At the working men's club in Netley there is a sign which has always amused me. 'We have 3 rifles teams. Fancy a go? Come in and ask!' I imagine the club members rounding on anyone who dares to come in and ask for a go, shooting them at point blank range and thus maintaining the use of the rifles for themselves.

Yesterday I managed to get out for my short standard run, having now booked in to do an aquathon and another triathlon I need to keep getting those Green Flash out on the tracks. Today I did a very long way round cycle from Grange Park to Netley, and then home, but did have some chips and a yogurt drink in celebration of it being Friday and a week off work. Today I dressed as Winnie the Witch, using clothes donated by Hattie, Emma and Libby. No one could help me out with blue high heels though.

The weekend saw the girls and I in Wales. The weather lived up to its reputation, with the rain and gusty wind mixing it up with sunshine, just enough of the rays to trick us on to the beach ( in wet suits), with time for A to make one sandcastle before we were retreating to the car, bath and watching a DVD of Annie under a duvet. Claire and Ingemar live in a very comfortable little estate house in a village a few miles from the coast at Porthcawl. I went for a run from their door, within 2 minutes I was in proper countryside with stawberries growing in the hedgerows. Dragged the girls up there for a walk later, they liked the muddy puddles but we didn't cover the same ground. We got to Wales by train, which is something between a challenge and a joy. the train reservation system seemed to break down on the way home, when another lady had the same seat reservation as me, so she sat on my lap from Bristol to Swindon. The girls were generally good, with me displaying saintly patience for most of the miles, except the Bristol to Swindon ones.

The beaches around Porthcawl are fabulous, sandy, but sadly the wind made surfing lessons impossible for us, we just watched from a steamed up car. We had fish and chips in a smart retro style diner, with a Dyson airblade hand drier which always elevates establishments into my top 3. The chips were a bit pasty looking, clearly the Welsh like their chips semi raw.

Several times I noticed a van which was advertising 'Dunromin' double glazing, with the tag line 'your dreams - our reality.' Now, that is weird. My most recurrent dream is the first day of term eve one ( all teachers will get this one in some guise or other) where I am a teacher, but all the children are the ones who were in my class at junior school. So there I am trying to keep control over Rolf Neset, Jo Pank, Jo Lobo, Lizzi Huggins, Mark Lane ( holidayed in Greece - how posh - dad a police officer), Adrain Stockbridge ( lived near me and we once did homework together)Mark Blakely Smith (holidayed in Crete, dad also a police officer), Richard Pierce (one of my favourite funny boys), Lydia Rushton (burnt lip kissing her reflection in a kettle), Vicki Woodhouse, Mel Cross, Andrew Osborne, Martin Poet, Emma something ( mum into organic food - this is the 1980s!)Anna Gosling, Nikki Smith, Carla Mc Gilchrist, Jenni Lynch, Michelle Wells( think she may have died of a brain tumour - along with 2 other people who lived on the same road - surely not a coincidence?), Patrick Barker, David Billet ( hole in the heart, mum's a faith healer hippie type)... sorry if I missed you off the list. I was the clever girl with lots of black curly hair who was really good at maths back then...)

Anyhow, the point is, how weird that this double glazing firm live in that kind of reality, where the teacher is surrounded by her peers who slowly begin an uncontrollable riot.

We went to Claire's church on the Sunday, an interesting mix of total devotions to Isaiah 58 and serving the poor in their community, with a very Welsh take on the big worship experience thing. As the most charismatic our gatherings get is a shut eye or two, the girls were a bit clingy and no sure how to take the loud utterances of Jesus and Alleluia etc etc from the stage. I really don't do churches with stages and lights on the worship team, but forgave them as they are so good at the gospel! If you wondered where Mark Knopfler ended up, he's playing the guitar in a church near Bridgend. Man, he sounded worse than Pete Kitts on his toilet guitar. I mean better, if that's possible.

Further to my plan to get around Easy Jet's tight baggage allowance by wearing our wetsuits on the flight, I tried mine on today ( it arrived at the weekend). Wow, its tight. Wished I had told R I was a size 14 and could have had a chance at lung function. I recall this problem with a wetsuit before, when I bought one in 2000 from a lady in Warsash. I passed that on to Deb, so if you know her, you get the picture. ( For the benefit of non Deb fans, she is one of the thinnest people I know).

