A great afternoon for running

What a day!  Can you just see by this pic why I looooooove doing my runs after work, along the beautiful Warrnambool foreshore, before I head inland to my very dry dusty little town.  There is NO comparison!  There's a fantastic two way path running from the pier around the coastline past the surf club to Granny's Grave.   People are really courteous.  There are bikes and skateboards and roller skates and runners and walkers and people with prams, and surfers heading down to the shore, and water fountains at some of the vantage point.  The council certainly have looked after the people here.

The sea is there, it smells fresh and beautiful.  But today yes there were flies.  Oh God!  I snarfed one I swear it hit the back of my throat as it flew straight in my mouth, and all I could think of was I hope it hadn't just been in a rubbish bin, ewwwww!

This is the face of happy!  Bird's nest and all !!

I had gotten myself into a little pickle recently, the lass who lives up the road is starting at TAFE and I kind of got rail roaded (because of my inability to say no) in driving her in and out each day to school, my 50km drive to work.  My drive is my quiet time, I can listen to music, listen to my podcasts, plan my day.  And then I thought of my afternoons after work, my runs! my gym!  This picture below is what wipes away any frustrations I've had during the day, I go home HAPPY.

I had mentioned to the mother that I was very ad hoc with my times going home of an evening, some days it was 4.30, some days it was 6pm, depending on if I ran or met friends after work for an activity.  She said "no matter, I'll get her to wait in the library for you".  Aarrrgghh!!!  

I stewed on it all night, and the next day I mustered up my new found courage and spoke to the mother, told her that I had been looking at my schedule and that I could certainly help and take her daughter in with me of a morning (the perils of living in a little country town is that there is NO - or very limited - public transport), but she would have to arrange someone else to get her home of an evening.  I didn't want her daughter to be hanging around waiting for me, and I didn't want to feel rushed in my evening activities as at times it was very ad hoc.  And you know what?  The sky didn't fall in!  The mother thanked me for being able to meet her half way and she would work something else in getting her daughter home of an evening. 

Now... onto to the Running Man!  After last night's efforts he floored me again and I was sitting in the lounge room just chilling and out he comes ready to hit the road again.  And I just know you wouldn't believe it if you didn't see it - shirt tucked in, belt on his canvas shorts!!!  He actually put his woollen beanie on until I swiped it off his head.  Hamming it up for the camera here!!

But true to his word, he really did go running, off he goes up the street, and it wasn't under the cover of darkness tonight.  He did a kilometre again, came home and complained this time about his ankles and shins, yes yes, he is visiting Athletes Foot with me on Monday, but ever so proud his Runkeeper has clocked another kilometre.  

I am so freaking proud of my running man!!!!

No more!

Okay, here this, no more funerals, not for a while please.  The past two days have been tinged with such sadness for my friends.  Tuesday's was a lovely intimate service, beautifully done, celebrating the most selfless of men completely loved by his close knit family and the community.

Today's service was huge, probably about 200 people in a little country town north of here, the small church only held family and close friends (the family is very big, six children, grandchildren and great grandchildren).  Thank goodness we were classed as close friends and got to sit inside the church as the flies outside were in their multitudes.  They had seating outside and standing under the trees with a speaker relaying out there.  It was a beautiful sunny day, but it wasn't horrendously hot and a lovely breeze.

After the service we headed for the cemetary just out of town down a long dirt road.  This is the view looking out from the cemetary.  What a beautiful place to lay down for a final sleep, in Australia's beautiful gold land.

Mike did a lovely job piping at the gravesite too.  Something about the pipes at funerals, it's haunting.  He also tried out his new Ghillie shirt and black socks, rather than the stiff shirt and tie and cream socks.  I think it looks great, casual and yet uniquely Scottish.  I had worried when we bought it that it would be reminiscent of Seinfeld's puffy shirt, but not so.

Okay so no more funerals, that's it for a while at least.  RIP Mr. C and Mrs McD.  We'll make sure your daughters are looked after and always loved by their friends.

