I got the advice of our fitness guru/personal trainer at work – yeah, iris is a pretty cool place to work – and as I suspected, I’d been missing out my core strength training. I could tell already. I’ve been getting stiffer and achier and have noticed more little niggling pains in my hips and knees. Not great.

I’m about to take my training up to four days a week and throw in the long runs. To counter balance this, I need to make time for the muscle conditioning routines. I’m slightly afraid of being too tired to cope but I don’t think I have all that much choice so from next week onwards, I’ll be doing a run, some yoga or this set of exercises every day. The risk of injury is just too high otherwise.

Winter hibernation mode is starting to kick in. I may be deluding myself but I’m really hoping that the aches and pains will go once the weather gets warmer and the days get lighter. Fingers crossed.

• A Cup of Jo – We share a french style obsession
• Rock n Roll Bride – Super cool
• The Angry Therapist – Truth for when you need it
• The Grindstone – Career advice for strong willed women (who? me?)
• Suri’s Burn Book – Fashion and dark humour. What’s not to like?
• Design Seeds – Colour inspiration

Running races

This idea started as a drunken Christmas party dare but now it’s actually going to happen… I’ll be running the Bupa London 10k in May and then the Nike Run to the Beat half marathon in October. It’s a little daunting right now but I do so much better when I have a goal to aim for. Anyone want to sponsor me?

Ibiza

One of my oldest friends and I have a trip in September planned to celebrate a few 30th birthdays in one go. I’ll be chatting about that constantly come the summer.

Moving house

I’ll be waving goodbye to Camden when I buy my own flat in July. It would be amazing to live here but, unless I rob a bank, it’s not going to happen. I’ll be sat on the floor for a few months but it will be worth the hassle to have a place I can call my own.

I’m most certainly looking forward to picking out furniture and making the place my own. Looking at interior design blogs like DesignLoveFest and Emma’s DesignBlogg are keeping me saving.

Kitten

My own flat might mean my own garden which means I can get a cat. Not so I can be a gin lady though. That’s not the plan.

Building the UX empire at iris

We’re still looking for a new junior. We have some amazing work on the way and it’s gonna be fun…

Making the most of my spare time

The ONLY New Year’s resolution I’ll be making this year is to achieve a better work/life/play/run/dance balance. I love my job and I don’t want to burn out. I find it very easy to take on too much work (perfectionist you say?) but a lot more difficult to let it go again. I need to teach myself to use my time to maximum effect and that might mean saying no more often.

Mostly, I suppose I just wanted to say how massively excited I am about 2012. Every year just seems to bring better and better things for me. I work hard at making good stuff happen – it’s fabulous to begin to feel the benefit of that effort.

I thought I wouldn’t make it. I have pretty bad asthma and I love my frequent club outings. I’m busy at work and have a pretty frenetic life outside of it to maintain.

I did, however, really really really want to be good. Aside from the obvious health and fitness benefits, it actually helps me control my energy levels and keep slight mania at bay. I’m an insomniac and making sure I’m exhausted enough to sleep helps me have more energy when I need it. If left to my own devices, my lack of need for sleep becomes a pattern and before I know it, I’m burning out. Never a good look.

I’ve kind of tricked myself in to being a runner. First, last January, I aimed to complete just 20 mins at 9km/hr. Once I could do that, I moved up to 9.5km/hr. Then came my work with adidas on the MiCoach enabled F50 football boots.

Their awesome interval training plans proved to be the thing that kept me hooked. I’m on my second one and can be found at at the gym at 6.30am 3 times a week. I know, I know… I would have mocked this version of me a year ago. It was hard. It really hurt. Sometimes I didn’t want to go but I kept at it until it became a habit. 9km/hr is now the lowest limit of my ‘resting’ pace.

Since I’ve started I’ve set 23 personal bests and ran a total of 126km which has taken me 13.5 hours. I even got shin splints. To sweeten the deal, I’ve also acquired some pretty awesome running kit, mostly from Nike (sorry adidas – they have better colours). I’ve got the free runs, the wool based running top and some thermal gloves.

I cannot wait to get to run by the sea over Christmas. I’ve hit targets I never would have managed this time last year and have enjoyed it more than I ever could imagine. Not bad for someone who used to breathe like the comedy, geeky kid with glasses in the cartoons.

I’ve had another incredible year and passed a good few milestones. I’ve:

• Seen some amazing DJ sets and fervently wished myself in Ibiza (next year)
• Flown to Amsterdam 3 times
• Been on a Turkish yoga retreat and done about 100 hours of yoga
• Spent 3 days in the Autumn sunshine in Nice
• Finally nailed that capsule wardrobe I always wanted
• Become a runner
• Added 775 new tracks to iTunes
• Done 5 pitches
• Started running the User Experience department at iris
• Drank a lot of Zubrowka and soda
• Been mistaken for a French woman (so proud)
• Finally bought those Bose headphones I always dreamed of
• Spent two awesome weekends with my amazing uni friends
• Worked on three killer campaigns for adidas
• Finally, properly, given up smoking

If next year is anywhere near as good, I’ll be facing 30 with no fear.