For he is a jolly good fellow ...

Last weekend we went to London for a long weekend. The reason for that was that John, Richard's dad, was celebrating his 70th birthday. We left on Wednesday evening and were a bit unfortunate as our plane was 3 hours late! We arrived at London Stansted at 1:30 in the morning and then still had to drive to Sutton in the south of London, where Claire and her husband Gavin live. Poor Claire had to wait for us and was a bit miffed not to get very much sleep on her first day off since weeks! Richard and I didn't mind too much, as young parents we are used to not sleeping long hours at the moment :-). Despite a few worries Hanna was great on the flight. Well, I have to point out, that it was already her sleeping time and therefore she fell asleep at Salzburg Airport and only woke up for her "midnight snack" at 4 o'clock, when we were already at Clair & Gavins house.

On Thursday, John's actual birthday, we had a very nice family dinner - delicous salad for starters, roast lamb for main course and an Austrian Chocolate Birthday cake for desert!
Friday we spent visiting family and Michelle invited us for dinner at her flat! Saturday was the day of the big party. Claire and Michelle did a great organisational job - they invited 35 friends a family members from all over Europe. The weather cleared up exactly at the right time, so the garden party was in no danger and we were actually glad that Clair's friend brought a big tent, which we had to use as sun protection! The spit braii lunch was wonderful and the chocolate mouse will probably always be remembered! Not only Richard and I had a great time, also Hanna enjoyed herself enormously. She was passed around, I only had her, when it was time to feed and although I was trying hard, she didn't want to sleep the whole afternoon. In the evening she was buggered and had a good night sleep!
Unfortunately we had to fly back already on Sunday afternoon. We had a great time and we are sorry that it was so short - well, time always passes very fast when you enjoy yourself!
Thanks again to everybody who made that weekend such a great one! Hope to see you all again very soon!

In the last couple of days I was quite busy as Hanna was pretty bored spending her days only with us 2 :-)!

Have a great day!
Christine

Change in Lifestyle

I guess as a man gets older he needs to try new things as often as possible. Tried the own business thing, and obviously it didn't work out quite as I planned. I am still trying, however my focus has shifted now, and whereas before Christine and I could scrap by on what she earned, what I earned and our savings, once Hanna came along things have changed. The meager income I was eeking out of the WSI business was just not enough when you have 4 mouths to feed and so I started looking around in a change of job. Nothing really concrete mind you, just checking the papers and doing a bit of surfing every now and then.

So if you leave things to handle themselves, something is always bound to pop up! And so it was that I arrived home rather late from lectures (teaching english, not University) on Thursday 18th of May and sat down in front of the computer to check my mails, when my a old friend of Chris called on Skype! He had an opportunity that he wanted me to check out and could I meet him for lunch the next day - sure no problem for me I say!

I met him for lunch on Friday where he explained what his company (Research Studios Austria) was doing, and offered me a position doing something I have been doing at WSI, only this time with a stable income. I wasn't really sure but he dragged me back to the office to have a meeting with the boss. And the boss was as good as Chris's word - the job was mine if I wanted it. Catch was that I had to start on the 1st of June. I said I would think about it over the weekend.

We had the follow up meeting on Monday, where I agreed to start on the 1st June, but only 50 % job as I still had to finish many Berlitz Lectures and didn't want to leave them in a tight spot. Anyway, once I said "Yes" the ball hit full momentum. Such as, the boss phoned then Wednesday 24th and asked if I could fly to Kuwait on Friday the 26th - hhmmm, this was moving fast and would be seriously inconvenient as Mom was arriving Friday, Lucie and Thomas were getting married on Sat and the Austrian Mountain Racing Championships were on Sunday, were I was running as part of our team!

Although seriously inconvenient, but wanting to impress, Christine and I decided that I should go, and so I spent Fri and Sat in Kuwait, and many hours in the plane and airport. After that I have been working there in a part time capacity, although I am doing very many hours - even with the lectures from Berlitz.

