Ouch, ouch, ouch



I'm beginning to feel that running a marathon is a goal I may not achieve. 2 weeks ago I managed 16 miles, but the last 3 were horrible. This week I ran a really nice first 10 miles, started to feel my knee tighten at 11, stopped to cross a road at 11.5 and it blew completely, leaving me on the side of the road, 5 miles from home in the rain, unable to put any weight on it. Ouch, ouch, ouch.  The good news is that we have lovely neighbours and Elizabeth (a runner herself, more successfully than me) came and rescued me with freshly cooked brownies and a warm jumper. The bad news is that I cant see how this situation is going to resolve itself in the next 6 weeks. Time is ticking. The grown up part of me says this is supposed to be a de-stressing activity, a challenge but fun. It says I have a number of other challenges this year to do - runs, rides and walks - I need to concentrate on the bigger picture. It also reminds me that I have a job to do and hobbling around doesn't make that easy. The inner chimp says "Failure is for other people - suck it up". I also don't want to let Kerrie down - she is still training and also having a tough time, although hers is more mental than physical. Aghh, I so hate to fail.


With all of this going on the weeks are passing in a blur and it's the end of January already. My new job is proving to be as challenging and energising as I hoped, although it's not without it's problems and I'm finding myself incredibly busy on getting the basics sorted - I know concentrating on this will allow the revenues to flow and we will be successful, but it's a long term game in a world of short term measurement - the balancing act so many of us struggle with these days. Last week I had one of those weeks which I'm pleased to say I don't have too often - I was away on Sunday - over in Dublin for the day - then back and away again on Tuesday evening. No days at home which meant by Friday I was pretty tired. Despite that I'm feeling good - the reasons for being away were sound and I came away feeling like it was a worthwhile investment of time so it makes the compromise a good one.


The girls understand so much more these days as well. While both commented on the fact that they didn't like me travelling, they are happy in their routine and Glenn does such an amazing job the pain is short lived for them. As I was heading out of the door on Sunday I could hear them all laughing as he took their minds of it with a joke or comment - it felt very much like I was stepping out of our warm and cosy family life into something colder... It's not the worst compromise in the world by any stretch.


The kids are making the most of the fact that they are great friends at the moment with our neighbours kids, Grace and Finn, and so can be found back and forward between our houses on a regular basis. They are all at the same school and Grace is the year above Abi, Finn in the same year. Yesterday the 4 of them came and asked if they could go to the park on their own, as Grace and Finn have been allowed to do recently. At first I balked - surely we aren't ready yet to allow this, but decided we have to allow some freedom sometime and better with others where they know to be sensible or miss out next time. So off they all went, looking very grown up, with Grace in charge and a warning "not to be like the cat Glenn rescued from the side of the road this week" (which had been hit by a car).  45 mins later they arrived back laughing and singing with a shout of "we survived" - little did they know I thought of nothing else while they were gone but whether they would be ok - a mother's lot I guess.


The other great excitement is the forthcoming nuptials of Chris and Jess. Despite the wedding not being until April 2017, Abi and Izzy have spent a lot of time talking about what they will wear, where they will sleep, whether they can have new shoes as well as dresses, what will I wear, what will Glenn wear, what will Jess wear and so on. We've even been into town to look at the dresses they might have, if the wedding was this year, "which it's not so we'll wait Mummy"... I can see this becoming quite a topic of conversation. Unfortunately there's no chance of being a bridesmaid on this occasion, but we are also still working on Nanny Di marrying Albie - more chance there if we can ever get them to do it! Meanwhile we will work on the Friday afternoon sleeping lions - the dogs are definitely better than the kids!