Socks, wind, treadmill and all that jazz!

So my running plan for the MSKA (Multi-Stage KM-athon) has me running 9, 9 and 7km this week (with the two 9's being back to back runs, eeek!!!).  Planning my week I think I'm going to run out of days as we have a few things on so knew I was going to have to run my first 9 after work.

I also wanted to try out my new socks I got from the Running Convention.   Love the look of these, they are nice and low on the ankle and come up at the back so they won't ride down your heel into your shoe.  They have a left and a right so they are fitted nicely for your foot.  And I like how nice and firm they are around the middle of your foot.  I did however feel a bit slippy slidey in them in my shoe, but I think that was only at the start of wearing them as they are thinner than my usual socks.

The back of the label says these socks have:

• The Power Arch (patent pending) delivers targeted compression where it's needed most.
• Anatomical design enhances fit, deliverying maximum comfort and proteciton by eliminating blisters.
• High density cushioning provides extra protection in high impact areas.
• Wick fibres wick moisture to keep feet cool and dry.
• The Perfect Toe (no irritating toe seam).

I did find my left little toe though got a bit sore, but when I took them off I realised I didn't have them on completely straight so that might have something to do with it.  So far so good.

So I left work tonight and headed down to the Breakwater planning on running 4.5 km along the foreshore and then turning around and running back again.  Easy right?  Except as I drove down there I saw waves crashing over the breakwater and onto the road.  Oh!   Got out of the car and promptly got back in again, it was blowing a gale.  There was no way I was going to be able to run in that.  So turned tail and headed for the gym.

9km on the gym people, that's enough to do anyone's head in.  I had to re-start it twice because it gets to 30 mins then does a 5 minute cool down.   But I made sure I took pics of each of the final screens so I could get my times for later.  Not great but done.

However by the time I got home from work I vowed and declared I would NEVER EVER run 9km on a treadmill again.  No matter what the weather, rain, wind, hail or freaking snow, I will be pounding the boards outside.  Tonight just to get through the 9km I stared straight ahead at an out of work elliptical machine just boring my eyes into the GO button, willing my distance to clock over faster.  I changed speeds, I changed levels, I played the most upbeat music on my iPhone, but heck this was hard.  How on earth my friend Di was able to run a flipping marathon on a treadmill without it doing her head in, I don't know.  Read about it on her blog Ultraprimed.  Inspiring!

Then I get home and add my run manually to runkeeper, which you need to for treadmill runs, and then this pops up.  So I sat there with quiet smugness.  Thank you Runkeeper for keeping me motivated!

So I need to back this run up again tomorrow with another 9km run.  Oh Lordy Lord, lets pray for better weather tomorrow.  

Fresh veggies anyone?

Well not quite yet, but our veggie garden (our VERY FIRST veggie garden) is coming along splendidly.   And after consulting google, Professor Mike has made his own organic garlic and chilli spray to keep the bugs away and it's working!  After seemingly growing plastic bottles for an age, well it looked like that as the little seedlings came up inside cut up pepsi 2 litre bottles (kind of hot house like), everything has taken off.  Can't wait to have our first veggie from our garden.

Peas, snap peas and broad beans.  

What can I say, I wanted to take a pic of him watering the garden and he decides to ... 

well ... you can see below!

I promise it really was the garden hose.

Why on earth have we not done this years ago.  We've had this area up the back yard sitting, doing nothing.  I'm so proud of Mike doing this, considering we have no idea what we are doing.  Pinterest though has been handy.


Righto so in Scrapbooking I haven't shown a layout for a while.  I've finally started my USA album from my trip over there last November.  Okay so all good things take time right?   So I'll spatter some of the upcoming posts with those pages.  Yeah yeah, like we loooooove to see people's holiday (snore) snaps!  tee hee.

I'm going with Blurb which has been my book maker of choice, so these pages have been created with the largest landscape sized book in mind.  Plus I always leave the cover and title page to last, so my layouts have started at page 2 and 3 below.

Click on the page if you want to read the journalling.
Credits for the goodies used Designer Digitals.

Birthday Weekend Part 2

I said I was coming back to give you Part 2, the day of my actual birthday, better late than never, let's just blame 50 year old nanna brain! ha.

Something I've wanted to do for a long time but never been is to go to the Halls Gap Zoo.    I said to Mike that was how I wanted to spend my birthday.  The weather forecast was looking dicey but as luck would happen the rain came days earlier and Sunday was PERFECT.

There are lots of native animals at the zoo, but a few exotics too, a couple of giraffes, some cheetahs, water buffalo, American bison, etc.  Here are some of the photos I took, mind you there were stacks of photos, but here are some of my faves.

Just call Mike the 'deer whisperer'.  I liked that you could buy a little bag of food for the animals, well to feed some of the animals, by hand.  First gate we walked through the deers just knew!  Cheeky things, they lost quick interest once they thought your bag was empty and someone else walked in with a full bag of kibble for them!

The white lyrebird (peacock?) was amazing.  

There were a couple of cockatoos nearby which I think was why it had it's plumes out, 

trying to scare the cockys away.

The blue peacocks just roamed around, and goodness they had a sqwark on them.  They reminded me of the peacock that tried to peck my travelling companion Kathie when she was trying to photograph it when I went to the US last year.  I don't think I'll ever look at one of these birds without thinking of that.

The red panda just lay in the tree and posed, so beautiful.  

Mike had also planned a surprise (which I kind of found out about accidentally) that he had arranged for me to go in with the meerkats and feed them.  I was beside myself with excitement, such funny little creatures they are.  

