The Color Run

Checking in really quickly using the sketchy wireless whilst our internet is still down.  Grrrrrr.

I went to the Color Run in Melbourne last Sunday, oh my goodness what a blast.  My first fun run ever, and whilst I didn't run the whole 5km I probably ran about 3.5 to 4 km of it.  It was also fun to think we were running on the hallowed turf of Flemington Race Course.  Hmmm well with all the winners it's seen over the years, it certainly hasn't seen a running style like mine!

I promise we did start out all nice and clean and shiny, and it was a thrill to be in the first wave of runners in the first Color Run in the Southern Hemisphere!  For those not in the know, every kilometre you get blasted with a different colour until by the end you are a riot of colours.  Proceeds went to the Australian Paralymics so what a worthy cause.

Here's a photograph of my friends on the day, Casey and Tania from the Warrnambool & Surrounds Crew. This is what I love about 12wbt, bringing friends together.

Ahh yes, it was all about the pink for sure!   By the end of the run we were fairly well colourfied!  It was like a chance to get back to being kids and playing, totally fun just looking about seeing such happy happy people.   Looking forward to next year.

Fancy me doing a fun run.  Me?  Running?  It defies description and yet that is another gift that 12wbt has given me.  The chance to be healthy and active out in the community.  I love it.  I love it so much that I've actually entered into a fun run next January in Warrnambool, the Surf to Surf 6k.  And I'm doing this one for real.  Running (hopefully) the entire way.  

Good intentions, but ...

Before I go I just have to share.  I got home this afternoon and there was a present on the kitchen table for me from the local CFA who I took some photographs for recently as a thank you.  I said to my husband just before I opened it, "whew, well at least it's too big to be a box of chocolates".  WRONG!  It's the biggest freaking box of chocolates I have ever seen.    OMG, I did the total calcs from the panel on the back - it contains 16,475.36 kilojoules of chocolate!  

The first Christmas party I go to I'm taking it, opening it, and it can be devoured by everyone but me.  What a way to flex that willpower muscle.

Checking in from the Stone Age !

Forgive this interruption in blog posting!   It seems I am now living in the Stone Age in my part of Victoria.   The telephone exchange burnt down last Thursday and it seems that Telstra do not have a back up plan for us! 

So from last Thursday onwards we have had no phone, no internet connection, no ATMS or eftpos (it's cash everything, too bad if you haven't got cash, no credit cards being used).  It's apparently affected 60,000 homes. 

We have mobile phone coverage, possibly due to the good luck we have a repeater tower on the mount just out of town.  From all accounts the landlines will be back up and running this Friday and they’ve said the internet will be a lot later.  Eeeek! 

Mike bought the last wireless dongle in town and we’re using it sparingly for his business purposes.  The connection seems to be sketchy at best, it hooks up and then drops out.  Ahhh the joys of living in a little country town!

I tell you what, this is leaving me to my own devices for sure, menu wise and exercise wise.  Mish would be proud of my efforts.

Be back as soon as I am able. 

And we're off and running - Round 4

I'm back for Round 4.  I've said I will be in this to the bitter end.  And I'm pumped.  I think a lot of it has to do with the fact I've just come back from Sydney and had an absolutely BRILLIANT time.

I have cried so much this past weekend too (I wonder if tear loss counts in the weight loss game?!?!!), I became a blubbering mess at the start of the workout.  Oh Lordy Lord.  I was moving along with everyone else and it hit me, seeing a wave of people all exercising with Michelle Bridges leading us.  It was just too much and I dissolved into tears.  A number of times.

We had a small Warrnambool contingent in Sydney and it was great to be able to spend some time with them, exercising, partying and sight seeing.  We don't usually see each other all glammed up, it's usually exercise gear at 10 paces!  So that was a fabulous treat.

Here are some pics from the morning exercise session.   Arriving and we thought we were going to be in for a cold session, it was a wee bit chilly.

The gorgeous Mish, who inspires us to achieve more than we could ever think was possible, and then some.

Lynn and I got to meet Leitchy, fellow blogger and twitterer, is that such a word?   Leitchy is a real motivation in himself and it was great to finally meet.  Go read his blog if you get the chance.

A bit red faced after the workout, we were pumped!

