Here it is 6 days later...

... and another Fun Run under my belt !!!  :-)

Noorat to Terang fun run was on last night and there I was lined up yet again, two fun runs in six days!  I've got it bad!!  This was originally going to be my first fun run in my early grand plans and yet here I am lining up with a few already under my belt.

It was not boding well though, we had torrential rain in the afternoon (as in the little town I live in it rains as if someone turns a tap on and then can stop just as quick as it starts).  The heavens opened up, there was lightening, there was thunder.  It was still hot and humid and steamy.  We were basically just waiting for the locusts to arrive to round off what mother nature was going throwing at us Friday!!

However in a JFDI nature (work it out!!), off we headed off in the car and found that only about 15km up the road at the start of the race it was bone dry.  Crazy mother nature.   Crazy me too, I was jumping at the bit when I got out of the car!!  Love this photo that Mike took of me.  Who knew I could jump so high off the ground!!  It is actually probably now one of my favourite shots of me and embodies how I feel about life right now.

I quickly registered once there a bit miffed that I was in the VETERAN section!!  Hmmmph people of Terang, please have the wheelchairs ready at the end!!  I'm only 48 and yet a veteran!!  I then set about finding my friends in the crowd, we had a few 12wbt ladies from the Warrnambool & Surrounds crew running that evening.  And my good friend Nadine (who also happens to be my hairdresser) wanted to join in the fun with the plan of running step by step with me the whole way.  

I kept joking I had my entourage along for the evening.  My photographer/paparazzi (Mike) snapping away at me and my hair stylist (Nadine) to ensure I looked my best during the race, a little touch up here and there!!  bwah ha ha ha.  

Some of our beautiful 12wbt ladies before the race - Lynn, Janelle, Vanessa and me.

And the gorgeous Nadine, the most encouraging woman (and successful Tough Mudder I might add)

who I'm proud to call my friend.

Soon enough the walkers took off at 6.30pm and then at 6.45pm the runners lined up for the starting pistol.

And they were off and racing!!   

This sleepy little town hadn't seen such action in a long time!!

Mr. Paparazzi was kept busy as we ran on by...

True to her word, Nadine kept up the encouragement the whole way to Terang.  

I actually find it kind of cool we ran from one town to another.

Nadine ran pace to pace with me, it was actually a new experience 

running alongside someone and it actually was a lot of fun and made me push myself even more.

She even had some energy for some selfies!!   Yep, see we were really out in the sticks on this run!!

I very well may have been saying (through gritted teeth) "put that blasted camera away" at this stage

I'm not sure.  I know I was exhausted.

See the storm clouds behind me, that gave me the impetus to keep on running.

Once we hit the 80km post on the outskirts of the town I knew I could do it, it was such a great feeling.   Love love love the people of Terang.  As we ran past houses people were out on their porches or sitting in their front yards clapping encouragement, some had sprinklers and hoses set up so we could run through them.  I've never felt such relief and actually ran through every single one!!

Soon enough though we rounded the last corner in town and I could see the big FINISH line.  Mike was waiting for us, snapping like a mad thing (there will be some photos never to see the light of day though, I don't even recognise myself!!!!)  But I absolutely love this one.  Nadine looking as fresh as she did at the start of the race, and me looking ... well ... we'll just say sweatingly elated !! (some of that is from the hoses mind you)

Flushed with victory.   I ran the 5.92km in 43 minutes and 07 seconds.  

And so okay, I've shown you the good shots up there.  So one thing about having a dear husband fun run paparazzi is that you can't control what he sees in a split second.  Did I really do so many goofy faces (and trust me people, this is just the tip of the iceberg, he took about 150 shots on the night!!)   Some might call it goofy, but I'm going to call it exuberance!!!  Work with me on that will you!  :-)

The one time I turned tables on him before the race!!  My greatest supporter and encourager.  Encourager? Is that such a word?  Well it is now.  Thank you honey for all the waiting around and snapping like a mad man so that we could get pics of our 12wbt girls as well.

