You are currently browsing the monthly archive for July, 2007.
Well I’ve been very busy over the last few days doing everything except exercise 
Firstly I want to say Yay to Aleisha for winning Big Brother. I think that she was the best choice and she deserved it totally. 
I went to see CV last night for a massage. Woke up this morning and my whole lower back, glutes and the backs of my legs are sore from all the pummelling. But it feels good in a weird sort of way, if that makes sense. I’m going back next week for another session - sucker for punishment that I am 
Alana and I went to the football on Sunday, along with my Dad (who’s a Crows supporter) to see Essendon play Adelaide at the Telstra Dome. Alana decided that she wanted to sit with the Essendon cheer squad, so we managed to get seats behind the goals. It was very loud but Alana had a great time
Hubby and I have managed to get tickets to see The Police when they play at the MCG on Australia Day. Okay so we’re up in the top level, but we are facing the stage full on, so we should still get a good view, even if we have to use our binoculars to see the stage
We’re also going to see Queen The Musical. I’m not entirely sure if this is a stage show or a band just playing their songs, but either way I’ll get to sing along to all their music and I’m sure we’ll have a blast.
I took these photos the other night as I was leaving work. The sunset was just awesome. I love a good sunset
And don’t you just love this t-shirt. I bought it for Alana to wear. Got it from runningskirts.com if anyone’s interested.
Exercise: 30 Mins Power Walk, Treadmill, 20 mins HiiT session - Bike
I’m actually enjoying the HiiT sessions on the bike, they really give you a good sweat session. While I was on the bike I was watching the Yoga class and they were on their backs the whole time with their legs up in the air. Looked like they were all going to have very sore stomach muscles tomorrow Might have to give the yoga a go one Saturday morning, although I’m a bit confused as to why they’d be doing it with the lights off??
A short but sweet one today
Exercise: 1hr Power Walk - Treadmill
I endured the treadmill for a whole hour this morning. I can now recite every news highlight from every tv channel off by heart I was going to do a body pump class but the treadmill lured me instead.
Had an appointment with the Sports Doc tonight. He did some dry needling. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but it certainly wasn’t what actually happened, that’s for sure. I literally walked into his office, took my shoes and socks off, did a few calf raises then laid on the bed, and he jabbed me three times with needles. I thought it would feel like accupuncute, with no pain, and the first one certainly didn’t hurt. The second one, however, felt like a sharp needle had pierced my skin (which in fact it had!!) and the third one made my muscle contract and felt quite painful. And that was it. I was in and out of his office in 10 minutes with another bill in my hand for $50 
I think I’ll just stick with my massage therapist. At least I know I’m getting my money’s worth when I go to see her!! I did get pressured a little bit into making another appointment with the Sports Doc for another session of Dry needling, but I think I might just cancel the appointment. I really don’t feel as if it’s really done anything, but of course with not being able to run, I can’t really check it out.
I received a letter from Fernwood in the mail today offering me a no contract offer to join Fernwood…I’m a little agitated about that as I am already a fully paid member Why are they sending me letters? How can their database be incorrect. I actually rang up to ask why I’d received this letter and to get them to check their system to confirm that it does actually show that I’m a paid up member, which it did. Must have been a mix up with the admin people I was told. And while I’m on my little soapbox, I have also not received my membership card either. I have a temporary one which I was given when I joined and have now been waiting over 6 weeks for my proper one. I’ve asked nearly every time I go in there if it’s arrived yet, and I’ve had at least 4 people tell me that they’ll chase it up, or they’ll order a new card, but have I had anyone come back to me with an answer or a new card - No, nup, definitely not 
Okay, enough whinging
In the movie The Golden Compass, everyone has a Daemon, which is a persons soul, and lives on the outside of their body.
My Daemon is called Albus
Exercise: 30 Mins Cross Trainer, 20 Mins HiiT Session - Bike
Firstly I have to say a huge HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my wonderful Hubby.