After Lynn and I enjoyed a wonderful Japanese lunch, which Michelle would have been proud of, very healthy, the evening was soon upon us and it was time to glam up.   Here I am with my Warrni friends - Debbie and Casey (my Otway Rainfall conspirators from my blog post a month or so ago) and Lynn (my roomie).

Feeling quite the glam girls here, me and Lynn.

It was thrilling that my two Warrni friends Debbie and Casey made the top 20, and not only that, but Casey took out the title.  

Also during the evening I got to meet Coco Butter.  I thought it was her and I got brave enough to come up and say hello and it was.  So glad that I did.  She is so lovely.  Now I get to put a voice to her blog when I read it.

Quite frankly the memories of the weekend I think will be with me forever, my first Finale with good friends, it can't get any better than that.  It has spurred me on though, I met another one of our Warrni group, the very inspiring Tania at the gym today and I went hard.  I did a PB (don't you love the athlete talk) on the treadmill, finally running 2km without stopping.  Now for a lot of peeps that may not be a lot, but for these 48 year old bones who has never run before 12wbt, it is EPIC proportions. 

First weigh in for Round 4 tomorrow and I look forward to it.  Lynn and I kept each other on the straight and narrow, and well apart from a wee indulgence at a French Patisserie, we ate clean the whole weekend.  

To those I met in Sydney, thank you for coming up to me, or not thinking I'm a total loon if I introduced myself as Finding Carol (it was a bit easier that way)!!  And for new friends reading this blog, I can only say that if you get a chance do go to a Finale Party.  It's a wonderful experience to meet like minded people in celebration mode (celebrating exercise and partying) who have been on the same journey as you.

Oh and before I go, we did a lot of sightseeing in Sydney over the weekend too.  We had fun at the Village Bizarre at the Rocks on Friday night, danced in the street, took in the side shows, decided our White Rabbit Bar bunny mask was the perfect accessory to walking around the Village.  12wbt'ers incognito!!

We sailed around the Harbour to glorious views such as this.  Sensational weather.

We had crazy good fun at Madam Tussaud's Wax Works at Darling Harbour.  Lynn and I totally reverted to kids getting our photos taken in all the settings.  We won't even talk about Johnny Depp's bottom, will we Lynn? tee hee.

~~sigh~~ who knew Eric Bana was so tall. 

Loads of hijinks over the weekend with Sunday night culminating in the Bridge Climb.  Lynn and I had coincidentally both done it before on our respective honeymoons.  So we were eager to try it at a different time of day so chose Late Twilight.  Oh how perfect.   Going up before the sun sets, and coming down in the dark.  SENSATIONAL.

Thank you Sydney, you sure did put on a show for us.  

I made it !

Well I made it to the end of the round, it's now done and almost dusted.   All except for the shennanigans on Saturday in Sydney.

I can't even begin to tell you how happy I was on Wednesday morning.  I weighed in straight away, I was hopping about wanting to jump on those scales.  And there it was.  89.4 kg.  I achieved my goal of being in the 80's by the end of the round.   Well I tell you there was a brass band and cymbals and the crowds going wild playing in my head, ha!  I was so darn pleased with myself.

The weight loss did slow down this round, but end result is that it was less than I started with and that's a good thing.  I also lost 7.9% of my body, I think that's what you say, so that also is a VERY good thing.

My fitness levels went up a bit, most noticeable was the dreaded wall sit.   I will never get to the time my bestie in Tassie can do ... a whopping 19 minutes!  Sheer guts and determination that is.   My 1km time trial is inching its way down.   I did at least find that in Week 12 I could run the entire 1km.  Although I use the term "run" loosely seeings I was slightly up on my run/walk from the Week 8 result.  Obviously I run slower than I walk!  (gulp)

So ..... right now I'm looking at a bed that has piles of clothes on it and a bag that's way too small to fit it all in. ha!  I'm getting my things ready for Sydney.   The Finale Party.   My first one.   I kind of know what to expect having checked out the You Tube videos oh about a zillion times and talked to people who have been to one before.  But I'm still going to be wide-eyed I'm sure.

There's a few of us from Warrnambool going up, at different times, staying different places, however I'm travelling and staying with my new friend Lynn.  We have planned a wonderful weekend, culminating on Sunday night with a twilight Bridge Climb.  We've both done it before but during daylight hours.  I can't wait to see Sydney all sparkly at night.