Sadness

I'm very lucky in this little town, there's four of us, our husbands all know each other from lodge, and we are a life support to each other.  If one of us is down, we just send a text ... "dinner, movies, need rescuing" and we're there like a shot.   Each year we head away with each other for a weekend break, just the girls, no husbands or children allowed.  We rest and laugh and recharge and it's wonderful.

Love these girls lots.  Particularly when I moved here to town, I already knew them through Mike, but they embraced me, despite the fact I don't have children like theirs all did, which was another piece of common ground for them all associated with the same school.  And that I worked 50 kilometres away so at times would not see them for weeks on end, particularly in the winter when I slept worked came home ate, slept and did it all again.    But still they embraced me.  It's a wonderful group of wise beautiful women who I love.

So knowing that one of our group was hurting as her dad had an aggressive cancer found out just before Christmas and him going downhill very quickly.  Mid January her family was doing a bedside vigil just waiting, it was terrible for her.  

During the week I got a text message from her and before I opened it I said to Mike, "get ready, this is from J, it will be about her dad".  I opened the message to the shock that J was telling me that one of the other ladies in our group had just lost her mother, unexpectedly.  I was not ready for that news.  That was a shock.  Our thoughts had been to J, and now were flying to M.    

Then not 8 hours later another text came through that J's dad had passed in the early hours.  This is too much to bear with our little group.  I am so sad for these two beautiful women who have lost their last remaining parent, and my mind turns to the two funerals I will be attending next week a day apart.

So I don't know what the point of this post was, just to be kind to everyone, you just never know when the day that is dawning before you is the last.

A funny thing happened to me last night...

I did a rather interesting thing on the way home from work yesterday.  I parked my car at Terang and decided to run to the next town and back, just for something to do.  Crazy much?  Yep.  So 6 kilometres to the town of Noorat, and then 6 kilometres back.  Actually sum total was about 11.95km so I did a lappy of the car park to bring it up to 12km, it just sounded so much better!

Cool map huh?  Running from one town to another.   Plus you run on a bike/walking path the whole way so you're not on the road, big plus!  Grass/hay was cut nice and short away from the path (we're out in farmland here you know) so snakes if there were any would be easy to see if they slithered across in front of me.  Don't you worry, there would have been an Olympic like sprint if that was the case, I've only come across a snake once during my run and I think I scared it more than it scared me.    Also big shout out to the Lions Club, or it might have been Rotary that has installed a drinking fountain half way through this run.  

My hair scared old people and small children!!  Actually when I did the selfie, it scared me no less!  Ick, birds nest!!

Not to mention it scared the cows who ran away frightened ... or I like to think I may have inspired them and they've taken up the sport of running too!  They took one look at me and they were out of there!

Between my dishevelled look and my running style with my crazy waving arms swatting at flies it terrified them. Ha.

So what's my next hairbrained scheme, considering my legs last night ached all night.  Well I'm meeting a workmate after work and we're tackling the largest hill in Warrnambool.  Last time we did it twice, which was on Christmas Eve.  Anyone want to think we'll aim for three times this time???!!!  Hmmmm.  I'll hobble back tomorrow night and fill you in.

Thankfully cooler

Thankfully on Saturday the weather abated and it has been just lovely and cooler of a night which means blissful sleep!  It's still sunny and lovely out there but it's weather that you can live in, not the oppressive oven like conditions of last week.  Fires are still going up north, but the township of Halls Gap was thankfully saved.  Still scary scary stuff.

You can read more about the fires here, some absolutely incredible photographs on the Age website.  One of the scariest things was reading about was that the fire created a 12 kilometre high convection column and the fire was creating its own weather pattern which in turn triggered its own lightening which caused even more fires.  How on earth do the CFA fight a monster like that?

So we continue to watch the news and see the latest, and whilst the fire is still not under control, the CFA seem to be slowly winning.

