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Travel

What was I thinking? My Hyrox journey begins…

In a moment of what I can only describe as utter madness, I’ve signed up for Hyrox Barcelona, which takes place at the end of April. For those who don’t know, Hyrox is a gruelling fitness competition combining functional strength and endurance exercises, with a lot of running thrown in. Yep, running – a thing I’m currently terrible at and, let’s be honest, largely avoiding. And with only four months to go, I’m already questioning my life choices.

I only started going to the gym regularly in April 2024. Up until then, the idea of exercising willingly wasn’t something I really entertained. But small group personal training sessions with a focus on functional strength training changed everything. Somewhere along the way, I stopped dreading it and actually started to enjoy it- love it, even (most of the time). The routine, the sense of accomplishment, feeling strong. Who knew?

But Hyrox isn’t just a gym session. It’s a beast. And I’m doing the mixed doubles category with Madge, my partner in this insanity. He is fitter and stronger than me, which is both comforting and terrifying. Comforting because I know he’ll pick up some of the slack, and terrifying because I don’t want to let him down. The running, in particular, is my Achilles’ heel. We’re talking 8 kilometers (yes, 8 kilometers) of running, interspersed with all kinds of functional torture. And right now? My running game is non-existent.

I’ve written myself a plan, with the best of intentions. There’s cardio, strength, running, and regular sessions with a physio to help manage my piriformis syndrome (tight hips and an achy glute that refuses to cooperate). The cardio class I’ve added is a small step in the right direction, but the weather is currently scuppering my running plans, so I’m going to need to get day passes to a local gym with a treadmill.

So, have I taken on too much? Honestly, yes. I am quietly panicking about how much work lies ahead and whether I can rise to the challenge. But then I remind myself why I signed up in the first place. To push myself. To see what I’m capable of. To prove that it’s never too late to tackle something new and scary.

Four months is not a lot of time. But it’s enough to make meaningful progress. Enough to show up and give it my all, even if that means running slower or modifying along the way. I have to remember it’s not about perfection – it’s about showing up and trying. The goal is just to finish.

Barcelona, here we come. Ready or not.

Have you ever signed up for something that felt way out of your league? How did you tackle it? Let me know – I could use all the advice I can get!

10th January 2025

Travel

Palm-a Sunday

I hadn’t really twigged that we were in Palma the weekend before Easter, and that meant that our decision to get up early and take a walk to the cathedral was extra special, as there were lots of Palm Sunday activities going on. We were treated to the wonderful sight and sound of the cathedral choir warming up, of all the women buying elaborately tied palms outside the cathedral, of a procession of children and adults in green, shops with wonderful chocolate displays and everywhere we looked were gorgeous buildings and people holding palms – all bathing in the wonderful Spring sunlight.

: Women buying palms

: Ready for the procession

: Palms everywhere

: Cakes

: Man resting with palms

: Girl laughing with plams

: Cholcoalte Easter chicks

: Palma street

: Outside the cathedral

23rd April 2017

Travel

Perfect Palma Saturday

We flew into Palma on Saturday, arriving about lunchtime. After all the stress of the week and Mum’s operation, it was great to be able to relax with a holiday and we didn’t waste any time once we got there – grabbing a cab from the airport to the Hotel Costa Azul, on the seafront. We’ve been to Palma before but about 10 years ago, and on a family trip – so this time, although we were not there long we were determined to get a good look around. The Costa Azul is a nice, modern, not expensive hotel. It wasn’t really hot enough to try out any of the pool or sunbathing facilities, but the room was good – large enough and perfect for our weekend in Palma.

After dumping off our bags and changing into shorts to suit the nice weather, we headed out. I was desparate for my first Aperol Spritz of the year, so we stopped off at a cafe a few blocks up from the hotel. ‘Cappuccino‘ turned out to be a bit pricey for a couple of drinks, but boy they tasted good. How is it when you get somewhere the first place you go in is always expensive?

Anyway, suitably fortified we headed off into town, walking along the seafront towards the cathedral. We spent a good couple of hours wandering around, intermittently browsing in the shops and stopping for drinks. Perfect Saturday afternoon shopping. I was particularly taken with the C&A, as we haven’t had one of those in the UK for years. It was like a trip down memory lane, and I got a really nice denim jacket 🙂

We stumbled across a cute looking restaurant, called Restaurante El Pilòn. It was a lovely looking small place, and it served a nice varitey of dishes. Everything seemed homemade and the service was very attentive. We had some traditional tapas and everything tasted good. The house white wine was a bit sharp, but the hospitality was top-notch and the bill very reasonable.

After an obligatory siesta, we headed back out, grabbing a cab into town and straight to the bar at the Puro Hotel for excellent cocktails, followed by stunning tapas at El Cuerno, which is just around the corner. The food there was fantastic – the best Pulpo A La Gallega I’ve ever tasted, and a welcoming homemade herbal alcoholic shot. The food, staff, drinks and ambience were all great – would recommend and definitely go back if I was in Palma again, and it wasn’t too expensive.

An excellent first day in Mallorca.

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18th April 2017

Travel

Poland

Not long back from Hong Kong and I had to fly to Poland, for work.

