We're All In This Together!

Christmas Eve. My normal Christmas Eve routine involves eating, watching TV, going to the pub, not drinking and being designated driver home. It was a bit different this year as I started my job as a chalet maid and got straight to it. There is such a lovely bunch of girls in the maid crew and all of them are Brits. We had to clean three chalet's and they are gorgeous. The view was incredible, as you can see from the first pic! I was in a team with Alice and Patience and as you can see, we had a bit of fun as we went along. To wind down after a long day of cleaning, we headed over to Chalet Nova where some of the maid crew live and they had a Christmas tree so it did start to feel Christmasy! I must tell you all, that on day two in France, I fell in love. Head. Over. Heels. His name is Charlie and he is gorgeous. Like a big cuddly bear. Did I forget to mention that Charlie is a Burmese Mountain dog?? Anyway, so in love. We headed out to Moulin to a bar called Greg's and danced the night away until Christmas day chimed in. Those green shots you see above were actually blue and tasted like mouthwash - yum......oh and from the pics above, you'll see a picture of Mitch and you MUST agree that he looks exactly like Kurt from Glee - am I right?? He can't sing though. Disappointing. En route home, Patience and I had a little dance and then it was time for the epic walk up the mountain home. To say it was cold was an understatement. Don't know how me Mitch and Sarah made it up there to our warm and cosy chalet but we did and it felt good! Then I got plenty of shut eye whilst waiting for a visit from Santa...........

The Start of the Season

After 5 weeks of planning, the day for me to leave the UK finally arrived. It didn't seem real as I hadn't been planning it that long but once I started packing up my life and I realised I had a shed load of stuff that I needed to take with me, it started to hit home what I was about to embark on. I promise you, I tried to pack light. And I did remove loads of 'unnecessary' items but I just couldn't cut down any more - everything in ALL those bags you can see above is 100% crucial! Promise......anyway, the epic journey to Bourg St Maurice then commenced which started with a lift from my Dad to Wokingham Station, accompanied by my Mum aka Chief Bag Carrier, and ended with leaving from Victoria Coach Station. My Mum and I had a cheeky glass of prosecco to see me off in style and we were waiting to load on my 'light' luggage when I heard someone say 'Jo!' and I turn around and low and behold my awesome mate Paige was there with a 'Bon Voyage Jo!' banner!! I was so suprised and it was a lovely send off! A few tears were then shed from the three of us and I got on the Snow Express for the 17 hour coach ride. Fortunately for me, I can sleep anywhere so for 10 of those house I was out for the count. I arrived into Bourg St Maurcie at about 1pm, French time, to then start my journey to my first home in the mountains.......

Barefoot Running is the Way Forward

For those of you that don't know, I was running like a mad woman a few month's ago after my friend Kat had inspired me with her marathon efforts. I was training with her when she was doing the 5 milers and was really enjoying the experience and was motivated and in the zone. So much so that I signed up to the Nike Run to the Beat half Marathon which takes place on 25th September. Then disaster struck, an injury! I went to the doctor's and she diagnosed me with plantar fasciitis which is a very painful foot injury. I've been to see a physio but don't start treatment properly until the 22nd August which then only leaves me a month to get the stamina for a 13 mile run.

I've been cycling every day which I've been loving, until my bike got reversed over by a van 2 weeks ago! Not having much luck am I........

So until I get my bike and my foot back on track, I've been struggling to stay motivated for this run. That motivation came last night in the form of my sister who has signed up for the half marathon with me. To give you a bit of a background on Laura, she's never been a massive exercise fan (and she won't mind me saying that) but she has decided to undertake this challenge with me and last night she text me to say that she'd just completed a 3 mile run!! Now, that was a massive deal as she's never run that far before and it gave me the kick up the behind that I so desperately needed.

I woke up this morning at 7:15am and was wide awake. So I decided to put this extra time in my morning to good use and went for a run! Now, I'm not really supposed to be doing high impact activity at the moment (doctor's orders) but when I was in Austria recently and went running with the Ultra Man legend that is Jonas Colting, he taught me all the techniques of barefoot running. It's made a MASSIVE difference to my running technique and to the pain in my right foot. With Jonas in my head telling me to land on the ball on my foot and to keep my arms close to my chest around my heart at all times and to take smaller paces, I survived a 2.5 mile run this morning! I'm so chuffed to be back on the horse, so to speak, and well and truly back in the game!

So watch this space world! I'm back and running and it feels ruddy great!

Austria - I want to come back to see the snow too!

Today I arrived in Austria for a sales and marketing conference for one of my clients Peak Performance. It was an early start, up at 5:15am but after a painless journey I finally arrived and have to say that it's such a beautiful country. All of the weather forecasts said that it was going to rain and then rain some more - but quite the opposite has happened! It's glorious sunshine and that means that the scenery is absolutely beautiful. We had the start of the conference at this hotel which had a drawbridge that over looks an incredible golf course (and I don't even play!). Afterwards, all the Peak team (129 of us!) headed up a cable car to the top of the mountain and people were either going to be running or hiking down. As I have a foot injury at the moment from all my training for the half marathon, I couldn't participate which was REALLY annoying as when I was up there all I wanted to do was run down (sounds odd but it's true!). Anywho, I just wanted to share some of the pics with you as it's just amazing.....

I love my new Zara skirt!

My wonderful parents gave me some vouchers for Zara for my birthday and this is what I bought! I've seen a lot of coverage on this skirt already but I love it anyway - even if everyone else will be buying it too! AND the most important fact is that it was a size smaller than normal wohoo! All this cycling is paying off eh!

Two Door Cinema Club - The Roundhouse 12th March

Last night I went to The Roundhouse to see Two Door Cinema Club and it was frickin awesome. Those guys put on such a great show and had the entire place eating out of the palm of their hands. Check out this video I took of them performing 'Undercover Martyn' and see for yourself.....

My Mum Has Made Me Cool!

My Mum has very kindly sent me a load of high vis stuff to keep me safe on the roads whilst cycling. You can't miss me now guys - thanks Mum!