Busy stormy week

The week has been incredibly busy punctuated with driving in torrential down pours!  I'm not much liking all this dampness.  My Ironman running buddy and I discovered this sweet little running path around the water treatment station about half a mile from work.....excellent (if a lil stinky at times).  Lots of birds and a pretty outlook and no traffic to worry about.  Concurrently she has stepped it up and I found myself doing speed work......so running ridiculously fast for half a mile, slowing then off again......it's kinda painful but all the experts say that speed work makes a huge difference when you go out for your longer runs.  I'll let you know!
Also delighted to hear back from the race I have volunteered to help with in July.  It's a 50miler and they've asked if I can be at an aide station from 640am (very precise) to when the last runner comes through....around sunset!  So of course I have said yes as I will get a real insight into what it really means to run that far...it's a loop track so I'll see them all in the first half then as they come through again closer to the finish.  I'm really looking forward to it!
Other than the runs it's all been about work.  All the work we have been doing is hitting prime time now and there are, of course, lots of politics as we roll it out, also lots of "performance" as we meet with the various stakeholders.  Some days I feel like I know what I'm doing, some days not - maybe that's just working life.
Also been in planning mode for Xmas/NY in NZ.  I know it sounds along way out but it's a bitch of a time to randomly travel to NZ so have to get organized so I can get the flights I want and meet the pals for adventures.  It's not the best time I know as everyone has family stuff (including me) but once I have it figured I'll check out what folks are doing.
Also got to get on to Berlin, book the accommodation and figure out the flights from here.  Going to Europe from the West Coast of the US can be a bit of a trial - well connecting flights, so shouldn't moan that much!  Just need to get some idea of what it takes.
Going to be a rainy rainy weekend but I'm planning at least one long run ....