My eye is slowly healing. I’m lucky that it didn’t get too bad and I haven’t got too much of a bruise, just a bit of swelling and some redness where my bags start It only really hurts now if I touch the inner corner of my eye, and I only do that if I need to itch it and forget that it’s sore
I had a physio appointment yesterday, which was enlightening. The girl (and she was just a girl, probably no older than 21 or 22) gave my soleus a good massage, which hurt like hell, and then made me do some calf stretching, which showed that I have hardly any flexibility (nothing I didn’t know already) and she was astounded that I could even run, as it was so bad.
I have do lots of calf raises and dips, and an exercise called the “Drinking Bird” which is used to strengthen the glutes. It takes a bit of practice, but feels quite effective.
Okay, so I better let you all know how much I paid out for the treatment last week. For my Sports Doc consultation, ultrasound, xrays and yesterday’s physio appointment, I have forked out $436.65 I cannot believe that a 5 minute ultrasound appointment (and it was literally 5 minutes) cost me $187.75.
When I went to Medicare to claim, all I got back out of the $436.65 was $186.35. So it actually cost ME, out of my own pocket, $250.30 On the receipt that I got when they gave me back the money, it shows in a separate column how much the scheduled fee should have been, and I see that it’s not the government who is ripping me off but the radiology place and the doctor. How can they justify this? How can they get away with this? Why do we have to pay for the excess? Just not fair
Okay, rant over
When I went and saw Harry Potter on the weekend, there was also a preview of a new movie coming out called The Golden Compass. It’s a movie that I’ve added to my list of must see movies. Won’t be out until Christmas time though. The movie is from a book called “His Dark Materials - The Golden Compass”. There are 3 books in the set and it’s written by Philip Pullman. Might have to go and find it at the library and have a read before the movie is released.
Em, forgot to mention that Daniel Craig is the leading male 
Kathy, thought I’d better explain a bit more about Alana’s quote. She had just had a filling and her mouth was numb. She was looking inside to see if she could tell where the needle had been put into her gum and noticed the inside of her cheek
Alana’s Quote: “Mum I’m just not in the right frame of mind at the moment!”
Exercise: Weights (Triceps, Biceps, Chest), Situps
Yes everyone, you can call me a Doofus!! I had an unfortunate accident yesterday morning. I was trying to get to the back door to put the recycled rubbish into the recycling bin and had to step very carefully around our dining table, which is on it’s side at the moment, with the legs sticking out, due to Hubby laying more tiles in the dining area. I was concentrating on trying not to step on any that had just been laid, as they hadn’t yet set, and walked straight into one of the dining table legs
I am now sporting an ever growing bruise around my right eye. It looks as if somebody has punched me. I am very lucky that I’ve not suffered any real damage to the eye, which is amazing considering how hard I actually hit it. There is a small cut near my nose, but nothing too bad. I did see stars for a minute though I may take a photo tonight (just to embarass myself a bit more!!).
This morning’s gym session was pretty non-eventful. Just some weights and some situps. My shins are a little bit tender from doing all the walking on Sunday, as are my hip flexors. It’s amazing how quickly our muscles stiffen up if we aren’t using them constantly.
I have decided that I am NOT going to watch Australian Idol this year. I’ve enjoyed watching Big Brother, but don’t want to get suckered into watching Idol as well. I’d rather spend the time going to the gym, which is what I am hoping to do. At least I know the gym will be fairly quiet at these times.
Aaaghhh, have just received an email saying that there is a chocolate charity box in the kitchen…..note to self - keep away from kitchen!!
Alana’s Quote: “It looks like an old persons wrinkles” (she was explaining what the inside of her mouth looked like!)
Exercise: 12km Power Walk - Lilydale Lake (7’s Yellow)
Oh what a glorious morning for a walk. The only down side was that I had to scrape the ice off my car before I could drive down to Lilydale Lake. I had 3 layers on this morning and my fingerless gloves. I also wore my sun visor that I’d bought from the Gold Coast Marathon. I think that’s the best $20 I’ve spent in a long time as it’s a wool one and kept my ears nice and toasty.
