Category: Happy Healthy

Turkish Airlines disaster

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I’m afraid this is a rant blog post, no other word for it and I’m hoping sharing my flight plight may help several causes! The main being a Kenyan orphanage. My suitcase is packed with shoes, pens, footballs and first aid for a ‘trip of a lifetime’.

A friend and I embarked on the adventure 8 months ago and next week is when it’s all due to begin. We’re both busy working mums, eagerly anticipating a safari trip we’ve saved and strived for but also equally trepidatious about missing our young kids whilst in Kenya for a week. The worry, guilt and juggling was relieved by the knowledge that this was a wonderful opportunity and we can make a difference whilst out there by visiting an orphanage with donations.

Hence the panic and frustration when I tried to checkin on Turkish Airlines this week. No email or communication to tell us our return flight had been cancelled and we were expected to wait 18 hours in Istanbul airport! So the return journey from Mombasa to Gatwick originally was due to be 15 hours is now 33! Desperate to get back to our kids, you can imagine our anxiety. Stressed is the word for the week 😦

The helpdesk is not ‘helpful’ in fact it’s fair to say the complete opposite. The airline is apparently ‘the best in the world’ but can’t even respond to calls, emails, tweets – god help us in the air!

We are still waiting to see if we can change to Heathrow return flights. There’s availability but the multiple departments and units don’t speak to each other. We fly on Tuesday! We have no confirmation on return flight times and dates to rebook transfers, hotels and itinerary.

Holiday of a lifetime is turning into holiday from hell and we’ve not even left!

Please share to help us get home!

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Secret beach

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It was a beautiful cloudless sky overlooking the sea and standing out on the cliffs was another of those moments when you realise how lucky you are.

I ran off the beaten track and found a secluded beach. Very very tempted to dive straight in but only had one kiddifree hour so continued along the dusty coastal path.

Got a bit carried away with the beauty of the views, turned around and the sheer climb back to the road was huge! The shingle was a nightmare too so it was a very slow jog back up in the midday sun. Huge climbs nearly always have a gift of an awesome view, and today was no exception.

Didn’t see another soul, the views and vista were incredible. I love the feeling when looking out to sea of being a tiny insignificant speck in the huge world we live in. We all get consumed in the minutiae of our own lives-running by the sea puts everything into clear perspective. Whatever worries are not worth it- the world keeps spinning and the waves keep rolling.

Adios Espana

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Hot Helter Skelter

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Back on my fave La Manga run this morning. Full bottle of Berocca and headed out to sea. It’s a stunning but tough descent with an even tougher climb, but the views seem to melt away any thoughts of tiredness. The gradient is so steep at times it felt like I was running on the spot!

It was about 30 degrees in the shade so it felt like I was running in a steam room! The harder the run, the more cleansed I feel. It would be a detox hol if it wasn’t for all the chips and Cava being consumed! Hey ho, that’s what holidays are for 🙂

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Rough run

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Wow what a run this morning.

Heavy head from a glass too many Cavas at the cheesiest Abba tribute act last night. My three year old is now singing Voulez-vous at the top of her voice. An eclectic mix of music taste in my family Arctic Monkeys to Abba hmmmm.

Headed out with a Berocca in my running bottle – my hangover cure of choice – and only ran for 40 mins but felt great after! The clouds were low so some welcome shade made it cooler for a few (too few to be perfectly honest!) interval sprints. At my final sprint, I turned and got this great rooftop view!

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Racing through life

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Running is my sanctuary. Thinking of nothing and everything as I race through life, every run leaves me with clarity, self belief and wisdom that I didn’t have before I set off. I feel at one with the countryside I’m running through and I relax into life. That sounds such a cliche but it’s true.

Now if I miss a run, I can feel agitated and stressed. My very own natural Prozac and a source of energy I wish I’d tapped into when I was younger, but then the luxury of being alone on the roads would have been lost on me before kids I think.

This morning, one of my favourite runs when I’m in La Manga a great workout as there’s a helter skelter style road down to Playa La Cala-a tiny cove overlooking the big wide blue. Such an amazing vista! You feel alive looking out to sea.

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Golazo!

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Goalscoring brings smiles everyday

A friend recently asked do I set goals, and that’s pretty much all I do!

Driven? Yes. OCD? Probably!