I will be back with lots of photos, lots of memories and ready to get back into it to do it all again.

Bring on Round 4 !

Still going strong

Still going strong in this last week down at mums.  I was out early this morning pounding the pavement once again.  I've worked out now which houses the dogs bark and scare the bejesus out of me!  I swear I nearly wet my pants each time on the first run.  And each time I found an inner strength and ran a bit faster in case some angry dog had jumped a fence and was chasing me!

I've mentioned before my hope that this round I would finish in the 80's and yet despaired it would happen.  Well I did a sneaky weigh in this morning (just to ensure I was on track) and mind you despite mum having perfectly good scales I still brought my own down here and made sure I weighed the same.   So anyway very very happy :-)

89.95kg

I've just got to hang on and maintain that till Wednesday morning weigh in.  And there will be a goal for the Round accomplished.

Yahooooooooo!!!!!!!

It's Sunday and so far so good

I'm at my mums looking after her as she came out of hospital yesterday.  I really worried whether this would set me back in the last week of the round.  No familiar gym to go to, up in the air about my meals, just my every day routine being thrown for a loop.

But you know what?  I'm conquering it.  Yay me!  I printed out some recipes from 12wbt and brought them down with me and done a cook up for mums freezer.  And incidentally the sweet and sour pork I made last night for dinner mum declared the best ever!  High praise to Mish from my mum!

Last night when mum went to bed about 7pm!!! Yikes what a long solitary night ahead of me, I quietly let myself out of the house and went for a run.  Yahoooooo.   Now this may not be record standards but 3 km in 27 minutes and 56 seconds, I was so damn proud of myself.  Ran most of the way, walked little bits of it to catch my breath particularly as there was a rather large hill involved.  Then came back to do some quiet sit ups and push ups while mum slept on.  

I felt so empowered yesterday.  I ate clean, I worked hard, I stayed on track and still managed to look after mum.  So it can be done.

Oh and another point of high praise, I brought my finale outfit down to show mum, dress,  jewellery, handbag and so okay I forgot my shoes, but I dressed up all the same.  Mum took one look at me and cried.  The same cry as she did when I went wedding dress shopping and found "the one" all those years ago.  It's the first real bit of emotion she's shown regarding my weight loss this time round and it was such a great feeling.

Tonight mum is going to experience all the glory that is Penang Chicken.  Mmmmmmmm!

I had a little melt down last night

I don't know what came over me, but I ended up in a puddle of tears.  I think it was the culmination of a long road, two rounds almost done and dusted.  My mum is in hospital and I'll be going down to look after her for a few days after she is released, and we're yet to know when that is.  The timing is not great, of course you would do anything for your family, but it's the last week, the last hurrah, I'll be down there with no gym, no support system (as in Mike), no familiarity.  I guess this is where Mish would come in and say this is a good thing, this is where I am able to adapt the skills I have learnt when life throws you a curveball.  But in the last week of the round?   Plus I'm now on three weeks leave from work which is a good thing, but in the lead up to this time off I've worked some fairly long straight days getting things in order so it's easy enough for my counterpart to pick up where I have left off.  And although I'm so pumped for Sydney and the Finale, it's a bit nervewracking too, having never gone to one before.

So the stress of everything completely hit me in the face last night and the tears flowed.  Poor Mike, he doesn't handle people crying very well, even me.  He said all the right things, did all the right things, but it still didn't stem the tears.

So what do I do to make myself feel completely wonderful (NOT!)  Once I composed myself again I get him to take my end of round photograph and they are horrible, we couldn't get it without a big ugly shadow behind me, which made my ass look bigger than it was.   Gaaaaah!

Not a good day yesterday.

But I will take it all on board and learn from it.   And apologise to anyone who crossed my path yesterday and I wasn't my normal happy self.

I will take these words on board and know that day by day things will be habit and curveballs in life will not send me off the deep end.  I guess one thing I know from this, is in the past the stress of everything would have turned me to food, and at least I didn't do that.  So that's a very good thing.

I will leave you with a happy photo taken of me last month on a rare trip to Melbourne.  Mike and I and oldest stepson went to the museum.  The day was dark and gloomy, but I know on this day I was happy and feeling quite chipper in my bright orange scarf.  No one can be sad whilst wearing a bright orange scarf, can they?!!!    :-)

Having said that, I better go grab that scarf and pop it in my suitcase, I'll need to resurrect that happy chipper self in the next few days looking after my mum.

