18 May 2010
It’s been a month since my last blog and oh boy has a lot happened in that time! Last time I spoke to you I was just about to leave for my holiday to Egypt. Well I went to Egypt and had a fantastic time, however. the volcano erupted half way through our holiday!, which you may well have read about! Every time me and Polly go on holiday there is always a drama.
We have been to Greece before, when Oliver my oldest was only 18 months old. We went to check in to go home and they had sold our tickets to someone else due to an admin error. We had to wait for 48 hours in the airport before being flown to Newcastle and then Newcastle to Stanstead. A total nightmare with a baby! Then we went to the Maldives, two years ago, and our plane was struck by lightning! We then missed our connecting flight to Male and got stranded in Doha for three days with no luggage. We went to the Maldives again last November and we experienced 10 days of storms. We never saw the sun and apparently the monsoon had come early! Of course it did - Polly and I were there!
Honestly I swear I am jinxed and this time a volcano erupts. I mean how much worse can it get – or maybe I shouldn’t say that! Having said this, our holiday in Egypt really was great fun. It was great to spend lots of time playing with the kids in the pool, relaxing with my iPod and I also got to do some diving. which I loved. I also took Oliver snorkelling, which was amazing - he hung round my neck the whole way! He is nicknamed is Oliver Attenborough in our house, as he is animal mad, so he thought he was in heaven getting to see all the amazing fish we saw. Nevertheless our flight was cancelled coming home so we had a slight extension to the holiday, which was fine as the sun shone every day and I could think of worse places to have been stranded.
I took part in the London Marathon - although it looked at one point like I might not have made it back from Egypt in time. WOW what an experience. One I am so glad I completed, but I probably never want to do again - purely because of the pain I was in! Polly said it’s like having a baby - after giving birth you say you will never have another one but then with time you forget the pain and you do get pregnant again! Apparently she reckons I will forget the agony I was in during and after the race and sign up again. Umm we’ll see it’s still very prominent in my memory.
I stayed up in London the night before with Polly and then 6.30 am I set off on the bus to the start. I was lucky enough to be on the bus that had all of the celebrities and elite runners. I met Gordon Ramsey, Lorraine Kelly and Richard Branson - it was surreal. They were all discussing what times they were hoping for and I was just standing their thinking I just want to survive and finish. Most of them had run lots of marathons before, I was a virgin marathon runner. We all set off and I actually found the first half okay. I was hoping to see Polly at Tower Bridge, which was around half way - I could have done with a cheer at that point. I didn’t see Polly and I later found out she was in River Island in Oxford Street. I really did think she had come to support me but I actually think she came for a little shopping spree. She told me the Tubes didn’t work and she HAD to walk down Oxford Street to get to the finish at the Mall. Not sure I believe that totally. However, she was there at the finish line for me.
At 18 miles my knee completely gave way. I tried to get it strapped up at the St John’s Ambulance but they couldn’t find a bandage! Either they were very unprepared or lots of people had been in there before me. I kept moving as it would seize up if I stopped. So I walked and ran the last 6 miles. My time was 5 hours 20 minutes, which I was pleased with considering my knee.
Holiday and marathon out the way, meant that I was back to concentrating on my horses. I said last month one of my competition horses, Wild Angel aka Chuckles, had been lame and we hoped it wasn’t anything serious. Well sadly it has been diagnosed as a deep flexor tendon injury and she will probably be off work for most of the summer. I am absolutely gutted about this as is her owner but that’s horses for you. I really miss riding her as she is my Porsche on the yard. She is so forward thinking and such a flashy little mare. However, with good care now she should come back fighting fit. My grooms are being great and she is getting properly pampered. She has an ice boot put on for a couple of hours ever day and I have put her onto Cortaflex, as this aids quicker healing. Last year we tried embryo transfer with her but the embryo just never took in the surrogate mare. So we tried again this year and I am happy to say that on the first attempt it looks like we may have a baby Chuckles due next year. We are going to try again once more whilst she is off work to another surrogate mare just in case something goes wrong with the first mare. So we may get two foals next year!
I have also been busy teaching, the past few weeks, travelling to Ireland and Scotland as well as my local clients. This was my first trip to Ireland and I went to teach at a yard run by a lady called Rebecca. When I was 13 and worked for David Hunt she was the head girl. She rode my old horse Koffee Break when he was a young horse, as he was too difficult for me. So 17 years on I am going to teach her, which was weird but so good to see her. I have also been up to Scotland where I coach the BD U21’s Development Programme. The riders up there are coming on well and I do enjoy my two days there - they really look after me. I have also just got back from teaching at a two-day dressage camp for BD Central region, which again was great fun and good to meet lots of new combinations.
On a competition note, I went to Oldencraig EC last week and won the Medium on Katie Price’s Jordan’s Cross Dresser and also won the Advanced 100 on Cortaflex Varisto. Its great to go to a show and win as it really does give you confidence that what you are doing at home is working and paying off. I have loads of shows planned over the next month, nearly one a week. I have also entered a couple of Premiere League shows so I really need to polish up. I have two exciting 4 year olds to ride in the young horse classes this year. Both will be going to their first show at the end of this month. One of them is absolutely stunning and such a good mover but he can be a little naughty! His character is so playful and he thinks he makes all the decisions. I will be keen to see how he behaves in a new environment as you often find they are not so confident and I think this is what he needs. He gets familiar with his surroundings at home and sometimes they need some new places to keep them focused.
My 30th birthday is in 4 sleeps, as my children would say! My party is all organised and I bought a new suit at the weekend. I am really looking forward to seeing lots of friends who are coming from all around the UK. I am going to ride at a show the next day which might have not been the brightest thing to have entered but, as Polly reminded me, I always ride better with a hangover! Look forward to letting you know how I got on next month as well as sharing with you lots of other results, news and views.
Bye for now
