I have never known ten days to pass so quickly. I write this on my journey back across the Atlantic to Las Vegas, my second home. I returned to the UK for the first time in nearly a year around ten days ago. After a brief visit in London to see my brother, I headed on up to Bonnie Scotland with plans of good scottish hill running, cycling through the north-east’s challenging terrain and catching up with my old Saturday swimming group; however, plans did not go quite this way. I stepped off the plane in Aberdeen to ice cold wind, snow and gales. When I asked my Mum if she could think of a good 50-60mile route to cycle the next day, her knowing giggle kind of said it all – I spent the next day (or nearly three hours of the next day) on a bike…but attached to a turbo trainer in a shed beside the garage. Home sweet home, eh. Alas, I was not about to let the weather ruin my trip home. I spent the preceding 7days driving around the Aberdeenshire countryside visiting family, catching up with friends and in a local gym. Perhaps a blessing in disguise, as I guess some good quality sleep, rest and recuperation will have done a world of good. The introduction to Gin and Tonic was perhaps slightly counter productive, but one night of drinking every so often has to be healthy – or at least a healthy reminder of how terrible it feels to be hungover, nonetheless I had a wonderful time with good friends and close family.

My return home coincided with the Garioch 10k, a local running race which last year I had won, with a PB of 39:09. Not a record breaking time or a terribly fast field but, my having been invited to race as an ‘elite’ athlete, people were asking the inevitable, “so, do you think you’ll win again?”, em, probably not but I’ll give it a good go. This might seem negative to say but the field was very strong with runners who perform sub-35minute 10k’s – something I only dream of at the moment. With doubts that the race would go ahead at all, all I could do was try to remain calm, focused, and just do my best.