You are currently browsing the monthly archive for October, 2007.
Exercise: 10km Run - Treadmill (8’s)
Hubby has changed his hours and is now starting work very early which means that I am now changing my exercise to an evening apart from Bootcamp.
I’m not sure how this will work as I’m really not an evening person when it comes to exercising. I’m hoping that with the warmer weather and daylight savings, my will to exercise will kick in 
I dropped Alana at Cubs tonight and headed over to the gym. I haven’t really done a prope run since last Friday so decided that the Treadmill was my equipment of choice.
It was hard work. Why is running on a treadmill always such hard work?
A new pair of Hurricane 8’s came out of hibernation tonight. Very comfortable they were too. I think that the 6’s are now ready for retirement. They’ve done me well and I’ve probably got close to 900km out of them. They are still in really good condition but I’m not sure how supportive they still are. Saying that I’ve had absolutely no problems with them at all. They will now become my gardening trainers.
My boss brought me some lovely flowers today. She just wanted to say thankyou for all the work I’ve done for her. How sweet is that To be honest all I’ve done is what I’m paid to do, so maybe she’s buttering me up for something 
Maybe I’m going to get dumped with a ton of extra work soon (she’s going on Maternity leave at the end of January). Hmmm!
For anyone who doesn’t know, my favourite colour is Purple. (The flowers from my boss were purple, as was the wrapping paper and the ribbon!!). Look what Sony Ericsson have brought out now.
How could they do this to me when I’ve just got a new phone 
Exercise: Bootcamp - Day 9
I’ve decided that I’d like to do Bootcamp every day. That way I don’t have to think about organising my exercise, it’s all done for me. It would also get me out of bed early every morning
The group, which started out with about 20 of us, was down to 8 this morning. I’m not sure if alot of the ladies got caught out with daylight savings or they’ve just had enough. I just think it’s a waste of money and if they wern’t going to commit, they shouldn’t have signed up. I just hope that there wasn’t anyone on a waiting list who didn’t get to join because it was full.
Tunnel ball was this morning’s warm up activity. This also included a different exercise each time we got to the turn around point. And we also had to do a plank movement on the last game whilst the person who had the ball was running up to the end and back.
Next on the agenda was a game of Tug Of War. The rope was the most horrible synthetic one that I’m sure they could find as it absolutely burnt the hands every time it slipped. Yowsies!!
Still in teams of four, we then had to pair up and whilst two people were doing some kind of exercise ( squats, crunches, lunges, burpees, pushups) the other pair had to run from the middle of the oval to the goal posts and back.
Finally we had some ab work. Loads of different exercises. Enough to let you know that you’ve worked those muscles hard. Trying not to laugh too much today
I had a wonderful day yesterday. I went on a Shopping Tour
I thought that I was quite restrained. The only place where I could have gone a little bit OTT was Fila, and even then I really kept myself in check.
And you won’t believe that I left Champagne on the table as we had to leave quickly……Yep, here’s the evidence. Took this photo just as we were walking out the door. (okay going to have to upload later as Flickr is not playing nice today!).
Exercise: 14.1km Walk/Run - Local Streets (7’s Blue)
I wanted to be out the door this morning by 6am as I knew it was going to be a warm day, and I also had to be home by 9am to take Alana to Roller Skating.
Unfortunately I didn’t get out until 6.15am. I didn’t allow enough time to eat breakfast, so it took me a bit longer to get ready than it normally does (I don’t normally eat breakfast before I exercise in the morning). Porridge takes a while to cool down 
I’d worked out last night that I could run to my parent’s house, have a toilet stop and then continue on my way. Unfortunately my Mum was in a very chatty mood, and whereas I’d allowed about 10 minutes for my stop, by the time my Mum had shown me all her new plants in the garden and chatted about nothing inparticular (apart from telling me that I didn’t look as PUFFY as I had been lately ), I’d been there for nearly 25 minutes.
This meant that I had to cut my walk short so that I could get home in time. Oh well, I’m sure I can make it up somewhere.
When I was picking Alana up from After School Care last night, I noticed these beautiful roses by the school church and just had to take a photo.
