Freedom !

Where has the time gone ? It has been so busy & I can't believe it has been over 2 months since my last post ! Well as you can see from the pic above I made it to Morzine & I made it back- safely ! It all went quite well in the end. I was really nervous but my man & his boys were incredibly understanding & patient ! I booked another  2 hour lesson with an instructor at the start of the trip & she was great. Pushing me where necessary to bring me on but also understanding of my fear of injury. It was very tiring, without the gym I would never have managed it but it did pay off rather well. During the ski trip not only did I manage to get back to my beginner level that I was at before the Lisfranc, I then progressed & was managing a stable parallel ski technique with turns/stopping on the lovely blue runs that Morzine has to offer. I think the 4-5 day trip was about the right length for a starting point too. So all in all I was happy with that.

The foot was fine mostly, the legs ached as they do with skiing but it was all reassuringly normal :-) I even did a couple of easy Blue runs on my own whilst the boys were tackling the fearsome Reds & Blacks. I can recommend Morzine, a great French alpine resort with fantastic restaurants & beautiful runs. The transfer from Geneva airport is a reasonable 1hr trip by mini bus.

I have continued to work hard at the gym since being back, I've introduced some other exercises & I'm really enjoying walking & getting out & about now it's not so painful. I find my new found enthusiasm for walking  quite amusing as before my injury I'd walk but not really enjoy it. Perhaps it's linked to the whole fear of not being able to that I had throughout 2011 & most of last year. Either way I can & I very much enjoy it these days ! I have added a new page to the blog just explaining a bit about the exercises that I've done, I thought it might be of interest to someone who is wondering where to start :-)

I visited Newport beach, OC, CA & Glendale CA in April with my work colleagues. It was an absolute blast ! Never have I ever had so much fun on a work trip or been so well looked after. We hired bikes & spent a day on a bike ride/pub crawl all around Balboa Harbour & Newport beach, beautiful scenery & sunshine. Lunch was at Mutt Lynches that day, a great bar just off Newport Beach I think. We had a union jack handkerchief tied into a hat which we all took turns to wear...........

This certainly got us noticed amongst the residents ! I consider myself very lucky to be part of such a great team of people & to have such a fantastic job. I reminded myself of how brilliant my life is now so many times during that trip ! We must have ridden about 6-7 miles that day as well. The bikes were great fun, some were without brakes, you had to back pedal to stop, tricky after a few beers or when tying to stop in a hurry ! Another highlight for me was seeing a Sea Lion frolicking in the surf at the end of one of the piers, I'd never seen one so close & not in captivity so adorable to watch !

The following day we hired a boat & took a trip around the harbour & along the coastline, we were fortunate enough to catch 3 sightings of a whale ! Again so amazing & all of this before we started work.......... We spent 5 days working in Glendale after our weekend in Orange County, but it was worth it.

I planned a surprise weekend trip to Cornwall & Devon for my man just a couple of weeks ago for his birthday. Last year we also went but sadly I was on crutches following an inflammation of my mid-foot, so we took the opportunity to revisit the area this year & what a great time we had. We visited Exeter Cathedral, one of the greatest Gothic style cathedrals in Europe. It is magnificent with one of the longest uninterrupted Gothic vaulting in the world ! Then we travelled on to the Eden project at St Austell, & spent the evening in Carlyon Bay. The following day we moved on to Charlestown harbour which dates back to 1790 & was built by a private owner for the export of copper & china clay. What is remarkable is that the export of china clay still happens from Charlestown to this day, about 30-40 ships are still loaded from here each year. Films are filmed here, Dr Who was filmed here a couple of years ago & interestingly it was up for sale for £4.4m last year !

After a nose around the harbour & a lovely cup of coffee from the Orange Farm shop, housed in a brightly coloured bus situated on the harbour wall we moved on to Dartmouth. A lovely historical town situated in Devon, home to the Royal Britannia Naval College & the artist Simon Drew. We did speak with Simon Drew when looking around one of his shops, You can't miss him actually !
So a superb weekend & now it's back to work.........
I go to college each Tuesday evening to learn about photography, this is something that I'd been meaning to do for so many years. It's been really interesting, a real shame that there is only a couple of weeks left to complete the course. Next week we are on a field trip to practise low light photography, this I am really looking forward to.
Before I go just one last thing; On Saturday June 1st I am joining the team of Yacht Scream, sail number GBR8837R who is competing in class IRC 0 in the 2013 J.P Morgan Round The Island Yacht Race.

We are the 1st class to start the race at 5.00 am (GMT) & will be competing against some fearsome competition including ICAP leopard. The race is world famous & this year 1450 yachts have entered so far. The course is 58 nautical miles long & follows a course around the coastline of the Isle Of Wight. Wish me luck ! If you'd like to see how we get on you can find details on the following link;
http://www.roundtheisland.org.uk/

2013 is here already ?

Happy New Year Everyone !

I hope you are all doing well in your respective recoveries ? Still making progress, not looking back I hope :-)

I am participating in a regular gym programme now, managing 45 minutes in the gym, 3 times a week & I think I can see real improvement. My balance seems to be better, my walking pace is quicker, I can actually stride & my weight has stabilised. I need to get much stronger & I do need to lose a few more pounds (the bikini pics from Hawaii told me so :-)) but I'm hoping that sticking with this programme will reap further rewards in these areas. My latest 'new tricks' with the foot are; I can run up the stairs &  stand balancing on one foot; the dodgy one !- Woohoo.........
The foot is still painful & stiff most days, but not all day everyday & I can manage the pain. I believe that the gym work helps with increasing the blood flow by improving the circulation, this in turn helps with my mobility, I'm sure.
I am settling in well into my new role within my new company, off to a slow start but I've got positive vibes about this year being a good one, all round !
Hawaii in October was immense, I did celebrate my 40th on the beach in Maui, with a beautiful dinner at Mama's Fish house, after watching the sun set on the beach. I swam with the turtles, I was nervous & apprehensive due to the lack of personal fitness, but hey....... I did it & I saw dolphins too !

We drove the road to Hana 3 times to take in all of the sights & watching the sun rise at Haleakala was so incredibly moving & well, helps you put a bit of perspective on things :-)
I climbed the Pipiwai trek/trail  to see the Waimoku waterfalls, the uneven ground made it awkward for me & painful at times but hey ........ I did it !
So my plans so far for this year ? 1) Skiing, hopefully in Canada in April after a work trip takes me to California. 2) Get back out on the water & sail PROPERLY, hopefully complete the Round The Island Yacht Race in June. 3) Make a success of my new job & get myself back on top. 4) Hopefully buy my own house or save enough to be able to do it early 2014. 5) Put the difficult times behind me, finally.

Big plans I know, but the real difference is I've made some this year. To me this simple realisation says a lot about how I am continuing to improve & move forwards. I've continued with my photography as well, did I mention that I'd bought myself a DSLR a few months after breaking the foot ?
I had thought about it for so many years. I'd previously studied Photography at college using a Canon SLR you see & being a creative soul I had missed it. So I have been taking a few snaps & teaching myself the basics............. I took nearly 700 in Hawaii alone- LOL . I have also enrolled on a photography college course in Feb, I've decided that I need some technical direction to train my creativity into what I want to produce Haha & I'm hoping to make a few friends in my new area. Who knows what this year will hold........ exciting eh ?