things anew

OK, after several attempts of "serious" blogs and procrastinating on the road to nowhere I've decided to bore anyone who reads with my everyday life with particular emphasis on my drive to get fit, to get my life back on track and what makes me vent. So without further adieu...

Having turned 29 in 2009 I was faced with a choice for my future career path. Having always wanted to travel the World - in my own way - and always wanted to gain a Queen's Commission in the armed forces, the cut off for both (I'll come to that) being the day before my 31st Birthday, I had as I said a choice to make...

Now the history.
 I had wanted to travel: spend several years working in other Countries, ie. Australia, New Zealand and Canada. The easiest form of working visa for all three Countries is the Working Holiday visa - the cut-off 31 years old. I wanted to spend one year in Australia, one year in New Zealand culminating in the 2011 Rugby World Cup (well I am Welsh) and possibly a year in Canada.

I had previously spent 9 months at Sandhurst (2002) working towards my Officer's Commission and left of my own free will for various reasons, the main one being injury. It had been one of my dreams since I was 11 to become an Officer, initially in the Navy - don't ask me why I decided on the Army but it's safe to say I probably should have stuck to my guns, or rather ships!

I'm not going to go into much more on the history or I'll be here all day. Just to give you a flavour of where I'm coming from though. Oh and travel won btw! Returned to the UK in Nov 2011 and drifted back into a job in the Welsh Assembly - which has just ended. Photos of the trip can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/people/valleytaff/

Right, forgive the tripartite above it was bursting to get out. Since returning to the UK I have been having a small mid life crisis, especially in terms of fitness. having at one point in my life weighed 56KG and been the peak of my physical fitness I was suddenly very upset in being a rather portly 83KG (think from under 8stone to 13!). What was to blame for this? Desk job and happy relationship - not sure if I'll go there (bit raw and all my fault btw). Also with my experiences picked up travelling it has fired my desire for discovery rather than quelled it. Overall I think it is fair to say I don't know where I'm going or how to get there!

Not all is lost however, whilst my head seeks a way to sort itself out, there is one sphere that I can control. my desire to regain some sort of fitness. I initially started running around Bute Park in Cardiff when I returned to the city. The extra weight I was carrying proved to be an extra burden on my joints, knees in particular, so progress was slow. With a friend of mine already being an avid road cyclist and purchasing a brand new bike I had the opportunity  to buy his old bike and try my hand at cycling. Just to add a bit of perspective, I was interested in cycling such as the Tour de France and track cycling (mostly following the Beijing Olympics and the huge success of British Cycling) however I hadn't rode a bike since I was 18 and had never rode a road bike. To ensure I was going to be happy cycling, at first I dug out my old mountain bike and took to the Taff trail - one of many cycle routes around Wales, this one following the river Taff from Cardiff to Brecon. My initial rides along the river Taff were quite enjoyable and my interest levels remained so I purchased my friend's old bike.

It has been 3 months since that point and I am pleased to say I have stuck with the cycling and even done a little running in between, the weight remains a stubborn constant but I am continuously informed by friends that "you look like you've lost weight...".