October... pre Barcelona!!!

So Barcelona is looming... if only it was a girls weekend away... but its not its an olympic triathlon!  1 mile swim, 25 mile bike and then a 6mile run....

In order to practice the swim I invited some of the Evo gang to do a practice swim at Calshot with Mum and Dad providing the coffee and doughnuts!

It was a really fun morning even it was pretty cold at first in the water!!

After the swim it was back to Mum and Dad's for a lovely chilled day and a family meal... its so lovely to be able to go home so easily!

Sunday started with a run to the beach and then it was off to help out Layla and with the gorgeous Imogen, Barney and Oscar!  Daddy was away on a golf weekend so it was lovely to be able to go and help out Layla with them all and get some cuddles!!  On the way home I popped in to see Family Jones - they didn't know I was coming so the sound of them shouting Aunty Jo was very loud....and brilliant!

It was just the weekend I needed after a disappointing week the week before... some things you know are right but the disappointment is still there!

The week after was another busy week but at the end of it I was shattered and had a scratchy throat... a weekend of being chilled was definitely in order!  Friday night spinning and then off to the pub was a relaxing start, then lunch with Jennie next door - which was REALLY really lovely and very inspirational!  Then you know what I had some MUCH needed Jo time... gosh it was lovely!!

Didn't really bank on it being quite so much me time but the scratchy throat turned into a cold.... not ideal before going to Barcelona...

Its quite rubbish being sick this week and I'm definitely having a low... all will be fine when I get to Barcelona and get this race over with!  Think Miss Jo is tired!!  Oh and bored of watching TV and not being sociable!  How do people do this all the time??

Highlights from September

August ended and September started in Croatia!  6 girls flew into Split and island hopped through Hvar, and Korcula and a few others and flew home from Dubrovnik!  It was a really fun fun trip and Croatia is stunning!!  We ate well, we drank well especially on a couple of nights.... not sure I need to see a Zambuca any time soon! We laughed, we talked alot and we had a really really lovely time!!

The best bit about Croatia was coming home! I don't mean that I didn't have a good time I had a great time but it was really lovely to come home to Windsor.... to my friends who were texting and asking when we were meeting up for drinks, running, biking, swimming!!  I am REALLY glad I moved to Windsor - its not only a beautiful town but also its full of fun loving people who live life to the fullest!

Kerrin and I had been chatting one day about The Proms and how we both love it! Suddenly I had been nominated to have a Last Night of The Proms Party!!  The pictures speak for themselves!!!

The following evening was incredibly cultured... we went to watch Don Pesquale at The Royal Opera House... my first opera! Amazing!!

Last minute plan saw me heading to Boston for a flying visit for 3 days!  It was a GREAT trip! Lovely to catch up with friends and really lovely to appreciate Boston for the incredible place that it is and to put it into my heart as a very special place!

Photos from my dawn run! Making the most of the jetlag advantages!

 I arrived back home on the Friday morning and decorated my bedroom! It was a yukky beige colour and so I painted it white! And eventually I will have a big picture on it when one of my Aussie friends sends it to me!!  I also did a team triathlon which was great fun and it was my first race at Dorney lake - it was a tad chilly but as usual the Evo crew were there cheering us on so that kept us going!!

September ended with a wedding and a girls night and a half marathon!

Damian and Nat got married on the Friday and what a great event it was! Always lovely to see friends getting married and this time it was made even better by Chris Waite being there... wow 7 years with no sightings and there he was same as he always was.. Brilliant party dancing away to all the old classics from our uni days!

Saturday day was chilled and then Carla arrived from Geneva so Ailsa joined us and we had a lovely lovely catch up... wish we could do that more often!!

Then Sunday arrived - and the Windsor half marathon!!  Perfect running day and wowses Windsor got busy!!  5000 people were racing! It was a great event and we all did cracking times!! I was really pleased with my 1.44.50!

So into October we go... Barcelona is looming fast!!

Highlights from August

August was busy and fun too!!

Razorlight at Sandown with my bro!

Sally was going off to Africa for a month so I had a farewell braii

Kerrin cooked... much to the annoyance of the South African at the party - Pete!

Sarah chilled in my lovely chairs!

We all laughed a lot!

The next week I got to take some very special people to Legoland which is about 5 minutes from my house!  Then they all came back to stay at my Barbie house!!

Ailsa and I decided to do a swim race! We went to Princes club in Staines... it was really good and I managed to do 1500m in 26.30 minutes!! I was very pleased with that!

Then Charlie and I went to Ascot! Didn't win any money - not surprising really given that we didn't bet much!  But we had fun and we got to see Belinda Carlisle and Boy George at the 80's after race party!


Soooo I decided to enter a triathlon!  I went to Brighton so I could do a sea swim in preparation for Barcelona in October and also so that I wouldn;t know anyone and be highly embarassed when I did something silly like fall over or come last!

It turned out to be a very entertaining day... Terry and Vikki came to watch... and I came 3rd!!! And 1st in my age group!!

I got a trophy and a medal!!!

The weekend after it was off to Nottingham for The Team Triathlon... in the rain.... POURING rain!! And we were camping.... I did wonder why I was doing this and why I thought this was fun!!!!  But it was a good weekend away and we did laugh alot!! But my bed on the Sunday night was lovely!

Only downer was that I was only there one night before going to Poland and then off to Croatia....