After I’d done the first lap I had to take off my long sleeve top and the gloves as I got warm very quickly. Then it was another 2 laps of the lake, also incorporating the wetlands which added some more distance.
Originally I was going to walk along the Warby Trail, but decided that Lilydale Lake would be a better alternative as I wasn’t sure how far I was going to be able to walk and the car would be close by in case I had to bale early. It also meant that I didn’t have to carry water etc with me as I could leave it in the car and just stop at the car if I needed to hydrate. It also meant that I didn’t have to squat in the bush if I needed to go
It was very busy at the lake, with every man and his dog out there. I have to say that there are some people who have no idea how inconsiderate they are. So I’ll give you an example (yes it’s my whinge for the day!!). The path around the lake is fairly wide, but certainly not wide enough for anyone to pass a family of 6 adults, 3 prams and 2 small children walking alongside the prams. They literally took up the whole of the path, with no thought or consideration as to how anyone else was going to get past them. Luckily they decided to stop and look at the ducks as I got near them, but it wasn’t until somebody coming the other way had to walk right around them on to the grass verge that they actually moved the pushers off the path, as they’d just left them in the middle of it and walked the kids over to the fence to see the ducks a bit more closely
I’ve put my compression socks on again today to make sure that the calves recover. My hips are feeling a little bit sore now, but I did stride out alot (well as far as my little legs could take them) and I did a few hills too - not big ones, but they were still hills
Have been to see Harry Potter & The Order of The Phoenix this afternoon. Thorougly enjoyed it too. And what was all the hooha about the new book yesterday? I went to Eastland in the afternoon and walked into Angus & Robertson, expecting it to be very crowded with people wanting to buy the book, and there was nobody in there, and loads of books on the shelves. Why were all these people up at the crack of dawn, queuing to buy the book at 9am when the shops opened, when they could have stayed in bed and saved themselves all the hassle, and gone out to buy it at a normal time of the day, without the crowds?? I don’t get it?
Exercise: Spin Class
Don’t you just love a spin class where you can sing along to all the songs Not sure if I mentioned it or not, but all the songs that we spin along to are 80’s songs and of course I knew ALL of them, although Bon Jovi and Poison were a bit hardcore for the class IMHO!!
The calf felt fine after the class, and I had a light bulb moment afterwards When I flew back to Australia in 2002, I bought some compression socks for the plane flight and they’ve been sitting in my sock drawer ever since, so I put them on and they have done wonders for my calves today. Not sure why I didn’t think of this before, as they’re perfect for sore, tired calves Em, I may even follow your lead and run in them too (when I get back to running).
I went and did my supermarket shopping today and being the organised person that I am, I always load the conveyor belt so that it’s easy to pack all the right things in the right bags (I have green bags). Unfortunately today I had Mr Stupid on the checkout, who had no idea how to pack bags properly. I had to remind him that all the cold food should be packed in the cool bag that I’d provided him with and also for him to put all my cleaning products in a separate bag to my food products. Do the supermarkets not teach their staff how to pack bags properly? If not, why not? It’s only common sense really isn’t it? I mean, how hard is it to pack all the boxed stuff together and all the soft stuff together?
And while we’re in a whinging mood, why do people move right to the front of the checkout with their trolley or pusher before the previous person has finished their transaction. I had to physically push this woman’s pram back so that I could get to the card machine to pay for my shopping….come on people - please think about what a pain in the a*se you are!!
Okay, I’m off to Vodafone Arena with Michelle to watch Australia V New Zealand in Netball.
Alana’s Quote: “Yes but that’s not the point Mum!”