I have found a couple of new triathlons to enter, so please holler if you want to join in. It's fun! And you might surprise yourself. Sadly the sailing wetsuit seems not to cut the mustard (huh) when it comes to tri suits, so will be continuing in pools only, can't bear the idea of a lake yet. My new school has a swimming pool, which will hopefully make up for it not having a projector in the classroom. I cycled there today to meet my new jobshare partner, and if I had just taken a dip and ran around the field I could have invented a new triathlon. The school field is huge, bigger than any I have ever seen. Literally stretches to the horizon. It was a rough bike ride, due to the bad wind (not my own), with the twin towers at the top of the hill causing a funnel effect I was literally cycling and getting nowhere. I came home through a steelement that is very near my home but which I had never come across before, its called Buttocks Heath, and is near Netley Abbey, it has a store and 2 pubs, and seems to be a pleasant enough little place. Weird that I had driven and ridden so near it but never through it before. It's really near Tescos at Burseldeon.

Butlocks Heath. Sorry.

Eastleigh yesterday. I had booked in for a cours at the college but got there and waited while everyone else got called for their family history, pottery etc etc, silly old me had missed the answerphone message saying it was cancelled. I was really cross, and got home to find that the answerphone does not work, but the BT 1571 was awash with messages, which I never really check - so, now I know. Anyhow, I tried to make the best of a bad hand, what with having cycled to Eastleigh, and checked out a few charity shops, but my heart wasn't in it. Ended up sat in the library ( Eastleigh has a HUGE shelf section about trains) reading the TES. Which saved £1.40 on buying it. R had taken the girls to the fun club at the gym and decided to meet me for a Poppins lunch, which my heart wasn't in either. Took the girls to the great park in Eastleigh and played there for ages while R did haircut and bought some new trainers from the specialist running shop. One funny thing about that shop is that it is next door to a stannah stairlift and mobility scooter shop - side by side at different ends of the spectrum of fitness. Cycled home which is uphill, feeling weak, and stopped at a tesco express for a muffin and a fanta 0. Had a funny conversation with a lady who was intrigued by my racing bike and how much the saddle hurt. I told her 'quite a lot' and offered her a go but she was not keen.

Was delighted to wake to a text message saying that the new Miss House is in the world. I am sure she is as cute as her sister and as beautiful as her mum. Our little church had Godly play today ( we are the only church in the world who put something on for the children, and then wonder what to do with the adults - 'just shove them in another room with some colouring, they'll be fine...'). I was leading the story ( my favourite job) and Adam was ably door keeping for me. The wondering was amazing- they made links with other bible stories they knew, even Abbi, who is 3! The more Godly play they do, the better they get at linking the stories together, and the fact that you get to wonder about God, Jesus, and the characters in the bible stories is just awesome. After a shared lunch, somehow the ladies got roped in to go and clean up the House House after the birth - which happened at home but was a bit messy. I volunteered quickly for kitchen duties and got on with loading and unloading the dishwasher, while everyone else upstairs made secret vows never to have more children or become a midwife.

Just been for a outdoor swim in the deliciously warm pool. H did her test for her Advanced Swimmer Brownie badge while we were there, and passed. It meant A and I had time just for us two to play sharks. Her choice, not mine, some nasty wounds inflicted.

I worked out that I was beaten by 75 women, and came ahead of 50 other women. Which makes me feel better than coming 300 and something th out of 400! R is really keen to do another, however I fear that our finances might not be able to cope with yet another dent of a fitness variety, as most of our disposable income these days goes on various sporting pursuits. I am going to join Triathletes UK and get a small discount every time I enter, and with all the outdoor training its almost not worth going to the gym, but I do love the outdoor pool and the spa stuff. Got annoyed there today by crowds and water too cold, so will drive a hard bargain renegotiating our membership. As one of my reasons for joining was learning tennis I ought to get around to that sometime soon.

I am doing a 'Godily play' this Sunday after a bit of a break, am hoping to use a few at school shortly too. School has been fun this week, but tiring, we had our family assembly on Wednesday which meant lots of rehearsals and tired teachers and children. I was very stern today with the non library book bringers, but nice to the rest. We have learnt about Grace Darling, and they have done some really good writing this week, when you look back in their writing books to the start of the year you can really see their progress.

I forgot to say that H won a Barbie microphone and stand, but the stand is broken. It spurred me on to enter some great competitions tonight, including one for a watercress cookbook. I have a coupon to enter the same competition that I entered last year for the garden design if you are interested let me know. The Alresford watercress festival is on next Sunday and includes Morris dancing and the world watercress eating championships. Its got to be the best event of the year! I love watercress, I could enter that, its really healthy and low calorie and tasty. I challenge you to go up against me and take the victory from me!

