Challenge Cup Dream Fulfilled As The Past Returns

The past week has had high and lows but first the highs and the best place to start is to say 'The 2013 Challenge Cup Winners - Wigan Warriors'. An amazing day from departing at 6.30am to returning home at 11pm during the trip down to London I was mostly waking up and relaxing but as soon as the coach arrived at Wembley, the excitement set in despite the rainfall and I walked around the stadium smiling despite getting drenched at the same time.

The match wasn't a spectacle due to the conditions but that wasn't important, important was sitting/standing there while enjoying the game and losing my voice during the chanting and celebrating at the end, it was a lifelong dream to go to a Wembley final so I was delighted to finally achieve it while also completing a trilogy of trophies following Wigan - Grand Final 2010, League Leaders 2012 and Challenge Cup 2013.

Hopefully another trilogy will be complete in October as this year I have added Wembley to my regular Magic Weekend visit so to go to the Grand Final in the same year as those two would be a first for me.

Liverpool continued the good day on Saturday with a win at Aston Villa to keep up the 100% start to the season and also Skem United claimed a vital draw thanks to a superb volley by 'keeper Zac Hibbert.

Sad news on the Nike+ fuelband progress as on returning from Wembley, I noticed the button had come away and as such had malfunctioned meaning I had to order another which thankfully has arrived today so I was only without for four days but it did feel strange walking around without a fuelband having worn one everyday for near 370 days in total.

Sunday- Tuesday were quiet with me returning to work on Monday and getting back into the swing of things but today has been one hell of a day with me waking up to a friend request on Facebook from the girlfriend of my ex from America (my first relationship), I knew she had turned gay a while ago but was puzzled as to why her partner had added me so I accepted out of curiosity and later in the the day received a long-winded message from the partner accusing me of cheating on  my ex and threatening me with all kinds of violence.

Crazy seeing as to this day, I have and never would cheat in a relationship as I am against it and believe anyone who does such a thing needs their head testing but anyway I replied with proof that the accusation was false and my ex herself replied saying the year we had together was for show and was a complete lie. I found that strange when reading back through all the memories that she could have been lying all that time, I think she said that because she wanted to impress her new partner but either way I don't care anymore.

However, it has made me doubt ever trying for a relationship ever again in case I am lied to or accused of wrongdoing again, people say nice guys finish last well that is true of me for sure as in my seven relationships, I have never raised a hand or cheated and each time have been dumped and accused of such things.

So in summary maybe it is better to be alone and rich than in a relationship with someone who is secretly laughing at you but anyway roll on Friday for my next visit to the DW!

Progress and Passing

The past seven days have contained massive success with Wigan's loss to Catalan being the only exception, Thursday saw a new 'Best Day' on the Nike+ Fuelband with a score of 7269 which came off the back of hitting my rate in work for the second successive day.

 Finally, I had completed the weekly target of 90% set in my last review so hopefully at the next review I will be off the stage process but knowing ASDA, they will find some way of changing the rules so I continue to be under pressure.

Sportwise, I have referred to Wigan but the start of the new Premier League season saw Liverpool win the opening game to go top at the first opportunity with a 1-0 win over Stoke.

The biggest success of the week has taken place in the past three days as I took a first aid course to become qualified both in and out of work and after a lot of theory, CPR and recovery position practical - I passed and can now say that I am a qualified first aider for the next three years at least until I would need to take a refresher.

The main thing is that for years, failures in things such as driving tests and exams have stuck with me and even though I was very nervous going into the assessment room - I was relaxed coming out and overjoyed to hear I had passed as had all of my fellow colleagues on the course.

So a great week overall which leads into a dream being fulfilled this Saturday as I travel to Wembley for the first time to see Wigan in the Challenge Cup Final and instantly after I will hope to catch some of Liverpool's next game against Aston Villa with the F1 returning on the Sunday which makes for a busy weekend so I will have a lot to talk about this time next week in the next post.