Exercise: 30 Mins Cross Trainer, 15 Mins Power Walk - Treadmill
D Day today…..but before I went to the Sports Doctor I thought I’d just try to run on the treadmill one more time just to make sure that the calf was still sore - and of course it still hurt. Not for the first couple of minutes mind you. No, it was once I’d upped the speed a little and put an incline on the treadmill. Looking back in hindsight, that probably wasn’t the best thing to do. When the treadmill was flat, the pain wasn’t there at all, but any kind of gradient and it hurts. Damn
The Doc had a look, had a bit of a feel, made me jump up and down, made me run on the treadmill (for all of about 5 seconds until it started hurting) then also mentioned in passing that I had a dirty big vein sticking out of my calf
Then he made an appointment for me to get an ultrasound and an xray for later today. So I trot off back to work and just as I’m sitting down at my desk I get a phone call from the Radiology place asking if I can come in at 2pm (I was meant to be there at 3.30pm), so I quickly eat something (luckily I have little bags of muesli in my drawer) and then jump in the car and get myself down to the Radiology place.
Once I’ve had the ultrasound and x-ray I have to then head back to work. I was asked by the Doc to come straight back over once I’d got the xrays etc, but I was told that the Radiologist is about 1.5 hours behind, so I had to go back later to pick the results up. I decided that I’d wait until the Radiology place is nearly closing and then go straight over to the Docs place. This also meant that I could finish work early
So I go pick up the results and once I’m back in the Docs office he has a quick look and confirms the worst…..Yep, I have a tear in my soleus 
I’ve got an appointment with the Sports Physio on Tuesday and then back to the Doc on Friday for some Dry Needling.
The Doc has, however, said that I can do any other sport that doesn’t involve me having to go up and down on my toes, so I can still power walk, do spin classes, use the bike, crosstrainer and the ski machine thingy. And of course there’s always my best friends, WEIGHTS!!
I also want to get a second opinion from CV (not about what’s wrong but about recovery). Having just done a google search about Soleus muscle tears, most of what’s written is what CV told me I should be doing when I went and saw her 3 weeks ago
Oh well, at least now I know what’s really wrong, not just guessing. And I can still do the majority of exercise that I enjoy, so it’s not all bad.
So, who wants to guess how much today’s little outing cost me? For whoever gets the closest, I’ll send you a packet of Sports Jelly Beans (well I’m not going to need them any time soon am I!!).
Sadly it also means that I won’t have enough time to get properly fit and ready for the Half Marathon in October Someone else will have to take over driving the booze bus - any takers? I may still do the 10km if I’m given the nod nearer the time.
Alana’s Quote: “Mum, what IS wrong with you today” (I was singing a silly song)
Exercise: 30 Min Power Walk (Treadmill), 10 Min HiiT session (Bike), Situps
My motivation has gone AWOL again
I have had every intention of getting up and going to the gym every day this week but unfortunately it just hasn’t happened, mainly because I’ve been sitting up late of an evening and then feeling too tired when the alarm goes off at 5.45am. This morning I was determined that it wasn’t going to happen again, so as soon as I woke up I just got out of bed before my brain could try and coax me into going back to sleep!!
My body is screaming at me from the inside “Run, run, run” whenever I get on the treadmill and I have to really fight the urge not to up the pace. I’m also paranoid that I’ll do more damage if I do run.
My appointment is tomorrow with the Sports Doctor and I am hoping like crazy that he’s going to tell me lots of good things, not bad ones I just want to be able to run, that’s all. Not too much to ask really is it??
Michelle has bought me a fantastic book. It’s called the Diet & Exercise Diary and it’s got a year’s worth of pages in it, so I can track and write all about my food, exercise, moods etc. I think that Michelle bought it from Avon. Haven’t seen it anywhere else though.
Weight is still an issue. Must pull my finger out and get that blood test done that I spoke about last week.
Now what’s the deal with all the freezing cold weather?? I know that it’s winter and all but for goodness sake, does it have to be THIS cold If the cloud ever lifts off the top of Mt Dandenong, I’m sure that I’ll be able to see the snow that’s been falling there. It’s literally on my back door step!! I even had to pull my winter coat out to wear because I was absolutely freezing.
