Seven weeks ago, life couldn't have been much better for me.
Much to my surprise and delight, I'd just crossed the line in eighth place at the World Triathlon Championships in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Drunk on adrenaline and finish-line euphoria, it took a good 10 days for me to crash land back to Earth. Terrible traffic, lengthy supermarket queues, unhealthy workloads — things which usually make me curse and swear, just made me smile.
There was one nagging doubt hanging over me, though, which threatened to wipe the smile off my face once and for all.
A foot injury I'd suffered five weeks before the Worlds was refusing to improve (running 10k on it in Lausanne probably hadn't helped) and I was growing increasingly anxious that what I'd first considered to be a nasty niggle was becoming a full-blown injury.
Less than two minutes on the treadmill a few weeks ago confirmed my worst fears. And subsequent trips to my physio, masseuse, GP and podiatrist all hammered the point home: I'm injured and it'll be weeks before I can run again.
Anyone who's ever been injured will know how frustrating it is. Whenever I see someone out running I gaze at them longingly. There are probably scores of men around Oxford who think I'm checking them out as they run past me, when in actual fact I'm just watching their healthy feet. Honest.
Earlier this week, I spent an afternoon at the sports injury clinic at the NOC (Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre) where consultants poked, prodded, scanned and stressed my foot.
Their initial conclusion is that I've torn my plantar fascia (the tough fibrous band of tissue which runs along the base of your foot and connects your heel bone to the base of your toes) and although it has healed, there's some seriously angry scar tissue which needs to be tackled. I'm also waiting for an MRI scan to be done just to rule out there are no stress fractures or bone-related problems.
If there aren't, and all goes well with the stretching and strengthening routine they've given me, I could be running again in six weeks.
Now if that's not an early Christmas present, I don't know what is...