Gail Emms' Blog by Gail_Emms

Hello! Hope everyone is well? I have to say that I am feeling a lot better after last week and those annoying little bugs that are going about. Harry is still a bit bunged up, but I am feeling fighting fit! I have been making a conscious effort to eat healthier and eat more fruit and vegetables, as I know my diet hasn't been the best. Sometimes I get so caught up cooking meals for my boys that I forget to eat healthily myself! I have been trying out some new recipes - Thai butternut squash curry, roasted vegetable pie, chicken and vegetable curry (I am determined to get Harry to like curry! I am failing at the moment!) and a Moroccan lamb dish.

But I really want Harry to experience as many different tastes as possible. It's all very well having good intentions with food when I am at home, but when we are out, it is a very different story. Ed's mum Margaret had her birthday celebration at the weekend and she booked a table at a nearby Italian restaurant for us all. I went for possibly the most unhealthy options of goat's cheese to start, spicy pizza and then cheesecake! Bit of an overdose of cheese eh?! I do love it though.... For Harry, I ordered garlic bread and pasta carbonara, except Harry fell in love with garlic bread and decided that was all he wanted to eat. Even though he loves carbonara, he wasn't having it and just kept shouting for garlic bread.

Then that horrible moment happens when your mother-in-law looks at you as if to say, well it is a special outing, and so Harry's dinner was as much garlic bread as he could eat. Followed by chocolate ice cream. Great! But it was a special day out and it was a very nice evening. I drank 3 glasses of wine and was drunk!! It has been a while since I've had some alcohol! And not only were we celebrating Margaret's birthday, but Ed's brother Jonathan and his wife Jessica are expecting their second baby, which is due in August. That's why I got so drunk as I was drinking Jessica's allocation!

So it was 6 months to go until the London 2012 Olympics and BBC 3 Counties radio celebrated by having my radio show "Road to 2012" broadcast live from the BBC flat overlooking the Olympic Park. It was very weird not being in a studio and being in Stratford with the Olympic Stadium so close. We got Ellen White (Arsenal and England women's footballer) and Andrew Baggaley (GB No. 1 table tennis player) down there as well. We were also meant to have Greg Rutherford (long jump) too, but bless him, he got confused and thought it was the next day. Ha, ha, embarrassed him for that mistake!

I stayed over in the area as I was part of the BBC 3 Counties breakfast show with Simon and Lorna and it was really interesting being a part of a show which isn't sports-themed and hearing from Lorna who isn't particularly sporty. I know I am biased when it comes to sport and the Olympics, so sometimes I get a bit carried away. But I think I managed to convince Lorna that the Olympics are good and to be honest she wanted to know more about the gossip and the parties afterwards! I couldn't possibly comment! After the breakfast show and waking at 4.45am to be prepared for it, it wasn't a case of going back to bed, as I had to head up to Loughborough University for a Lane4 presentation with my ex-coach Andy Wood (that's him on the right).

Andy and I have been working hard on a talk that tries to explain why our coach/athlete relationship worked really well and how we made it the best it could be. It was nice doing a presentation with Andy in front of some very important people, as it gave two totally different perspectives on achieving the same goal. We are even learning new stuff about each other that we had no idea was happening at the time and I'm really excited about working with Andy more. He was supposed to be joining me for another presentation at Mercedes Benz World in Weybridge, but he left me to fly solo! It meant I could say what I liked about him....! Not really - I was nice! It was for Kerry Foods at their awards presentation and they were lovely people and I really wanted to stay, but my mum was babysitting so I had to get home. I hope everyone had a fab night as it looked like it was going to be a good one!! See you next week!

Hello! Hope everyone is well? There are a lot of little bugs going around and I hope you're all keeping clear? I have succumbed to the head cold/sore throat combination that is doing the circuit and it made me feel like a complete zombie on Tuesday. I hate having ailments like that because you are not ill enough to stay in bed, but you feel like poo. But you can still do stuff, even though it is a lot more effort! Trouble is, once one person gets it in the house, then you are sure that everyone will. Ed has now got the sore throat and now it has turned into a competition to see who has it worse. I think he is just making excuses as we are playing tennis against each other at the weekend and I think he is a bit scared that I am going to kick his butt... if I do, it will be because he has man flu of course.

I think it is time to get the vitamin C out of the cupboard along with the hot water/honey and lemon drink! I felt a bit better yesterday and our netball team was playing, so I went down to the match as a possible sub if I was feeling up to it. Well I had no choice in the end - I had to play as our WA (Harriet), decided to slip over on some mud in the 1st quarter and really jarred her ankle and back. So that was it, I was on court! It was cold and windy and I was so wrapped up in my huge duvet style Helly Hansen jacket, that I really didn't want to. I was happy being cheerleader from the side, plus the girls on the other team were sooooo tall! I am 5 ft 3 and the average height for the team we were playing was probably 5 ft 11. I didn't fancy my chances!