I suppose there is some good in not being able to run…..not having to run in this freezing cold weather - I can just hear myself going on and on about how cold it was if I was running. I’ve spared you all my whinging and whining
I’ve found a great circuit program which takes 4 minutes - yep, 4 minutes all up. I suppose you could do however many circuits of it to make up the minutes, but it’s pretty intense as it is. It’s by a guy called Ryan Lee. I subscribed to something of his ages ago and I get these emails with different exercises to do. The 4 minute circuit one really caught my eye as the exercises are very basic so even I can do them without too much difficulty
Does anyone watch Ugly Betty? I never got into it when it started and of course if I don’t see the first episodes then I don’t bother watching it at all. Luckily my Dad has downloaded the whole series (so far) and I now have 23 episodes to watch I’ve managed to get through the first 15 and I’ve really enjoyed them. Just need to find the time to watch the rest of the episodes now!!
Exercise: 23.5km Bike Ride
When I went to bed last night I could hear the rain on the next door neighbours garage roof….not something I really wanted to hear considering I’d agreed to cycle with Michelle this morning while she did her long run.
Luckily the rain had passed when I got up. Met Michelle at Westerfolds Park and we made our way onto the Yarra Trail. It was quite chilly so I was rugged up with my skins under my trakkie pants, my gloves, scarf and my lovely warm sun visor that I’d bought from the Gold Coast Marathon. I’d also been really smart and made up a thermos of coffee which I put in the rucksack….great idea J, if I do say so myself
Didn’t take too long to warm up as there were hills spaced out fairly evenly along the trail. It was quite busy too. One thing that really ticked me off were these stupid men on their racing bikes who came zipping up behind us without any warning. Is there something wrong with their bells - did they even have bells on their bikes? It got to the point where I’d yell out “BELL” everytime one of them flew past me without any warning. Luckily I have good hearing and knew when they were behind me so I could move over!
I did something that maybe in hindsight I shouldn’t have done When we got back to the car park I did a really small run (maybe 15 seconds) to see how my calf was. Now just to get some perspective on this, I have not run at all since the 26th June. There is no pain in my calf at all now and I can stretch without any kind of twinge. I can also use the stepper, cross trainer, bike, and walk on the treadmill with no problems at all. However after running for that 15 seconds I could feel the pull in my calf again. And this evening it is quite tender too
My appointment with the Sports Doctor is this Friday so I’ll take my trainers along so that he can see what happens when I run (if he wants me to do this). I’m just so frustrated now…..OMG, what if I can’t ever run again Nope, just doesn’t bear thinking about!
I had a bit of disappointing news on Thursday. I’d applied for a job a couple of weeks ago as a Trainer for EDMS (Electronic Document Management Systems). I had a phone call to say that I wasn’t successful, which was a bit disappointing as the job was in the CBD and I was hoping to be able to do some running around the tan if I’d got the job…..that’s if I ever get to run again!
As you can probably tell, I’ve not done any exercise since Tuesday. I haven’t felt very well for the last few days and I had Thursday off work as my head felt like it was going to explode. All of my sinus passages were so blocked up that it was painful to breathe, and I could only really do that through my mouth. In the past I used to take a couple of Actifed tablets, but because Actifed had quite a high dose of Sudoephedrine in it, they are not making it any more, so I’m stuck with Sudofed, which really doesn’t do much at all.
I’m planning on getting to the gym for an early Spin class in the morning so I’d better get myself off to bed soon so that I get some decent sleep. Night all
Alana’s Quote: “Aah, what lovely bum perfume I have!”
Exercise: 30 Mins Power Walk (Treadmill), 25 Mins Cross Trainer
I’ve made an appointment to see the Sports Doctor. I’m now at that point where I’m actually too scared to run in case it hurts. Hopefully he’ll be able to pinpoint what’s actually wrong!