Lifetime achievements, monthly work goals, personal achievements, weekly to-do’s and micro daily milestones probably fills 90% of my head.

Since the divorce I have been even more aware of identifying what makes me happy and not wasting excess energy on things that don’t. Kids was the obvious answer, but then came career, friends, fitness, style and love. And pretty much in that order I allocate time, energy and resource to those things and make sure I don’t spend much time doing anything that doesn’t fit into those categories. You can get so stressed and pulled in all sorts of directions doing things that really don’t have any positive impact for you or your loved ones.

Sounds very calculated and it is really! I’ve analysed that I subliminally break it down daily…75% of all my time, love and resources goes to the kids, 10% to career, 5% to friends, 5% to fitness and 5% style. I’m afraid love isn’t getting much attention at the moment – one to change!

It obviously fluctuates with some weeks me going out with friends every other night, but if that’s the case in the back of my mind I’m always thinking of finishing early from work to see the kids and going to bed early the other nights so I have energy for work and family. Every day I don’t just have a work ‘to-do’, I have a personal/social and fitness to-do. I always ensure I leave work to pick up and drop off the kids at school/pre-school and toddler group, and always back for tea-time. During my lunch I’ll email friends to sort catching up, I finish work on the dot and ensure I run from the office at least three times/week.

I know that, like my kids, I blossom and bloom with structure and routine, and when I complete a task whether it’s simply fitting in the hoovering or finishing a triathlon it brings a real sense of achievement.

Clear daily, weekly, monthly journeys make for a happy life 🙂

Diaries are Dead!

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Syncing makes multitasking a cinch

Manic multi-tasking is a true art-form and women are pretty darn good at it. It comes naturally to most of us and it is the very best and underestimated skill to have on this earth!

The tests start rolling in with kids, the first real test with kids plus work AND the uber test comes with multiple kids, a social life (yup we are allowed!) plus a serious work schedule!

I’m a demon possessed most days and achieve a lot in 24 hours, but when I missed my son’s first non-uniform day my happy world collapsed and the guilt rolled in like a huge thunderstorm. I vowed never again.

I know you can’t always keep all balls in the air and I would have coped if it was a work-thing, but just the forlorn face of my five year-old still haunts me now 😦

So…..I googled, synced and installed plug-ins so now my work, home and social diary is all on my iPhone. This has been the most valuable tool for me to manage the manic circus life!

Every morning I switch it on when I wake and I get reminders beeping at me for school trips, after-school clubs, sports kits needed, dinner money, playdates, my girls nights out, yoga, meetings, awards do’s, when the kids are away, holidays (yes please!). I can create a calendar entry wherever I am-shops, playground, bath, bed (all the obvious thinking hotspots!) and it is immediately uploaded and never lost or forgotten.  I get so engrossed at work that it even beeps at me to remind me to leave the office to do school pick up – my phone beeps, my computer beeps and my Office Manager has my diary and also gives me a shout!

I had a few calendars which I needed to sync but this link here makes it sound so easy:

http://email.about.com/od/googlecalendartips/qt/Sync_Google_Calendar_and_iPhone_Calendar.htm

My mobile is now my world, but luckily it’s synced so if I lose it, it’s all saved in cyberspace and I can use Google calendars on any computer so I’m now safe from the roll of thunder!

Blue Monday

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Tomorrow is officially the most miserable day of the year in Britian – a combination of weather, Christmas blues and debt 😦

Sadness solution = release your inner smile and get active.

I can 100% guarantee that exercise makes me stronger mentally, more positive and the finest feel-good factor I have ever experienced….shame it took me 34 years to work this out!

Running keeps me going. Since the recent marriage breakdown I have done two triathlons, two half marathons and aiming for NY marathon this year.

One teensy weensy consolation that has come out of the divorce is I have Sundays and Tuesday evenings all to myself…this was heart-breaking and red-raw eye material at first, but has soon become my life-saving pep time. Many friends aren’t so lucky with free time and we run straight after work (key here is to have running kit in the office so you don’t go home and get embroiled in excuses not to run!) for a quick stretch round the block – it still has the same smile factor 🙂

http://www.ivillage.co.uk/exercise-and-depression-how-working-out-can-help-fight-depression/77804

Today is gorgeous blue skies, stunning, crisp and frost-kissed. Goodbye Blue Monday!