Walking on (frozen) water ...

Today was a wonderful, sunny winter day. I decided that on such a beautiful day, one has to go outside - even if it is freezing cold! Aisha and I walked to and on the lake. It was like in a fairy tale: lots of kids and adults on ice skates and playing ice hockey. The local bakery was selling Glühwein and hot food. Edith skated all across the lake to the other side and back. Well, it was just great!

Other than that there is not much to report. I did my weekly swimming "exercise" and we also received Hanna's pram. It's red and looks super fast - just like a Ferrari ;-).

Enjoy the rest of the weekend and of course the coming week!
Christine

Bbbbbrrrrr......it's cold!

(picture taken from our balkony these last few days)

Man, hast it been chilly around here over the last few days. Europe is gripped in a cold weather snap at the moment with some temps in Russia falling to -50 below. Yesterday we had -20 in Henndorf, and that is plenty cold enough.

It's amazing how we change to adapt to this situations. Going out of the house these days is a major exercise in clothes management. First there are the warm socks and thick winter shoes, then jeans, t-shirt, jersey, fleece jacket and winter jacket. Gloves and hat (and mostly scarfs as well). Run to car, jump in and put on the seat heater, and get every thing warm as soon as possible. We seem to be constantly swopping between -10 to -20 and 24 plus (inside), so the moment you get to the other side everything needs to be taken off again :)

Running on the other hand is not that difficult, but decidely more dangerous. I normally have two layers of pants on, a woolly shirt, a goretex jacket, two hats!!! and a pair of gloves. The roads are mostly just ice, so I need to be exceptionally careful where I put my feet as well. Adding to that is the rule that under -10 you should not strain your heart (i.e. no hard training) and should not run when the mercury drops below -15. Means I can only run just after lunch time. It's nice that I haven't had to do any hard training for a while, but I'm raring to go for it once the weather warms up.

Today I was running with Warti and Wolfi, and we ended up running on the lake. It is quite frozen now, but very slippery - makes for good training. The sun was shinning, blue skies, and if it had not been for the -10 indicated on my watch it would have been perfect :) We had a great time though, but in the end stayed out too long in the cold I think - tomorrow will most likely be a rest day.

Other than that the cold tends to keep us on our toes (actually more likely on our bums). I spent an hour scraping ice off our entrance way today, and another hour trying to get the car started and out of the nice parking spot I had dug for it. Battery was dead as a door knob - after destroying two tow lines I finally got the car started by using jumper cables (should have tried that in the beginning) and then had to dig it out before we could go anywhere - good power training though - I try to do a hour every two days or so :)

So my 2 cents on the cold, hope you are all well and warm,
Keep smilling :)
Richard.

New lifestyle

The last couple of weeks my life changed somewhat: I stopped working. I know most of you now think - what a lucky girl - don't worry I know I am ... :-). However, in the beginning it was not so easy to switch from working mode (getting up when the alarm goes off, having a quick bite for breakfast etc ...) into non working mode. I had all this time and of course also want to use it as I knew, once Hanna is here, I won't have much time for myself. So I was in a bit of a conflict of desperately trying to get all those things done and also trying to enjoy life, i.e. getting up late, reading and also sometimes just being lacy :-). I am getting used to the new daily routine and I must say I learned to enjoy it and also learnt how to use all the free time in an efficient but non stressful way.

Next to being lacy, I also have been giving extra lessons to students. I had 2 groups of 18 year old girls, which I was helping preparing for their bookkeeping test and also a 16 year old boy, who was desperately trying to pass this term in English. As my bookkeeping lessons have been a while ago, I had to prepare myself well for the lessons and I have to admit I really enjoyed the preperation and also the teaching part. I am also quite proud that 4 of the 5 girls did well in the test. Also the boy wrote a good enough test and will pass. All this made me think that teaching is actually quite an enjoyable thing to do and now I am thinking about whether to start teaching next September. I will have to think about it carefully and also I am sure it will take me a while to decide. However, I will keep you informed ...

Well, I wish you all a nice week - both at work and in your free time!
Have a great day!
Christine

How the year just goes by.....

Hi,

Hope everybody is well! Isn't it amazing, the first week of 2006 has already whipped past and I sit here wondering what happened to it! I wanted to write a short post about the race on silvester, but never got round to it, but at least I did manage to get the Christmas email out, and now I'll follow up with the race post.

The race on silvester was interesting in two ways! The first is, running with Asiha makes you the target of various unpleasant / pleasant /stupid / pointless remarks, like "can I borrow her for this race", "thats not fair", "gee, I wish I had such a dog", "stop cheating", "can she run fast" - the list is endless. It always tends to aggrevate me no end. Firstly, she is my dog, and she trains with me 10 hours a week, if anybody else whats to run with her, then they can come and pick her up and do the training - there are never any takers. Secondly, none of the people I overtake would be able to keep up with her anyway. Thirdly, after about 2 km's of mad pulling and pushing she runs out of energy and plods along sedately next to me, continually getting slower and slower until it turns into a drag!

I have unfortunately failed to understand this. We can do a three hour long run on Sunday, where she runs around like crazy, goes hunting after deer at back breaking speed, runs circles around me and the training buddies and never seems to get tired, but put her on the lead for 5 km's and after 2 she's plodding and after 4 I'm dragging - go figure!

The second interesting point about the race was my pleasant surprize at the relatively (not for Dion standards I mean) good time, considering I had been under the weather Monday / Tuesday / Wednesday. Additionally the number of people I beat, who did a double take when I ran past them :) I always like to do it that way - start slow and get faster! It seems I'm a little fitter than I have been for a while - great!

Other news is that Christine and I took this week more as a holiday - so not much work was done (is it ever?) and now I'm getting ready for those Monday morning blues tomorrow. Naja, got to get the ball rolling! So I hope you all have a great week,

Richard.

Happy New Year!

We actually survived the last week of celebrating christmas, anniversary, Richard's Birthday and new year. Times were hectic but great, however we are now looking forward to quieter times.

Below I post some photos, so that you can also have a bit of an inview of what our last week was like!

Christmas Eve: An Austrian Christmas Tree :-)


Road Race on New Years Eve: Richard taking part and getting a pull by Aisha.


Looking at fireworks at midnight on New Year's Eve from our balcony.


Next week we will go back to work and everyday life...

Of course we ...

... wish you all a Happy and Successful New Year,
and all the power to take the necessary steps to make your wishes and dreams come true.

Richard and I are looking forward to all the exciting changes that will take place in our live in the coming year and are sure we will manage all the small and big hurdles that will come with it!

Have a great day!
Christine