The first Saturday of February dawned cold and bright – Mr W set off early to run to Parkrun since he was volunteering for the first time and I promptly followed in the car leaving it as late as possible so I didn’t have to wait around in the cold too long. Bromley Parkrun have decided to introduce as many pacers as possible on the first Saturday of each month and so there were a bevy of people hanging around the start in bright yellow jackets stating their pacing time. I had planned to have an easy run as I knew I was doing the Regents Park 10k on Sunday morning with Alma and Carla, but with the forecast of snow I was already having doubts as to whether the trains would be running and after I started I realised I was right by the 28-minute pacer so I thought I’d stick with him as long as I could. The first 3k felt quite easy at the pace but then it started to get a bit harder, not being one to give up though I stuck with it and was pleased to finish in 27.43 – not quite as fast as Cardiff but a new Bromley PB

Come Sunday morning though I was wishing I’d tried a bit harder, as on looking out of the window at 6am there was about four inches of snow on the ground and it was still coming down. A quick text conversation with Alma and we decided that it was going to be too tricky to get to Regents Park for 9am – Southeastern trains were ambitiously saying there were no problems with the trains but I suspect that was because none were actually supposed to be running at that point and anyway I didn’t want to get stuck up in town dressed in just lycra! Thus we turned the alarm off and went back to sleep, before getting up later to go out for a run in the fields locally. As we ventured out slightly gingerly on the snowy paths we bumped into a running friend who was on her way back from a 17 mile run! We had somewhat smaller ambitions and just did a gentle 3.5 miles out across the fields and back home – all very pretty especially when we went along a couple of tree-lined paths.

The week wasn’t very productive for running as the roads were still quite slippy and so I only ventured to the gym a couple of times. This slovenliness couldn’t continue though and having failed to get up in time for Parkrun on Saturday Mr W and I went out for a five-mile run across the still slightly snowy fields in bright winter sunshine.  And then the highlight of the weekend was a trip up to the O2on Saturday evening to see Snow Patrol – they were fab! Lots of the old favourites that we hear in Bodybalance classes and then some of the tracks from their new album! Plus much to Stephen’s delight, for once we didn’t have the obligatory large woman who insists on standing up and dancing for the whole show sitting in front of us!

So all in all it’s been a cool couple of weeks, although fortunately unlikely the Olly Murs fans a couple of weeks ago we didn’t get stuck at the O2 in snow after the Snow Patrol concert – the irony of that would have been too much!

First up is UPS, I know abradypus has a few fine things to say about them. In the last week they have left two pairs of trainers outside our front door in full view of the street and then yesterday despite Mr W having re-arranged the delivery for today when I would be at home, they tried to deliver our computer that has just been fixed. Fortunately they did apply some common sense in this instance and left it with our neighbour rather than outside the front door. But overall I’m not impressed with their service – the cards that they leave you through the door allow you to reschedule the delivery but only before 5pm and who gets home from work that early?! Plus even if you then ring them to re-arrange the delivery they blatantly ignore that instruction and carry on their merry way.

Next up is British Gas… Earlier in the week I called to arrange our annual boiler service and was impressed to be able to get an appointment this morning. I subsequently arranged to take the day off work and was happily pottering around at home this morning awaiting the promised phone call from the engineer to say he was 10-15 minutes away. Around 11.15am I did get a phone call, unfortunately though it was not from the engineer but from a lady in the office saying that they were a bit busy with all the cold weather and asking was my service appointment urgent. Clearly as we have heating and hot water it was not and so she announced that no engineer would be coming round to see me today. I do have sympathy for those people with heating problems in this weather but I don’t understand how British Gas can have so badly underestimated the number of emergency call-outs they may get today when the cold weather was forecast at the beginning of the week. I was not impressed and have insisted that the appointment be rescheduled for a Saturday so I don’t have to take any more time off work. I’m also waiting for their customer services department to call me back so we can discuss how they might compensate me for my wasted time – goodness knows how long that will take and I’m not sure I have the energy to call them back myself!

Finally a positive tale, Virgin Media. Rather distressingly our internet died earlier in the week and when Mr W called Virgin to discuss the issue it was established that we were using a modem that is so old they no longer support it. Noting that I’d already arranged the gas man to come today, he arranged for the cable man to come along and install a new modem for us this morning too. Happily this man did turn up, just as British Gas had told me they weren’t going to, and so my morning wasn’t totally wasted. He was polite, showed his ID at the door, took his shoes off before going up stairs and most importantly was able to replace our modem so that we have internet access once more. My faith in service companies was restored and I was so happy I even made him a cup of tea!