It was a really tough match and playing outside in the wind doesn't help as the passes were going all over the shop but somehow, we managed to win by 3 goals! We are now top of the table and we are all a bit shocked really! Obviously all down to me... hmmm. I am so glad I have taken netball up again. I love the fact that in our team, the age range is 23 to about 50 and I am always playing against a real mix of people. People that just want to get out, do a bit of exercise with their mates, have a bit of fun and of course keep fit. However, I do want our team to get better so we can get to play indoors!! Sometimes, it just gets a bit too cold and windy!!

Ed and I have entered the crazy world of house hunting this week. It started off as an innocent remark and a couple of requests, and now, after a few days, it has almost become an obsession! We are in no rush to move, we are just being curious, but it has been 9 years since I last bought a house, so I have forgotten all about the world of estate agents and viewings etc. It is an intense world and has scared the hell out of us already!! We have seen some lovely houses and met some lovely people actually, but we haven't found the right house yet. I think I might need to win the lottery though. Then I think I would be able to find a perfect house!!

We are going to stay in the Milton Keynes area - even though this place has a million roundabouts and it does get some stick, it is actually a great place to live. There are loads of parks, and lakes and it is easy to travel to London, so for now, it's still about the MK! And finally, for my "Road to 2012" radio programme, I went to Sutton Lower School, near Sandy in Bedfordshire, for a little Olympic surprise. The school has paired up with a school in Kenya as part of a BBC Olympics scheme that gets schools in different parts of the world linked together. They are doing lots of projects and two athletes from the school will be competing in London 2012 doing the 10,000m. The children measured their school field and worked out that this was 60 times round and all were convinced they could do it easily!! Then they tried...!

It was so sweet to hear them say they could run 10,000m and they were so excited about the Olympic Games which is so good to see and it was great for the radio show. The next one - on Monday - is going to be coming from the BBC flat on Stratford that is overlooking the Olympic Park and I cannot wait! The reason for this, is because it is 6 months to go before the start of London 2012! Aaaarggh! Have a good week everyone - eat lots of fruit and veg to keep the bugs at bay! See you next week.

Hello everyone! Hope all is well? I played a bit of badminton at the weekend! Still a bit unusual for me to do that really, but last weekend, I represented my county Hertfordshire (I was born there) in the Premier A country weekend championships in York. I dusted off my rackets and made my way up there with another ex-England player Suzanne Rayappan to try and play at a decent standard! After a 3 hour drive, we were running late for our match and as soon as we arrived, we were on court together, playing ladies doubles against a 19-yr-old and a 22-yr-old. They both play very regularly and are England juniors who also like to run around a lot. Brilliant... just what the body ordered??!

So at 3-3 and after some very long rallies, myself and Suzanne were looking at each other in horror as we were both blowing out of our backsides, while our opponents were hardly sweating! It didn't bode well for us. After a lot of effort on our part, it got us nowhere and we lost the match unsurprisingly, so not a good start to the weekend! However, I did manage to stop losing and won all 5 of my remaining matches. I even got to play with a young 18-year-old guy called Ryan, who ran around me in the mixed doubles and so I didn't have to move much! Love that! Ryan played really well and Mr Nathan Robertson had better watch out!

There are 3 weekends over the season and there are 2 matches on the Saturday, and one on the Sunday which means it is a good chance to socialise and catch up with people on the Saturday night. Then it is very interesting watching the matches on the Sunday and seeing how people cope with playing with a hangover! Some hangovers seem to be a lot worse than others! And the standard of play seems to go rapidly downhill on the Sunday as well funnily enough...! I did venture out into York and may have had a few drinks, but felt a little bit old as most of the Hertfordshire team were still teenagers.

I then started singing old songs in the taxi to the youngsters and telling them they don't know proper music. OMG I have turned into my dad!! But it is true... they just don't make music like they used to!! Ha ha!! Hertfordshire are doing well in the league and after weekend number two, we are in 4th spot. Not too bad really! I would love to tell you about this week's "Road to 2012" radio programme, but alas I was banned from going to the studio on Monday! Basically, I had the winter vomiting bug - again! - and spent Sunday night in my bathroom. It was not pretty and even though I felt okay on Monday, I was still contagious and therefore asked nicely to stay away!

It was weird hearing my programme going out without me and my producer and co-presenter Luke Ashmead doing it all and I felt all jealous! But I really don't want other people to have what I had. It has put me off track with my exercise as well. I haven't really felt strong enough to run or go to the British Military Fitness sessions and even Wilson the medicine ball has sat lonely in the lounge this week. But I hope to get back on schedule at the weekend. In fact I have a free weekend and plan to chill out and exercise - if the two can go together of course??!

