I didn't expect it to happen yet!

I debated long and hard about whether to write this blog as menopause can be a bit of a ‘taboo’ subject, but I don’t believe it should be – after all, it’s only a natural process that all women have to go through.  I feel it’s important for women to talk about it and share their experiences - in my case, how it has affected my running and what little information there seems to be regarding the effect of menopause on competitive athletes.

Many of you may know that I’ve been struggling with my running for the last 18 months or so.  Slower times are inevitable as we age, but it was more than that.  Every run felt like a struggle, like I was shuffling.  It was as if someone had filled my legs with concrete and told me to run through treacle!  And I was always waking up feeling tired.  I also put on weight which didn’t come off even when running 80-90 miles a week to train for a 100km!  I saw my GP who sent me for blood tests and I also saw a specialist Sport & Exercise Medicine doctor in Birmingham.  The only thing they could put it down to was a slightly underactive thyroid, but not enough to warrant medication or have a detrimental effect on my performance.  I concluded that I must be imagining it, or that I’d just turned into a rubbish runner.

And then, just after I’d struggled through the World 100km champs in Croatia last September, I started noticing changes in my monthly cycle – over the next few months I missed a couple completely, others were closer together and some were much heavier than usual.  That made me start to think about the possibility of menopause – although I had naively thought that my periods would get fewer and stop, not become heavier or more frequent!  And all this started when I was only 46 years old – doesn’t menopause happen when you’re in your fifties?!  Apparently not!

So, another trip to my GP confirmed that yes, I was peri-menopausal.  We discussed the options and I decided to try HRT for a number of reasons, including to see if it would help the heaviness I was experiencing when running.  I also have osteopenia and I know HRT is beneficial for bone density.  Also, at exactly the same time as all this was happening, I started to get numbness, tingling and severe nerve pain in my hands, especially at night.  This was later diagnosed as carpal tunnel syndrome which may be a result of hormone imbalance causing fluid build-up – no one knows for sure, but I was keen to see if HRT would help.

I’ve now been on HRT for about five months.  Unfortunately it didn’t help the carpal tunnel and I’ve just had surgery on one hand and am waiting for a date to have the other one done.  I’m hoping it’s helping my bone density, but won’t know for sure until my next DEXA bone density scan.  As far as the running goes, I think it made some difference to the heaviness, though it’s hard to say for sure as I’ve been unable to run at all for the last 10 weeks due to a hamstring tendon tear!  Which brings me onto another minefield – the relationship between oestrogen and tendons!  I’m no medical expert, but from what I understand HRT has a beneficial effect on muscle and bone, but is less clear-cut when it comes to tendons!  My physio certainly seems to feel there is a possible link between peri-menopause and all my recent injuries.  I’m still trying to find out more information, such as the effect menopause can have on performance, injury risk, how to adjust my training etc., but so far without much joy.  Even the English Institute of Sport told me they only deal with “elite athletes who are still fairly young so they don’t have to delve into the menopause”!  (So, despite representing GB in a world championship only last year, because I’m 48 I don’t count!)

So that’s where I’m at!  I know it’s a natural process that we have no choice about, but I do feel slightly ‘cheated’ that it’s come to me this soon!  I’ll continue with the HRT, at least for the time being, and look forward to getting back running again at the best level my body allows.

Europe Corporate Games 2019

Logging onto my work computer one morning back in May my attention was immediately grabbed by a headline on our intranet page - Warwickshire County Council were looking to enter a team in the Europe Corporate Games!  I signed up immediately!  How could I turn down an opportunity to represent Warwickshire County Council in an international event to be held right on our doorstep at venues in and around Coventry?  I have always received a huge amount of support at work for my running, from immediate colleagues, senior managers and Councillors (I was even presented with a silver clock at a full council meeting back in 2010 in recognition of my World 50km gold medal).  So I thought what a wonderful way to repay that support by representing WCC in the games, as well as it sounding like a really fun thing to do. 

The Europe Corporate Games sees teams from businesses and organisations compete against each other across 24 sports ranging from badminton to dragon boat racing; rugby 7s to volleyball and pretty much everything in between.  Points are awarded to the top eight in each event and added up to find which teams are overall winners.  The WCC team, comprising around 70 athletes, was promoted and managed by our Year of Wellbeing Team as 2019 is ‘Coventry and Warwickshire Year of Wellbeing’.  They did a fantastic job of organising us all, letting us know where we needed to be and when and providing our green WCC team t-shirts.