Firstly I had an interview at lunchtime to be a London 2012 Gamesmaker. I applied so long ago but because everyone else seemed to have been interviewed and assigned roles I was starting to feeling rather dejected and unwanted, however at the beginning of January I got an invite to a selection event. I chose a lunchtime slot to avoid having to take time off work and expected it to be busy with other people doing the same thing but it turned out there were only two other interviewees – we were outnumbered by selection event hosts about three to one! We started off by being registered, having our ID checked and our photos taken, then we had an opportunity to look at a small exhibition about the Games before a presentation by a couple of the hosts explaining a bit more about the Event Services roles we were being considered for and congratulating us on getting to the interview stage out of the 250,000 or so people who applied. The next stage was a short video featuring Seb Coe, a man from Cadburys (who are supporting Gamesmaker recruitment, mostly I think by providing lots of free Heroes on the premise that we were all heroes for volunteering), Tanni Grey-Thompson and Eddie Izzard. After that we were whisked away to our interview pods to be asked questions about why we wanted to be involved and our skills/experience. I think my interview went okay, although typically my mind went blank when asked for examples (despite Mr W pre-warning me about this!) and I said that I quite fancied the role of being an information point team member. As we left we got to sign a wall of messages that will be displayed at the Olympics sites in the summer and now we just have to wait and see if we get offered a role!

The second excitement of day was at Brownies yesterday evening when I got presented with a badge and certificate recognising that I have been helping out for five years. It’s actually been nearly seven and I’d somehow got lost in the system however it’s still nice to have your efforts appreciated, even if it is a little late!

Check out my Selection Event wristband and my Brownie 5-years service badge below…

One of Bridget’s obsessions is the concept of going on a ‘mini-break’ with her beau and to be honest it’s something I’m rather keen on myself, although mine tend to involve running and geocaching as opposed to messing about in row boats a la Bridget! And this last weekend was no exception – I like to collect our supermarket vouchers and use them to fund my mini-break obsession, so having collected enough to pay for a couple of nights in a hotel I took advantage of Mr W having a couple of days leave between jobs and booked up to stay in the Thistle hotel in Cardiff.

Cardiff is quite a long drive from Orpington and so I hatched a plan to stop somewhere enroute and do a bit of geocaching before the main sightseeing event in Cardiff, thus we stopped overnight in Gloucester on the way down. We were a bit later leaving than planned, owing to slightly sore heads from Mr W’s leaving drinks the night before, but we managed to squeeze in a pub lunch and a short walk near Swindon before arriving in Gloucester whence it promptly rained for the next couple of hours. Fortunately the weather was nicer the following morning and we were able to have a quick wander around Gloucester, taking in the impressive cathedral where the BBC are currently filming Henry IV and V (didn’t spot anyone famous though) and the House of the Tailor of Gloucester who was immortalised in Beatrix Potter’s book, before heading off to Cardiff.

The weather seemed reasonable when we got to Cardiff and so we decided to walk the Cardiff Bay Trail and pick up a few geocaches on the way.  It started well and the geek in me enjoyed looking at the barrage, but then the heavens opened and it became less pleasant. Stubborn as we are we refused to give up, even though we were only a mile or so from the car and had another five still to walk, and we carried on around the trail. It was a nice walk past the Millennium Centre and the Water Tower that features in Torchwood, we also walked past a slightly bizarre memorial wall for Ianto Jones, but as always it took longer than expected and by the time we got back to the car it was dark! I then had to navigate us through central Cardiff in the rush hour to our hotel – it was not a relaxing experience but eventually we got to the hotel car park and swore that we wouldn’t be moving the car again until we left!

Saturday morning was Parkrun day and so we got up early, had a quick breakfast and jogged off to the start at the far end of Bute Park. We had hoped to meet the lovely Sue Jones (I don’t think she’s related to Ianto!) but unfortunately she wasn’t feeling well and so it was just us and 297 Cardiffians who lined up on the start line at 9am.  It was a good course – like Bromley it was flat, but unlike Bromley it goes out along a path, does a loop round the park and comes back along the path, and it was fast! Mr W kindly started with me and so had to dodge lots of slower runners along the narrow path to get up to speed, but for me it was great – I didn’t start too fast and was able to keep up a good pace the whole way round. Around 500m from the finish I spotted that my shoe lace had come undone but checking my watch, I could see that I was close to getting a PB and so I took a chance and left it. Fortunately I didn’t trip over and finished in a new Parkrun PB time of 27:13min!