So what's next in the fun run calendar?  I think May is the next one for me, so there can be a lot of training, drills and keeping up the endurance over the next couple of months, and roll on May for the Mother's Day Classic.

I conquered the Elephant !!

Yahooooooo.  I did it.  And quite frankly right now this evening I'm walking around like a little old lady, but I feel ever so proud of myself.   Although the day did not start well, I had a heat rash on my left armpit and an unpopped blister on my toe to which I bandaided it "just in case".  I was breaking up before the race was even beginning.

We got across to Derrinallum around 8.30 and signed in.  This is the first fun run they have organised, the Market to Mount, so I feel pretty good that I'm at the inaugural event.  There were probably about 80 runners and walkers all up?  Maybe more, not sure.   And as you can see here this was first thing after signing in, 8.30 and it was pretty hot and only going to get hotter.  That sun was FIERCE!   And behind me the "elephant" just out of town that we were going to have to scale.

Here I am in a group of runners heading through town.    The run commenced at the Recreation Reserve on the east side of Derri, commencing with a lap of the oval, then out onto the highway, running through town and past the market, out of town and up to the mount and then to scale the mount any which way you could.

Didn't I say in the Surf T Surf photos in January that I was going to have to work on my goofy faces, oh Lordy Lord, here I am running past Mike who was snapping away like a mad man.

So I did the race in my run/jog/shuffle/sometimes walk a few steps/shuffle/jog/run style.  Thank heavens for the race organisers having plenty of water tables on the way because that sun was merciless.  Although I have combatted the flies for sure, I dabbed Nature's Botanical on my skin and it did the trick.  Works for horses right? tee hee.

So once I hit the road heading up to the car park at the mount I just knew it would be tough going, I could see the front runners already scaling up the steep incline at the front.  I did a bit of overtaking, then I was overtaken, vice versa as it went.  Once I left the car park and the incline really began I knew I was in for a rough trot.  It was STEEP!  The first part was scoria/gravelly type footing, and from here on in I walked.  I was in good company apparently, after the presentation I was talking to the second adult male place getter and asked him if he actually ran up the mount, and he said none of them did, it was way too steep.  That made me feel better in hindsight.

Years ago I used to do a walk up a big hill in Belmont when I lived in Geelong many years ago, Mount Pleasant Road.  Being the ex-brass band girl I was, I would have a stirring march playing in my head and that would keep me at pace getting up a hill.  I tried the same tactic.  Unfortunately my stirring march in my head was like a record on the wrong speed and it was getting slower and slower.  

Another water table (THANK GOODNESS!!) and still climbing and the track turned to cut hay kind of grass.  Every now and then I'd get a spurt on, but it would be short lived.  My legs were going wobbly at this stage and my calf muscles screaming in agony, but on I kept going.  It was magic looking up at one stage and seeing the finishers at the top.  On I went until I rounded the last knob and there was the finish line and I finished with a run.  I mean come on, I'd come all that way, I *had* to finish with a run, didn't I?  

This photo was kindly taken by Natalie from Colac, one of the ladies I met up at the top and she emailed it to me.   Oh and that wasn't sweat, well maybe some of it was, but it was mainly when I upended some of my drink bottle on myself to cool down.  

47 MINUTES and 33 SECONDS!!  Way to go me.  It was meant to be 5km, but Natalie said her Garmin watch said it was more like 5.7km.   

So after admiring the view and having a breather and a rest and a drink for a while, what goes up must come down and we started the trek down the mount.  There would be a shuttle bus to take us back into Derri.  I almost came down the quick way though when I slipped on the path and fell on my ass!! (padded as it may be).   I walked down with two new friends, Natalie from Colac and Shona from Creswick, both seasoned runners and very inspiring.  We nattered about running the whole way down.  