Sport Fails As Work Progresses

August has continued to be a good month with the fitness going well as I had my best weigh-in of the year at 94.7 kg which is a success after being 96.7 kg only a few weeks ago, mileage is still strong as this past week saw 30 mi walked which is amazing.

Thursday saw my next performance review which I would say went well as I negotiated a plan to help me going forward and two days into it I have hit my first target of 90% in a day with the next one to average that over the week.

Sports wise, it was a bad weekend as Wigan lost to Huddersfield and in their final pre-season friendly - Liverpool lost to Celtic so no winning bets there then. On the XBOX front, I unlocked my 400th achievement in 2013 which is slim compared to other years but barely an unlock was hit in the before May due to spending all my free time either decorating or with my former girlfriend.

So for this next week there is the start of a new Premier League season, so the magnets will be back into my routine despite working for the opening weekend and also as Wigan are away at Catalans in France it means that for the first time since mid June, Wigan will play and I wont be in attendance but working this weekend is better as the following one is Wembley week .

August Begins With A Record

After the success in July, August started in the best possible way as Nike+ had a new 'Best Day' on the 1st at 7237 fuel making it the sixth 7k of 2013 and set the month off perfectly.

This weekend saw me go to Wigan on Friday night to see the Warriors win a tight game over Hull KR and on Saturday, I returned to Anfield for the first time since 2007 to attend Steven Gerrard's Testimonial against Olympiacos.

The match and the atmosphere was amazing and has inspired me to try and attend further games this season which would mean there could be a weekend where I could be at Wigan on the Friday, Skem United on the Saturday and Anfield on the Sunday so I will see how it goes.

On the XBOX 360 front, I reached my TA goal of 102,327 which was created after my original goal of 100,000 was edited due to a DLC recalculation of 2,327 but was a success all the same.

This week, I have my next performance review in work and will report in the next post along with news of the Wigan v Huddersfield game on Friday and hopefully the next XBOX 360 Weekender from Friday- Sunday after I was unable to do it at the end of July.

Seven Down Five To Go

July has continued on from the success of June but fitness wise has gone one further with new records on both Runkeeper and the Nike+ Fuelband.

Runkeeper saw 116 miles walked across the the month which is a full 10 miles better than the June record and 14,275 calories were burned which is 1311 better that June so massive success on that front.

My Nike +Fuelband celebrated a year in service by finally beating the fuel record from January (143,303) to set a score of 144,733 which was a relief because the January total was mainly due to an exciting first month of my relationship so it is good to have that firmly in the past.

Nike+ also reflects a good month for on the Running app collecting 113.26 miles and 25,975 fuel with the Fuelband hitting 242.37 miles with 58,765 calories and 495.380 steps overall. The combined fuel for the month is 170,708 which is a massive improvement on last month's 135.389.

A factor in the fitness rise was with having no relationship worries which had hampered me in June and even though this past week, my ex got back in contact it made no difference to the mindset of breaking the records which was nice to have as a feeling rather than the slightly depressive one that I had last month.

The XBOX 360 was badly neglected during the relationship and now I have become single it has continued with goodprogress as I unlocked 75 achievements across 14 games and in total accrued 2231 TA points and an amazing 1485 G which included the breaking of a 2013 goal - 'Reach 100,000 True Achievement points'. which was achieved on the 7th meaning the next target is 114,458 which if reached would mean the amount I earned in 2012 would have been beaten.

Another goal ticked off the list was to win at least £100 across SkyBet and playing the Lottery and as I write I have won £102.12 mainly due to Wigan's success this season which brings me to the events of the weekend which saw me visit a new place in the shape of Leigh Sports Village for the Challenge Cup Semi Final against London but the 70-0 win was with a mixed atmosphere as it was far too easy for Wigan.

At times I felt sorry for London being on the back of such a humilatiing record but with a suprise win in the other game, Hull FC set up a great final which I am glad to say I will be attending at Wembley after promising myself I would do after missing out on the 2011 success.