Exercise: 10km Run - Local Streets (7’s Yellow)
A pretty slow 10km run this morning with Michelle. Unfortunately my shins are giving me a little bit of grief still and I could feel them the whole time I was running. I did give them a really good massage last night as I was rubbing the Arnica cream into them and I can feel lots of little knuckles of something. I know that CV usually pushes down pretty hard on them and they hurt like crazy when she first does it and then the pain subsides. I tried doing this but ended up clinging to the ceiling as it hurt a little bit too much. It’s mainly on my left shin, just off to the side (Em, please don’t say it….I can hear you already )
Has anyone heard of Seacret Cosmetics? They had a stand at both Chirnside and Eastland (and I believe they have them in many other shopping centres too). Anyway I’d walked past the stand a few times over the last couple of weeks and had been able to avoid the sales people, but this one time I got caught. Anyway this girl grabbed my hand and started examining my nails. She then pulls out this buffer and starts buffing them, all along reeling out her spiel. Well I look down at my nails when she’s finished and they are absolutely gleaming. They were so shiny just from the buffing. I was sucked in. I bought a pack, including nail buffer, body cream, cuticle oil and emery board. Really I just wanted the nail buffer but of course they don’t sell them separately so had to buy the pack to get it.
Even now, after 2 weeks my nails still have a shine on them and they are really smooth. You’re only supposed to rebuff them about every 3 weeks. Personally I would say money well spent :-).
The sunset on Tuesday night. Unfortunately I couldn’t get a good view, so this is the best I could do.
Exercise: Bootcamp - Day 8
Half way through Bootcamp now. The last 4 weeks has really flown by!
We’ve been so lucky with the weather. No rain at all since we started. Unfortunately the other group who do Bootcamp in the evenings have copped some pretty awful weather.
We warmed up with some Scarecrow Tiggy. Why do so many women squeal and shreik when someone is chaing after them
Then it was on to a team game. We had to do more survival runs. Run to the first cone, do 10 pushups, then back to the start, then run to the 2nd cone and do 10 pushups, then run back, then run to the third cone……you get the picture. We did pushups, then we did treads, and lastly, our favourite, burpees
Unfortunately on all 3 occasions our team came last so we also had to a minute’s worth of lunges, then a minutes worth of crunches, followed by a minutes worth of squats!
This was then followed by a circuit (I love circuits ). There were about 15 stations with different exercises. We had to perform each one for 40 seconds, then jog around the outside of the circuit (it was in a big circle) to the next exercise.
We finished up with a little speed work. We had to sprint to a cone about 100 metres away, then do 10 burpees, sprint back to the start, do 8 burpees, then back to the cone and do 6 burpees etc etc. Yep, that just about finished off the legs
Michelle and I are doing a shopping tour on Sunday, so Michelle is going to stay at my place on Saturday night as the bus leaves at 7.45am. Better put my drinking hat somewhere handy 
Alana’s Quote: “Mum I don’t want to be like everyone else!”
Exercise: Weights, Skipping, Situps
The alarm goes off just after 5.30am. I wake up. I don’t want to get out of bed. I’m still feeling really tired. I turn off the alarm. I lay in bed willing myself to go back to sleep. It doesn’t happen. I get up and go to the gym as I intended originally
Does anyone else love skipping as much as me? I could happily skip for ages, apart from the fact that my shins start to get sore. I grabbed one of the skipping ropes and headed into the aerobic room this morning (it was empty) after I’d done my weights.
I think with skipping you have to find just the right song with the right tempo to suit your skipping style and then just go for it. I skipped through 2 tracks. The first was a dance version of Umbrella by Rihanna and the other track was Beware of the Dog by Jamelia. They both had the perfect tempo for me and I found it really easy just to skip along to the beat. I would have liked to skip for longer but unfortunately didn’t have enough time.
I mentioned on JH’s blog that if I hear a song on the radio that I like the sound of, I’ll jump onto Emule and see if I can find a dance version of it. I’ve found loads of songs that have been remixed with a faster tempo, which is great for running to. As I mentioned to JH, I like the sound of Britney’s new song and am downloading about 8 remixes to see if there’s one that I can add to my playlist of running songs (gotta be at the right tempo).
I forgot to add these photos from the Melbourne Marathon.
This is me, Michelle and Andrew. We’d only just got to the MCG.
And here is me and Michelle with Tigerboy, Chilliman and a CR, who’s name I can’t remember 
Okay, I must get off this computer. I have lots of things I need to do before I go to bed
Alana’s Quote: “Mum do you know how to sew?”