So that is the story about how I got into RSA. I expect that it will be a excellent job, quite similar to Consol, with lots of travel around the world. Not quite sure how I will fit this in with having a new baby, but we will just have to try it and see. Next week I'm off to Kuwait again, and I'll try to drop in a post before then.

huh - what's this doing here in Salzburg ...

Hi,

really long time, no post - sorry things have been hectic for a while, but I'm finally getting life a bit sorted and have found the time to put out a quick post. I'll be posting some more information about what I have been up to soon, but here is a funny story for you!

I have been helping a friend with his computer setup since the beginning of the year. Like myself, he is an avid runner, and because he found himself with some free time during the first half of this year, and I hadn't stopped talking about how great the 2 Oceans was as a race - he decided to give it a bash and traveled to SA during Easter to take part.

Needless to say he had a really great time, cut very short (unfortunately) by the untimely death of Nic (much more unfortunately) and did a great time of around 4hrs 40 min on the minimum of training - I was most impressed.

And here comes the strange part, I go to his place to install some new software, and look at what I find as one of his favourite pictures.....
What the heck..... 3 buddies all in the same picture (Dion, can you please send this link to Stefan and Roger) - And it's a really good picture too! Where's the cart Dion?

Man, small world!
oh well, keep healthy,
Richard.

Photos

Finally some photos from last weekend:

Alison doing a great grandma job bathing Hanna.

Hanna having a sleep on mummy's lap.

The Gathercoles going for a walk - no sun, long pants, however no rain :-)

Grandmas and Grandpas

Finally, this last week Hanna got to meet her South African grandparents. Alison flew in on the 26th of May and John on the 1st of June and they stayed with us until the 6th of June. I must say it was great to have grandparents around 24/7 - didn't matter whether I quickly went for a walk with Aisha or was cooking supper - there was always somebody to look after Hanna. She certainly enjoyed their company and thanked them with lots of smiles! Unfortunately the weather was terrible in the last 2 weeks so we were bound to be lazy and to shop :-). However we used the few hours were it actually didn't rain for outdoor activities :-):
John and Richard ran a 10km road race on the 4th of June. The course was very flat and runs along the river Salzach. John ran a new PB and Richard lost the internal competition between the 2 Müller sisters' boyfriend / husband ;-). If you are interested in detailed results have a look at http://www.lac-salzburg.at/dult06.htm.
On Monday, which was a public holiday here in Austria, we went to an open air museum to look at farms and craftsmen. We enjoyed walking through the park and looking at the 200 - 300 year old buildings. Have a closer look at http://www.freilichtmuseum.com/index.php?sitelang=en.

Well, that was it for now!
Hope you have a great day!
Christine

Long time, no ...

Yes, it has been a long time since we posted photos or stories on our blog. Sorry - however to our excuse we have Hanna, who always keeps us on our feet and if she doesn't we are all fast asleep :-).

Lots of things have been going on in the last couple of weeks. First of all, Claire, Gavin, Michelle and George came to visit us. We had a great time, although it was very short, and Hanna certainly enjoyed to be the centre of attention for 3 days! She wasn't crying at all on this weekend as there was always somebody to pick her up and hold her in his / her arms. She also enjoyed sitting around the table with us, although she wasn't allowed to tast any food, beer or wine :-).

Around that time I also tried out what it was like to run again. I was a bit scared of what it would
be like, but in the end was surprised that I actually managed to jog for 30 minutes without any problems. Okay, it was VERY slow, however I never had to stop or walk. We also went to an orienteering event in the south of Austria, where I won the 2nd day in my category (W21 Short ;-)) and maybe even would have won the 1st day if I wouldn't have been 8 minutes too late for my start :-). Unfortunately there were no babysitters around when I needed them :-).

Last weekend Richard organised a road running event in a nearby village together with the tourism board of that village. The event was a great success. In total there were over 200 kids taking part in the kids-relay and over 110 adults in the main event. The weather was great and most of the runners enjoyed the hilly course!

That was in short what we have been up to in the last couple of weeks!

Have a great day!
Christine

Rest in Peace Nik!

