Developing 13

Well, I managed to drag my sorry carcass out of bed early so I could do a proper post before I get into the packing and chores to get ready to go away. It was a late night last night so I actually feel a bit hungover! How can that be?? I drank nothing but the staff of life all evening? Must be just a combination of physical tiredness, both from the dancing and from personal training with the lovely Huw, lack of sleep, the beginnings of a cold (dammit!) and maybe a bit of the effects of being in a smoky atmosphere.

See how much more sensitive I am now, how much more in tune I am with my body! It's powerful stuff this LL.

So to recap. Thursday was a busy day but managed to fit in a jog with the lovely Shelley. I also took her over a very belated wedding present. I'd put together a hardcover memory book of the best photos I took at their wedding. It was not meant to be a substitiue for a proper wedding album but they are so disorganised and despite my best efforts have not come round to sort out the album proper, so I thought I'd do this for them anyway. To say she was pleased with it is an understatement - she actually had tears in her eyes going through it so I was really happy that I'd made the effort. It's a great product if you've got lots of digital photos, a printed book which you can totlly customise, would be great for holiday pics or baby pics or to record a house renovation project all the way though. I did mine on Snapfish but most online photosites do something similar.

Anyway, we went for our long run and decided to add what we thoght was a little extra corner onto it. Well, our geogrpaphical knowledge may be somewhat suspect as the litle extra corner probably added a mile of quite hilly running onto a 4 mile route! Really enjoyed it though.

Friday, did some more shopping! It's easy once you get the hang of it MRS!! I seem to have found the measure of Dotty P's and they're quite cheap so have bought a fair bit of stuff there. I am all size 16 with one size 14, although I didn't end up buying that! Think my heavy thighs are going to cause a problem getting into smaller sizes which is even more incentive for getting them toned up.

Had my first session with Huw. Think it's going to be well worth the hefty price tag (£25 a session if you pay for 20 up front but £40 or £35 if you don't go the whole hog!). We started with a baseline fitness test on the treadmill where you start slow and have a heart monitor attached then build up the speed and record your heartrate at every increase. This way we know, firstly how fast I can currenty run, what my heartrate was at each stage and finally how quickly I recovered. I wasn't too bad but think there will be a fairly major improvements possible if I stick to the programme. The rest of it was weights, working on the major muscle groups. As I was learning the exercises it didn't feel smooth but boy did I work hard. By the end of the session which was 1 1/2 hours as it was the first one, I was sweated through and tired out but realy exhilerated. Don't feel too stiff this morning either so that's a bonus.

Next week we're going to put together a shorter version of the exercises for me to do at home so I'll have no excuse not to work on my bingo wings and saggy backside!!!

After tht I was off to the pub. Met in our local and saw the crew we're going to Lithuania with. They are a hard drinking bunch, mostly a fair bit older than us and were really excited to see me dressed up for a night out and looking slim - I got a massive reaction when I first walked in! I'm going to miss the celebrity lifestyle once everyone gets used to me being slim!! Trouble is Suzanne is a self-confessed diet saboteur. I know it won't work but it will irritate the hell out of me. I tried to get her to shut up going on about how I don't need to lose anymore etc and hopefully the message will sink in. Anyway, come hell or high water (whatver that means) I'm not going to weaken - I've come too far to be undone by some dodgy Baltic cuisine and a few shots of vodka (one of the hotels we're stying in has a vodka ditillery in the basement!).

Then off to another pub with some other friends for a band. It was not as busy as for the uber-cheezy "Latino Sensation" of a few weeks ago, which was shame as the band was way more talented. 4 older geezers who have reinvented themselves as a rock/pop band and were doing a pretty creditable job of it too. I love that heavy guitary britpop thing so Shelley and I were bopping away on a quietish dancefloor and eventually we were joned by half the pub. Shelley knew the singer from the band (a surprise to her when she got there - she used to work wih him in the Ambulance Service!) so that was entertaining too.

His claim to fame is that he is the uncle of one of the Arctic Monkeys and taught him guitar and lent them an amp when they were getting started. I think that's pretty cool in a very Sheffield sort of way!!

Anyway, a late night and now I've got to pack and do chores for the next couple of hours before we set off for Liverpool, lunch at Albert Docks and then to the airport bound for Kaunas and Vilnius.

All I keep thinking is that I'm a different woman these days - I have so much more energy and confidence. There's no way I would danced at the front of the pub to such rocky music in my old body; I don't need to drink to enjoy myself and I'm loving life now. Not just making the best of it - loving it.

I hope you all are too. Mwaahh!