Exercise: Bootcamp - Day 7
Well I don’t know about anyone else but I slept really well last night, despite the heat, and I slept under the doona too I think I’m one of those really lucky people who just don’t feel the heat as much as others. I do, however feel the cold and I’m not looking forward to the weather when we go back to the UK. I’m going to need all of my luggage space and also most of Hubbys and Alanas to put all my winter clothes in
So on to Bootcamp. I thoroughly enjoyed this morning’s session. Once again we started with a game of tag, which warmed us all up more than we already were, given how humid it was already at 6am!
Then we had to do repeats of the following, between two cones, which were about 100 metres apart. Firstly, we had to sprint from one cone to the other, then jog back. We did this 3 times. Then it was side lunge things (can’t remember what it’s called). This we did twice, there and back on each leg.
Following that it was high knees up to the end, and bum kicks back. Twice for that too. Lastly it was running backwards, up and back twice. We then got to have a quick drink and then we repeated the above
We then walked over to the middle of the oval and there were some furry dice. On the other side of the oval were 6 cones, each one representing a number on the dice. So depending on which number we rolled, we had to jog over to that cone and proceed to do whatever exercise represented that number.
You can imagine my joy at doing 50 dips followed by 100 situps, then 40 squats, 50 treads, 40 chinups (using the rail that runs around the perimeter of the oval). 50 skiing jumps, 50 treads and 40 jumping lunges, ending with 40 burpees
Then it was a cool down jog around the oval, alternating between star jumps, bum kicks, high legs and side running.
I really do enjoy these kind of sessions, where the heart rate is raised continuously. Makes me feel like I’ve actually worked hard
Want to say a HUGE thankyou to M for her generous donation to our Oxfam Trailwalker campaign. I’d like to also say thankyou to everyone else who has donated, especially the people whose names I don’t know
Exercise: 19.5km Walk/Run - Local Area (7’s Blue)
What a fantastic morning (okay those of you who would prefer it to be 2 degrees, I shake my head at you ). I got up, ate some brekky, chucked some stuff into my rucksack and was out the door by 7.30am. Even at that time I knew it was going to be a warm one.
Originally I was going to drive up to the start of the Warby Trail and walk 11km and then turn back, but changed my mind at the last minute (so like me!!) and decided to just walk from home, do a few hills and then make my way to MM. I liked the fact that I had to walk past McDonalds at around the 8km mark, which gave me the opportunity to go to the loo and rehydrate.
At about the 14km mark I added some running to the equation. The legs felt a bit strange at first as they must use different muscles to walking. It took about 500 metres before I actually got any kind of rythmn going, and then it was just a shuffle. I think all up I ran about 4.5km and walked 15km.
Unfortunately I don’t think I hydrated enough afterwards, as I felt a headache coming on just before I was taking Alana to a fundraising skate late this afternoon and I had to endure 2 hours of loud music and disco lights I got home and literally ran to the medicine cupboard for some Advil!
Between you and me I’ve bought a new pair of trainers In my defence they are PURPLE!!
Exercise: 9.6km Run - MMCT (7’s Yellow)
I decided not to run yesterday morning as my groin was really sore, so I texted Michelle with my apologies, then toddled off back to bed. The thought did enter my head that maybe I could head down the gym and do a pump class instead, but I wiped that thought out pretty quickly
The old groin pretty much hurt right throughout the day and was really noticeable every time I got up from my chair. I got a text from Michelle during the day to see if I was up for a run this morning instead. I wasn’t sure how the groin was going to feel so I thought I’d better wait until last night to see how it was doing.
I made the decision last night to run. As I hadn’t actually run on it yesterday I wasn’t sure if it would hurt or not when I did run so thought it would be an opportune time to find out.
So I met Michelle at MMCT this morning. She had run from home so already had 8km under her belt before she met me. I started off a little slowly and am happy to say that it wasn’t hurting any more than yesterday. So I did a full length and back of the trail, had a bit of a stretch when we stopped and then raced back home to get ready to take Alana to roller skating.
Sitting here now, I’m happy to say that the pain is lessening, quite quickly in fact. I’m hoping that the run has done it some good. That and also the amount of Arnica Cream that I’ve been slathering on it too.
Have decided that it was definitely not my long walk last week that caused the pain. I think it may have been at Bootcamp, possibly when I was jumping up off the ground to run and get the tennis balls.
So on that note, I’m going to do another long walk tomorrow morning. Hoping to start fairly early as it’s going to be a warm one.
Now aren’t these the cutest chickens you’ve ever seen They are just balls of fluff. I took these photos at the Royal Melbourne Show.