My biggest concern at the moment is that I’ve signed up for the Melbourne Half Marathon and if I don’t get back out there running soon I’m going to really struggle to complete it comfortably
Don’t know about anywhere else, but it was mighty foggy around here this morning. The strange thing was that I took Alana to Vacation Care and as we drove up the highway onto higher ground the fog lifted and it was a beautiful sunny morning. Turning around and heading back down the highway to work there was this huge cloud of fog blanketing the whole area. It took until lunch time for it to clear
It’s busy at work today (makes a change) and of course I’m now way behind because I’m not used to working hard
Exercise: Weights, 30 Min power walk (Treadmill), 10 Min HiiT Session (Bike), Situps
I felt like I really utilised the time I had at the gym today. There wern’t too many people there so I didn’t have to wait for any equipment and I could pretty much hog all the weights area. I considered doing a high energy class that was starting while I was there, but I’m still not too sure how the calf would take all the jumping up and down so decided against it. I came away from the gym feeling exhausted but also exhilerated that I was so exhausted (does that make sense?).
I got myself ready for the Ausrun meet up. Hubby drove me down to the station and I met Hobbles on the platform. Em jumped on the train a little further down the line. It was wonderful to meet everyone over at the Transport Bar, especially those that I hadn’t met before. After a couple of drinks we headed on down to The Pub at Crown. I thought that the drinks would have been much cheaper than at The Transport Bar, but I was wrong. They were only a little bit cheaper
With 8 women at the table there was alot of chatter, alot of laughing and definitely alot of drinking. JoJo had her camera, so I’m sure that there will be lots of incriminating photos being posted on the Ausrun forum soon Happy to say that I’m not feeling too bad after all the bourbon that I’ve drunk, but will definitely need to have a big drink of water before I go to bed.
I got home just in time to hear Gretel say “It’s time to go…..Michelle!” YAY!! She was mean, that one!
Alana’s Quote: “Oh Mum, now you’ve made me look hideous!” (I only cut her fringe a little bit so that she could see!)
Exercise: Spin Class
I thoroughly enjoyed this class. Calf felt good - no pain at all.
I took Alana to Roller Skating and then went up to town and saw Disney On Ice - Finding Nemo with a couple of her friends from Roller Skating. I (foolishly) paid out $23 for a plastic sword with a Disney sticker on it (which Alana proceeded to peel off as soon as she got the sword). How can the people selling this merchandise justify charging these amounts for a piece of plastic? And why do us fools get conned into buying it
It was absolutely freezing cold and raining when we walked out of Rod Laver Arena. We stood and waited for a tram, but after 20 minutes and only one tram (which was full and couldn’t fit anyone else in) went by, we decided to walk back to Richmond Station. And of course we then had to contend with all the footy crowd who were coming out of the MCG at the same time. Needless to say it was a bit of a (wet) crush in the train.
Was very happy to get home and put my feet up for the evening.
Exercise: Pump Class
I had almost talked myself out of doing the pump class when my alarm went off this morning. The thought process went something like this:
I’m way too tired to get out of bed, so I’ll just turn the alarm off and close my eyes again.
I can go to the gym at lunch time and do some weights.
I might be able to get back down there after work to do some cardio if Hubby takes Alana to Squash with him and I can pick her up when I’m finished.
Don’t be stupid J, you won’t go at lunch time as you want to go to the Library and the Post Office.
You probably won’t go after work either as you’ll want to sit down comfortably and watch Big Brother and Friday Night Games.
So just get up now, seeing as you’re awake and get down that gym!!
Which I did
I just hope that I don’t seize up like I did last weekend. Probably need to remember to stretch tonight.
Forgot to mention that I hopped on the treadmill yesterday for 30 seconds, just before I walked out of the gym, to check how the calf is feeling. Still not good I could feel it pulling as soon as I started to run,and I didn’t want to do any more than 30 seconds in case I caused any more damage. What I might do is put my trainers on tonight and do a quick run up the street to see if maybe it’s the treadmill that’s aggravating it. If not, then I may have to get myself down to the Sports Doctor for him to check it out.
