Time to Relax

Having got rid of the family, one to Ireland and the other to her sister's, I've had a few days to myself.

Friday evening was spent in the company of my lovely friend K. She came round, bring a bottle of white wine, for a meal and a bit of a catch up.
Dinner was Sea Bass fried in butter, diced potatoes cooked in the air fryer and a salad (peppers, tomatoes, cucumber, lettuce and spring onions coated with balsamic vinegar), followed by an almond tarta topped with Toblerone pieces. Yummy. The white wine I'd picked up went down well too, K's wine got saved for Saturday evening.

It was nice to simply chill with K, I even managed to dress up somewhat with a blue summer dress I've had in the wardrobe for a little while but not had the chance to wear.

After K had gone I sat down on the settee, flicked through the channels on the Sky box and found Hellboy 2, which I proceeded to watch for half an hour before falling asleep and waking up at close to midnight. Bed definitely beckoned at that point.

Saturday was another relaxed day. Up, washed and dressed, make-up on and out the door by quarter to nine to head to Mere to get my hair done, coloured and trimmed. It was lovely seeing Lou again, its been too long. For the first time in a while we were able to have a proper catch up on what has been happening. I'm so glad to have got to know her, I really don't know what I'd have done without her to talk to and her fantastic skills as a hairdresser.

A couple of hours pampering, a hug from Lou and it was back home again.

A quick bite to eat and a phone call to a charity shop and I was back out again.

One of the girls in work helps out at a local charity shop. She and another girl popped there a few weeks ago and the other girl came away with some really nice bits and pieces. I'd considered popping in myself so when I bumped into the one that helps out last Friday I mentioned that I'd been told that she works in there and that I'd thought of popping in at some point. She told me that she was working yesterday so I rang to find out if she was in and then toddled along.

We had a great time, they had some really nice clothes. The two of use went through the racks and found some tops, skirts and dresses in my size that we both thought might look good on me. I wanted something that I could wear during the summer for work. Most of my clothes were bought to wear from January and although some of them are cool enough to wear now, some of the skirts are probably a little bit too much for walking to work in warm weather.

Into the dressing room to try on the various bits and pieces with a quick check of each with my colleague to see what she thought and I'd whittled everything down to a couple of tops, a dress, cardigan and some skirts.

While I was in the changing room I could hear my colleague talking to one of the other helpers as she put one of the skirts I'd chosen on the counter and was sorting out a carrier bag. The other helper said something along the lines of is this bag to put his things in. My colleague replied "yes, this is to put her things in", I was so pleased to hear her saying that as it shows how much the people that I work with have accepted me and in some cases will even put people right when they get it wrong.

Although she had to disappear before I'd finished paying she told me that I had to wear one of the outfits to work on Monday. One of the skirt and top combinations I think is called for.

Saturday evening was again relaxed, too relaxed even as I decided to try out some meditation techniques from book I've been reading. Lying back on the settee I settled into a steady breathing pattern and then began to work through the visualisation exercise described. I got quite a way through it before everything seemed to slow down and although I didn't fall asleep I must have slipped into a deeply relaxed state because it was suddenly half an hour or so later.

Rousing myself I made some dinner, the remnants of the salad from Friday and a swordfish steak. The bottle of white wine that K had brought round accompanied the meal and then I settled down to enjoy Indian Jones and the Last Crusade on television.

Before dinner I popped onto the Runners World website to have a quick look at the forums and see if there was anything interesting. I noticed a thread about the Outlaw 2013. Having a quick read I discovered that pre-registration has opened. Nipping onto the One Step Beyond website I filled in the pre-registration form and sent it off to them. I've not entered yet but I'm that little bit closer to it. The Outlaw is on the 7th July next year and so my 30 week training schedule for it officially starts on the 10th December. I've noticed that a couple of people are going to be using a similar schedule to myself which aims to ensure that you get round at least. Two people are estimating finishing times of 16 hours 59 minutes and 59 seconds. Looks like it could get really crowded on the line at that point.

One thing I did do when I filled in the form was to indicate my transsexual status and to ask whether it would cause a problem. It shouldn't as British Triathlon indicate that as long as I'm not competing in events for prizes or age group places then there is no reason I can't race as a female. As the Outlaw is a mass start with everyone going at the same time I'm not in the situation I might be with other events where males and females start separately. Also by the time next July comes around I'll have been on hormones for over a year and I'll probably find that I've not got much of an advantage over any other female, the hormones make you lose some muscle strength, and I will certainly be at a disadvantage to most of the males that would be at the same level as myself. At the end of the day though in an event like this I'm not competing against anyone else, just myself.

Sunday is proving to be just as relaxed a day. I really should have gone out for a run this morning but I've not. I've got to mow the back lawn, which I'm going to do just as soon as I've finished here and got dressed, Yes, today is a pyjama and coffee day. I've got to drive up to Sutton Scotney this afternoon in order to pick up my other half after she's been to see her dad with her sister, brother-in-law and niece. Unfortunately it does mean that I have to go in boy mode because even though my sister-in-law and niece have met me since I transitioned my brother-in-law hasn't as he wasn't ready for that experience at Easter and even thought it was supposed to have been discussed, and the services at Sutton Scotney being neutral ground and it being a simple put the suitcase in our car from theirs, and a five minute hello goodbye thing, I doubt that the matter was raised by my other half. At some point he's going to have to meet me as Jenna, the sad thing is that its most likely to end up not being on neutral ground. At this rate its likely to be New Year when it happens or rather doesn't happen as I'm very unlikely to decided to stay at their place if there is the chance that things are going to be difficult and that I'm going to be asked to present as my male self. If there is even the remotest chance of that happening then I'll drop the family off and then either come home or go and stay with my parents over the holidays and leave everyone to it.

Right, time to get sorted before the day has completely gone.