Alana’s Quote: “Mum did you put Mayonaise in my chicken roll?”
Me: “No”
Alana: “So what’s this yellow stuff then?”
Me: “It’s Butter!!!”
Alana: “Oh!”
Exercise: 30 Mins Crosstrainer
I had enough time this morning to organise my exercise stuff so that I could get to the gym at lunchtime.
Jumped on the cross trainer as I haven’t used it for ages and wanted to do a HIIT session, so I started with a 5 minute warm up, followed by 20 minutes of HIIT (8 seconds fast then 12 seconds recovery) with a 5 minute cool down.
There was hardly anybody in the gym, which was great.
Sitting here now, I am very aware of my sore groin. Now, where’s that ice!!
Exercise: Bootcamp - Day 6
This morning dawned bright and clear. The sun was already out as I made my way to Bootcamp. The wind, however, was very biting and did keep the temperature down. I even put my gloves on. Didn’t take me long to warm up though and they came off pretty quickly.
Our first activity this morning was tiggy. Yep, same as the schoolyard game that we all played as kids. One person was tiggy and everyone else had to run around in a predefined area and not get tagged. If you went outside the area it was 10 pushups. Then we changed the game to chain tiggy, so that once a person was tagged they had to join hands with the original tiggy person and then try and tag more people, who also joined the chain…..I won!!! I figured out the way not to get tagged was to always be behind the chain as they couldn’t turn around very fast
Then the tyres came out We had to split into 2 groups. One group had to do skipping The other group had to pair off and then had to run to the middle of the oval carrying a tyre between them….they had to do this 4 times. Then we got to change and do the other exercise.
Next we grouped into 4 teams and we had to do a survival run (I think that’s what they called it). It involved running to a cone, running back, running to another cone a bit further away and then running back, carrying on until we reached the 4th cone, all this done whilst carrying a tyre Whilst one person in the team was doing this, everyone else had to do starjumps.
After this one we then had to stay in our teams and do some drills, alternating between one minute of skipping, one minute of burpees and one minute of shoulder raises, holding a tyre over the head Then changing drills to one minute of skipping, one minute of treads and one minute of chest presses, once again using a tyre as a weight!
Then lastly we had a little race between the teams with a tyre (can you see today’s theme!!). We had to run to a a cone,which was in the middle of the oval whilst rolling a tyre next to us, then roll it back and pass it to the next person in the team.
I have to be really honest and say that I certainly didn’t feel as exhausted today as I have on all the other days. Not sure if we just weren’t pushed as much or whether my fitness is improving. Either way I seriously considered doing some laps of the oval when we’d finished. Unfortunately time was against me and I had to get home to get ready for work
Now here’s a thing. On Tuesday morning, as we were walking out the front door, Alana points to something on the front lawn. It’s a dead Rook. Not sure how it died, but it was there on our front lawn. Last night, driving into the driveway, what do we see but another dead Rook on our front lawn. WTF!! I’m a bit concerned that either somebody is poisoning them or shooting them, but the big question is why are they ending up in our front garden???
Alana’s Quote:
Me: “Alana what are you doing?” (she’s standing in the front garden near the dead bird)
Alana: “I’m just saying a prayer for it”
Exercise: 9.5km Run - MMCT (7’s Blue)
With all the rain last night I was positive that I’d be texting Michelle this morning to say that I wouldn’t be running, but getting up at 5.30am the sun was just rising and it was a lovely clear morning, maybe just a little bit cool for me
My hips have improved quite a bit and there’s not nearly as much pain now. Unfortunately I may have strained my groin muscle a little bit as I found it very hard on Monday to do leg raises when I had to put my left leg down. This morning there was also a small niggle when I was running. I’m not sure how to fix that one though
Now I’d like to say a huge thankyou to Kathy for her generous donation to our Trailwalker kitty. If you take a look, we are now at the top of the leaderboard in the catgeory of “Sporting Clubs and Recreation”. And while you’re there, please feel free to donate to your hearts content
Alana’s Quote: “Mum, can we buy Aunty Kims house?” (Aunty Kim has a very large house with all mod cons!!)
Exercise: 5km Run/Walk (Treadmill), Weights, Situps (6’s)
I had the opportunity to get down to the gym tonight as Alana is now going to Cubs and the gym is right across the road.
I got in a good walk/run on the treadmill. Originally I was just going to walk for 30 minutes but I ended up tagging on a 2km run as well. The walk was on a 6% incline.