Saturday morning I went out running and did a test run for the Licorice and Olives 5km Virtual Race Series.  Such a cool idea, read about it HERE.  I was planning a much longer run, but would pause my Runkeeper at the 5km mark to take a screen print and then resume it.  But I only managed another half a kilometre, I was spent.  I was thinking it was the toll after the past week of the heat and not sleeping, then thought better of it.  I was so relieved when I logged onto my running group site and found other local ladies were feeling the same effects and struggled running on Saturday too.  Yay, it wasn't just in my head.

We're down to double figures until the half marathon, 98 days to go, so I have to get the kilometres on the board.  I'm a long way off a 21.1 kilometre run, with my longest non-stop run only reaching 13.2 kilometres.  98 more days to train!

This afternoon I have scrapped up a storm trying to finish this December Daily album.  I have the pages ready, the journalling done, the photographs selected, it's just the mucking about embellishing the pages.  I love a good project like this with a beginning and an end, but my goodness I am ready to move on so want this done.  Here's some more pages to show you.

Credits Designer Digitals.

Should be an easy peasy dinner to cook tonight.  Everything is already chopped and ready to go.  Ha!  Last night I was ready to make Penang Chicken (a la the 12wbt super yummy recipe) and I had chopped everything ready to throw together, and alas, went to the fridge to get the red curry paste, and what was left in the jar was as hard as brick bats!  Hmmm, after 6pm, the supermarket was closed.  So it was pop the chopped veg and meat in containers in the fridge and it was off to the pub for us for dinner last night!  

Hot !

Okay, please remind me who was it that said hurry up Summer and come?    Oops may have been me!  Next time please tell me to beware of what I wish for!

Victoria is copping it at the moment and to be honest, I'm done with it.   This week in particular it has been day after day of 40+, reaching 44 degrees today so said the lady on the weather on TV.   That is 111 F for my overseas friends.  That's a freaking oven!  And where we live inland from where I work on the coast, it's just stifling.

The menagerie have flagged fast.  Poor Molly just lays on the slate floor and sleeps, drinks, sleeps, drinks.  At least we have the air conditioner and the room is cool for her.  Lucky has his moments, I've set up the clam shell pool for him and he bounces in and out of that with his ball.  Molly is a disgrace to her breed, aren't labs meant to be water dogs?  She hates the water, won't go anywhere near the clam shell, we have to physically pick her up and put her in for all of five seconds before she's out of there.  So I have to follow her with the hose and give her a sprinkle.  Her black fur just radiates the heat.

So funny tonight, the sun was going down, we were on the shady side of our lawn and sitting outside trying to catch a bit of a breeze.  Lucky had been playing with his ball in and out of the little pool.  And Bo Bo came looking to see what we were doing.  So I picked her up and paddled her paws in the water.

Note to self :  DO NOT TRY THIS AGAIN.

Owwwwwwwweeeeeeeee!!!!  Silly girl, I was only paddling her paws.  She gave me a scratch.  Ouch.

My thoughts are going to areas north of us who are battling bushfires at the moment.

A little snippet from the Emergency website tonight.  All those fires and alerts.

Stay cool friends, and amen to the CFA battling those fires.

Sunday catch up!

Summer has arrived ... at long last!  So nice to be out and about in shorts and t-shirts.  This weekend has been just lovely.

I've well and truly recovered from the Surf T Surf so that's a good thing.  However now my mind is going to the half marathon I've gone and signed up for.  There's a few activities and fun runs before then, but I know I really need to get the miles in my legs now.  So I got up yesterday morning wanting to put in a good training session.

It was a perfect morning on Saturday, the sun was under cloud cover, I was out early and ran the perimeter of town, then did a fair bit of zig zagging on our side of the highway up and down streets, and then the magical km mark passed and I ran it home.

My longest run to date :   13.2 kilometres !!!    Slowly slowly building.  

