Party Season

Well race season is well and truly gone.....and PARTY season is here (and I'm feeling it already!)  We seem to have spent most weekends attending various awards do's and weddings! The weddings were kicked off with the wonderful Mr & Mrs Booth tying the knot.  I was honoured enough to be bridesmaid and couldn't believe how quickly the day went.  It was fantastic!  The bride was beautiful, the service was lovely, and the partying was hard core!  Then the awards dinners kicked off with Chris's cycle club dinner where I was really proud to see him pick up a few trophies, mostly for everything he has achieved on the tandem with his cousin Phil.  It was great to meet so many new people and it was nice that the work done with the juniors in the club was recognised and valued.

My gorgeous friend Sarah on her big day

The following week we went to my cycle club's awards dinner where we had a brilliant time.  It was held at a venue a good hour and a bit away from ours so we treated ourselves to a room in the hotel (which we booked part way through the starter and main course!) so that we could make the most of the free wine on the table! I was fortunate enough to win the Triathlete of the Year Award and even better.....we won a bike rack in raffle! What a great prize! I love a good raffle!

A couple of vinos later....

A week later we went to the Midland's Time Trial Series Award Presentation where I picked up third overall in the series and second in the improvements table.  I barely recognised the girls without their lycra and helmets on! It was a good night mixing with mostly just cyclists and it was interesting to hear how their training varied from mine.  I really admire what the series organiser, Ruth Eyles, is trying to do too, with an aim of encouraging the participation of women in cycling.  I have definitely noticed an increase in the number of women attending local TTs as a result of this which has been good to see.

Rosie Armitage of Echelon Cycles ~ a very worthy winner of the Midland Series

24 hours later we were back at the same venue as last week for my triathlon club's awards dinner.  Rugby Tri know how to put on a good night and the whole experience was great.  There was another brill raffle (....and yes....we won another prize :-) !), a host who dressed up as Superman, and a whole load of dancing!  There were more prizes galore and the 2 club champs that I raced meant I picked up the Women's Olympic and the Women's Middle Distance Awards.  The club also recognised the successes of many other women and it was great to see and hear how much the girls had improved over the season.  Some had gone from never doing any open water swimming to completing their first olympic distances, others had continued to make constant progress and many had achieved age group wins throughout the year.  The club also had 4 men that had completed an ironman for the first time, which is massively impressive!

Rugby Tri Award Winners

Our Club Person of the Year Award was given to a very worthy winner; Ross Wearing.  Ross has completed a vigorous (and crazy!) challenge each month throughout the whole of 2012.  These range from rowing a marathon to swimming the length of Lake Annecy and the money he is raising for Macmillan Cancer makes it all the more worthwhile.  Needless to say Ross got a standing ovation when he went to collect his award and I felt really choked myself, despite (I'm ashamed to say) having not gone to watch Ross in action in any of his challenges.  But I have sponsored him (and you can too) at www.justgiving.com/ross-wearing

Our star of the year

So once all the Awards Dinners finished, we had got used to living the high life so have been out for dinner with various friends (on a week night too!).  Seeing the pubs and restaurants so busy makes me realise "this is what normal people do!" haha!  We have started a bit of Christmas shopping and I even found myself at an all night rave on Saturday night which was a pretty good work out actually, what with all the squats I did on the dance floor and the amount I jumped up and down in one night....I should go more regularly to get quads of steel!

So keen to party I didn't even have time to take my coat off!

I've been a bit slow getting back into winter training.  I've roughly been doing 3 swims, 3 bikes and 3 runs a week but it's been a bit hit and miss. Working 7am-5pm is taking it's toll too and I've felt pretty tired (especially with other socialising antics!) but that said things seem to be clicking into place again over the last few days and as long as I'm enjoying it and maintaining a good lifestyle balance that's all that matters.  I keep meaning to write a blog on the enjoyment of the sport vs the pressure we put on ourselves, but I'll save that one for (another) rainy day.

It's felt a bit too cold to cycle lately!

For the next few weeks I'm hoping to just chill out and calm down a bit and actually enjoy some time at home with my feet up!  Apart from next week's Level 2 Triathlon Coaching Course and a Christmas Shopping Trip in Worcester arranged with Mum, I think I'll actually have sometime to chill out between now and Christmas!  I'm still toying with the idea of having a run out at the Telford 10k in 2 weeks, or on the other hand I could have a well deserved lie in and a day of nothing!