Like JH I have decided on a few goals for next year. They are also very similar to his. I am already entered in the Trailwalker, but have decided that next year is the year to work towards my first marathon. Having gone up to the Gold Coast with Michelle this year and seeing how flat the course is, and how good the weather is at the beginning of July, the Gold Coast Marathon is going to be my first marathon.
I’ve also done a little bit of reading about The 4 Peaks event that takes place over the Melbourne Cup weekend. I’ve put this one in my diary for next year too. It will give me a whole year to train on hills and very steep inclines. I may have even cajouled Hubby into doing it with me
Alana’s Quote: “Mum what have you done to your hair!” (I’d just finished at the gym and was picking her up from Cubs)
OMG, I’m hurting today.
I can only assume it’s because of the walking I did on Sunday. My hips are so painful. Trying to sleep last night was almost impossible because every time I turned over the pain in my hips woke me up. I just hope it goes away soon
This is a photo of the sky last night. Very interesting.
These are the chocolates that I had on the weekend. They are Champagne Truffles and I found them in Aldi - they are very yummy and also very addictive. It was way too easy to just keep eating them one after the other
And here’s a couple of photos of the Warby Trail. The first one was on the way up from Lilydale to Mt Evelyn. The other one was at Wandin Station (der!!)
And here’s a reminder to everyone who ran at the Melbourne Marathon….that last little bit before the MCG
Exercise: Day 5 Bootcamp
Another morning getting wet and dirty
This morning we had to do the same sort of race that the Ironmen do at the beach. You know the one where you lay down on your belly, looking away from the target, then when the whistle blows you have to jump up and run as fast as you can so that you’re not the last person who doesn’t get one of the sticks that’s stuck in the sand….well ours were tennis balls, but still the same race. After about the 10th time laying on my belly, I’d pretty much got used to laying on the wet grass and couldn’t feel it anymore as I was already soaking wet
Then it was drills, drills and more drills. 30 seconds of pushups, followed immediately by 30 seconds of treads, followed immediately by another 30 seconds of pushups and then another 30 seconds of treads. We were given a one minute break and then onto the next drill, 30 seconds of jumping lunges followed by 30 seconds of squats (repeated again). Then finally we had to do crunches followed by bicycle legs (I know there’s a proper name for them but I can never remember it!).
We then got to do the whole lot all over again
But you know what, I really can’t complain as it was me who signed up for the program. I went into it with my eyes wide open, knowing that it wasn’t going to be easy.
And again, how can I complain when I had a 2.2kg weight loss this week, even taking into account that I drank alochol and ate chocolate As Andrew said in his previous comment, it is the Bootcamp that’s kicked off the weight loss.
Exercise: 18.5km Walk (7’s Yellow)
I’ve now started my exercise regime that will ensure that I get to the finish line for the Oxfam Trailwalker.
Started my walk at Lilydale, and walked up to Wandin on the Warby Trail, turned around and walked back to Lilydale. I did run the last couple of km’s as it was a nice downhill piece of trail, so it wasn’t too difficult.
I felt great for the whole distance, which I’m really happy about. I do have a small blister now on the inside of my right heel, but that could be because I didn’t have my trainers done up tight enough. Luckily I had some SportShield in my bag, which I put on once I felt it starting to rub.
I’ve decided that I’m going to increase my distance each week, probably still starting and finishing at Lilydale but just walking that lttle bit further before turning around.
The scales have been very good to me over the last couple of days. Getting on them this morning, it shows I’ve lost 2.2kg since Monday. I’m stoked Only 5kg to goal!
Exercise: 9.6km Run - MMCT (7’s Blue)
Something really weird has happened this week…..I’ve lost weight
And not just a little bit of weight - no, no, no - I’ve lost nearly 2kg I have no idea how this has happened, considering I’ve done nothing different from other weeks apart from getting a cold and not exercising for 2 days (okay, so the not exercising for 2 days bit is no different to many other weeks that I’ve had!!).
My new Kiwi coloured Enell Bra has arrived and I have to say that it looks pretty cool. I did see a purple one advertised on Ebay (although it was a Size 7 ) so I emailed the guy that I buy my Enell Bras from and asked if he stocks the purple bra. Unfortunately it looks like it was a colour that Enell brought out a couple of years ago and is no longer available
So back to this morning’s run. I was a little apprehensive about how I’d go running this morning as I still can’t breathe properly due to a blocked nose. Amazingly I felt very comfortable once I started running and once we’d got back to the cars after the run I suggested to Michelle that we run an extra bit as I still had some energy left in me
I’m thinking about retiring my Saucony Hurricane 6’s and bringing out a new pair of 8’s that are currently gathering dust under the bed…..very exciting!!