The rest of the weekend was spent visiting castles – Cardiff and Caerphilly – and eating too much food on the basis that we’d been running on Saturday morning! This included a very yummy champagne afternoon tea on Saturday afternoon. Sadly though all good things have to come to an end and we headed home on Sunday via friends in Bristol for tea and cake.

Roll on our next mini-break!

We weren’t tremendously adventurous and only travelled 14 miles to do the Banstead Woods Parkrun, unlike Louise who has been all over the country (and to Iceland) in the name of Parkrun Tourism, but it was a good start.

Saturday morning dawned cold and frosty and we were sorely tempted to stay at home cuddled up in the warm under the duvet, but we’d arranged to meet fellow bloggers Alma and Chris there too, so we prised ourselves out of bed and headed off to Banstead. It was no warmer when we got there so we stayed in the car until first Alma arrived and then Chris. From the car park it wasn’t apparent where the start was but as 9am approached and more runners turned up it became obvious which way we needed to head, plus we had some insider knowledge from Chris who is a regular at Banstead.

During the week I had been a little worried about the course having a hill in it, being used to pancake-flat Bromley, but Louise had described it as a short sharp hill and a long gentle downhill and she was quite right. Plus you start halfway up the hill and so only have to run the whole thing once in the two lap course. Unfortunately on arriving at the car park I had realised that in my excitement reluctance to leave the house I had forgotten my Garmin and so I was running “blind” so to speak. However I generally find this quite liberating as there is less pressure if you don’t know how well or badly you’re doing! I ran most of the first lap with Alma, but then picked up the pace a little on the downhill stretch, amazingly overtook some people as I powered puffed my way up the hill and at 200m from the finish a volunteer with a stopwatch called out that my time was 28 minutes something. I wasn’t going to get a PB but if I got my act together for those last few metres a sub-30 time was looking possible. I sprinted through the line and happily when the text came through later my time was confirmed as 29:47 min!

Being based in the middle of the woods with no facilities, post-run the Banstead Wood parkrunners head to the Mint pub for coffee and chat. In the full spirit of Parkrun Tourism we decided to join them and take the opportunity to thaw out at the same time – I missed the cakes from Bromley but enjoyed the warmth of being indoors! Overall it was a great experience and we hope to go back again sometime – we’ve been told the bluebells in the spring are fantastic, so maybe we’ll go back to see them, but in the meantime our next Parkrun Tourism will be Cardiff in a couple of weeks when we hope to see another fellow blogger Sue.

On Friday night the Parkrunner extraordinaire abradypus was looking for a Parkrun to do on Saturday and so we suggested she join us in Bromley. Louise came to Bromley last summer and guided me through my first ever Parkrun, so it was nice to see her again now that I know a bit more about what is going on! Noting her consistent splits at a recent Parkrun with Carla and knowing she’s generally a bit faster than me, I thought I’d try and stick with her throughout the run and see what happened. It was tough at times and not much talking went on, but when I got to the end and looked at my watch it appeared I mae taken about 30 seconds off my PB – woo hoo! Very pleased, so thanks Louise – I was starting to worry I was going to plateau around 28.35 min, so to get my time down to 28.02 min was very exciting!

Then on Sunday we went to Dulwich Park to join the Dulwich Runners in their marathon training speed session of mile reps around the park. I initially wasn’t going to go because I wanted to do a long steady run of about 9 miles as part of my training for the Dartford 10 which was scheduled to be held on January 22nd, but on Friday I got the frustrating news that the race had had to be postponed until March!! Very disappointed by that but on the positive side it gives me a bit longer to do some more training as I was a bit lax on the long runs over Christmas and also meant I decided to join Stephen in doing the mile reps. I was a bit worried that I would be the slowest there and those worries were amplified when even the ‘warm-up’ lap was at a sub-10 min miling pace. Undeterred I decided to give it my best shot and amazingly managed 5 out of the 6 laps with an average pace of about 8.45 min/mile! I was quite impressed with myself, unfortunately my body was less impressed with this burst of speed and bizarrely I have had a sore big toe on one foot all week.

Happily after a week with only a couple of gentle runs and bodybalance my toe is feeling better and I’m ready to tackle Banstead Parkrun with Mr W, Alma and Chris tomorrow morning…

The theme was making 2012 count and it consisted of inspirational quotes from three great British athletes:

• Mo Farah – Don’t dream of winning. Train for it.
• Paula Radcliffe – Nearly isn’t enough.
• Mark Cavendish – Remain the fastest. Become the greatest.

