Friday. Alarm rings at 6. Groan. Why did I agree to get to the pool at 7? I am *not* a morning person.Why? Because it was a chance to go to a new pool – the London Fields Lido – about a 20 minute cycle from my place. Refurbished for years, I had yet to […]
Triathlon is made up of three individual sports done in succession – swim, bike and run. For me, each discipline represents a personal and individual challenge, made more complex with the addition of wearing a wetsuit, stripping said wetsuit off while running, throwing shoes on for the cycle, battling elements as they come your way, […]
I probably live in one of the most diverse neighbourhoods in London. Spitalfields has historically been the home of immigrants – both economic migrants as well as those fleeing persecution in their home countries. In recent history (going back 300 years) Spitalfields has hosted fleeing Heugenots, European Jews, and is now home to a large […]
(alternatively titled) “Rock and roll in spin class is highly underrated.” And so started Monday night spin, Nirvana blaring, lightsdimmed, 45 minutes of RPM based hill climbing.Fast forward: Saturday. We headed off to Victoria Park first thing in the morning (before the “civilians”arrived in droves) to get in some real world cycling, going round and […]
This week was a resumption of my work travel – of the long haul variety. After a relatively long break of about two months, I found myself on a familiar route, headed to Qatar. I am a negotiator in the energy industry, so from 2004 until 2006 I found myself in Qatar at least two […]
This past week was hard for me. I said a final goodbye to a great friend Maria who had fought breast cancer for 6 years, but whose liver could not keep pace with her treatments or zest for life. She faced her fear, and said “you are not getting me until I am good and […]
I did it. It was not pretty. It was not fast. It was not long. It was hard work. My heart raced and pounded. It was sweaty. And it was not half bad (for me anyway)… I tried running. Not once, but four times (so far). Four times in 9 days. The is four times […]
After the London triathlon in 2008, I decided that 2009 would be my year. My year to do an Olympic distance triathlon. My year to start to run. My year to conduct a little physical experiment to see just how concentrated exercise, fitness and nutrition could influence my nerve disease (or not). And my year […]