After months of stress, setbacks and delays we've finally exchanged contracts on our new house in Eastbourne.It's been a very stressful experience. The whole thing was on the verge of falling through several times and despite trying not to think too much about the new house, we had really set our hearts on it and didn't have any alternative if it fell through. We are so relieved now everything is certain and we can really start to think about our new home.

Now we have just over a week left in France. So much to do but things seem to be coming together. We've sold our French car (for more than we thought we would get) and bought a new car online which will be waiting for us when we arrive. We have made a good start on packing, booked a removal firm, booked flights and have everything pretty much planned out.

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That was not a good race. I've been feeling pretty rubish for a few days and I really shouldn't have raced. It was a rather cold and damp day. I set off at a good pace (3:40 min/km) running with a team mate (Gerard). I started to feel pretty tired before 10km and by the 10km point I was already slowing. Ended up feeling really weak and light headed and had to walk several times in the last few km. Finished in a very dissapointing 1:28. Sometimes running when you feel ill pays off (as with my last marathon PB) - but not this time!

After 5 years in France, and after much deliberation and discussion, having considered many factors we have decided that this year is the time for us to move back to England. The move to France was never meant to be permanent and there are many good reasons to move back this year. So here is the WHY, WHERE and WHEN...

WHY:
It may seem strange to want to leave such a beautiful and sunny place, but we have many good reasons. It is not an easy place to live in terms of day to day things. The language is part of the problem; simple things like going to the doctor can be very difficult and filling in French tax forms etc. is a nightmare. We have also considered Schools for Tom and feel he will be better off at an English school. We have also found it hard to make friends here and miss many of our friends back in England.

WHERE:
Having decided to move back we needed to decide where to go. We have mainly considered schools for both the children and for Jo to teach at, also some good scenery and trails for running and biking, and some good weather, and the sea, and house prices and many other factors. Having considered everything, we have decided to move to Eastbourne on the south coast. There are some very good schools, we will be right on the edge of the South Downs with the 100 mile South Downs Way being ideal for training. Eastbourne is also officially the sunniest place in England. We will also be an easy train ride to London where many of our friends live.

WHEN:
We are aiming to be moved by next winter but we should be in a position to buy a house by June. We will be spending time over the summer looking for a house and aim to move around September.

It will be an interesting year and we are looking forward to catching up with all our friends back in England. I'll be keeping everyone updated with progress here on the blog over the next few months.

So here it is... I've given the blog a new design. Just a bit of fun so don't take it too seriously! The drawings are based on a selection of photos from the past few years, mostly from my first Ironman in France 2007.

In terms of training, things are picking up after the winter break. I'm getting in a run or mountain bike ride almost every day, with a solid 2 hour run on Sundays. All aerobic, just getting a solid base for the rest of the year. I've entered Cannes half for February 14th which will be my first test for the year - looking forward to it.

After a long time with no blogging from me, I've decided to get the back to posting regular blog posts. It's going to be a busy and interesting year as we will be moving back to England. New clubs to join, new races to enter...

In terms of recent activity, I've had a fairly easy few months since the sub 3 hour marathon and I'm now just getting back into some more serious training with a view to doing another marathon in April (another good reason to choose now to start blogging again).

This was going to be the big one, the race I'd been preparing for for months. I was gutted when, two days before the race, I got ill. On the Saturday I was feverish and felt very weak - there was no way I could race like this. But after months of preparing I decided to set the alarm for the early start anyway - maybe I would feel better on the day.

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An early start

I had decided to drive to the race rather than staying in a hotel in Nice. So it was a 3:15am wake up, 4 rice cake biscuits with honey and off to Nice. I arrive at transition just after 5am but had to queue for about 30 minutes to get in. With transition closing at 6am and the race starting at 6:30 I didn’t have long to prepare. I joined a queue of 4 people for a toilet but the person at the front spent 20 minutes in there! I eventually got out of the toilet at 5:55 giving me only 5 minutes to get everything sorted with my bike. Another queue to get onto the beach and I only had 5 minutes until the start.

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Legs felt heavy from the start due to all the recent Ironman training. I managed to quickly get into my target pace but I knew within the first 2km that it would be tough to maintain. At 10km I was just on pace for a sub 1:20 finish.

Between 10km and 15km it started to get very hot with no shade along the Promenade des Anglais. At 15km the stomach cramps hit and I was instantly reduced to a walk. For the next 3 km I was walking and then for the final 3 km I managed to pick up the pace running bent over to relieve the cramps. I finished 155th out of 2940 with a time of 01:25:56 (88th out of 946 senior males).