Warwickshire County Council team

Obviously I entered the running event!  I had the choice of doing either a 5km or 10km so, as I’m more of an endurance runner than a sprinter, I chose the latter.  It then transpired that there were four runners entered from WCC – just enough for a relay team - so we decided we might as well do the mixed relay too (4 x 1 mile).  Might as well go the whole hog, we thought!

So I continued with my usual training and ran a 10k race in Worcester at the end of May which I used as a benchmark of my fitness.  I ran 40.08, so I decided my goal for the Games would be to try and break 40 minutes.  However, things rarely go to plan and I’ve hardly ever had a smooth build-up to a main race!  Around the beginning of July I developed a pain in my left buttock and hamstring.  It was diagnosed as a jammed-up sacroiliac joint – something that seems to plague me a lot.  Unfortunately it didn’t respond to treatment and I hobbled my way through the next month’s ‘training’, which was actually just some short easy runs with no speedwork whatsoever and was, quite literally, a pain in the backside!  All hope of a quick time went out of the window and my goal became just to get round and finish, and do the best I could.

And so the long-anticipated Games weekend eventually arrived.  Friday evening saw everyone assemble at the NAEC at Stoneleigh to register and take part in the athletes’ parade and opening ceremony.  It was great that we had the support from our Chief Executive, Monica Fogarty, and Councillor Caborn, one of whose responsibilities is Health.  And of course we flew the WCC flag with pride!

Left:  Athlete registration    Right:  with the WCC flag

Left:  Getting ready for the athletes' parade    Right: the Games 'opening ceremony'

Saturday morning dawned sunny and warm at the War Memorial Park in Coventry and the parkrunners were just leaving as the Corporate Games athletes assembled to collect race bibs, timing chips and have a pre-race briefing.  

Pre-race briefing

Team WCC ready to run!

5k and 10k runners all started together, with 5k runners completing two laps of the park and 10k runners completing four (which actually worked out over-distance as the 10k was about 10.8k!).  Apart from a 15-minute delay at the start the race was really well organised, with the Coventry Ambassadors doing a brilliant job marshalling and handing out water and encouragement to the runners.  A huge thank you to them for volunteering their time so that we could run.  

So, after four very warm laps of the park I was over the moon to finish not only first in my age category, but first woman overall and 9^th in the combined men and women’s race.  My time was 44.58 which wasn’t bad considering the extra distance and disrupted training!

Left:  Running for Warwickshire!   Right:  My team-mates cheering me across the finish line

 

Gold medal number one

My team-mates ran brilliantly in the 5k too, with a silver for Kirk, bronze for Ben and bronze for Sian.  As team captain I was chuffed to bits that every member of the team came away with a medal.  But more was to come!

Ben handing over to me on last leg

Next was the relay!  I was on last leg to give me a bit more recovery time from the 10k!  Each leg consisted of two laps of approx. 800m and involved dodging a few pedestrians, dogs, children on scooters, pushchairs etc. too, just to add to the interest (or frustration!!!).  Again my team-mates were awesome – Kirk led us off and ran a brilliantly paced run to hand over to Sian in the lead.  Sian ran her socks off and lost just one place, but that was OK as we were still first mixed team.  Ben got his head down and worked really hard to hold onto that position as he handed over to me on last leg.  A mile is a bit short for me these days, and my legs were definitely feeling the 10k, but I managed to hold on to our position and we were delighted to take gold in the mixed teams.  We might have been a small team, but what we lacked in quantity we definitely made up for in quality!

Gold medal-winning relay team!

A lovely touch at the medal ceremonies was that, in the spirit of the Games, the winner was presented with their medal by a VIP and then the winner presented the silver and bronze medals to their fellow competitors (see photo right).

The whole event was a fabulous experience and I loved being part of Team Warwickshire County Council.  It was great to mix with people from other areas of the council who I wouldn’t otherwise come across in my day-to-day work.  I felt we had a great team spirit, especially our small running team, and I came away from the event buzzing!  I think sport has an amazing ability to do that – to bring people together and foster a team spirit.  I’m proud to work for WCC and was proud to represent them at the Games.  It was also great to see so many people of all abilities, across all the teams, getting involved in sport, having a go and having fun.

