The Last Decade; Part 2

2004

We had set a wedding date for July 2005, and made a decision to try for a baby during the first half of 2004. We were very fortunate to hit the jackpot almost immediately; Sarah was pregnant, expecting a baby in September.

We moved into our new house in May and I set about employing the skills of my Dad that summer to build the foundations and do the brick work for a conservatory. We left the fitting of the windows and glass roof to the experts, and I then finished off the flooring. This was to be Sarah’s place of work. She would continue to expand Musical Success and her private teaching of the Flute, Clarinet and Saxophone. It worked perfectly keeping her work separate from our home.

After a few years of very little racing I decided to enter the Aberfeldy ½ Ironman Triathlon with some of my friends. They had entered and I decided I was missing out so put in a late entry. I loved the race and that proved to be the start of my triathlon racing comeback.

My brother Max and Rachael got married in the summer; this was a really nice family occasion in a beautiful setting of Door near Sheffield.

Sarah, my Mum and Dad and I managed to squeeze a week’s holiday in a Log Cabin near Coed-y-Brennin in North Wales. I scared the crap out of my Dad as we cycled round the technical Redbull Mountain Bike trails in the nearby forest. Sarah was very, very pregnant, it was the Olympics and I remember watching Denise Lewis win her Gold medals on the track.

On September 18th after a gruelling afternoon and evening for Sarah, Ellie Elizabeth Garrard was born (out the sunroof via Cesarean section) two weeks early she weighed 5lb10oz. Sarah was amazing and tiny Ellie looked very happy with her Mum. I remember driving home from the hospital in York late at night, grinning all the way, it truly was an amazing time for us all. The following day my parents arrived to see their little Granddaughter, and as soon as I was allowed I was back across to the hospital. After a week in hospital Sarah and I took Ellie home, she was so little it was unreal, I could put her head in the palm of my hand and her feet didn’t reach my elbow.

2005

Wedding plans seemed to play a big part for the first part of the year (at least for Sarah anyway) I kind of went with the flow, as all good prospective husbands should do.

After a year flying across the Atlantic my best friend Ben had finally decided to make his move to Seattle (USA) so that he could make his relationship with Cindy really work. I was gutted to lose such a close friend, but at the same time could see Cindy was the girl for Ben and that this was exactly the thing to do.

I celebrated my 30th Birthday in style. Sarah had organised a surprise party for me. A few friends came across and we went out for a bike ride, with the view of having a small party later in the day. When we returned soaked to the skin after a wet ride, I opened the living room door to find all my family and many more friends crammed into the room all firing off party poppers and singing Happy Birthday, it was a great day.

I had a really cool idea for a Stag Do, which my Best Man Ben pulled off with great success. Shying away from the popular ‘get pissed in a foreign country for a long weekend’ type affair, I decided, my Dad and my closest mates would like a weekend away at a Farm House in the Yorkshire Dales. We had a great day Mountain Biking in Dalby Forest followed by fish and chips and an evening in Scarborough drinking beer and dancing until the early hours. Sunday morning Cayton Bay was calling for some surf lessons. The waves were good and for those that made it into the water heads soon cleared. Sarah had a great Hen Night in York where the usual antics occurred; she was transformed into Kylie for the evening complete with Gold hot pants.

On 30th July we got married at Brayton Church followed by a fabulous reception at Monk Fryston Hall. It was another amazing day and there was not one thing that we would have changed. My musically talented cousin Nathan played acoustic guitar in the church and at the reception, he then put on his DJ hat playing some great tunes late into the evening. The following day Sarah and I welcomed everybody back to our garden for a BBQ and afternoon chilling in the sun. We had a wonderful weekend, spent with family and friends. A few days later leaving Ellie with my Mum and Dad we flew to Italy for a week’s relaxation on the shores of Lake Garda. On our return we headed north to Center Parcs with Ellie for a long weekend.

We celebrated Ellie’s 1st Birthday in September with a party in our garden.

2006

This year marked a real move forward I got back into consistent training and racing. It was the first year since 2000 that I had kept a training diary and I was training hard for time trials and a season of Triathlons. Over the course of the year I did 22 races including 10, 25 and 50 mile time trials, Duathlons, and a couple of ½ Ironman Triathlons, namely Trentham Gardens and the excellent Big Cow event in Milton Keynes. I joined the Leeds and Bradford Triathlon Club and took 1st place at their 10 mile time trial event. Over the year I rode 5760 miles on my bike and trained for a total of 450 hours. I am not sure what made me step up my game in terms of training and racing but a lot has to do with realising that these things made me tick and it was what I enjoyed doing.

An exciting start to the year saw us get a loft conversion. Neighbours had just had one and the transformation on their house was amazing. Being inquisitive I knocked on their door to see what they were doing and soon we were doing the same, and they (Paul and Nikki) soon become really good friends. Opening up the loft gained us an extra bedroom and a nice space at the top of the stairs; it really changed the look and feel of our house.

Ellie was really unfortunate when she got Chicken Pox. She had a really nasty reaction around her eyes, ears and on her face which saw her admitted to hospital for a week. Here she was on antibiotics and under close watch just to make sure it didn’t do any real damage. Luckily it cleared up fine just leaving her with a couple of Special Chicken Pox scars on the side of her head.
Ben had proposed to Cindy and in July I flew out to Seattle to be his Best Man. He had a great wedding aboard a boat in the waters off of Seattle followed by a fun evening in Seattle. I spent a week with Ben chilling out, riding our bikes, running and catching up before the wedding took place.

Sarah and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary with a short break to Italy, this time to Sorrento. Once again my Mum and Dad stepped in, they enjoyed a few days looking after Ellie, allowing us some time to ourselves.

Unbelievably, for it seemed just a short time ago she was being born, Ellie celebrated her 2nd Birthday. Not long after that Sarah found out she was pregnant again, we were really excited and the May due date didn’t seem too far away.