Alana’s Quote: “Mum can we buy a new house!!”
Exercise: Bootcamp - Day 4
I’ve been a bit sick the last couple of days, so haven’t actually done any exercise.
I got out of my sick bed this morning to go to Bootcamp. I’d dosed myself up with whatever I had in the medical cupboard last night and actually had a good nights sleep, so when I woke up this morning I didn’t feel too bad.
I really enjoyed Bootcamp today. It was basically a circuit training class. There were stations dotted around the football oval with a different exercise at each station. We had to pair up and then one person would do the exercise whilst the other person had to do a lap of the oval. This pretty much took up the whole session. We did some situps and pushups just to finish off
It rained last night and I made sure that I had my waterproof jacket with me this morning, but when I got up it was clear and dry and really warm. Must have been about 15 degrees at 6am
I was going to do the Spring Into Shape 8km run on Sunday but have decided to start increasing my distances and get some training under my belt because…….
I’M DOING THE OXFAM 100KM TRAILWALKER IN APRIL NEXT YEAR
I’ve managed to convince Em, Michelle and Corrie to join me. Our team name is THE GIRLS (very original I know!!). I’ve wanted to do this for a couple of years now but things kept on getting in the way. Not this time
So if you’d like to donate to a very worthy cause, click here
Exercise: Day 3 Bootcamp
Who in their right mind would get up in the freezing cold, and I mean cold enough that there’s frost on the ground and then go and do pushups, situps, burpees and play crab soccer on said ground
Yep, you guessed it, that’s what the bootcamp crew had us doing this morning. My hands were literally numb with cold. I honestly could not feel them at all. It was only after they’d had us do about 100 star jumps that my fingers finally got some feeling back into them
Has anyone played crab soccer before? It’s when you have your back to the ground and you literally have to move with your hands and feet. It didn’t take too long before some of the ladies started complaining about how cold their hands were, so the bootcamp crew gave in to us and let us squat. Have you ever tried running whilst in a squat In the end we got much more of a workout when they let us play it standing upright. Okay, we had 3 soccer balls to play with, so there was constant movement….loads of fun, apart from when I kicked a ball into a ladies face accidentally
I reckon I did over 150 pushups this morning, and I did them all on my toes as I didn’t want to kneel on the wet, cold ground. Think that my shoulders and back are going to be sore tomorrow, but I’m hoping that all these pushups are going to give me Madonna arms
Sadly I have a sore throat today, probably gotten from Alana. Just hope that my body can fight it off quickly!
Alana’s Quote: “Mum can you hear my brain beating!”
Exercise: 10km Run - Melbourne Marathon (7’s Blue)
So I wake up this morning with a thumping headache How did that happen? I didn’t drink any alcohol last night. I went to bed at a decent hour and I didn’t sleep too badly either. A couple of Advil later and they seemed to do the trick and get rid of most of the pain.
As I wasn’t sure how warm or cold it was going to be, I took along clothing for every eventuality (like you do!!). Drove over to Michelles place and picked her up and then had an easy drive into town until we hit Punt Road. Every man and their dog was trying to get to the MCG!!
We ended up turning left into Swan St and parking at the Vodafone Arena carpark, right near the walkover to the MCG. Okay, it cost us $10 instead of $6, but at least we drove straight in without having to queue for ages.
We saw loads of Hot Air Balloons taking off just as we parked the car. This one then landed in the paddock next to the car park.
Wasn’t long before we caught up with some of the regulars. Poor Andrew’s nerves had finally caught up with him. We then went and got our bearings, which included finding where the ladies loos were. Then we wandered outside again to meet up with Lee and Sue, who very graciously offered to mind our bags as she wasn’t running today.
Didn’t take long for us to find the girls so we wandered up to the start line for the 1/2 marathon and full marathon. It was truly amazing to see this huge crowd of people. The start was about 10 minutes late, but most people didn’t really seem to mind at all. It was a very festive feeling in the air.
