Watch out World - The girls are ready!

Right so the teary mess of a girl from yesterday is gone... She has had some much needed sleep and a pep talk from her coach. We are now only 5 sleeps away from our first big event. Mum and the girls are covering the 5kms... preparations are coming along nicely with everyone getting through the training schedules. I have the 10kms sussed... I have now done two 10km runs at Cross Country (AKA billy goat tracks) and am feeling as ready as I will ever be. I have two small sessions this week just to keep the concrete stumps working and then a rest day scheduled for Saturday..

I am currently trying to find a photographer for the event so I can post loads of photos..

Daily quote: Sleep is your friend!

Tired and Teary

Hiya,
I know its been a while since my last post... We decided to go on a long weekend away last time Aaron was home and found ourselves in the middle of the wheat belt with some dear friends... where far too much good food was consumed, laughs were endless. I did manage an 8km run and about 45mins riding on the old mountain bike... I cried on the way home.. Cried for the friends I said goodbye too... Cried for the lifestyle I want but can't have just yet!

Since being home I have been back into training... Been for a couple of short runs and a quick 14km ride with Stella. Yesterday saw us back at Cross Country and I did another 10kms on a sandy billy goat track.. Came home in the afternoon for some pottering around the house and resting... Gem made muffins and Courts cooked dinner... Lucky me!

Today Sarah called to say she couldn't come for the big Run on Sunday after all... Feeling completely gutted.. and very teary and like I am 3yrs old.. I hadn't told Mum or the Girls she was coming as a surprise... I am just going to have to pull myself together and run a really good time for her anyway... Oh who am I kidding... I am sad my friend isn't going to be here running with me..

I need the sun to come out tomorrow...xxxxx

A new riding buddy for the Energizer Bunny...

I awoke this morning to beautiful sunshine... a very rare thing around these parts recently... So on went the shoes and a quick 3.7km run was done.. Sun shining, birds singing.. listening to the sound of my breathe in and out... Awesome...!

My friend Raimi has recently got herself a roadie too and so we went for a couple of quick laps of our little suburb to help her get used to the gears etc.. I love having a newbie rider to ride with.. When we got back to her place she gave me the world's biggest compliment and said I was crazy...'just like an energizer bunny'.. Made my week.. And we managed around 20kms... so a good ride too.

Daily quote: Chanel your inner energizer bunny..xxx

and the craziness continues...

Sunday morning - Cross Country day.. It has been raining really heavy on and off all night... I wake up and the wind is blowing and really coming down sideways.. I have just convinced myself that I shouldn't go.. when the sun comes out... Right shoes on and out the door..

On the way the rain starts again and the conversations with myself are getting rather loud... 'Not running in this'... 'This is crazy, no way am I running in this'... 'I will just go there and tell the organisers that I in fact am not running in this'... When I arrive at the beautiful valley the bloody sun comes out again doesn't it... So I put my name down for the 10km run and line up to start...

Normally we run 2.5km loops but today we are running 5km loops which is why I was trying the 10kms because in my mind I am still only doing two loops. First loop beautiful, sun shining, trees glistening from the morning showers, kangaroos hopping, birds singing... gets loads of cheers at the start of the 2nd loop... I get about 500mtrs into the second loop and the sun disappears and the track gets really dark... then the rain starts... not light lovely misting kind of rain but heavy buckets of the stuff.. with every step my shoes get muddier and wetter and heavier.. my clothes are soaked through.. I just feel heavy.. but I keep running... I get close to the finish and notice that there is only a handful of people that have stayed around.. Everyone has left... but I have finished... Looking very much the drowned rat but finished my very first 10kms..

My first words after the race... 'Where's Doug? I need to kill him... that was not fun... Doug, Do I look like I like running in the rain?... (Doug is a great gent who was sprouting on about just how nice it is too run in the rain before the race..)

New levels of Crazy

It's 7am on a cold, wet and still dark Saturday morning. I am sitting in my car outside a coffee shop waiting for a bunch of riders I don't know to show up and go for a ride with me.

The riders start to arrive and my nerves are really starting to kick in... I am heading out onto the roads with people I don't know and my feet are stuck in the pedals... 'Please don't let me fall off...Please don't let me fall off'.. I crash into another rider in the carpark not 2 mins into the ride... Nothing serious... but really I am the newbie... He should have stayed right away from me.. Or perhaps I need 'L' plates... I'm not sure.

Out onto the open road, away from the centre of town, away from the cars.. and the scenery is beautiful (not that I look at much... too busy watching out for stuff that will break Stella) Cows in the fields.. frost on the grass... Smoke gently rising from the chimneys... a light shower... Someone tell me again why I am freezing my toes, finges and quite frankly the rest of me... Apparently this is fun... All I can say is I survived.. We travelled 50kms.. and at the end of it I still had a smile on my face.. Must be something in that..

Afterwards during the coffee and cake part of the morning a lovely lady in the group proceeds to tell me that all my exercising is my version of a mid life crisis.. Is that it... am I having a midlife crisis..?

Enthusiastic or Nuts

Is there anything crazier than running along the beach front as a huge and I mean huge storm front is coming in..? I think not..! Black clouds rolling in, wind, rain, surf being tossed about. Running into the wind and not going anywhere is very disconcerting. I can run 5km at cross country in around 30mins.. but today in the eye of the storm front 3km took me 30mins.. I returned to the runners club looking and feeling more like an exhausted drowned rat than someone enjoying her run. I have to be honest and say I would have rather'd be at home in front of the heater enjoying a hot chocolate and my nanny blanket.. however that 3kms of wind training is now done and in the bank.

Some of the gents at the Runners Club call it enthusiasm ... I call it NUTS!