On a happier note, how amazing is it that the water storage levels have risen back up to nearly 32%, and in such a short period of time too. Hopefully this will mean that we don’t have to move to Stage 4 restrictions!
Exercise: 20 Mins Bike, 10 Minutes Stepper
I did a HIIT session on the bike this morning. I wanted to see how hard it is on the bike. Michelle and I have done it whilst running and it’s pretty hard work and I have to admit that the bike is just as hard. I warmed up for 5 minutes, then did the 8 second fast, 12 second recovery for 7 minutes straight, then had a 2 minute cruise, then back into it for the last 6 minutes. It felt good at the end.
Had a bit of trouble once I got on the stepper though. I only got 10 minutes through the program and I had to stop. Was feeling very faint and shaky so had to get off. Took me a little while to recover. Made the decision not to continue, so did some situps instead. Not sure why I felt like this, maybe because of the exertion on the bike?
Forgot to mention something that happened at the airport on the way home. We were just going through the bit where you get your bag scanned before you can get into the departure lounge and I’d already had the bag scanned and then just as I was about to move on this security woman calls me over and wants to do a drug swab search on me and my bag
Why did she pick on me? Do I look like a druggie? Luckily it came up clear (phew).
I’m hooked on a new type of Yoghurt. It’s called Blissfull. It’s actually Fromage Frais rather than Yoghurt and it’s just divine. I’ve tried the Mulberry and the Passionfruit one and they’re both lovely. Got them in Safeway.
Exercise: 30 Mins Power Walk (Treadmill), 20 Mins Cross Trainer (7’s Blue)
Made myself get up and get down the gym this morning. I feel tired and sluggish. It was relatively quiet down there too, probably because it’s school holidays.
I’ve started a manual diary which keeps note of what I eat, how much I weigh and what exercise I do each day. I keep it in my bag so that I don’t forget anything. Not sure what I want to achieve from keeping the diary, but it’s good to write everything down. I think it was Em that said by writing everything down it keeps you a bit more honest
I’m going to book a doctor’s appointment to get a referral to get a blood test to get my hormone levels checked. I’m really starting to despair about this extra weight I’m carrying.
Exercise: Saturday - 7.5km Power Walk (7’s Blue)
Sunday - Loads of walking
It seems so long ago already! Grab a cuppa and put your feet up as this is going to be a long post.
Michelle and I had a wonderful time in Qld. It was about 4.30pm when we landed at Coolangatta and it was a beautiful sunny afternoon. So different from the weather in Melbourne that we’d left behind, that’s for sure!! The view from the plane when we got our first view of the coast was just amazing.
We managed to get our bags without too much effort, then picked up the keys to the hire car (a little Getz) and made our way out onto the highway - and joined the peak hour traffic heading up the coast I’m sure it never used to be THAT busy!
Having lived on the Gold Coast for nearly 4 years from 1989 to 1992, I was pretty confident that I knew how to get to the Caravan Park that we were staying at. And it didn’t take us long to chuck all our gear inside the cabin then head off to find food and alcohol We settled back in comfortably for the evening to watch Big Brother.
Saturday dawned a bit overcast, but there were glimpses of blue sky amongst the cloud. I was having a few problems actually moving my limbs as they had gone into lockdown due to the Pump class that I’d done the day before.
We decided to get out fairly early and go for a power walk to help the poor muscles and also to keep Michelle’s legs ticking over. It was so nice to walk next to the beach, enjoying the view and trying to find the place where we were going to meet Schtumpy and Tiger Boy for lunch after the Marathon. Loved the Pelicans, who were so close to the edge of the water.
Once back we had a bit of down time while we read the paper and had brekky. We then showered, dressed and headed over to Harbour Town, which was literally next door to the Caravan Park 
We had only entered one shop when we got a call from Schtumpy to say that he was down at the Marathon Expo, so we turned around and headed back to the car to make our way down there.