Here’s Michelle waiting….waiting….waiting
Once the gun had gone off and all the runners had departed, we had about 45 minutes before the 10km and 5.5km group were off, so Lee and myself wandered back down to the MCG for another toilet stop. By the time we’d got back to the start it had really warmed up and I made the big decision to not run with my jacket
The gun finally went off and we just ran with the crowd. I told Lee that I was happy to run at her pace as I didn’t want her to feel like she had to keep up with me, as this would have put a lot of pressure on her and I really wanted her to enjoy the run. I know that I certainly enjoyed it, and soaked up all the atmosphere along the way.
We ran into the stadium with hundreds of other people and saw the big screen showing everyone running in. And suddenly there was the finish line. Lee still had enough energy to sprint to the finish line, which was a fantastic feeling. We then got our medals and made our way over to where everyone was running in to see if we could spot Michelle coming in, which we did.
We then had to make our way up to the top of the seating so that we could get back around to find out where Michelle was, as all the half marahoners had been hearded underneath somewhere. We eventually found our way downstairs and luckily we just happened to walk out of this door just as Michelle was walking past!! Then we negotiated our way back up to where Sue was sitting with our bags. Luckily we spotted her almost straight away.
Lee stayed for a while but then had to leave, so Michelle and I and the Hobbles family sat for a while watching all the Marathoners crossing the line. It did start to get a bit chilly as the sun was on the other side of the ground.
Here’s Michelle and Lee looking great after their run
And the wonderful Hobbles family
We saw just about everyone that we knew cross the line, except JH, but that was because we didn’t actually start really looking for anyone until after the 3hr mark and JH did a fantastic time, coming in under 3 hours. We waited and waited for Andrew, but he didn’t show, so we ended up making our way to the Transport Bar for a drink, and who should we see coming up over the bridge on our way there but Andrew and Joey. Good on you Andrew, you still made it to the finish line no matter what time it was.
After a couple of drinks with a noisy group of CoolRunners, we made our way home.
I have to say that it’s been a long time since I actually enjoyed a fun run. My last fun run was the Run For The Kids, which was a disaster, and even the run before that was terrible. Hopefully things improve more in the future!!
Exercise: 7.7km Walk - Local Streets (6’s)
What started out as a very lethargic, unmotivating day, turned out to be very productive.
My original plan was to get up early and either go for a run outside or go to the gym and run on the treadmill. Unfortunately neither of these events occured.
I took Alana rollerskating and then went and did food shopping afterwards. It was only after I got home from food shopping that I suddenly slid out of my unmotivated state.
I had a couple of library books that needed returning, so rather than jump in the car and drive to the library, I decided to walk there and back. The weather was good, it wasn’t too hot or too cold, and I really needed the exercise.
I felt great when I got home. So good, in fact, that I decided to help hubby with the grouting. He grouted and I cleaned the tiles. It does take a bit of a toll on the back, but I’m hoping that it won’t hurt too much tomorrow
I’m really looking forward to running the 10km tomorrow. I’m meeting Lee there and we’re going to run it together. It’ll be great to watch everyone who’s doing the 1/2 marathon and the full marathon run onto the MCG. I think lots of cheering is in order
And it’s not going to rain either……YAY!!
Exercise: Bootcamp Day 2
Today was real bootcamp stuff. We were down on our bellies crawling across the football oval…..it had been raining over night and it was very wet, and they still made us crawl on our bellies
Loads more drills, lots of running around the oval, squats, burpees, jump squats, jump lunges, treads - you name it, we did it!! We even had to carry somebody to the middle of the oval in a race with the other team!!
Okay, I admit it, I loved doing it all
I’m just a bit put out that I bought this lovely new t-shirt to wear and it’s now really dirty
I have to show you my plants. I bought them as tubes (the same size as the ones next to the pots) and look at them now! They are really thriving. When they get a bit bigger I’ll plant them in the garden and then go through the whole process again. I’m going to pot the little ones this weekend so that they start growing. Still not sure how I haven’t killed them with kindness yet
And this is my work in progress. You can see on the left hand side the garden is all nice and clear, but on the right hand side the weeds are growing quicker than ever!!
