NEW BEGINNINGS

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us...it was two thousand and eight.

Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
English novelist (1812 - 1870)

---

Wowsers.

What a diametrically opposed, inverse year of contradiction.

In 2009:

• I ran 3 half marathons in the month of March. Madness.


• I trained for & ran my first marathon in London, raising over £1700 for HEART UK in April
  


• I holiday'd in Menorca in May


• I completed my first (sprint) triathlon in June


• in June I spent a week on the waters of Pembrokeshire kayaking & camping
  


• in July I pushed myself to the physical & mental limits training for & completing the 100km overnight Trailwalker ultra-bonkers walk, raising over £1600 with my fellow Jelly Baby Junkies
  


• in July I changed jobs
  


• I completed the London (sprint) Traithlon in August
  


• in September I managed to sneak in another (fun distance) Triathlon


• ...then in all went a bit Pete Tong & the evil sofa swallowed me up..


• in December I sloped off for some winter sunshine & visited Barbados, St Maarten, St Kitts, Guadeloupe, St Lucia & Dominica: traversing volcanos, cycling across islands and doing a whole lot of snorkelling. Noice.
  

A year of real contrasts & amazing experiences.

I have only one New Year's Resolution for 2009:

* Make every day count *

Easy peasy?

So I wish you all a successful, happy & healthy New Year, and I leave you with the words of Pliny the Elder (23 AD - 79 AD)

"From the end spring new beginnings"

Amen to those.