Is it Petra? Or just some crazy woman chasing her tail?

No it's me.  Absolutely me.  I know!  You thought I'd disappeared into nothingness / blissful domesticity / fallen off a train / was now giving that irritating Tracy Anderson a run for her money.  All of the above, in good time, my people.  Well, maybe not the blissful domesticity.  But let's just summarise:

• I have finished - FINISHED - my Advanced PT course at the YMCA in London which was wonderful and intense and challenging.  
• I have stopped commuting up and down to London and landing myself on beloved friends for bed / food / general physical and emotional sustenance.  I think they are still my friends.  
• I have unpacked my MOTHER of all bags which I dragged up and down to London every other week for the last time, inevitable without at least 3 essential items.  

Oh and I'm not giving up on blogging.  I'm not quite sure whether I should somehow chase a bigger readership (views?) and not quite sure how so we'll park that thought for a while.  I'm not quite sure how much to separate my future professional online presence from my blog (in your view, would it detract from your view of your personal trainer if she put her fears, worries and insecurities out there or would you relate to that?) But strangely enough, without blogging there was no blogworld accountability and without blogworld accountability my running dries up, as does my running mojo.  So for the few of you who are still reading this - I'm back.  

For the longest time it felt like my course was all-consuming.  When I was not in London, away from the family and my home, and studying etc, I was at home trying to pick up at least a few of my dropped balls and revising for all the various exams.  (In the past 3 months it has become apparent to me that I paid NO attention at all - EVER - in biology and science.  ALL the anatomy and physiology was ENTIRELY new to me).  There were some highlights - at the end of November long-time blog buddy and friend Susan honoured me with a visit all the way from Memphis: 

Us about to set out on a run that was YEARS in the making

And by 2 weeks ago, I was feeling sufficiently on top of things (or able to ignore sufficient pressing demands on me) to think about London.  April 2012, I've got a place, I've got to get my stuff together.  All this cross-training malarkey (on my course I found myself doing aerobics / plyometrics / bootcamp workouts etc) is good and well but to train for a marathon you have to go out and run.  And so 2 weeks ago I started on my 18 week up to 55M Pfitzinger plan.  Yes, tried and tested.  By me.  It seems to work, seems to push me.  And while I would like to think that one day I'll upgrade to higher mileage, given the sporadic nature of my running so far this season that would not be realistic.  So week 1 went great - much better than expected.  

Yep - I even went out in the dark, headlight and reflective gear on.  

Week 2, repeat of week 1 but now in London so on top of a full courseload and "social" commitments went not quite so well.  I slugged out an 8 miler with 4M at sub 8min/mile pace, stopping and starting, and I contemplated giving it up altogether, but didn't.  My 9 miler was uneventful, but slow.  And now, in week 2, I've lost my copy of Advanced Marathoning (doh) and I'm googling the schedule until I find it again.   Slick moves eh? 

And in further developments, I decided in November that I needed to broaden my sporting horizon.  Yes - triathlon.  And not just any triathlon - a goal is not a goal unless it is a great big hairy-assed one - I signed up for a half ironman.  I am well aware that this year's training attempts ended in tears (bronchitis) but am hoping that next summer things will be better.  One step I am putting in place now is high quality swim training.  Tadah - last night I had my first swim outing with the Lincoln Tri club.  Nice, welcoming people (much nicer than my local running group, remember that?) and as I totally accepted that I was going to be a beginner, it was good.  Great coach, very structured training that I think will work for me.  Lots of progressive drills - this appeals to my methodical germanic side.  So watch this space.  There may NEVER be a photo of me in a swimsuit (I am not Mary Ironmatron after all) but if I can just make it through the 1900m open water swim (holy cr*p!) and through that 52 mile bikeride (my bottom half aches just thinking of this) then the half marathon should be cinch.  

So I'm feeling guardedly optimistic about the future - there's just the small matter of me finding the cojones to actually start up my own PT business, is all.  I've got 28 runmiles, 30 bike miles and 45 minutes in the pool to look for them before Christmas.  

In the meantime, I'm going to be catching up with you all.  Talk soon!