On Wednesday, I had the great experience of going down the Olympic canoe slalom course at Lee Valley White Water centre in Hertfordshire. Normally, to do some white water rafting, I would choose a summer's day, but no, there I was in the freezing January weather! I was kitted out and briefed about going down the rapids and was a little bit nervous about it!! I stupidly sat at the front to start with and I think I swallowed most of the water, as wave after wave just hit me and I don't know how I managed to stay in the raft. But after it was over, I just wanted to go again and again! Yes the water was a bit cold, but you are in warm wetsuits and it is hard work paddling so you keep warm that way too. The new winter season is now open and it is open to the general public until April 19th so, if you fancy it, then I really recommend having a go! It will be very strange watching the canoe slalom at the Olympics now, as I will be thinking - I did that!! But in a big raft.... with other people helping... and a professional guide. Just the same eh?!!

And finally, I have been involved with the Ascot and Maidenhead School Sports Partnership this week and as well as the two schools - Newlands and Cox Green from last week, I visited, Desborough, Charters, Altwood and Furze Platt this week in two days. The visits were a combination of talks, assemblies and practical demonstration sessions, but overall they went very well. It was all thanks to Emma Fitzgerald and Karen Woolland who organised it for me and they are really trying to keep the school sport partnership flourishing. Everyone was really enthusiastic about the Olympics and I have met some fantastic people and fingers crossed, the school sport partnership will continue its good work with the support of the schools involved. See you next week!

Hello! Hope everyone is having a good January? Anyone on a detox? Health kicks? No alcohol January? Well if you are and you’re struggling, keep going as you'll feel fab afterwards. I'm doing okay so far. I’ve only had one glass of wine and fitness has been good this week with a couple of runs and some British Military Fitness as well. I have tried to be good with food and that has been the hardest with me. I will eat really healthily all day and then see the Xmas cheese in the fridge and the crackers on the side telling me to eat them so, I give in. Oh well, thank goodness they are almost gone!! I am having very strange dreams indeed...!

My radio show "Road to 2012" is back on air after the Xmas break. Not long to go now really, so the programme is really hotting up with all the latest sports news and local Olympic stories. We had Kriss Akabusi on the show on last week (3 Counties Radio 6-7pm!) and he was just fantastic. He is so enthusiastic and positive and it was a pleasure talking to him. He just makes the Olympics come to life and that is what it is all about. He is working hard as a London 2012 Ambassador and I cannot think of a more perfect man for the job. If you want to hear the interview, check it out on the iPlayer.

I was at Sainsbury's in Holborn last Tuesday with the Youth Sport Trust and I was there for the announcement that Sainsbury's are going to be supporting the School Games which is in May this year. They are investing £10 million pounds to make sure that this fantastic event can go ahead, where young people will be the first to use the Olympic stadium, velodrome and the aquatics centre before the competitors of London 2012. Jeremy Hunt MP was there and afterwards he made an announcement that £1 billion would be available for secondary schools to have community clubs there to get more people active and involved with sport. I think this is a much needed boost, not only to school sport which has suffered massively due to the funding cuts, but it is some money going into the legacy of London 2012 too.

The number of active people in this country has dropped, so more needs to be done to make sure we don't lose even more. I wish this money had have been available a few years ago, so the ball would have been rolling before London 2012, but I am not going to turn the money away for sure. I have spoken a lot in my blogs about the importance of school sport and community sport and now this is a chance for people to use this money wisely and create a 2012 legacy in the local community. On Wednesday I played a bit of badminto! This time it was against GB no.1 table tennis player Andrew Baggaley. It was pretty funny making him run around the badminton court and he was exhausted after a few rallies as it was completely different for him.

But then he got his revenge as we played table tennis and I got my butt kicked! I am useless at table tennis anyway, and he just made me look soooo bad! I loved having a go though and it was all for my radio programme and BBC Look East filmed it all for their programme too! Let’s just say, we should stick to our own sports!! After my attempt at table tennis, I was at St Mary Magdalene Academy in Islington for a Premier League 4 Sport (PL4S) event. The Premier League has put its name and backing behind community sports clubs to help more young people get active. Badminton is one of the sports and it has really benefited the sport and the young people involved.

I got there and was instantly challenged to a game by the insanely competitive Darren Campbell and Graeme Le Saux. I have to say that they were both pretty good, but Graeme was the better out of the two! It was so hot in the hall and we were all melting but as we were all really competitive, we were determined to try and beat the hell out of each other. Great day, great initiative. The four sports are badminton, judo, volleyball and table tennis and now more sports are going to be added which can only be a good thing. And finally, I have been to 3 schools in the last week and I know there will be a few more this year. Cox Green and Newlands in Maidenhead and Dragon School in Oxford. Great enthusiasm for the up and coming Olympics which is great and let's hope it continues! See you next week!