So many news!!

Well, where do I start? It definitely has been a while since I last blogged about my training and my goal to become an Ironman, but many things have taken my attention off training and I will use a few lines to go through them quickly.

1. First and most importantly, my wife is expecting our third baby! Yeayyyy!!! I really am over the moon with this, specially as it was not expected...at least I was not expecting it! Thats right, it was a surprise to me, but all planned by my wife! I had been begging her for a third baby for over a year but she has been completely ignoring me or even completely shutting me down whenever we talk about it. Anyway, without going into many details, she stopped birth control back in May and we have been trying since then without me knowing! As I was away on a business trip I get an email from my wife with a photo of the pregnancy test and a lovely message congratulating me. It was the best present EVER.
2. Second, my business partner and I finally completed the MBO and we are now majority shareholders of our business.  We had the backing of a private equity firm and we are now in full control of the company.  This is a great feeling of accomplishment... now we just gotta work harder and make money! :)
3. And last but not least, my wife and I decided to move to......Cape Town, South Africa! Thats right we area heading down to Africa, the mother land!  This decision came about for two reasons really. First, it makes sense for me professionally to be closer to my clients, and secondly, it will provide better quality of life for my family.

My first half Ironman distance race - Registration Complete

Now back to my training and triathlon! I have signed up for my first half Ironman as you can see on the race schedule on the right hand side of the blog.  It will hopefully be racing the Half Challenge Barcelona in May.  I say hopefully since you never know if you will get to the date in good enough health and injury free to compete.  I picked Barcelona as it is the hometown of my wife and we have many friends and family who, hopefully, will turn up to support me!

My first Ironman distance race - Options Open

Ok, so my options are open and I'm really not sure where to do it! I am planning on moving to Cape Town in October/November 2012 so the race has to be before then, and it must be in Europe for ease of access and affordability.  My options are: 

• IM Switzerland - July 15, 2012
• IM UK - July 22, 2012
• Challenge Henley - September 16, 2012

Everyone I talk to sys I need to go to Zurich, but there are a few issues with that. First, my wife will have recently arrived from giving birth in Spain one month prior and she is not to keen on travelling again with the baby. I may be able to sell it to her if I say we can do a road trip there. But also, a key factor to consider are the costs. Whether I fly or drive there it wil be at least £1000 in flights for 5, then accomodation, then meals, sighteeing, bla bla bla! It will easily pass the £2000 and Im not too keen on spending that much on a race.

Option 2, IMUK is up in Bolton.  Not the most attractive place to visit but hey.. it is an IM race! I think my wife would accept this one easier than the previous option, but again, Bolton is not the most attractive place to visit and the atmosphere is nothing like Zurich would potentially be. This one is still an option but it's really option 3 Im seriously considering now.

Option 3, Challenge Henley, is an hour's drive from where I live and it will cost me the fuel, family meals for one day, and thats about it! It is supposed to be a lovely place to spend a few days with the family so this would go down well with my wife and the kids. It would be great to start with an IM sanctioned race but hey, its the distance that matters, isn't it? Plus, I can always do IM South Africa in April the following year since I'll be living there (hopefully).

Buff... that was a lot of news! Anyway, now that I'm back in training mode I will endeavour to blog more often and hopefully will be stopping by your blogs to comment as well.