Hello all

Happy New Year to everyone I hope you all had a lovely Christmas. Lincoln and England give us a couple of weeks off over the festive period so this gave me a great opportunity to catch up with old friends and have some quality family time. My brother his girlfriend and my niece Ella who is 3 spent the whole of Christmas at my mum and dad’s so it was really nice to have everyone together. On Christmas Eve we all went to midnight mass which was at 6pm (they had to change it due to all the drunks coming in after the pubs had shut)! We had to sit upstairs in the church as it was so busy and I spent the entire time stopping Ella throwing things over onto the people beneath or trying to play a tune on the organ, I think Aunty Sue is a soft touch!  When we returned home we had lots to do we had to put some carrots and oats out in the garden for the rats I mean reindeers, then look up the chimney with the torch to make sure father Christmas could fit down with all the presents and the best was when I asked what she was going to leave out for father Christmas she said a mince pie and a single malt whiskey!! Funny that this is my brother’s favourite drink!!

On Christmas day I was woke up at 7am by Ella telling me that father Christmas had been, I was really pleased as I had been a good girl all year!! After the fun of opening all the presents I decided to go for a run obviously being a dedicated athlete but this did mean I could eat and drink what I wanted. For the rest of the day we did the typical family things of eating too much, watching lots of TV and falling asleep.

The rest of the holiday I spent sales shopping at the Trafford Centre (horrendous). A few games of five a side against a boys team far more successful although im sure the boys would disagree! I have also got into cricket over this time call me a glory hunter but what a fantastic achievement to bring home the ashes in the Australians back yard. Well done lads!

On Tuesday we had to do a fitness test for England in Birmingham. They tested absolutely everything, speed, aerobic capacity, blood tests and hamstring and calf strength, this is our base level fitness, we now have a programme to follow so that when we are re tested in March we should have improved on every aspect. Lincoln training starts this week which I can’t wait for; it’s going to be an exciting and hopefully successful season.