The shuttle bus had just not long headed back into town so we thought eh, lets walk it, it will be a good cool down for our legs.  Except we got back on the highway and had the crazy notion to run back into town.  So a huge thanks to the ladies for the encouragement in keeping me running.  It would have been soooooo easy to have waited for the shuttle bus.  I think Mike was surprised when we came running back into town, and he took our photograph.  

And that was it, the end of the line.  I was holding up the tree here, or maybe the tree was holding me up, not sure.  But all I know is that I was so darn proud of myself.  I remember grumbling to myself on the way up the mount that this was a first and last time, I'd never do this again, but by this stage, those little endorphins had kicked in and were fluttering about inside me and I was already planning to put this on the calendar for next year.  :-)

Oh and fun runs really tire a person out, don't they?  Look who I found asleep on the couch this afternoon when we got home.  Must have been all that standing around holding a camera that wore him out.    My friend Alison commented though "but well it is a big camera after all" !!

So a couple of things I'm REALLY proud of myself for today:

1.  I didn't know anyone else doing the race and still did it anyway.

2.  All up by not waiting for the shuttle and running back to town, it was a 10k (or thereabouts) day.

3.  I love pushing my body like this, even though I'm walking like a little old lady tonight, it's a great feeling.

Let's wait to see how my muscles feel in the morning! ha.

Tomorrow I take on an Elephant !

Yep, you read right.  I'm doing the Market to Mount fun run at Derrinallum in south-west Victoria, a hop skip and a jump from where I live.

AND I'M TAKING ON AN ELEPHANT !!  AND LOVING IT  :-)

The 5K run is from the Recreation Reserve to the top of Mount Elephant.  (photo "borrowed" from their website).  Hey, if I'm gonna run up the darn thing, I think I should be able to use the photo, right?

Mount Elephant is named as such because it's meant to resemble a big sleeping elephant (I think), that's what I've been told anyway.  Wikipedia says it's 240 metres high and is actually a cone formed by an extinct volcano.  There's lots of these "mounts" around the area I live, it's very volcanic.

Anyway, I'm pretty jazzed about it all.  I've got to make it to the mount first before even contemplating running up it.  I wonder if I'll have a Rocky Balboa when I get to the top???  Arms up and running around like a mad woman.

This is the next fun run in my year's grand plan of fun runs and I'm quite looking forward to it.  Who said that???  Me???  Where has this spirit of adventure and health and fitness come from?   Although what I'm not looking forward to is the expected temp of 36C.  At least the run is on early.  I even said to Mike he didn't have to come if he didn't want, but he can't wait, he's so proud of me and will be there armed with the camera, so expect photos tomorrow  :-)

Wish me luck.

Oh and if anyone is keeping tabs, I've now lost an incredible 27.4 kg.  (that's 60 pounds to my overseas friends).  I had my first case of someone I knew not recognising me yesterday.  An aquaintance, someone I may see a couple of times a year if that, she is the daughter-in-law of a dear friend.  When I said hi and she looked at me blankly I said "hey Leanne, it's me, Carol" and she had a Scooby Doo Ruh Roh moment, said she didn't recognise me because I had cut my hair.  Nope, didn't save that moment Leanne! haha.

An update on Molly

And if anyone has gotten to this stage of this post, an update on the Molly girl.  The lump has been tested and it ended up being a sweat gland that had gotten infected and turned into a tumour, and the test came back BENIGN.  The best news ever.  And it meant we did the right thing.  She's getting around so much better now, eating the antibiotics as if they were treats (it's certainly not hard to give tablets to a lab, that's for sure!!) and it's just the heat now that's getting to her, but she's sitting beside me with the fan on her, she knows the good place to be.  And Lucky is still being ever so gentle with her.

Valentines Day Surprise

Well my biggest surprise has been coming home tonight and seeing Molly laying out on the lawn and enjoying the afternoon sunshine.  She is really coming good.  The stitches look a bit bulgy now, but probably because she's been getting around and they're a bit swollen.  But I'm so happy.