On the 10th of April 2006, our good friend and running companion Nik Kain was tragically killed in a skiing accident. I knew him as a loving and caring husband to Astrid, a doting and energetic father to his two young boys, a reliable and companionable partner to our running club and a good and compasionate friend to Christine and myself. He will be sorely missed by us all.

Our deepest sympathies go to his family, friends and colleagues. Our thoughts have been with Astrid, Martin and Constantine constantly this week.

Nic, god bless you and keep you close to him.

You will be remembered.

Happy Easter!

As we are leaving on a short holiday tomorrow morning, we wanted to wish you all Happy Easter! We hope you have a great weekend in sunny weather!

We are heading south to Trentino (northern Italy). Our orienteering club has a partnership with a club there. Every year either the Italians or us organise a training camp together. Richard is looking forward to orienteering in great terrain and I am looking forward to italian food, cappuccino, walks with Hanna and hopefully some sun!

Have a great day!
Christine

A hard session...

This post is mainly for the athlete's out there :)

I headed to the track today in the pouring rain to do some 1500m intervals, with a 90s break. I wasn't feeling so great but I just wanted to get some more speed work done. After warming up with a 6:15 then 6:10 and 6:05 I was hoping to break the 6 min barrier for the remaining 5. Things were looking up with a 5:56 followed by a 5:54. Then things started to happen - a 5:48 followed by a 5:37 and I finshed off with a 5:24.

So that was the training - not bad, just I can't seem to put it together during a race. After some serious thought I think I might have to give the Salzburg Marathon a skip, the last 4 weeks I have only managed an average of 30 km - not really enough for a marathon - later in the year maybe!

So to all of you running the 2 oceans on the weekend - lots of luck - don't break any legs!
Richard.

First win of 2006

Saturday was the first OL that I have done since last year October, and although this OL was on a different continent, the weather conditions were great (and similar) and the pace was fast (same as then). We had the first Salzburg cup this weekend, which consisted of 10 km of hard running over soggy fields and even soggier (is that a word?) forests. The course was nice, more about running than orienteering, but it was good to get out there and strech my legs for the first time in 2006.

As I'm getting old, I get to run in the Veteran Catagory these days, were the competition is somewhat thinner than in the elite, but we still get to run the same course. So although I get run in my own age group I can compare myself against the other top athletes. I was quite pleasantly surprised actually - only 7 minutes behind Tobias was a good result and he only caught me towards the end of the course. The other guys in my class don't really train so much (excepting for Leo) so I cannot really compare with them and thus it's nice to run elite courses.

So first time out in 2006, first win (100 % ratio) - I bet you that record lasts at least until next weekend, when we have our next event. Naja, one win a year is OK! Last year Michael Schmacher only won once!

I am posting the map here for those of you who would like to see it. I was wearing normal running shoes (not OL shoes) and lost time at control 5 and 6 because it was just too slippery. Additionally I made small mistakes at control 2 and 7. I think the route choice between 4 and 5 could have been better, but other than that I was satisfied! Total distance about 12 km, time 55 min!

So keep well all,
god bless,
Richard.

Just call me Hanna Schumacher

Yes, as you can see, I'm nicely wrapped up in my new woolen Jacket from Aunty Michelle and socks from Granny, and strapped into my 3 point safety system (just like that Schumacher guy that dad keeps talking about) so nothing can happen to me. Mom said though that that's unlike to happen because dad drives soooo slowly these days, apparently not at all like he used to drive :)

Anyway, except for that odd thing that keeps hurting me in the middle (read stomach :ed) I'm doing fine and getting bigger and bigger. Mom is always complaining that I never stop eating, and that she's running empty? I don't understand much, just as long as I get my milk I'm a happy camper!

So I just wanted to thank you all for looking at these photo's of me (what are photo's), I don't know why you'ld want to do something like that, but dad keeps saying something about cute and then flashing something at me and then saying "oh this one is for the blog" - go figure - he's a funny guy!

I better stop banging on dad's keyboard now, if he finds out I've been using his computer he'll be banana's - what are banana's anyway?

Bye,
baby Hanna.

It's a whale...