A few weeks ago I was asked to speak to Warwickshire’s School Sports Ambassadors – a group of Year 5 pupils whose role is to promote sport within their school and local community.  I told them to enjoy their sport; to try their hardest – it doesn’t matter if you’re first or last if you’ve tried your best; to keep on trying if you don’t succeed at first; to have ambitions and to try new things and take opportunities when they’re offered to you.  I think all of the WCC team at this weekend’s Corporate Games displayed those characteristics.  We are the ones who grabbed the opportunity and took up the challenge.  I know everyone will have tried their hardest and I hope all the others enjoyed it as much as I certainly did.  Well done to everyone who took part and a huge thank you to our Team Managers – Neesha, Jane, Aaron and Alison – who made it all possible for us.

The fab four!

Racing through 2019

I decided at the beginning of this year that, as there is no international 100km championship this year, I would spend some time trying to get a bit of speed back into my old legs and try to do a few more races.  I run for lots of reasons, but my main motivation for training is to race.  However I’ve felt over the last few years that, due to preparing for ultras, recovering from ultras or being injured, I’ve not raced nearly as much as I would have liked.  I felt it was time to put that right this year and to just have some fun racing over shorter distances.  This has been the first year for some time (possibly even since moving from the track to road racing in 2000) that I’ve not had a major target race to aim for.  Normally I would have one, possibly two, ‘A’ races – the main goal(s) of the year – and other races would be carefully chosen to fit in with these, with a specific purpose in the build-up for those ‘A’ races.  This year, however, I’ve raced when and where I want to, with no pressure to peak for a specific event.  This has meant that the races have mostly been more like quality tempo training runs.  I haven’t tapered my training before them and so I’ve often been racing on tired rather than fresh legs.  I find it can be useful to use races in this way – it’s certainly easier to run at a quicker pace in a group with other people rather than on my own.  It also means a change of scenery, running somewhere different to my usual routes that I use week in, week out.  If you use races like this though, it’s important to remember that you’re not going to run a PB every time you run – that’s not the objective and would quickly lead to burn-out.  That’s not to say that I don’t put in the effort though – I still give 100% and run to the best of my ability on the day.

So, in the first half of the year up to the end of June I’ve managed 13 races, ranging from 6km cross-countries to half-marathons on the roads.  I’m not sure I’ve really managed to get that much speed back though!

Warwickshire XC Champs. team gold

The year started with the Warwickshire cross-country championships.  This was always going to be my one and only cross-country outing this year; I was just doing it to help our club’s masters’ team which paid off as we won the team gold (it was also my 26^th Warwickshire cross-country medal - team or individual).  Despite the distance being way too short for me I actually quite enjoyed it and ended up doing the last two Midland Cross-Country League races, again for Leamington C&AC’s masters’ team – and helping us win the overall masters league title.

Midland League XC, Burton Dassett

I followed these with a series of half-marathons during February, March and April.  These varied from a flat but very windy one near Loughborough, to my local one in Warwick which passed about 200m from my front door and a very hilly one at Droitwich (who knew Droitwich was so hilly!).  My fastest one was another local race, the Shakespeare Half-Marathon in Stratford-upon-Avon, although it was a far cry from the course record of 75.09 I set there in 2007!  But the one I enjoyed most was in Faro during my warm-weather training trip to Portugal (you can read all about that in my previous blog).

Left: the end of a hilly half in Droitwich.   Right: 4th place medal and cheque, Faro Half-Marathon

I then dropped down distance with a couple of 10-milers.  The first of these was a leg for my club in the Cotswold Hilly 100 mile relay.  Leamington have fielded teams in this race for many years, but due to other race commitments, injuries etc. this was the first year that I’d actually managed to run it!  I was on leg 9 – the penultimate leg – from Chipping Campden, past Ilmington to Crimscote.  It included a big uphill, followed by the biggest, steepest, longest downhill I think I’ve ever run!  In fact it was so steep in places it was quite hard to run, especially for someone like me who isn’t great on downhills!  Needless to say it wrecked my quads for days afterwards, although the views over the valley below were amazing and did momentarily take my mind off the discomfort!  It was worth the pain though, as we were first ladies team by 40 minutes and smashed the previous women’s course record by 22 minutes!  I loved the race and the team spirit.

Cotswold Hilly 100 - fabulous views made up for the pain!

