The goose is getting fat...

This past Saturday I attended the annual Serpentine Running Club Christmas Dinner... it was only the second year that they've hosted this black tie affair at the Hilton in Kensington, but I think that still deserves the title of *annual*! Above is a picture of myself with some of my dinner and dancing companions for the evening, Russell, Ben and Dean (l-r).

The remainder of the weekend was spent recovering from the excesses of the preceding week... 3 consecutive nights of client/work events. The highlight was probably the canape and wine tasting evening hosted by Michel Roux Jr., the celebrated head chef of London's Le Gavroche restaurant.

While I am desperately miserable that I remain in London with no visibility into the timing of my return to San Francisco, I am beginning to adopt a better workout routine while I'm over here. I think my coach, Chris, was probably right when he told me that my body needed a solid break after racing 4 ironmans in 2 years! Well, after 3 months in London of little activity, and lots of eating and drinking, the proverbial goose (JC) was getting fat as well as out of shape and was not very happy about it. Last week I realized that I was ready to get back into training... serious training. It's not just a question of wanting to work out more and/or wanting to feel toned again, what I truly miss is that sense of accomplishment after a tough workout... but I also miss the training partners I have in SF. Too inumerable to mention but knowingly or otherwise, they encourage me to push myself to the edge and beyond of what I think I can achieve.

I also want to give a big *shout out* to friends that ran the xmas relays in SF this past weekend, especially to Dirk Vlieks, who ran a 4.5 mile relay leg just 6 months after suffering a brain AVM, and having had ~6 brain surgeries since June. Way to go Dirk!

Roman Holiday

I managed to steal a couple of days away from the office and headed to Rome to meet up with Ray and Peter for a long weekend. We were treated to some balmy temperatures (for late November) and wonderful Roman sunshine. Unfortunately we were a week too late to attend TomKat’s wedding but we did eat and drink and eat and drink in style! I’m still recovering (feeling the weight) from all those extra calories, drinking and late nights.

One could speculate that the weekend’s excesses played a direct role in *feeling under the weather* this week. I made an early exit from the Goldman Sachs xmas party last night, decided not to set an alarm today and finally woke up at 8:30am! I called the office and croaked to my colleague that I would not be going in today. I can’t believe that this is the second time I’ve been sick in just 3 months of being in London! The city does not like me? The cold, wet weather does not agree with me? Thankfully I had the last two episodes of Prison Break Season 2 to keep me occupied while holing myself up in my little basement flat!

By late afternoon I developed cabin fever and found myself offering to take my landlady’s dog, Ruski, for a walk around Hyde Park. The pooch is a newcomer to Maddie’s house - she picked up the one year old husky from the pound just two weeks ago – and it was the first time that I had walked him. The dog was completely disinterested in me (and humans more generally) but turned into a raging, uncontrollable hound at the sight of any sort of wildlife… other dogs, squirrels, birds, ducks and especially swans. Oh why did Jordan decide to walk Ruski the Husky around the Serpentine (lake in Hyde Park)? At the first sight of the white waterlogged birds, Ruski yanked on the leash with all of his 90lbs and dragged me along at sprint speed, headed straight into the water. Before I could get him back under control, I was ankle deep in the murky Serpentine waters and the lake had become a cacophony of duck and swan songs! Then it started to pour with rain…