I especially like Mo’s quote as it could be a motto for anything in life – don’t just dream of your goals, work for them. It seems that so many people in life today just expect to be handed things on a plate, so  lets hope these athletes will make people realise that life’s not like that and actually the things you have to work hard to achieve are worth a whole lot more than those that come easily.

My current goals for 2012 are to train for a 10 mile race and to get fab abs by doing one plank every day! What are yours?!

Until those dark days at the beginning of January 2007 the fact that people lose babies when they are more than 12 weeks pregnant had barely registered on my radar, now it is something I am all too painfully aware of.

I was just over 21 weeks pregnant when things started to go wrong with the twins, we’d just celebrated what we thought would be our last Christmas as just a couple and were looking forward to having our 20 week scan, slightly belated due to the festive break. But then our world was turned upside down when I started bleeding and having pains. We rushed to hospital but just 36 hours later Robert Trevor Wright was born just before midnight on 3rd January 2007 and Samantha Lilly Wright followed shortly afterwards around 2am on 4th January 2007.

Just like Thomas they were perfect in every way but for being too small to survive in this world and we will always remember them, xx

I can hardly believe that it’s already December 31st and 2011 is all but over. It wasn’t the year we had hoped for but despite everything there have been some good times:

• April, when Thomas was still squirming around in my tummy
• Meeting some lovely new friends through blogging
• Mr W completing his tube-running challenge and raising an awesome £7000 for SANDS
• Our Neilson holiday in Turkey
• Finally getting round to going to our local Parkrun in Bromley
• Attending a recording of Strictly Come Dancing
• And many more small moments of joy, shared with the lovely Mr W, my family and my friends.

It is our family and friends, both old and new, who have helped get us through this, at times, dismal year and we are ever grateful for your love and support. Thank you!

I am steadfastedly optimistic that 2012 will be kinder to us, but who knows in reality what life will bring – all that is certain is that the Olympics are coming to London and I shall enjoy watching as much of that as possible!

Happy New Year to you all – may all your wishes come true in 2012!

I am a little disappointed in myself really as noting the theme of this blog I would have liked to have written an entry about the Remembrance Service we went to at St Thomas’ Hospital the other weekend in memory of babies and children who have passed away at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital. It was a strange experience – almost as soon as we arrived I wished we hadn’t gone but in fact once the service started I was glad we had. Mr W has written a full account on his Running the Tube Lines blog, but the saddest thing of all was the number of people who were there and the long list of names that was read out during the service.

Since then I have been busy with work, Christmas preparations and socialising, and running until last Tuesday when life as we know it came to a grinding halt all because of a tiny lump on my right ring finger. I only asked the GP about it because I was wondering whether it was the onset of arthritis in my hands, on the basis that it has afflicted both my Mum and my Gran, but before I knew it things were out of control and I’d had blood tests, x-rays, ultrasounds, CT scans and fine needle aspirations. The doctors didn’t know what the lump was and said the only way to be 100% sure it was benign would be to cut it out. My first operation in the autumn was postponed as the doctor decided the lump wasn’t big enough, but then I got sent back to the main consultant who said he would do the job himself. It didn’t sound too onerous – it would be done under local anaesthetic and then I’d have a big bandage for a couple of days, followed by something smaller for two weeks until the stitches came out. No mention that I wouldn’t be able to get my hand wet or drive for those two weeks, so imagine my shock and horror when that came out as I was preparing to leave the day surgery unit after the operation last Tuesday, especially as I still had Christmas baking to do! Happily Bad Wabbit has shown himself to be a dab-hand in the kitchen, check out the yule log below covered with buttercream made by Mr W and the Victorian Christmas Cakes baked by Mr W under wifely supervision…

In addition to the dry hand and no driving, my finger had to be kept elevated as much as possible for the first couple of days and so I asked if I could have a sick note for work rather than risk running the gauntlet of commuting with my hand in the air. I was expecting a couple of days but the doctor was rather more cautious and signed me off until January! Fortunately I’ve got my work laptop at home otherwise the number of emails that would have built in my absence would have been a really depressing start to 2012. The first few days were difficult – it is amazing how many things require two hands and also how weak my left hand is – but fortunately the large bandage was removed on Friday and I can now do a bit more with my right hand, including getting a mitten on it so my fingers don’t freeze when I go outside. I’ve also discovered today that I can get my hand into a large rubber glove, which will be useful for showering but I definitely think washing-up is still a no-no!

Based on my current blogging frequency this may be my last blog this year so I would say thank you to you all for reading and wish you a very merry festive season and all the best for 2012!