Not only that but I got set on by two very exuberant dogs who wanted to come running with me.  Two golden retrievers (or hairy labs).  They were harmless and wanted to play and were trying to jump up and one scratched me down the back of my leg, only a wee 5cm or so, but lucky I didn't have my very expensive 2XU compression tights on, or I'd be chasing those darn dogs.  

Although these two were harmless it is one of my big bug bears in this town, and probably many towns.  Too many roaming dogs, or if not roaming, the ability to just run out of their yard.

FENCES PEOPLE!  GATES PEOPLE!  RESPONSIBLE DOG OWNERSHIP PLEASE !!!

So I've been back on the December Daily band wagon, need to get this album finished so I can start on my next project - my USA album and the start of a baby book  :-)    So here's another five pages to thrill and amaze you! ha.  YOu know even though these are simple pages, they're still taking me an age to do!

Credits - Designer Digitals

Righto, there's washing to be taken off the line, dinner to be made and knitting to be done!  Have a great week.

Surf T Surf Round up!

Round up of the Surf T Surf.  What a carnival.  There were record crowds (2000+ runners I believe) and as I looked to the heavens as we made our way to Warrnambool I breathed a sigh of relief.  Not a cloud in the sky.  No rain!!!   It was a BRILLIANT morning for running.  The race was half an hour earlier than other years which worked well.  Only a slight breeze, even better.

Some of the ladies from our wonderful Warrnambool & Surrounds 12wbt group met up as we arrived, there were girls there I didn't even get to catch up with, it was crazy with runners, and yet so well organized.  A quick snap of me and my entourage of one!  Got to love Mike, he's always in my corner.  He was snapping photos of our group so we all had a keepsake of the day.

Some of our fabbo girls, who I love to call "my health and fitness sisters".

Ready, excited, lined up waiting for the start.

We were so lucky with the weather.  No rain for the morning and only a slight breeze.  Thank heavens the expected wind/rain didn't arrive until the afternoon.  Only once did my earphones blow out of my ears as I rounded Liebig into Lava Street. 

I ran my own race, I knew I was back of the pack but that was okay, I also knew I was going faster from the times I was getting on my Runkeeper.  I had to have a few sneaky walks as I didn't quite make it up a couple of the hills.  It's a hilly mean course.  Rocky on my headphones did help me somewhat but even Rocky wasn't enough at the top of Nicholson Street!   I loved that some of my workmates were working point duty and they high fived me as I ran on past (probably not the done thing for police officers directing traffic!!).

As I got to I believe it was the 3km mark, that's where the 6km race runners double back but the 10km route goes out another 4km, I hit that point and I saw one of the 10km runners flying back.  Steve Moneghetti.  It was such a thrill to see him run.  Heck!  It was such a thrill to know I was running the same race as him.  So by that moment he'd already run 4km more than me!  Mind you, just as an aside he came second in the race with 32 mins something, the winner ran 10km in 30 minutes, I kid you not.  FLYING!

So I kept on with my plodding and there was a lass ahead of me, we had played cat and mouse for a while but I ran on by her as she was flagging up a hill.  As I joined back up to that turn around point it was great knowing I only had 3km to go.  The lass I had passed caught up to me and called my name.  Blow me down it was one of our 12wbt group, I hadn't recognised her as she had a cap down low on her head.

From that moment on we ran in tandem Kate and I.  We both had headphones on so lost in our music, at times we would call out to each other, urging each other on.  We powered back that last 3km.  As we came down Cannon Hill (I love that this course finishes on the downhill) we were motoring.  I don't think I'd ever run so fast, a lot of it the impetus of the downward hill, we were calling out to the 6km walkers ahead of us "coming through" or "on your right" so they knew we were behind them.  Down Pertobe Road Hill and a sprint to the finish line.  As we neared we looked at each other, grabbed hands and held them high above our heads and ran over the finish line together and finished with an exhausted hug. 

