It has been a real weird couple of years, I am not even sure I know when the last time I wrote on here was.
I have been through some very dark times ( hospitals, health scares ,divorce, family breakdowns and mental health issues ) and god only knows how I have kept everything together but I have, I have also learnt that the people you think will support you, stand by your side no matter what, simply choose not to. They find it much easier to stand back and judge no matter how hurtful that is to you as a person. HOWEVER, I made a commitment to myself early last year, that putting a broken marriage behind me, that I would stop worrying about everyone else and focus on me for the first time ever ( amazing how much that rattles people, as soon as you become unavailable for their every singe need) and after a few false starts and interruptions I am back on the road. I have a new man, Stuart, he is just a beautiful human being, had his own darkness to break through too so he just gets me without question as I do him and its just the best thing ever. I feel like I can breath and be the person I was always meant to be..... FINALLY!!
So 2020 will see boh Stuart and I turn 50 within a month of each other, and we are going to hit it with a bang I don't want to miss a moment ! Luckily for me Stuart is very much into the same things as me in terms of fitness although his preference is the stricter regime of triathlons as opposed to my “ I'll give anything a go” attitude. Stuart was brave enough to do a small ultra with me earlier in the year, obviously I say small because it was only 63 miles ( lol - ONLY!!) but I guess I gauge everything against the 100 milers that I have done in the past. Have to say I was very impressed he managed to finish, don’t think he will ever want to do another one but then we didn't really focus our training efforts on it properly, was still a good day out for me though.
Stuart has persuaded me to head into triathlons and we have both been in training for the 2019 Laguna Phuket Triathlon next month in Thailand, THAILAND!!!! I am so excited. That said I have had to pretty much learn to swim again and am now in the process of learning how to ride a time trial bike. Stuart has been so patient coaching me. He seems to think I have a bit of potential so we will see. I don’t think I will ever be as good as he thinks I can be but I will give it a real good crack. Our training is pretty full on as much as we can fit around work and the kids but both feeling pretty good right now.
Next year we are heading to Barcelona for a full Ironman later in the year... that was always my dream before but now my name is on the list and there is no getting out of it, I also have a coastal run of 84 miles in April, staying with my ultra roots, and Stuart has earned another pace in San Fransisco for the Escape to Acatraz Tri, I have to wait for the second round to be drawn next month to see if I too have a pace, would be pretty awesome but the swim would be terrifying and exhilarating all at the same time.
We are constantly looking at things we can do but I need to see what I am capable of at Laguna..... only 2 weeks until we head off. I will keep my blogs fairly short to eliminate the risk of boredom to the reader but I am hoping to keep this up to date and show the training that I am doing with little snippets of my every day life too to show the reader that actually anything is possible when you put your mind to it.
As my Bio says, I am just an ordinary woman doing extraordinary things.... and long may that continue!!
