A long journey

The flight to Fiji via Auckland was an epic and the volcano ash was behaving it self too so I did at least have that to be thankful for!
On arriving in Fiji, I walked up the gang plank to find out that we were departing on the following morning for Palau. (I had to google it too and I was supposed to be navigating us there!)
I woke up not knowing what time of day or night that my body was expecting to find and soon after breakfast we were on our way. Another 3000 miles and 11 days at sea and we arrived in a true absolute paradise.

The picture is actually us anchored in Bora Bora but you get the idea!

Back at work

It seems that there is less incentive to write about the stuff that I am doing when at home. I had a wonderful leave and as usual, thoughts of work were at the back of my mind and I had a brilliant time with Mrs P junior, my friends and family.

I did a bit of Kayaking, ran a marathon and even did some Morris Dancing!
As usual that all came to a sudden end. The Morris Dancing too! The call came and I was whisked off to work on the other side of the world!

Four finishers in Paris

That's better. As I said, there were four of us finish together and this is all of us at the finish line.

Promotion

I sit today with only slightly aching legs and the race that seemed a long way ahead is now behind us.
On Saturday, four of us, all friends from Sussex ran in the 3rd edition of the Eco Trail De Paris. We all finished the 80kms (50 miles)together in 10 hrs 40 mins which was a brilliant effort

Today I laughed! As I read the results because out of the 1255 finishers we were consecutively 651st through to 654th. This was a fantastic achievement but what was making me laugh was the order of names. 654 Charlie, 653 Cliff, 652 Pete and 651 was Me! Does this fluke of administration mean that I can have a promotion in the Sussex mens fitness league, even though we did actually all finish at the same time?

One thing is for sure, wherever I am in the fitness league, I am now qualified to wear tights!

Tights at the ready

I started training for this silly event six months ago and as I stood beneath the Eiffel Tower on the morning before the race I was starting to wonder if I had done enough to prepare.
Too late to worry about it I went to find a coffee!

To Paris..

Last summer, my good friend Dai and I went to the French Alps to support some other friends who were competing in an extreme ultra marathon in the mountains there. It was amazing to be at the finish line watching some of the competitors come in and foolishly I was inspired!

Not long after returning from our brief sojourn in the Alps and still foolishly inspired, I signed myself up, to compete in the 2010 Eco Trail de Paris. http://www.traildeparis.com/pages/public/index.php?v=event&id=6

In the morning tomorrow. Mrs P junior and myself have tickets on the Eurostar to Paris and the silliness is upon us.

At 1230 on Saturday, the start gun will go and together with a few hundred other tight wearing Europeans I will make my way over 80kms (50 miles) towards the Eiffel Tower. Where, we are all aspiring to finish the race by climbing the stairs of that famous land mark!

Winter Olympics

It is a while ago since I left Canada and the excitement of the winter Olympics but it was a good experience, especially the day we got up on the mountain to see the womens freestyle skiing. My pictures do not do justice to the wonderful atmosphere.

Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics

Tonight the winter Olympics openned in Vancouver and our 3 ring circus is in full swing. I think that I should be the MC but feel like a juggling clown.
However, we took a few minutes to watch the fireworks tonight. The atmosphere is wonderful and everyone is busy.

Olympic Flame

This morning the Olympic Flame arrived in North Vancouver. Hundreds of people have run with it, over 104 days on it's long journey, through thousands of communities all over Canada.

So today we were thrilled that we could take off from work to go and enjoy the excitement. There was quite a crowd gathered out side here early this morning and it really was great fun!

Only real men wear tights!?

After a week in Canada all I can say is that, apart from working and sleeping the only other thing I have done is some running. It is a great place for running because of the cooler weather and it is easier to find circular routes that include trails, than in those other hot places.

I have finally broken out the tights and have been seen prancing about in the forests and on the trails of Vancouver. I am not sure that I really qualify to wear running tights yet but it's too cold for shorts and I am aspiring for greater things. Only 6 weeks to the silly event in Paris so best just pretend that I am man enough for the tights and get on with it.