Finishing the Burton 10 to become Midland Masters Champion

I followed this up with the Midland Masters 10 mile championships in Burton-on-Trent a week later.  My legs still weren’t recovered from the hills of the previous weekend, but I increased my dose of CurraNZ – a blackcurrant extract which has many benefits including combatting muscle soreness - and I’m sure this helped me to be able to race again so soon.  I managed to win the Midland Masters gold medal – my third Midland Masters 10 mile title - which I was really chuffed about.  Check out the CurraNZ website to read about the many benefits it can offer https://curranz.com/ For a 20% discount on your first order please use the code HARRISON.

Lapping a runner in the Worcester Pitchcroft 10k -
in my go-faster Wave Ronin shoes!  

Since then I’ve dropped right down in distance to 10k and 5 mile races – a real shock to the system, but I’ve enjoyed the challenge of racing other people rather than just the clock.  I even dug out my old Mizuno Wave Ronin shoes – a lovely comfortable lightweight racing shoe that certainly helps me to run quicker.  I haven’t had much call for these in recent years, with racing all my ultras in my more cushioned Wave Riders, but with the Ronin I hardly feel like I’m wearing shoes at all!  It’s probably time, though, that I updated them to Mizuno’s latest racing shoe, the Wave Emperor.  For my half-marathons I’ve been wearing my Wave Shadow – very slightly heavier and more cushioned, but still a lightweight responsive shoe.

Shakespeare Half-Marathon, Stratford

On the one hand it’s been fun racing these shorter distances and I’ve really enjoyed running without any pressure.  On the other hand it’s quite frustrating that my times are a million years away from where they used to be.  I know I’m never going to get back to anywhere near my PBs, but I was hoping to have run a little bit quicker than I’ve managed so far!  I realise that there are age-related reasons for that, but it’s still really hard to accept and come to terms with – I guess I’m in denial about getting old(er)!  I can’t help comparing myself to how I was and to other people that I used to beat.  But I’m trying and am gradually coming to terms with it.  I’m very thankful that I am, at least, still able to run and compete.  I’ve started to compare myself to my ‘age PBs’ and I try to judge my performance against others in my age group rather than those who are half my age!  In my nine individual road races this year I’ve finished 1^st in the W45-49 category in eight.  The only one I didn’t was in an international field in Faro when I was 2^nd W45 to a Portuguese Olympian – so I reckon that’s not bad going!

As I’ve got older I’ve adjusted my training as I find I definitely take longer to recover from a hard session than I used to.  Several years ago I cut out my morning runs and now only run once a day instead of twice.  I now also make sure I have one complete rest day each week and am also prepared to cut a run short, or run at a slower pace, if I need to.  One thing I have kept up, though, are my strength and conditioning sessions in the gym at ‘The Warwickshire’.  It’s important to try and retain my muscle strength and core stability and the excellent facilities at The Warwickshire allow me to work on these aspects.

So I’m taking the positives – the pure enjoyment of racing, still being competitive in my age-group and the friendship and support of my Leamington team-mates.  I've now run a total of 282 road races in my career (with 104 wins) and I'm looking forward to seeing what the second half of the year has to bring.

2019 races up to end of June:

05.01.19               Warwickshire XC champs. - 8^th Master

12.01.19               Midland League XC - 25^th Master

09.02.19               Midland League XC - 6^th Master

17.02.19               Leicestershire half-marathon - 6^th (1^st W45)

03.03.19               Warwick half-marathon - 2^nd (1^st Master)

30.03.19               Faro half-marathon - 5^th (2^nd W45)

14.04.19               Droitwich half-marathon - 2^nd (1^st Master)

28.04.19               Shakespeare half-marathon - 5^th (1^st Master)

12.05.19               Cotswold Hilly 100 - 1^st team

19.05.19               Burton 10m - 2^nd (1^st Master)

23.05.19               Ryton 5m - 13^th (1^st W45)

26.05.19               Worcester Pitchcroft 10k - 2^nd (1^st W45)

04.06.19               Banbury 5m - 3^rd (1^st Master)

One race, two Portuguese Olympians and me!