No, not really - it is just Hanna growing up fast (thank God for keeping her healthy) Yup we went to the Doctor and Hanna is a massive 3150 grams now, that is almost 50 % more than she was at her lightest. That is a huge stone from our heart, we are so glad to see that she is finally picking up some weight and doing well. To that end she has been sucking on Christine's breast like a champion, but as I said before this is causing bad stomach problems.

I would rather have a whale and no sleep, than a beanstalk and lots of sleep! Keep well all,
Love from us!

The speed wobble

Well, Sunday saw me running the Austrian 10 km raod championships. The weather was OK, the course was flat (5m height difference over the whole lap), there was a bit of a cold wind blowing but it wasn't gale force :) All in All - no excuses!

I was planning to run a sub 40 minute time, which I felt was OK bearing the situation. As is usual I started conservately, running the first KM in 3'53 and the second in 3'55. Not bad I thought, lets just try and keep this up! The 3rd and 4th km also went well and where passed in 3'53 and 3'57, so I was running exactly as I planned, just 5 sec a KM faster. KM 5 was s bit faster at 3'53 and km6 and 7 were both around the 3'57 mark. At this stage I was getting ready for the last lap (of 4) and was running with a young lady I know from orienteering.

And then the combined effect of the previous quick Km's hit me, and the speed wobble set in. The fact that I had only slept about 3 hours in 3 days also probably played a small part as well, but be that as it may I slipped over the 4 minute barrier (4'02 to be exact) and then that traitor Arthur (who I had been pulling through) decided to make his move as well - when I was at my weakest - he made a dash for home (with 2 km still to go) - I was finished, washed up, dead as a doornob (add your own expression here)!

The good news was that I could still see Arthur, and we were catching up on Frank and Heidi (i.e. we were going to lap them)! I stuck to my guns, but the legs were gone. The next km slipped passed in 4'08 (can you believe that) and I was into the last KM. Passing Frank helped me as they gave me some support and for a brief 250 m it looked like I was catching Arthur again. Unfortunately, that was the extend of my recovery, and I slumped back, finishing the last KM in 4'04, giving me a time of 39'36 (Arthur ended up with a 39'12)!

Man, I was buggered. Well at least a got my time, but I must admit, I have seldom been ssssoooo physically finished after a race. I guess the lack of sleep hits you harder than you think, but I'll keep at it and see what the Salzburg Marathon (or half) brings.

So until next time!

Calm before the storm

Looking at this picture (taken last night at 11 pm) you think what a cute, sweet, lovely baby - which of course - she is! Man can she scream though. The last few days have been bad tummy days, which means lots of complaining and in baby speak that means "screaming your head off". So last night we got little to no sleep :( but I'm getting used to it now and I can almost hear past it. Certainly I didn't hear her last night in the beginning - it was only when Christine got up that I woke up, but once awake, there was little or no sleep to be had for the rest of the night!

I hope you are all sleeping OK :)

Man, is Richi a fat, slow slob or.....

Hi, another weekend come and gone! Hanna has just had her 3rd birthweek and is gaining weight daily, which is great! Unfortunately she is turning into a screamer / moaner, which means we are getting very little sleep, and are starting to feel the effects of it. Hopefully her stomach problems will quieten down a little bit over the next few days, and we will get a little more rest.

The weekend saw Aisha and me taking part in our first 10 KM for quire some time (see picture for Richi's fat layer). My plan was to run a 40 minute time and until about 7 km I was right on track! However at this stage my running partner packed it in :( - even taking her off the lead had no effect, after 50 meteres she was 30 behind. So a quick stop and then we continued on at about 5 minute pace. Still I ended up with a 42 high time, which was (due to the circumstances) not bad. On Sunday I am taking part in the Austrian Championships in 10 km on the road. I'll try for a sub-40 min then. This time there will be no Aisha :)

Other than that we had a fairly relaxed weekend. Visited with Omi and Opi on Sunday and generally tried to relax and catch up on some sleep (no chance). The snow has finally started to melt around here, and today we have perfect weather (20 +) and blue skies. I'll be heading off to the track later for some 400m intervals! Might as well use the oppertunity while you have it.