Tomorrow, we are due to have more of the same... wind, rain, cold... and no one is home. Aaron is at work, Harrison on a farm with his mum, Girls are in Cervantes with their Dad... I am going to turn on the heater and do my Yoga DVD in my underwear... wobbly bits and all... Why in my underwear?, I hear you ask. Just because I can...(insert a giggle here).

Daily quote: I can.... xxxxxx

No training today... Just cake!

Its the first week of the school holidays and I have to work 5 days this week... I miss my 'princess' hours. Mr Harrison is away with his Mum having fun on a farm. Miss Courts and Miss Gem are being spoilt rotten by Diddi. They have been out for breakfast to Dome at 11am in the morning... Gone to the beach for a picnic lunch... Only my girls would go to the beach and get wet in July. And slept in everyday.... This whole working for a living caper really is not all its cracked up to be..!

I am greeted at the door today by two very excited girls holding envelopes containing school reports. Much congratulations are in order.. They are FANTASTIC reports... Some A's... Mostly B's and one C... Amazing comments about behaviour and work ethic.. A mother couldn't ask for more. Lets get cake to celebrate... and off the Macca's for coffee and cake. It was lovely to laugh over cake.

Tommorrow the girls are being picked up by their Dad for a week. So my only training today is packing bags, preparing vitimins, washing hair, reminders for things forgotten and very tight hugs good night. I find myself wishing the girls were little again so we could all snuggle into bed together and giggle.. Instead I kiss forheads while they sleep, pull up doona's and pick up dropped teddies... I love these two crazy girls... Only 7 more sleeps until I can kiss their forheads again...

Training will be full on for the next 7 days... It will help it to go faster...!

Let me paint you a picture!

Joggers, socks, running pants, sports bra, long sleeve Tee, short sleeve Tee, bright yellow jacket, scarf, gloves, headband over ears to keep ears warm, cap. Truely the first time in my life I have felt & looked like a Nanna. Off to runners club training I go. When I get there I am stunned by the amount of little 'Chippies' prancing around wearing next to nothing. They go flying by me, chatting, running, seemingly effortless... while I huff and puff my way round the track in my Nanna outfit..

Then as I find my rhythm and start to strip off I notice something very interesting... The little 'Chippies' are no longer running and prancing but are walking more than they are running.. Nanna here is still going strong... I might be slow but I can run for longer. Thats when the chest goes out and I pick up the pace and complete the last 6 laps of the session at a really good pace.

Nanna versus Chippy - Nanna wins and goes home with a huge smile on her face...

Daily quote: Never doubt your inner Nanna...xxxx

04.07.10

Cross Country today... Beautiful sunny morning and the course just around the corner from us.. The girls and I decided to ride our bikes.. Courts decided she was going to do the 5kms today... yay... Gem doing the 2.5kms with me and then I went on to do the 5kms... so 7.5kms in total..

Gem did so well, she ran the whole 2.5kms this week. She admitted that normally she does walk some of the way.. so proud of you Gem... great job... Courts rolled her ankle on the first lap so did do the 2.5kms but felt she couldn't do the 5km because of her ankle... Very proud of how brave she was.. still walked herself to the finish line.

I did 7.5kms in 55.16mins and felt like I could/wanted to do another lap and do the 10 but was a little scared I would get growled at by Coach Sarah for doing too much.. Next week is a totally amazing course from all I have been told so am going to attempt the 10kms then..

Stella got ooohhh'd and aaahhh'd by the folks at Cross Country and I am feeling very lucky to have her. I am going for a ride with some cyclists next saturday and I am very excited about that.

The Bug and the Trainer (AKA Anja and Caty) need to have big thankyou's... all the training they have been sending me is definately working - Girls I have very strong legs from all the jumping jags... I love you both very much....xxxxx

Daily quote: I can...xxxxx

Reflection

I have had a weekend of being reflective... I had a check up on Friday and my doctor is extremely happy. My blood pressure is fantastic.. while I still have a little weight to lose I am now in a normal range and no longer considered obese.. My lungs are good.. flexibility good.. aches and pains in the joints all but gone.. moods swings from crazy hormones gone... Ability to stay healthy while the children bring home bugs .. Excellent.. I am so blessed, very corny thing to say but so true... I am the healthiest and fittest I think I have ever been. Aaron is fit and healthy. All three kids are amazing people, they have their health and are doing well in school.

While I train/race, I think about my sister who struggles to see her children and the world around her. I think about my neice who has to endure a life of needles, blood tests and constant watching. I think about my sister-in law and beautiful neice and the struggles they will have throughout Carys' life. I think about an old friend who now is watching/holding his child through her last weeks of life. I think about the gentleman at Cross Country who has Parkinson's but still gets out and runs the 5kms even though he has severe syptoms, and is still supportive of all the other runners.

I can run, I can ride my bike, I can swim... I can do all these things without struggle. I am using the pain of training to remind myself just how lucky I am. I am living an amazing life. There is nothing I can't achieve or have if I set my mind too it.. My children are all growing into amazing people, they are healthy and on the path to being wonderful adults. I have the love and support of a beautiful man. I have family around me, friends by my side... This is exactly the life I have always dreamed of..

02.07.10

Its a pity that none of you were in the main street of town this morning... I was out bonding with Stella.. getting to know her quirks.. and the thing I feared most happened.. I fell off Stella in the main street of town mid morning...It was not dignified! Yep got the feet stuck in the pedals and had two choices fall onto the road or onto the footpath... I took the footpath option... and am totally mortified.. But really had no choice but to get back up and onto Stella and continue on my way..

As punishment when I got home I went for the 3.7km loop run... and managed it in 20mins a pb...xxxx

I now have some good bruising starting to appear on my hands but Sarah tells me they are my welcome to the cycling club... Apparently I am no longer a cycling virgin...xxxxx