In my 'happy place'

For the last 18 years I’ve been lucky enough to spend up to three weeks every spring with my coach, Les, warm-weather training in Monte Gordo in the Algarve, Portugal.  I absolutely love the area and training there is always one of the highlights of our year.  For that reason it has also long been my ambition to race there too, but races have either been non-existent, haven’t coincided with when I’ve been there, or haven’t fitted into my schedule of preparing for an important marathon or ultra.  However, this year I finally managed it!  The third edition of the Half-Marathon H2O in Faro fell towards the end of our stay in Portugal and so I jumped at the chance to enter.  I was super-excited at the prospect of racing in Portugal, but on the other hand didn’t want race-day to come as I knew it meant I would be nearing the end of my stay there – and I never want to come home!  But race-day did eventually come round, making Portugal the 15^th country I’ve raced in outside of the UK.

Bib number 164 - will it be a lucky one?!

The race was slightly strange as, although it was held on a Saturday, the start time wasn’t until 5pm.  I’m more used to weekend road races being held in the morning and it did mean a bit of hanging round during the day waiting for the race.  We arrived in Faro late morning, in time to collect my number and suss out the finish area and last part of the course.  The race HQ and finish was in the Jardim Manual Bivar, right by the harbour / marina in the centre of Faro.  

The start of the race was out at Praia de Faro, to the south-west of the city, and all the athletes were bused out there on shuttle buses.  I arrived at the start, having left Les by the finish area, and tried to work out where anything was – the toilets, baggage drop-off, even the start line!  The finish area had been marked with inflatable gantries, barriers, banners and blue carpet and I expected something similar for the start – even just a chip timing mat – but there was nothing!  However, I eventually worked everything out and did my warm-up jog.  At last we all lined up at the start and were sent on our way by none other than Portuguese Olympic marathon legend, Rosa Mota.  Rosa was the first sportswoman from Portugal to win Olympic gold and the first woman to win multiple Olympic marathon medals (bronze 1984 Los Angeles and gold 1988 Seoul), as well as being the reigning European, World, and Olympic champion at the same time.  I remember being inspired by watching Rosa Mota on TV when I was first starting out in the sport and so it was a massive highlight to actually meet her in person, in Portugal.  (I should have told her that my bike is named after her!)

The race start was by the wide area at the left-hand end of the bridge over the Ria Formosa.  We headed off along the road to the left of the picture.  The bag drop-off etc. were at Praia de Faro on the far side of the bridge.

Meeting up with my friend Kay after the race.

I started off with the leading group of women, but soon realised their pace was rather quick for my current state of fitness and so settled into a more sustainable rhythm.  The course started with a long, straight section heading away from the beach and inland, around the airport and past the university.  Just under a mile of this was on a rutted dirt track and not easy to keep a steady pace going.  The course then turned south-east, through the suburbs of Faro and back onto the cobbled streets in the city centre.  It was at that point that I heard shouts of “Go on Sue” as my friends, Kay and Trevor, encouraged me on.  Kay was one of my former training partners and team-mates at Leamington C&AC (also coached by Les) and now lives in the Algarve with her husband Trevor.  I owe it to Kay that I was running in the race at all – she had sent me the information about it in the first place and had arranged payment of my entry fee at a Portuguese ATM as there was no online payment!  A huge thanks for that, Kay.

As we approached the Jardim Manual Bivar the runners doing the shorter 10.5km race peeled off to the finish and the half-marathoners carried straight on; “Laranja sempre em frente” referring to our orange bib numbers (it’s a good job I can speak a bit of Portuguese!).  We ran through the Arco da Vila – the ornate 19^th century gateway into the old part of the city - then had an uphill climb over very uneven cobbles and past the cathedral.   We did a large loop on the eastern side of the city, which included some testing inclines and a long uphill section at around the 18km mark.  The course returned through the main shopping streets, past people eating at restaurants and cheering on the runners from their open-air tables right next to the course, and back onto the uneven cobbles to the finish.

Running on the cobbles through the old city

Not more cobbles!  The finish at last!

I eventually finished 5^th female, just one place behind Portugal’s Ana Dias – a four-time Olympian (Atlanta 1996 5000m, Sydney 2000 10,000m, and 2004 Athens and 2008 Beijing marathons) and a multiple Portuguese national record holder with a 2:28:49 marathon PB.  I was slightly disappointed with my time of 89:20, but it wasn’t too bad for such a tough course.  The women's race was won by Estonia's Kaisa Kukk.  I knew there were cash prizes for the top five, but as the podium on the stage was only set up for the top three I assumed I wouldn’t be involved in the official presentations.  But then, all of a sudden, they added 4^th and 5^th positions to the podium on the stage and I heard my name being called!  It’s a good job we hadn’t left!  Another surprise then awaited me - as we all made our way up onto the stage I was announced as 4^th place winner, not 5^th!  It transpired that Ana Dias had won the Portuguese Regional Championship, which was a higher value prize than 4^th overall, so I was upgraded!  