Move over Mish, there's a new Trainer in town!

Yep, and he goes by the name of MY HUSBAND!   I believe that somehow in his many years of bagpipe playing - reed making - and - whiskey drinking it has seemingly made him more qualified than Mish in telling me how to exercise.   :-)

He knows I'm really wanting to be in the 80's by finale (89.9 and I'd be ecstatic) and I know he's trying to be encouraging and helpful, but now he's telling me how to exercise, working out what days of the week would be best suited to gym and what days to home.  And what times of the day would be best suited to my jogging. etc etc.  You get my drift?  Mind you, my husband does not exercise, so don't for a minute think he knows what he's talking about.

Gotta love him.

Because I'm going to be away for about 5 days over the time we'd normally be doing the time trial, measurements, etc at the end of the round, I've done mine this week already, ready to upload.  OH MY!   As normal I had hubby time me and doing the wall sit the other night, all the while he's timing he's doing the "come on baaaaabe, you can doooooo eeeeeet" and the whole pep talk non-stop throughout the sit "just a little bit more, come ooooooon".  You know I love this man to bits, but all I wanted him to do was count me on the clock so I knew how I was going.  In the end I yelled out "WILL YOU JUST SHUT UP AND COUNT" !    Oh I sound so ungrateful don't I?

How come I can get so crotchety ?!?!?!

So the end is nigh, last week of this Round.   And finally I'm jogging properly out in the street.  It's really strange, I can jog on the treadmill, I guess because of the rhythm and the bounciness, but out on the street its a different story entirely.  I usually can't string 500 metres together without having to walk to catch my breath.

But I am proud to say I can now jog 1 kilometre non-stop in the street.  I've been out there of a morning running around the neighbourhood.  Actually the first morning I made it around the big block (which is just over 1km) and got back home, I ran down the driveway with my arms up in the air as if I was finishing the great marathon with the imaginary crowd cheering my name!!  I swear the neighbours must think I'm nuts.   Ahh well, I add a bit of excitement in the street.

So one thing I have learnt this week, particularly when I despaired of ever being able to jog out there is ...

For those doing 12wbt, have a great last week of the round and smash those scales in the final weigh in.

Oh ... I don't mean actually SMASH them, you do realise! ha.  Figuratively.

Another great new experience

I've been full of new experiences this round with 12wbt, and it's been fabulous.  To be honest, I can say this has been a wonderful WONDERFUL year of new experiences and I'm embracing each and every one.

Lynn from the Warrnambool & Surrounds 12wbt group put the shout out to see if we'd like to go to a Zumba Master Class.  Well me having two left feet, very unco-ordinated, have in the past lusted after Zumba (not in a stalkerish way mind you!!! ha) but quite envious of all the moving and shaking and thinking I'd never be able to do that.   But what the heck, in for a penny, in for a pound (showing my age here!!)  So being the "event junkie" that Mike likes to call me now, my hand shot up as fast as it could go.

Wow!  What a work out.  It went for near on two hours, I was exhausted but totally pumped.  I zigged when I should have zagged, I turned when I should have about faced, but you know what?  I didn't stop.  And that's the main thing.    Had a totally wonderful time with Lynn, Casey and Debbie, who also came.

In fact, I thought I was going so well, when I got home I thought I might try some of my new Zumba moves out on Mike.  He took one look at me and said "what's wrong with your hip?".  He thought I was having spasms or something.  Hmmmm, how come in my mind I was moving like a Zumba Queen ... not so apparently.

But it has got me pumped and looking for local classes that will fit in with my work times, so that's a huge plus, another form of exercise to shake this body of mine up.

Other than that here we are at Week 11, this round has gone by so fast.  I'm pumped and looking forward to Sydney coming up ever so fast for Finale, and just quietly spending an exhorbitant amount on this very special weekend - new dress, new shoes, new handbag, new earrings, fun things to do there have been booked and will be ready for us, and so excited to be able to see Michelle up close.   It's so unlike me to be indulgent like this, but you know what, I'm worth it.  :-)   That's one very important lesson I've learnt this round.