My year is shaping up into quite a busy one with a few big goals so I am going to keep reminding myself about this for the next 8 months!
After the exciting and terrifying news at the start of December that I had been one of the lucky ones drawn in the WHW ballot for 2015 I decided that I had to knuckle down and get on with things. To that end I have got back onto the healthy eating and exercising train, and so far so good. John and I had an amazing Christmas and New Year break in Toronto and I managed to come back 1kg lighter than I went away so that was a good start to my year. 11 days later I had managed to shift another 2kg so already I am half a stone in old money, lighter than I was at Christmas and I am happy with that. I have also attained new personal records with my weights at both deadlift and bench press - this is a relatively new-found love and I really enjoy it as a form of training so to see improvement always makes me feel good! So far so good...
I am enjoying the cleaner eating again and the fresh juice everyday - although I have broken my juicer and will need to get a new one - oh dear, another parcel for poor long suffering John to bring home :-)
Last Sunday was my birthday and I was a little bit down about how incredibly old I was going to be, but in the end it wasn't so bad. We headed up to Bridge of Orchy on Friday evening and had an enjoyable evening in the bar, people watching before a reasonably early and not too disturbed night - it was still very stormy but a good old stone building keeps you feeling remarkably safe. Saturday morning we had a leisurely and very tasty breakfast before donning our foul weather gear and heading to the hills. We ran/tramped our way up and over Jelly Baby Hill where we were able to lean back into the ferocious gales which held us up then on to Ba Bridge. We met Norry McNeill along the way, similarly attired and equally enjoying the exhilaration you get from being out in 'mental' weather. We turned at Ba Bridge and headed back to Bridge of Orchy in occasional glimpses of sunshine rapidly followed by whiteout conditions, arriving safely back at the hotel to the astonishment of the young man on reception who offered to take our boots to the drying room only to discover we didn't have boots on but running shoes lol! The bar beckoned and a revivifying coffee and Laphroaig was most welcome. A long soak in a nice deep bath prepared us for a delicious dinner with a celebratory bottle of Malbec then another hour or so in the bar to round of the evening. Sunday was another tasty breakfast then a short trip down the road to Tyndrum where the snow was lying thick and white and we had another wee hour's run on the track back to BofO and back. Hot chocolate at the Real Food Cafe and then we headed home. It was a great weekend and the most miles I've covered for a few months. It really set my head in the right place and reminded me how much I love that part of the world, particularly in Winter, and also how much I love 'being able to get out there and do it!'
Today brought another exciting ballot result, John got a place in the UTMB and I was lucky enough to get another bash at the OCC, so our flights to Chamonix are booked and I am ridiculously excited at the prospect of being out there again for a week with a bunch of incredible people!
So as we approach the middle of the first month of the craziness that 2015 is shaping up to be I am going to keep on eating lots of green stuff, lifting heavy weights, running and hopefully sleeping well. In turn I hope this helps me to lose some more weight, keep as brimful of energy and loving life! I am sure there will be some down times too but I will try not to let them get to me... So Far So Good!
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| Yessir!! |