I was at Chirnside Park at lunchtime getting some stuff for dinner tonight and Prouds are having a 50% off sale - 50% off EVERYTHING sale. I wandered in to have a look (as you do) and ended up with a lovely new pair of gold earrings for Alana. They were a real bargain too. I refrained from buying anything for myself, even though I could have bought loads of stuff!! How good was I
Exercise: 9.6km Run - MMCT (7’s Blue)
Hooray!! I finally did a full run of the MMCT. So now I’m a bit more comfortable with the thought of doing the 10km run at MM on Sunday. I really was having so many doubts about actually being able to run the distance as it’s been so long since I’ve done it
My muscles are still sore from Bootcamp. I am in that typical 2nd day hurting period. I can’t see it getting any better either as I’ve got Bootcamp number 2 tomorrow morning
So much for doing the ironing and watching Californication last night No, it didn’t happen. Ms Lazy appeared and wouldn’t leave me alone at all. The new series of House starts tonight so maybe I can do the ironing in front of the TV instead
Does anyone want to join me on a 50km walk for charity? It’s on Saturday 13th October. How hard can it be, walking 50km? It’s not like I’ve got to run it or anything
Exercise: 7km Run - MMCT (7’s Blue)
Don’t you just love how light it is at 5.30am now - okay so maybe not everyone is in agreement with me. I met Michelle at our normal spot and was looking to add a little bit extra on to our run so that I can get back to running 10km, but unfortunately the forces were against me (and Michelle). I think I must have eaten a bit too much licorice yesterday (I bought a Licorice showbag from the Royal Melbourne Show) and the effects came into force at about the 6km mark
I bought another Enell Bra today. This one is a shade of Kiwi with black piping around the outside. Check it out here. That makes 6 bras now - white, pink, crimson, chocolate, black and now kiwi. Can never have too many I say
The legs are hurting today. Which part of the leg you ask? ALL of it!! My quads hurt, my hammys hurt, my calves hurt and my glutes hurt too. I suppose doing endless squats, lunges, star jumps and burpees will do that to you
I have a huge load of ironing to do, so tonight I’m going to set myself up in front of the PC with the ironing board and watch all the episodes of Californication that Hubby has downloaded whilst ironing. Should make the time pass quickly
Exercise: Day 1 Bootcamp
So where do I start??? It’s been so long!
Friday - no exercise Can’t remember the reason now…oh yeah, that’s right - it was howling wind and rain on Thursday night and between Michelle and I we decided not to run on Friday morning. I still set my alarm for getting up and going to the gym, but then I got caught up with watching the rest of So You Think You Can Dance on DVD and I didn’t get to bed until late. And as per normal, I woke up, turned the alarm off and went back to sleep again. I did consider going to the gym on Friday evening, but once I got home from work and sat down, old lazy bones took over and I couldn’t be fagged getting changed and driving back down to the gym
Saturday - had to get up early to get Alana to my Mums place so that Hubby and I could get to the Royal Melbourne Show early to avoid the crowds. Only there were no crowds. It was pretty empty apart from the side show alley where all the arcades were. We made it round the show in double quick time and was out of there before 2pm. Had a bit of lunch at one of our favourite local restaurants and then went and did some shopping.
Raced home after picking Alana up and got myself organised for a girly night out with Michelle and her daughter. We hadn’t made any real plans apart from wanting to find somewhere that we could dance. We ended up at the Middle Hotel in Ferntree Gully After a few drinks we moved on to a place called The Pool Room. I think during the day that it is literally a Pool Room but of an evening they have a DJ and loads of kids hang out there. Didn’t actually leave there until 4am Very drunk
Woke up yesterday morning (stayed at Michelles place) and I felt like absolute crap. I hadn’t drunk any water at all during the evening and I mixed just about every type of drink you could think of (shakes head in disgust). It wasn’t until the majority of alcohol that I’d drunk had left my body (yep I steered the porcelain bus) that I could actually think about driving home. I then jumped into bed for the remainder of the day and tried to rest, but unfortunately Alana thought it would be fun to come and hang out with me in bed
So back to this morning - what a way to start a Monday morning. I did manage to get quite a bit of water into me yesterday afternoon so at least I was rehydrated by this morning. I was up a bit early, probably due to nerves. I’m not sure what I expected but didn’t really have any expectations.
There were about 15 ladies who showed up for Boot Camp. It was an enjoyable hour, with lots of basic drills and also setting times so that they can assess what improvement (if any) has been made after the 8 weeks. My shoulders are feeling a little bit sore due to all the push ups we did, but other than that, I’m not feeling too bad. My calves might be a little bit sore by tomorrow as I did alot of star jumps too.
Looking forward to some lovely warm weather tomorrow. I may even consider going for a run at lunchtime
Alana’s Quote: “Mum if we get a dog, I won’t be scared of them any more!” (she has a fear of all dogs!)
