UK Unites

We have waited for seven years, listening to the negative media about how London just wouldn't be able to cope, we're not well equipped, couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery, it should have gone to France etc. But now it's here and almost over with, I personally would like to give a heart felt handshake to the people involved in making this an entertaining success.

To all those media misfits who were hellbent on ruling off the Olympics as a total waste of resources, I guess you are now feeling rather foolish. Ok so the shops and attractions haven't brought in as much tourism as we had wished for, but it has brought in so much more - compassion, hope, a united front and above all pride in our country.

The UK has had such bad press and there's been so much doom & gloom, what with the recession and last years riots, it's actually refreshing to see people in a good mood with a smile on their face.

It's the English way to be humble and we've always been overshadowed by other competition, but it's almost like we've turned a corner and can say, 'yes we are good, we've trained hard and we damn well deserve some recognition for it!'

I'm under no allusion that this will last once the games are over and it won't be long until everyone has their commuter faces on again, but for now, it's a step forward & I'm quite proud to say I am a londoner.

Hurry Up and Wait

The grass is always greener on the other side - how very true this saying is. It's funny how you spend most of your life wishing for things to change, thinking that certain things need to be achieved by a certain time in your life. Yet, when you stop, stand still and really focus on what it is you do have there's nothing actually wrong with how things are. You come to realise that there isn't actually a blue print that comes with life - it just is and you trundle along finding your own path in your own way.

For about the last six months I have been dreading the thought of turning 30. It is very much like a precipice between being young and fun - and getting old. I have stead fastedly refused to celebrate my getting old as I haven't really seen it as something to warrant having a good old knees up for. I'm constantly being asked when I'm going to stop going out so much and settle down, why don't I have a boyfriend, why aren't I married, do I not want kids? Because, you know, time is ticking on.....and it really makes you doubt yourself when you hear it from so many people.

For the last year, I have been looking around at my friends and I think I really am the last single woman standing. All my friends were starting to talk about having babies, starting families and I was left thinking 'oh my god, what is wrong with me? why aren't I at that same stage yet that everyone else seems to be at?'

But now the big 3-0 is just over a month away, I can't help but feel oddly settled and am coming to the realisation that actually, I'm not old, and I can still have fun. Whilst I haven't met Mr Right yet - it really doesn't matter. I have so much other good things in my life - I have my family, lots of friends, my own house, my own car, I can plan things last minute and go travelling and can pay my own way in life.

But the thing I find most amusing is now alot of my friends have passed the big milestone age bracket, there a vast few of them who have actually decided why rush into a family? The same people who in their late twenties were consumed with starting a family, are now quite happy to hold onto their youth and carry on just the way they are.

It is amazing what a bit of peer pressure can do to you without you even realising it. Until that day comes when I do meet Mr Right and find that someone who makes me giving up my single life justifiable, I shall just keep on having fun and finding more paths and avenues to explore.

Power walking pains....and hopefully gains!

Wow, can't believe how long it has been since I last logged on. Where has that time gone? I can't believe we're almost 5 months into the year - and it's quite scary that my weekends are now all booked up until mid-September. Gosh!

Well, social life apart, I have been very much focusing on my training these last few months and have stepped up a gear these last 4 weeks. I used to love running so much, but I have come to terms with the fact that I am never going to be able to run again and I have finally come to terms with it. My time has been taken up with swimming, spinning and my power walking training. As I am not going to be able to do a running marathon, I have decided to do the next best thing - a power walk marathon. 26 miles of walking and stamina - with the added benefit of fund-raising for charity as well, so an added bonus. 

I've enjoyed getting back into the training again, but it is strange how walking bulks up your muscles whereas running slims them down - I can honestly say I have thighs of steel at the moment and not an inch of cellulite. But, I guess the best thing of all is knowing I am raising money for a really good cause. After some sad family news recently, it is even more personal and precious now knowing I am contributing towards research for Breast Cancer UK - even if it helps more people like my mum and helps save someones life, then I am happy in that knowledge and all the aches and pains seem trivial in comparison.

Unfortunately, with all these longer walks I am now doing my knee problem has flared up again - I even had to limp the last mile in total agony this morning to get back to Limehouse Station, but I feel like I have achieved something today. I have never walked that far before in my life. Even though I know I will not be the fastest person there, the fact that 5 months ago I could barely walk 3 miles before my knee would give way, I feel like I have already achieved a lot. As long as I can cross that finish line in a few weeks, with the slightest muster of a smile on my face, then I shall be content in the knowledge that I have contributed towards someone else's treatment and there hope of a future.