Saturday 30 December 2017

2017 recap

Well November and December are always really busy months in our house. 3 birthdays and the usual Christmas shannigans meant there was no let up.

It also involved a massive landmark for Jacqui too with her turning 40. We held a surprise party for her and it fulfilled expectations. It was a great night, including everyone being there on her arrival, the dinner, Lukie playing MC and the ensuing party.

On the running front I’ve lost my mojo a little in the last couple of months. I do get bored of it after a while - there is simply too much other crap which I enjoy (Messi has also been suffering from the same syndrome).  

One being the bike and on that I fell heavily in late November hitting an icy patch with my front wheel slipping underneath me whilst travelling 35kmh. Thankfully it was a right hand turn and so careered into the pavement instead of the incoming traffic.

With work travel though I could not get it looked at so a week later flying back into London from another business trip I knew the wound was not right so J took me straight to A&E and lo and behold it was infected. No more ill effects am pleased to say but am still nursing a cracked rib which has been purgetry to run with.

Family: our 4 boys are all well (growing up way too quick) and currently writing on the aeroplane to Geneva for our annual skiing recce. They are beside themselves. 

It’s been a big running year running too with 4,450 KMs clocked and plenty of other shit thrown in, at least another 1,000+ KMs on the bike, summer climbing in the Alps as well as skiing. 

I thought Berlin 2.42.14 would be the highlight but it was trumped by Kenya. That was special and extra special for the one on one time with my #1 boy who turned 14 shortly after getting back home.

It will live with him forever:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/ASy7m6U33v47Tp9w1

Befriending all the elite Kenyan athletes in Kericho will not be surpassed, such as running with Bernard Rotich on the Tuesday with him then going on to win the Dublin marathon the following Sunday. That was bonkers. The charity aspect working with the magnificent 5 Talents charity was equally rewarding if not more. It’s been a successful year too raising money for charities and have raised a sizeable sum over the course of the year.

In the end, Berlin was a let down and with better conditions I think I could have ran 2.40 very close. It was simply too wet and humid.  It’s annoying as I am not sure when work will allow me to train to the extent I did.

I don’t have any excuses for London in April and came up short again running another 2.46. In fact, I managed to run 4 marathons this year if you include the local Hilly Long training run I did with Messi in 3 hours as well as the Kericho marathon in Kenya. There is one noticeable change to all of this and that is I stayed broadly injury free for over 12 months which is a first. 

On the family front, I don’t think we could have done any more than we did. It went something like this:

Australia, Seoul, Jack’s tournament in Berlin, climbing in Zermatt with Stevie and JJ, NYC, Biarritz surfing, Lake District, back to Berlin for the marathon (seeing all the old Sydney HuRTs crew), back to NYC, Kenya and then the week skiing in Tignes / Val D’Isere. Chuck in 5 trips each to Amsterdam and Luxembourg as well meant I was moving around at least twice a month. Jacqui also had trips away in Ibiza, Valencia and Stockholm.

On the work front, it’s been the usual enjoyable chaotic mayhem and have now racked up 17 years with GS. 

Looking forward to the journey ahead and what 2018 will offer.

Jacqui’s big day:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/VyvAFa9Xba8otGCt2