The new English teaching work is going well! My work load continues to increase and this week I have some 20 lectures. I expect that by the end of April I'll be doing about 40 to 50 a week! This should bring in some income and keep us going for a while!

Anyway, hope you are all well,
All the very best from the 4 of us!

Ah, a bath - what fun!

Today we decided that Hanna needed a bath - she has one about every 3 or 4 days. It's something she actually seems to enjoy quite a lot. It's only after you take her out of the water that she starts screaming her head off! Enjoy the photo's......

























And here are some of her sleeping in our bed :)

Hanna starts her running career

Well, finally it has happened - Hanna hast started her athletics career. Some would say she's a bit young, and some would indicate that we are starting her late :) - but all career's must start somewhere and somehow and so yesterday Hanna began her long trip towards stardom by being a spectator at a Cross Country race!

We, the Euro Gathers, went to watch the Austrian Cross Country championships on Sunday. It was lovely weather, a bit of chilly wind but otherwise it was nice and sunny. It was our first outing together and both Christine and I enjoyed it very much. We KNOW Aisha had a good time, we are just not so sure about Hanna. She seemed quiet most of the time and didn't complain to loudly, so we are just going to assume it!

Christian (the lad I train) had a really good run, moving up the field to finish eventually 11th overall. This is a marked improvement on his results since 2003 and he is still the youngest in his Category. Hopefully next year he will improve some more! The course was OK, just a bit flat for my liking, but it had one or two interesting obstacles to make the course more challenging. I guess the mud added to the race character, and it was good to see the athletes with power coming through towards the end of the races.

I hope that I will be able to run next year!
Anyway, hope you are all well,
Richard.

Hanna comes home

Well, on Sunday we finally brought our little bundle of joy home. Hanna accepted her first drive in the car with no problems, but Dad had to stop at least once to check that everything was OK :) (It was - she was just quietly enjoying her trip). The neighbour's had set up some balloons and posters to welcome her home which was really nice of them - she was made very welcome from the start.

Since then she has been keeping us on our toes. She sleeps in the bed with us still and will do this for a few more months probably. According to the doctors this is quite OK, and is not spoiling her. Rather at her age (and size) it's helping her adjust to the world outside. She is mostly a cheerful baby with lots of arm and leg movement, but when she stretches her head out she looks a bit like ET! The rest of the time she just looks like Yoda, especially when she scrunches her face up :)

Eating happens frequently with small pauses between, during the day it could be as often as every 2 to 3 hours but thank goodness over night it's generally only once or twice - I guess this might change later. Anyway here are some of the latest pictures, I'm setting up a Hanna picture page where you can look at the pictures in better quality, but until then you can find them here.

Proud Parents and Hanna.














Hanna in all her Glory!















Very proud grandparents with screamy Hanna.



















Hanna close up and personal.

The story behind Hanna or "How my life got turned upside down"

It started out just like any day! We got up quite early to wish Alex and Eva a nice skiing holiday - they had been staying with us overnight on their way to Saalbach - and had a relatively early breakfast. Christine mentioned that she was feeling some discomfort in her stomach - but was not sure what it was, and it didn't seem to be painful.

We knew today was Champs day, so we had stuff to do, additionally it has been snowing like crazy all night, so there was masses of snow to be moved. To top it off, we were visited by the police, who ordered us to move our car as it was blocking the snow plow. As I had already spoken to the snowmobile driver, I didn't see what the problem was, but the policeman was not very polite or caring and I had to go out and move the car as well.