I’ve wanted to go to Poland for a long time, not least because my Nan was born there and there are probably some Polish family somewhere. But this was a work trip, so all no time to sightsee.

The sky as as we flew into Warsaw was stunning. This shot is so dreamy!

There was time for some nice vodka on the second evening, when we were taken for dinner. I bought a bottle of this to bring back too, it’s lovely.

Needless to say, there was snow everywhere. We were lucky, it had warmed up to only -10. A few days before it had been as low as -25.

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15th January 2017

Travel

Ciao Roma

The great thing about living near an airport is that you can be from home to through security and eating your breakfast in 45 minutes flat.

After a 2 and a half hour flight, I landed at Rome’s Fiumicino airport around lunchtime, and with just hand luggage I waltzed through and out the other side to the train station. It was easy to buy a ticket and to find the ‘Leonardo Express’ train into the city’s Termini station. The boys were not due to finish the Epic Cycle until about 5pm, so I knew I had plenty of time to find my hotel and get some food, before making my way to The Coliseum.

Phone in hand, I started following the Google Map directions. Which was fine, though after a while it felt like I had gone round in a bit of circle. At which point I realised I was following the driving directions not the walking ones, so I’d obviously gone right round a one-way system! Just as my bag was starting to feel a bit heavy and my feet beginning to ache, I stumbled across a very nice looking small restaurant. I managed to order a lovely spaghetti pomodoro and 2 glasses of white wine, which fortified me enough to finish the remaining 10-minute journey to the hotel.

I was quietly proud of myself for getting to Rome, getting the train, finding a restaurant and walking to the hotel. The idea of travelling alone doesn’t scare me, but it’s not something I’ve done much of. I felt like a proper adult, and even managed to work out how to use the room safe – one of the hotel room features that frequently foxes me 🙂

So, buoyed by my travelling success I headed off across Rome in a cab to meet @madgie. I had an wonderful jar (yes, jar) of Aperol Spritz while looking at the The Coliseum and a cup of coffee at a nearby café. I really enjoyed my day of solo travelling, but I was glad to see @madgie when he finally came in.

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7th October 2016

Live

Heading home

There’s nothing like that feeling of heading home after a days work. Or after anything really. If you have a reasonably long commute, as I do, there’s probably a point where you think ‘Not far now’. This is my point.

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11th July 2015

Play

Berlin, The Prodigy and Bagdad Bistro

We booked flights to Berlin pretty late, once we decided we wanted to go and see The Prodigy there. I didn’t really know what to expect, and in typical style I hadn’t looked into it at all, so it was all a pretty big surprise once we got there.

We flew into and out of Schönefeld Airport, which was the airport for East Berlin during the Cold War. It definitely felt like it had been around for a while! But with hand luggage only, getting through the airport was easy and we jumped on the train into town.

Our hotel was pretty near Alexanderplatz, which is a main public square in the area of Mitte. So we got off the train there and walked down about half a mile to the Radisson Blu Hotel. The hotel was really good value when we booked it online and we were immediately impressed with it. Not least with the mahoosive fish tank in the middle of the atrium – and the nice looking cocktail bar beneath it!

The sun was shining so we headed straight out for lunch, though we didn’t venture very far. Our hotel had a lovely restaurant right on the river front, so we whiled away a couple of hours eating lunch in the sun and watching the world go by. Being able to sit outside for the first time this year was a big treat – we were really lucky with the weather.

We walked up to The Brandenburg Gate after lunch, which was a nice walk up through the Museum district, and we got a cab back for cocktails and cake in our hotel, before a snooze and then dinner!

On Saturday we walked our feet off. Leaving on foot from the hotel we set off without a plan and walked, and walked, with only a stop for brunch in between! We also jumped on the train a few stops a couple of times and went to see Checkpoint Charlie. We also walked the length of a remaining section of the Berlin Wall, which is covered in amazing street art. We lunched near-ish to the hotel and that’s where I discovered Aperol Spritz!

We knew the band were on about half nine so we left in good time to get to the venue, which was the Velodrom, about 10km away. We collected our passes ok, and found our way backstage so we could say hello to Keith and see the band come on and we were able to watch the gig from the side of the stage. I’ve seen The Prodigy before but this was the first live hearing of tracks from the new album ‘The Day is My Enemy’ played – and they sounded pretty awesome. It’s definitely a different view of 12,000 people going mental from the stage, than being down there in it !

After the gig we had a quick chat with Keith then left to find a cab – and food. We got a drink back at the hotel, and a top tip from the barman to head to Burgermeister – a burger bar in an old converted public toilet – which apparently did great burgers and chilli chips. So we jumped in a cab and off we went at midnight, in search of Burgermeister.

Luckily our cab driver had been well briefed by the barman and we were soon there. But rather than a burger, our eye was caught by the ‘Bagdad Bistro’, and amazing looking place selling fresh meat, with breads and salads. Yes, kebabs, but not as I know them. We ordered two and beers and I can honestly say it was the best kebab I’ve ever had. Perfect, sitting in the middle of all the Berlin clubbers and nightgoers eating and drinking after a great gig.

We flew back on Sunday morning and were home in time to put our feet up Sunday afternoon and relax before work the next day.

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16th April 2015