One wedding and a birthday

Last Tuesday (14th) was my birthday, and my thoughtful husband did his best to make it a good one. On the day itself, I had to go to work, and I was going out for dinner with a group of ex-colleagues for Christmas, so he gave me my presents on birthday eve. I got one of these!













It's an i-touch, (not a phone), and it is fabby! It means I can keep a load more music than on my previous little i-pod mini; as well as photos, videos, games, and it also has a camera and video camera, and can connect to the internet! It was an unexpected and over the top gift, so I was really excited.

Working on my birthday wasn't the best, and with busy weekends before and after, we didn't celebrate in any special way. But on Wednesday evening, Pete came home early, and brought a chocolate cake to share with the kids - yum.

On Wednesday morning, I finally managed to attend a snow-free physio appointment, and got the go-ahead to try a run again. I'm not getting carried away with excitement though, as this will be my second attempt to run again since this started. So on Weds evening (just before the chocolate cake), I wrapped up warm and stumbled out on the snowy pavement for a little run! It was quite odd, as I've been wearing my orthotics almost constantly for a while now, and I've got used to them when walking. But when I started running, they felt really different. They will change the way I run, so Ms Physio said I should expect a few aches and pains, and to start slowly.

Anyway, I managed a whole mile in a speedy 11 minutes. I ran on the road as I didn't want to add ice and snow into the mix. It would be just my luck to slip and get a new injury. But it was lovely to be out running again, and the best birthday present I could have wished for (apart from the i-touch of course...).

I'm going to take it as slowly and carefully as I can, as I'm not convinced that my heel is much better. I still get the same pain occasionally, and I'm pretty sure that if I start running a lot it'll come straight back. But I can't bear the thought of not running for another few weeks or months. I'm not too bothered about getting back to the speed and endurance level I was at before, not yet anyway. I just want to be able to go for a run, a few times a week. Otherwise I am going to balloon, what with all the Christmas food coming up - mmmmmm.

I also had the opportunity to stuff my face this weekend, as it was Pete's sister's wedding. Despite heavy snow all over Britain and some horrendous travel disruption, we were lucky enough to fly to the South of England and back without too many problems.

It was a white snowy wedding, and unfortunately the evening party was cancelled due to the weather, but there should be some beautiful photos taken outside. There was red wine, goulash, lasagne, a mincemeat tart, fruit cake, cup cakes, chocolate mints (all of which I sampled), and on Sunday morning, stomach ache.

Now there's only a few days until Christmas, and I feel totally unprepared. The snow is back, although not as bad as before, and we need to get to a supermarket! I must think about what we're going to have for Christmas day lunch...mmm...


















2 excited wedding guests in their party clothes