halter-neck dress but when I let everything down it was distinctly W shaped!!)

Best wishes to James Pettit who is being ordained at Canterbury Cathedral on Saturday too. And talking of ordinations, our NEW curate was ordained at Bristol Cathedral on Sunday last week and so he will be serving at his first services this Sunday - I am looking forward to meeting him at last. And the new youth pastor arrived in town this week so hopefully we will get to meet him too.

Dave went to book our holiday to Greece yesterday. We have such good holidays planned - in a month's time we will be on holiday in Devon; in three months time we will go on holiday to Greece and then in six months we will be on holiday in South Africa. We had so many years where we couldn't afford holidays or else they were cheap and cheerful affairs camping or house sitting. And a few breaks where we were fortunate enough to be paid for by Dave's Mum and Dad. So it has been lovely this year to be able to plan, book and pay for 4 breaks away (and getting more exotic as the year progresses!). Thank you Father for your provision.