This is what it's about, the camaraderie, the friendships, the spurring each other on.  It was an amazing feeling.  If Kate hadn't caught me up I maybe would have limped it home.  She's told me likewise for her.  The running together, the almost peer pressure of not wanting to flag, it had it's place.  Official times came in later that day, we crossed the finish line at exactly the same time.  Brilliant. 

Excuse the crazy woman in this photo, we were on a huge high!!

I was ecstatic :  1 hour, 12 minutes, 09 seconds.  My best ever 10km run.  EVER!  I have a PB people.

Okay so the fact I came 7th last we won't go into.  ha!  But it's not about that, it's about goal setting and achieving the goal.  I achieved my personal best time, I achieved the fact I said last year at my very first fun run that I would be back to run the 10km and I did.  I loved it.

And look at my prize!!!!!!  

So funny, as we recovered at the end, I was ready to go stalking the great Mona and as I was walking around the staging area I almost ran slap bang into him.  Mission accomplished.  He is such a wonderful ambassador for the sport.  It wasn't just a matter of take a photo and move on.  He chatted to me about my running goals.  Yes the great marathon runner and world champion Olympic champion amazing Steve Moneghetti was interested in hearing about MY RUNNING!  Woah.  Huge.  Then he chatted to Mike for a little bit too.

And yes, you have just got to love the tropical headpiece Mike had him inadvertently wear in the background! ha.

Then a terrific BBQ breakfast put on by the social club at work - egg & bacon sangers, mmmmm!

And go figure, after all the excitement of Sunday, I end up on the Warrnambool Standard website on Monday.  

And then ended up in the newspaper on Tuesday.  Could the photo be any bigger!!!!  Yikes. 

First fun run of the year - Warrnambool Surf T Surf - big happy tick.

Surf T Surf tomorrow

So tomorrow is the Surf T Surf in Warrnambool, a completely wonderful fun run on the coast.  We have a stack of our local Warrnambool & Surrounds 12wbt crew running or walking the 3km lap of the lake, the 6km or running the 10km.  I think at last count there were 23 of us down in one of the events.  Plus I have a stack of my workmates running too.  So I'll be getting support from every angle.

It's such a feel great event, a real carnival atmosphere.  Although the weather forecast for tomorrow is windy with showers and 80% chance of rain!!!!!   Not good.  It's a hilly course so if that's not enough, having to battle the elements, yuck.  But my nerves have lead way to excitement now.  I can't help Mother Nature.  It will be what it will be and I won't be the only one getting a soaking or a buffeting.

This is my second 10km fun run (the first being the Dunkeld race back in October), so I'm super excited.  Especially now that I ran the course last weekend, so I know where all the dreaded hills are to reserve a bit in the tank.  Who knows how the day will go, I just know I'll have fun with my friends.

Mike did quite a bit of carb loading tonight, in preparation for his crowd participation.  Well the camera is heavy yanno!

So let's see:

• Race gear - check
• Non-wedgie knickers - check
• My favourite socks - check
• Body Glide - a must - check-a-rooni
• Timing chip attached to runners - check
• Camera charged (for Mike) - check
• Playlist specially made and loaded on the iPhone - check
• Dry clothes for the end (if necessary) - grrrr - check
• iPhone so I can stalk Steve Moneghetti for a photo afterwards - did I say that???

I think I'm just about ready.  Funny about the playlist, now that I am liking the whole running with music thing.  I decided to put some more pieces on my iPhone today, so we found a site jog.fm and it lists songs with the beats per minute (and the associated time per kilometre it equated to).  So in his efforts to find me some more pumping songs, he was heading his way down the list and listening to snippets.  He'd press play, then run on the spot in the kitchen to see how it felt.  It was hysterical.  My friend Myra dared me to get him to run to "I'm every woman".  Should have had the video out for that one!

So all good, early night tonight.  I'll catch you on the flip side!

Happy New Year

Midnight last night ...

New neighbours, didn't know what hit them!