Apologies, the infinite wisdom that is my cervical cortex has completely forgotten how to use a laptop and all components connected to such a device, hence the total lack of communication. The good news, contrary to popular belief due to the last 6 weeks of radio silence, I am not; unlike the worlds most infamous terrorist, in fact dead. Quite the opposite in fact, very much alive!
News of the last few weeks runs like this: I got a job, relinquished my couch potato status, have run up quota of speed runs, gone to a number of festivals, got a greencard and managed to convince Prince Charming to buy me car! I know, right!
Okay, so let’s start at the beginning. I am an official Legal Alien! Yes, the rumours are true, the USCIS allowed this redheaded African to remain in their country indefinitely! But by George, it was no mean feat… I have filled in paperwork the length of the Amazon, had my eyes, fingerprints and pretty much every aspect of my body inspected, poked and prodded and swore to not do a number of things I wasn’t aware any human was allowed to do, let alone legal aliens. So now after swearing that I have never been and have no intention of becoming a prostitute, drug trafficker, terrorist, or late night TV show host; I was bestowed the privilege of becoming a Greedcard Holder, Woohoo! Thank you America!
So with my new found plastic card in hand (it is actually green too) I set about doing what any newly sensible legal alien would do, drink! No seriously, whilst I may have slicked down a few celebratory glasses of champers, what I really did was get a job. I know, after 6 months of official couch potato duties, they were rudely taken away from me in favour of 50 hour weeks and my own company! Again, in this redhead’s infinite wisdom, the solution to my unemployment status was to start my own company thereby alleviating some guilt in the form of set-up work, website creation etc etc. What I didn’t factor into the equation was that I would actually get a client. I know, a real life, living, breathing, 100% American client! So now, my little one-man architectural consultancy company is already flourishing and if, by some stretch of the imagination, I get another client I’m going to have to hire employees… yikes! But I’ll cross that bridge if it ever needs to be crossed, at high speed, in my new black beauty!
Yip, ladies and gents, say hello to Graca Michelle! She’s as regal as both the first ladies she’s named after, as fast as lightning and as her name sakes suggests, beautifully black and gorgeous! This new little edition to our family comes in the form of a Golf GTI and is courtesy of my wonderful Prince Charming! His reasoning: new job = new wheels! Love him! (Let’s hope new house doesn’t mean new babies ;-)
With speed seemingly the new mantra at the moment, I have tried to incorporate that into my running. Much to my utter horror GI Jane has me doing speedwork which is about as much fun as having hot coffee poured into your eyes balls! 8 x 400m sprints at 6 minute mile intervals with a 1:30 break between, yip, think hot coffee and eyeballs. However, (and I say this with great resistant to the continuation of such early morning hell) it does seem to be paying off. My average pace has dropped from a 9 minute mile to a 7:45 minute mile for half marathons and a 6:55 minute mile for 5km races. Which amazingly puts me a position to actually place. I know, right… really?!?! Yes, could just be America or (and I know this is a stretch for the imagination), I could actually be getting faster ;-)
So with my legs doing their own thing, my fingers drawing away on the computer, my feet putting pedal to the metal and my shelves filling up with awards, this love-up’d redhead is seriously happy and content. I promise, not so long between news feeds from now on!