I made it onto the podium after all!

I was really chuffed with a 4^th place medal and a cheque for 100 euros, but the best was yet to come.  Rosa Mota, who had earlier been the race starter, was also on hand to award the prizes along with some other VIPs and I managed to meet her briefly afterwards – she came across as a really lovely lady.

Meeting Rosa Mota was an absolute highlight for me (left) and with my 4th place medal and cheque (right)

I was really impressed with the race – it was extremely well organised and marshalled, with lots of Guides and Scouts helping out and doing a brilliant job.  For only a 9 euro entry fee I got a t-shirt, finishers medal, goody bag, transport to the start, specific 4^th place medal and prize money – much better value than UK races!  But better than any of that was meeting two Portuguese Olympians!

As always, Les and I had a great three weeks, with almost unbroken sunshine and temperatures around 20 degrees pretty much every day.  Training went well, with the usual mix of easy runs on the trails through the pine woods; tempo runs on the roads around Castro Marim or Altura; long runs on the Coastal Ecovia towards Cacela Velha and Cabanas; and track sessions in Vila Real.  

On the trails through the pine woods.

On the beach

On the Ecovia Litoral

On the boardwalks.

And on the track (with the French national team!)

Whilst I wasn’t running the mega-miles that I have in some years when building up for a marathon or ultra, I did increase my mileage to the highest I’ve run since preparing for the world 100k champs. last summer (215 miles over the three weeks).  I definitely needed my magic New Zealand blackcurrants https://curranz.com to help my recovery and reduce muscle soreness – they are amazing.  The running was supplemented by gym sessions and the usual recovery routine of stretching, massage (on the kitchen table in our apartment!) and ‘ice baths’ standing in the Atlantic Ocean!  I did actually brave a short swim in the sea on our last day as it was unusually calm.

Using the gym during the quiet time before all the throwers come in!

Post-run stretching in the sunshine on our apartment balcony.

Of course, all that training required adequate fuelling too.  Breakfasts and lunches were all eaten outdoors in the sunshine (for Vitamin D!) on our apartment balcony, with delights such as locally-grown oranges and strawberries, freshly baked bread and the occasional ‘naughty’ (pastel de nata and bolo de bolacha being my favourites).  We also enjoyed occasional meals out at the local restaurants, with fresh fish being a firm favourite, and chatting with the waiters, many of whom remember us from year to year.  In fact, it’s a bit like going home as we ‘know’ so many people in the town – Angela the bike hire lady; the girls who serve in the local grocery shop and even the butcher was so pleased to see us again that she gave us some complimentary meat!

Fuelling with pastel de nata (left) and breakfast on the balcony (right)

Birding near Santa Luzia

As every athlete knows, rest and recovery is as important as the training itself.  The training produces stress; the recovery time allows the body to repair itself stronger in order to cope with an increased training load.  Some days are very easy runs, others are complete rest days, and it’s good that Les and I share other interests outside of athletics.  We both enjoy birding and this year even managed to add four new birds to our ‘life list’ – Blue Rock Thrush, Rock Bunting, Wryneck and Subalpine Warbler – thanks to the expert help of June and Peter of Algarve Birders.  We’re still discovering new places to visit, even after 18 years, and this year we walked the 4.3 mile trail up the limestone outcrop of Rocha da Pena, along the plateau and back down through the typical Algarve village of Penina.  The scenery was spectacular, with some amazing panoramic views from the top.

On the way up Rocha da Pena - Les was pleased to achieve his daily goal of 10,000 steps
(though he shouldn't have worn that t-shirt as we were, in fact, on the south face!)

The views from the top were amazing.

All too soon the three weeks came to an end and it was time to say goodbye to the sun, sea and sand; running in crop top and shorts (& thanks to the fab. people at Mizuno I had some new ones to wear); the freshly-squeezed orange juice every morning and those amazing vibrant blue skies.  Can’t wait to be back there again!