I'm even more happy because it's Valentines Day and we have a pact, we only spend $10 on V Day on each other.  It's actually quite fun and makes you get inventive, and not so easy this year because no chocolates for me.  It's too hot for them today anyway, they'd melt.

Someone cheated though.  Look what was delivered to me at work.

I don't know what thrilled me the most.  The surprise of the flowers and all the girls watching them come into my office.  Or the squeal I gave when I read the card...

Never thought I'd read those words on the card "gorgeous skinny".  Well he's going a bit overboard with the "skinny" but I loved it all the same.  Oh and ET, I have a photograph but I won't put you through the horrors, but lately Mike has been loving freaking me out with his impersonation of his bare stomach sticking out like ET ... phone home!  Eeek!

Makes the bucket of nuts I gave him look a bit lousy now doesn't it ???!!!

So here's the girl

This was from yesterday.  Mike picked her up late afternoon and she just lay here in this spot most of the night, starting out into nothing, sometimes dozing, give or take a pee or two out the back on shaky legs.

She came through the op very well.  They tried just sedation, but ended up using a local anaesthetic.  Thank goodness they didn't have to go as far as a general anaesthetic.   She has a cut about 10cm long and some ugly looking stiches, but all good.

The vet said the lump was a nasty one, but it wasn't attached to any muscle or organ so that was a good thing, and it came out clean.  They've sent it away for analysis and we should find out soon.  In any case I know in my heart of hearts, even as traumatic as this was, that it was the right thing to do.

When we took her over to the vets in the morning yesterday and they took her out to one of the back rooms and I was left to sign my life away on the paper work (or more to the point, Molly's life away), I started crying.  The poor receptionist started tearing up, blaming me for crying.  Then one of our friends from town came in after us with her little dog, took one look at me and started crying.  Oh dear, three of us in a group hug.  Mike was just shaking his head in amazement.  And there was a wizened old farmer sitting in one of the waiting chairs looking at us aghast.  I turned to him and said "well do you want a hug too", I've never heard a "no" and a splutter offered up so quickly!

So today Molly is a lot better.  Her wound is a bit puffy but I guess that's to be expected.  She's wandering around more, but sleeping the rest of the time.  Lucky has been incredible with her, usually he's jumping all over her, wanting her to come out and play or offer some sort of resistence.  But no.  When Mike brought her home he sniffed her all over to make sure it was her, and since then he has been her shadow.  If Molly sits, he sits.  If Molly lays, he lays.  He's being so gentle with her and it's really so beautiful to watch, as if she's passing over the reigns to him.

Thanks for your thoughts, I really do appreciate them.  Probably a bit silly on my part, but Molly is my joy, she's my first ever dog and constant companion.  I don't know what I'd do without her.

A wee bit of turmoil in the G House

My Molly girl is having an operation tomorrow.  We swore we wouldn't put her through the turmoil of anaesthetic again, but we found a lump.  Actually I found a bit of matted fur that was not growing out, I kept on snipping it away but it never grew out.  Until we could lift the fur and see under and saw there was another growth, not really like the last one though.  We had the vet look at it on Friday and she shaved the area to have a closer look and said it had to come out because it was weeping.  It's only small but she said if left unchecked it could ulcerate or infect and then she'd be in another world of pain.

The hardest decision we've had to make.  If it wasn't weeping we'd say just let it be.  It wasn't hurting her, it wasn't painful at all.  But we have to go by the vet's recommendation.  

She's about 14 now.  I look at her wandering around here at the moment and she has no idea that tomorrow night she's going to be in a world of fuzzy pain.  Sweet darling girl.  I made this scrap page on the weekend in amongst many tears I've been shedding for my girl.

Credits Designer Digitals.

See, I guess the reason I'm really antsy about it this time, is that last time she had a growth on her side, a small growth, perhaps the size of a malteser, it was 2006 and this was the result.  Yep, all those stitches for the size of a malteser, incredible.  She was 6 years younger too.

So please think good and positive thoughts for my girl, and send me strength because quite frankly I think I'm going to be a basket case.  :-(