     

There are three meerkats at the zoo, all brothers.  The zoo keeper met me and let me know what she would be doing.  She said they don't like to be held or touched/patted, and it would be on "their terms".  If they wanted to come to you they would.  That I was to sit on the log with my legs out in front of me and together so they could climb up.    Oh dear, the minute she put food into my hands they came to me alright, climbing all over me.  It was amazing, their little chattering trying to get to my hands to have a nibble.   

Hands up high to get the nibblies for them, 

otherwise they would have knocked it out of my hands.

Hang on fellas give me a chance here.  

That's better, I'll put my hands in my lap so you can get the food.

 

More food?  Oh dear this was the moment I realised I had live worms in my hands!

The zoo keeper laughed as she had given me live worms the first time too but I hadn't noticed.

Live worms, kibbly cat food and corn.

 Will cherish this moment forever.

What a fantastic birthday gift.

The other display I really liked was the kangaroos and wallabies.  I have never seen a white kangaroo before, it was amazing.

Skippy doing a bit of a pose.

Can you see the foot, it had a baby in its pouch.

And this one took a moment to nurse.

So my birthday weekend was amazing.  We finished off the day in Halls Gap going to a lovely cafe which we have been to a number of times.  The lady there is one of the organisers of Run the Gap.  It was nice to have a chat with her, she actually remembered me from other times we've been up there.   Came home and had a naughty pizza for dinner but that was all good.  Back on the straight and narrow on the Monday.

Birthday weekend part 1

Yay, it was my birthday weekend.  A golden birthday.  50!  Yep that's right, I turned 50 on Sunday.  Except why just have a birthday DAY when you can have a whole weekend right? 

Saturday Mike had planned to have a family get together.  I had gone past the thought of having a party, but was happy to just have a lovely meal with family.   So he did all the arranging, I just picked the restaurant.

But first things first, I was up early and out the door for a quick 5km run.  I needed to get my last run in for the week on my training plan and I knew there was no way I'd fit it in on Sunday.  What a great way to start the day.  And yep, the cow whisperer still has it.  These cows ran with me the whole way down the paddock until they could run no more.  

Pottered a bit during the morning and then we got our glad rags on and headed into Warrnambool.  Mike's family was coming down from Geelong and although I dared hope, my mum and my brother came also.  My brother and I have a slightly strained relationship, it has been for the last 4 years.  This was only the second time I would see him in all that time.   This is the only nice pic I got of Mike and I for the whole day, I was busy taking pics of everyone else and forgot about the two of us!

Mum and my brother Trevor

My father-in-law and his partner Connie.

My sister-in-law, Ann-Marie.

My beautiful step-daughter Tabby and partner Aaron 

And the littlest little party-goer.

Ann-Marie trying to squish my stepson Tristan, whilst the others were deep in conversation.

Brother-in-law, Callum.

Niece and nephew, J and S.

My mum was delighted to get some baby cuddle time in.

Treated to a rare flex by my stepson Tristan.  

And yep, the muscles are real, he's worked hard for those guns!

Cheers!

Treated to a delicious black forrest cake, oh my, it was gooooooood!!!!

Showing my age, there were only five candles on it and it took me three blows to get them out!

Yep, only had one good pic of Mike and I during the day.

This is the only other one.

Nanna got important baby cuddles for her birthday!

And my friend Lyn came along also, I worked with Lyn for many years,

she may as well be part of my family.  :-)

A beautiful meal, my favourite restaurant (Reunion) and all my family there just for me, mind you the majority travelled 2+ hours to get there.  I felt well and truly spoilt.

Part 2 tomorrow, where you'll see how I spent Sunday. 

A few days back home

I've just had a few days back home staying with mum, nice to go down there, do some shopping (where there are way more shops than here!!) and generally hang about and enjoy.   On Tuesday we headed down to Queenscliff for the day, haven't been down there for years and was surprised at the buildings around where the ferry comes in.  

It was an overcast day, spots of rain on and off, but it didn't dampen our enthusiasm for enjoying ourselves. 

We wandered around, up and down the main street and checked out the unique shops.  I like shops where the clothes are a bit out of the ordinary from the run of the mill department store type clothes.  Lovely beads, cute tops, that type of thing.

I ended up scoring a gorgeous (let me repeat GORGEOUS) jacket, half price marked down to $79.  Yeah right like I need another jacket like a whole in the head but you can't argue with a bargain like that and it was worth every cent of its original price.  Also bought a knitted hat for a Christmas gift for stepson's girlfriend, I couldn't have made it for the $15 it was reduced to.   Some chocolates from a handmade choc shop for Mike (turkish delight so I wasn't tempted, urrgh).  And a homemade jar of cauliflower pickles.  Yum!  And a dress, which will be lovely and light for the summer, marked down from $139 to ... wait for it ... $30 !!  Looked great with my long stripey socks on when I came out of the change room and modelled it! ha.   Mum had fun too and got some really cool aqua coloured flat shoes.  And we had a fantastic lunch at a cool little cafe called Gusto.  Note to anyone going down there, the vegie stack with goats milk feta is yummo!

We travelled over to Point Lonsdale, I hadn't been round this area for ages and had a wander out to the pier.

Came home Wednesday arvo and imagine my surprise when I saw Mike.  Just to remind you this is his BEFORE ... Mr-Joe-Cool-I-want-to-grow-my-hair-long-so-everyone-thinks-I'm-hip ...

And I came home to this ...  Woah, didn't see that happening.  He'd gone into town and actually paid, yes don't fall over in shock, but PAID for a hair cut.  See he NEVER pays for a hair cut, as long as I've known him he just gets me to use the clippers.  I went into shock.  And it looks soooooo much better.

So I'm still on hols from work, just got this week and next week to go, but loving every single day.  Had a nice 6km run while I was back home around the old neighbourhood.  And tomorrow I have a lunch planned with some old workmates.  Got to love this holiday gig.