Met up with Schtumpy and also bumped into Tiger Boy and his family in the Expo tent while Michelle was getting her race pack. We headed back over to Australia Fair Shopping Centre and met Schtumpys wife Julie and her friend Emily and sat down to have a good natter and a MilkShake (which took over 30 minutes to arrive at the table )
Drove back over to Harbour Town so that we could finish what we started. If you’ve never been to Harbour Town it’s massive, and was full of outlets with huge SALE signs. If only I needed more handbags, shoes and clothes Met Emma while we there and got to meet her sister too. She pointed us in the direction of Converse, but was a bit disappointed as they were nearly out of their range of Saucony trainers. The sales girl said that once they’d sold all the old Saucony trainers they were getting in a whole new range. Looking forward to that
Decided to go to the Cinema that evening so that Michelle had something to concentrate on other than the Marathon. We watched Clubland, whch was okay….nothing really to write home about though. We also ate dinner at Fasta Pasta, and bought pick’n'mix from a fantastic lolly shop just around the corner from the cinema. Anyone ever had choc coated Strawberry Creams - YUM!
The alarm goes off at 5am and we’re both up and organised before 5.30am (that’s a first for me!!). Even at 5.45am there’s a huge queue of traffic trying to get into the car park. To be fair, it was fairly orderly and the queue moved pretty quickly. As soon as we walked into the Shopping Centre (we were parked in the Shopping Centre car park) realised that Gloria Jeans was open - YAY!!! So with a large Skinny Latte in hand, we wandered around to the Food Court, which is where alot of people were milling around. As usual the queue for the Ladies toilet was out the door
Wandered over to the start line so that we could see the Half Marathoners take off and then it was Michelles turn. Once she’d run off, I wandered back over to the shops and grabbed a Boost Juice (Banana Buzz - YUM!) and then decided to walk down towards Surfers. The sun was out and it was just wonderful. Sat for a while admiring the view right on the edge of the water (there was a lovely seating area).
Walked back up to the 26km mark and saw Tiger Boy race by looking great, followed shortly after by Schtumpy, also looking good. Somehow or other I missed Michelle running past, even though I was looking the whole time. I videod all the 3.45 bus, 4hr bus, 4.15 bus and the 4.30 bus but she wasn’t in any of them (For anyone who doesn’t know, a bus is just a pacer with lots of people running behind him trying to keep up!) Caught up with Em, who was there to support her Brother and Sister. She hadn’t seen Michelle go by either! I was hoping dearly that nothing bad had happened to her and she’d pulled out.
In no time at all the first of the Marathoners were crossing the finish line, so I found a good spot and waited for everyone to run past. Schtumpy ran past first, looking very relaxed. Then Tiger Boy passed, unfortunately not looking in great condition. I raced back to the car and grabbed Michelle’s bag with all her after Marathon stuff in it, and couldn’t get back to the same spot in time to see her pass by. I raced around to where they all come spilling out of the chutes after they’ve been given their medal and t-shirt and caught up with her there.
And how proud am I of this woman. She went up there with a goal of doing the Marathon in under 4 hours and that’s just what she did. 3 hrs 57 mins something! There’s nothing that this woman can’t do, she’s just awesome
It was then a dip in the water for her tired legs, a change of clothes and then we drove up to where we were having lunch. Because the main road was closed for the Marathon, we had to try and navigate around back streets to park close to the cafe (which was on the road that was closed ). Finally got there!!
After lunch we drove back to the cabin and chilled out for a while. Walked over to Harbour Town to get something for dinner and then relaxed in the cabin and watched Big Brother. A fairly early night too.
Unfortunately my internal alarm clock woke me up at 6am, so I laid in bed watching the sun come up (it rises earlier in Qld) and listened to all the noisy birds. Once we were both up we packed up, ate brekky and drove back down to the airport…..okay, we stopped at Jupiters Casino for a little flutter on the way to the airport
The weather was wonderful. I didn’t want to get on the plane to come home, I wanted to find a nice beer garden somewhere on the beach and sit down in the sun and just stay there!! I remember now why I loved living up there
In the words of The Terminator - “I’ll be back!”
