January 2019 ... here we go again!

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

1 January 2018     10,800 steps      no running      weight 79.8kgs

   A hot, muggy start to 2019 carries on the energy-sapping heat of the last half of December. We saw in the new year by watching the fireworks on telly and then I toasted it with a nip of Laphroaig 10-year-old single malt. Then off to bed and a long lie-in. Unlike some years which have seen me hit the streets early on New Years' Day for a virtuous run, high-fiving revellers still returning from their celebrations, this time there was no running. This was due mainly to the heat, but also the tennis, which was all-consuming (both the Hopman Cup and the Brisbane International). The Hopman Cup in Perth even made the news when Roger Federer and Serena Williams, surely two of the greatest tennis players ever, played against each other for the first and perhaps only ever time in the mixed doubles*.  

   And did I feel guilty for missing the opportunity to kick off 2019 in proper, athletic style? No, not a bit of it, but that will change, and probably very soon.


*For the record, Federer and partner Belinda Bencic representing Switzerland defeated the U.S.A. team of Williams and Frances Tiafoe 4-2, 4-3 (5-3) ... and no, that's not a typo. At the Hopman Cup the mixed doubles is played in the abbreviated 'fast four' format.