All in all, 3 hours of snow shoveling is not conducive to good Cross Country results – be warned! During all this Christine continued to have these strange stomach twinges and we were just a little concerned, but it wasn’t really hurting, so we continued on with the day. We went off to the cross country, where just about everybody and their dog (well there was only one dog there – Aisha) was asking when we were expected and how it was going. Afterwards it was quite a funny feeling to think back to Saturday, isn’t it wonderful how life just….. well …… changes :)

After getting home from the Cross Country, Christine now realized that the stomach cramps were definitely getting harder and coming faster, so I got the old pen and paper out and started to record the cramps and the length between them. We were not worried, after all we still had three weeks to go. However, they were getting more painful, but Christine wasn’t complaining – she made dinner, I had a shower, we ate but by now I was concerned. If it had been up to Christine we probably would have just carried out wondering what was going on – she just wasn’t having this baby now! I wasn’t so sure, so I phoned Gitte, got Christine to phone the birth course instructor.

Gitte said that we should go to the hospital, Irene said that Christine should have a bath, but I had noticed that the “cramps” were coming at regular 5 minute intervals, that soon dropped to 4 minutes. So at 10 pm I packed Christine into the car we headed off to the hospital.

On arriving we were still not really concerned – the cramps were not painful and we STILL had three weeks to go. The nurse hooked Christine up to the machine that informed us that the baby was doing well, and that the cramps (as we expected) were just pre-cramps to prepare Christine. At this stage she said that I should leave Christine in the hospital for the night, go home and come back tomorrow. No problem. Just before leaving Christine said she needed to go to the toilet so I got the nurse and we started to help her.

At this stage two things happened, first Christine’s water broke and secondly I realized that I would be a Dad before the end of the night. The going home plan was scrapped, Christine was wheeled into the birthing room, and the long wait started. So essentially Christine had been in labour since 6 o’clock in the morning, we just hadn’t realized it.

At this stage there was still no real pain for Christine (unusual) but the cramps were getting harder and were beginning to cause some pain. As we knew, Hanna was still lying head up, but every thing was looking good and Christine decided to have a normal birth. For this she would get a spinal pain killer that would help to relax her muscles, and dampen the pain.

And so the final stretch started – she expanded to 10 cm very quickly and by 5 am we thought that we would soon be parents. Christine was in some discomfit now and the cramps were getting stronger as was the pain. This was end station though. The next two hours Hanna didn’t move any further down. At 7 am the doctor made the decision to operate and then it went super fast.

Suddenly the room was filled with people running round and shouting, bells sounding, a bed was rushed in and Christine was moved onto it and wheeled downstairs to the operating room. I was dragged out kicking and screaming, but they wouldn’t let me stay anymore. Christine was given a full anaesthetic and was put under the knife.

3 minutes later I heard my first scream from Hanna and about 5 minutes after that I had her in my arms. She was so small and wrapped in tinfoil, I didn’t know what the nurse was pointing at until I had her in my hands. She was peaceful and sleepy and I didn’t hear a peep out of her. I carried her into the birthing room were she was cleaned up, measured and dressed. I was mesmorised. She was so small, but a real runner – her legs were longer than the rest of her put together :) So very cute, and although I’m convinced that most babies look very similar at the beginning, due to her size and lack of baby fat, I was able to tell that this was Christine’s daughter. She has her mothers facial features without a doubt.

So at 7:03 Sunday morning the 5th March I became a father. The well wishers have been fantastic, our friends and family a regular pillar of strenght – without Leo and Gitte I would have been lost (and of course Edith) – thank you, you were wonderful. Thank you to all of you who have sent us emails, SMS’s and cards. If anybody wants to send flowers, then please do so to our home address (which I am sure most of you have). I will endeavour to answer as many as possible.

Chrstine will be back on Sunday it seems (and I hope), and we are looking forward to this with immense pride, pleasure and antisipation. I wish you all a fantastic weekend, mine will certainly be great!

Love to you all,
Richard.

Hanna is here!

Most of you will know this by now, however if I happened to miss you, my humblist appologies - it was certainingly not intentional.

Hanna weighed in at a smallish 2300 g, was all of 47 cm long (and most of that was legs) and ended up being 3 weeks and 2 days early. She was just perfect - all fingers, toes and whatever else you could expect on a baby was there.

She has subsequently droped to just under 2200 g, but is slowly starting to eat properly and put on some weight! I will send the links to Hanna photo's on this blog later this weekend.

I wish you all a great one as well.
Richard.