Not much of note happening, I have not watched TV for over a week but not deliberately, just not had time to breathe let alone sit down. But this weekend is less action packed. I do have to buy some small luggage and a wetsuit. We are taking our own wetsuits and buoyancy aids to Portugal and I have concluded that it would be best to wear them in order to minimise packing. This might not show much faith in the pilot though. I nearly made R wear his sallopettes on the plane on the ski holiday and he refused, so I think he will be less than keen to go in wetsuit on another aeroplane. But why not? In fact, I might wear all my clothes and not have to put anything in the hold. I once stood in the Tate Liverpool and watched a video of a man putting on lots of clothes in a public toilet, in the name of art. R was sat in the cafe drinking coffee. He doesn't do modern art. Or old art much, actually.

Girls are vying for a pasta treat to Disneyland Paris. Pasta treat indeed! I have suggested if they can defer and fill up the jar three times it might be an option ( I want to go anyway). They keep losing pasta at the moment, so we will not get there ever if they continue to whinge at each other. My brother was laughing at H's description of me describing Blackgang Chine as 'the worst place on earth and I am never going again, you can if you work there when you are 18'. Surely Disney's offering is nicer than the Isle of Wight's falling cliff chimney pot walk experience? It's Angus's 3rd birthday today. We went to Blackgang Chine for his 2nd birthday. Luckily they are not on the Isle of Wight this time so we are saved from that doom. A swim to the Isle of Wight, a cycle across it one way and a run across it the other would be a good tri though wouldn't it?

So, here are the eagerly awaited times of my first triathlon ( so you can secretly train and beat me next time:)

overall, 1.31.50 came 326th out of 406 finishers.

swim: 10.30 - rank 352
bike: 47.24 - rank 286
run: 33.21 - rank 350

So, as you can see, my bike was by far my best leg, and the other 2 much of a muchness. Swimming was impeded somewhat by being in a lane with a lady left over from last night's aquarobics who thought doggy paddle was compulsory, so struggled with a bodged overtaking and had to walk the last half length behind her, so think I could gain 30 seconds next time on the swim. Cycle was fab, really flat and fast and the bike did the job! I knew R was trying to catch up on the bike ( he started 10 minute later) and it gave me a great incentive to not let him. I finished the run about 30 seconds ahead of him in the end, he came in with an awesome overal of 1.21.55. The winners were just under an hour, so pretty good eh? Run - aargh. First 2k my legs were like jelly and it was on really long and uneven tufty grass, felt like we were going on a bear hunt. The middle 2k were fine, got some speed and better surface, but the last 1k was mainly around the perimeter of the school field and seeing the finish but having to go so far round to reach it was grim. Running on my fresh legs last month I could do 4 minutes quicker, and on hillier terrain, so really I could improve the run by a couple of minutes. My aim was between 1hr 40 and 1hr 50 so I am delighted to be nearer 1hr 30, and next time will aim for under 1hr 30! I totally recommend it to anyone who enjoys running dripping through a leisure centre car park in just your bathers. So, any takers? The finish was a bit of an anticlimax compared to the Bolt round the Holt, no banana or gift pack, just a glass of water.

There was no reason to walk around bare foot before the race, but lots of people seemed to think it was clever. Because people start from 9am til 12 noon, there is always something going on and the best people go last, so I guess technically they could be finished before the first people. WE didn't hang around for the prize giving, guessing that the medals don't string out to 232nd or 326th. It was quite fun in the end doing the transitions despite me being really nervous about those bits. Some people set out a little stool (as in like a bench, not a sample) to put their possessions on, but I just put mine on my towel on the ground.

We enjoyed a Pizza Express lunch together in Fleet, before heading off to Little Bookham, or more precisely to Polesden Lacey to join H, A and the A A A Gibbs family for little A's 3rd birthday picnic. It was cold and drizzling and they had stuck it out for a good few hours, and as we arrived the various babies started crying and everyone headed for home. So, back to triple A (baby number 2 on the way - Alex? Alice? Andrea? or Alec?) for a well earned cuppa before returning to Southampton to deliver Matthew and Anna their tea - we went for the fish and chip lazy man's option as there had been little opportunity to knock up a souffle or similar. I have just treated myself to a post first triathlon massage a la Jackie Brown, so feeling loads less knotty than before.

Will I be doing it again? Oh yes! The massage that is, not the tri!! Only joking, am just off now to find one for Sarah and I to do together.