here i am

i'm currently waiting in the airport departure lounge for a flight up to scotland to go and see young isaac smith, the most recent addition to the smith familly only 3 months ago. i did an 8 mile run last nitght followed by a 2000m row in 6:59.2 on the concept 2 rowing machines. see www.concept2.co.uk for details of where that would place me in the national rankings. at the moment the plan for next year is this. ditch the track in the summer, do the winter as usual ie road races and cross country and have a go at rowing over the summer season. i've had a gut feeling for quite some time that i could be quite good at rowing so now is the time to test that theory out. the seasons are different and i think the two sports could actually complement each other quite well. it looks like i could be doing more weight work over the winter ass well in an attempt to keep injuries at bay as i currently have a strain on my right groin, which funny though this sounds i think i picked it up in amsterdams red light district last year. enough said about that i think. while in scotland i am hoping to visit loch ness and the highlands as well as meeting the new baby

I'VE BEEN SUSPENDED FROM WORK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

as of 7 am today i am suspended on full pay by royal mail, pending a meeting tomorrow. this came about as a result of my refusal to do overtime as the little boy in charge of the office is throwing his toys out of the pram and refusing to pay people when they work over their time. i followed procedure exactly, by informing the management that i wasn't prepared to work over my time, before i commenced my delivery. several people have already put in grievances against this guy including some of the most ardent non strikers. i will be putting a formal grievance in for intimidation harrassment and victimisation. add on to that this morning when he attempted call me in to the office for "an informal chat" he attempted to deny me my right to have a recognised union rep present, and by law he has to give me 48 hours notice for any disciplinary meeting again something he attempted to deny me. when i refused to go in to the meeting, as i was instructed to do by the union, he suspended me on full pay. having spoken to the union i have been assured that if i am sacked the office will be walking out in sympathy, as the point at issue is that this guy thinks he can do what he likes to who he likes when he likes. a member of the office who shall remain unnamed has now started a petition to get the guy out of the job because he just treats people like dirt. the fact that i called him a fucking wanker after i got suspended may work against me

on the running front i have decided i would like a go at multi sports and i'm also going to have a go on the concept 2 rower tonight at the gym to see how i get on with that. i was swimming last night in (no tuesday sorry) the pool and my front crawl stroke although it is a bit laboured towards the end of the session it started to feel a bit more natural and at some very brief points i actually felt quite fluent with it. maybe its some thing i could be quite good at. i'd never thought of it that way until now but i'm starting to reconsider now...a little pause for thought methinks...

on holiday

i'm on a break from training at the moment. still doing some running but not as much so i'm making time for other things like playing tennis and hopefully love. nothing going on there at the minute but i have a good feeling that some thing positive could happen on that front in the near future. i am also using my time away from the sport to give serious consideration to what comes next in my sporting career. the way i feel at the minute i feel like giving up running on the track completely except for training on it and maybe taking up some other form of sport completely. other sports have been mentioned such as triathlon or duathlon have been mentioned. a certain person who shall remain nameless saidthe fact that i was (apparently) considering quitting the sport altogether was an acknowledgement that he was a better athlete than me...not so and if its all down to quitting before your time than he is the worst athlete in living memory (did precisely 6 hrs and 5 mins of running before saying his tendon hurt) every part of me hurts some days but i never let it stop me.

martin greenwood mentioned the possibility of me becoming a boxer but thats just a non starter. i have too much to give to risk getting my brain mashed. if you asked me right now though which seems like the most likely option i would put my hand on my heart and say that i honestly don't know. another option that i've given serious consideration to is rowing as i have done some very good times on the concept 2 indoor rowers so maybe that might be my path to fame and fortune as an olympic champion...that may be four years away but the hard work starts now...