Before my Dad gives me a “gentle nudge” for a blog update I thought I had better get to it “toute de suite”!
On the training front “the boss” Ben has stepped it up a gear, more and more sessions are registering on the pain scale, most of them in the run disciple! This is a good thing as “the Bengers”, brother (Alex) and sister (moi) will be going head to head in a race on Good Friday. The Maidenhead 10 miler is one of the oldest run races around, there will not only be an element of brother and sister rivalry but plenty of deep heat and singlets!! There will be plenty of uber runners on the start line no doubt wanting to show the multi sport triathletes a lesson or two in running. Just as FYI my bro and I have never met on the start line before and as a further FYI not sure which Benger, my boyfriend Ben is supporting?! He has been writing training programmes for my bro too, mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!
Keeping with the theme of pain for another paragraph, Tuesday and or Thursday night running sessions are a contender on the ouch scale. We joined up to the local Running and Tri Club, The Clapham Chasers. Tuesday is a track session and Thursday is around Battersea Park or up and down hills all at a “I want to beat the boys” pace, hence the pain! It is great to see there is some female running talent within the group, I got a lesson on how to run on Tues from the ladies, those girls can run, they were flying, good on you girlies, I will try and keep up next time!!
The pace is not always frantic, when the snow hit we headed to Richmond Park for a gentle jog at a very social, chatty pace with fellow athletes. As we left the flat and the temp gauge on the car read -2.5 degrees I did check with Ben for reassurance, we won’t be the only ones there will we?! How wrong was I, we had about 15 people in our group determined for the snow not to stop play or training. Around the park we saw lots of other keen / mad athletes, I think the novelty factor bought people out. The path was not only being shared by fellow runners but kids whizzing down the hills on sledges or mum’s baking tray, they were moooooovin!! I was a bit jealous, that did look like a lot more fun than running in a freezer!!!
On the work front, guess what they cannot get rid of me, no I am not chaining and pad locking myself to the chair! I am still temping at Liberty. My last contract was until Fri 1st Feb then at the 11th hour they asked me to stay for 2 more months, phew the p45 has been averted again! I have been and am being a bit of a PR machine to secure a perm role, lots of coffees with contacts which I hope will strike gold very soon!
Ben, bless him has been doing the commute. He is working on a project where the client is Reading based. 3 hours plus of commuting per day is not his cup of tea! At least they have Nespresso coffee machines out there, I think that may be the only perk and positive I have heard recited!
Last month was my Mum’s birthday, she out did the queen and had about 4 separate celebrations, but she deserves it!! Dad arranged a surprise dinner for her with the kids, Alex and I with our respective partners were sat waiting for her arrival at the restaurant Dad had booked. We (Ben and I) then met up with Mum the day after her birthday in London to see the Wildlife Photography Exhibition at The Natural History Museum. Penny, Mum’s travelling side kick joined us too. After the animal’s coffee and cake was on the agenda at “le pain quotidian”, I even packed a candle in my bag for the occasion!!
This weekend, 3rd March we have the first of our “tests” this season!! We are doing the “Ballbuster”, I think the name gives a hint of just how painful it is going to be. The Ballbuster is contested on loops around Box Hill, Surrey, Box Hill is where the Olympic Cycling Road Race was contested if the name is ringing a bell. Each loop is 8mile or 13km’s, we have to do it 5 times made up of a run (1 loop), bike (3 loops), run (just 1 more) combo. The Hill part hopefully infers it is not flat, up and down, up and down, if the gradient is not going to test us enough just keeping warm will be a battle. At the top of Box Hill the temperature often dips below zero, ffffrrreeeeeeeeeeeeeeezzzzzzzzzin!!
This weekend is also the annual Tri Show with everything swim, bike and run, I am not so much excited about the thought of the endless piles of lycra and mountains of energy gels but seeing Lisa and Ian. We met the lovely couple at the 70.3 World Champs in Florida a few years ago, Lisa will be on the USN stand as she is a brand ambassador for them. A coffee and catch up is long, long, long over due.
Keeping on the social side of things weekend of the 16th Feb it was the lovely Kev’s birthday. We were invited to his birthday do, venue: an apartment on the South Bank with a view on to the London Eye, wow and it got even better. We were then treated to a Thai banquet, my mouth is still watering. We also had a guest appearance from Gift who was the amazing host that looked after us whilst we were in Phuket. Gift is over in the UK for a month so we got the chance to invite her over and cook a meal for her in return for all the ones she cooked for us during our stint in Phuket. Ben’s famous quinoa salad was on the menu and went down a storm, nice one chef Ben!
Talking of chef Ben I had better not let this blog update close without a mention of the valentines dinner he cooked me, my favourite was on the menu and no it was not carrot batons girlies before you jump to any romantic conclusions, instead, my fav salmon, delicious.
All this talk of food is making me feel a little peckish, time to refuel again, after all I am a wannabe athlete! Until the next update keep warm and well bloggers, lots of love C and B xx
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