April catch up

So April saw Buster going outside for the first time.  Oh this little boy has my heart now, yes it took a while.  What if we opened the door and he never came back!!??   So one sunny afternoon we just left the back door slightly ajar.  Well he stood with two front paws out and two back paws in for an absolute age not knowing quite what to do.  Then the look of discovery on his little face was a joy to behold.  He never ventured beyond the back door porch area mind you for about the whole month, just happy to sit and enjoy the breeze or he ventured as far as the cars in the driveway.  Always coming back when called (or when the biscuit bag was shaken) !!

Meanwhile Buster and Lucky were getting on like a house on fire.  Every now and then Lucky will give a growl, but for the most part he's just happy to have a best mate again.   Even when Buster is trying to wake him up to play.

Excuse the blurry shot here but it must be shown.  I was aghast when I woke one morning to find this, they were even sleeping in the bed together.  I aimed in the dark, hence the blur.

Buster, you are busted !!! 

Mike spent a bit of time in the studio during the month.  Some paintings made it past the half way mark.  Some were trashed.  A couple were finished.  YAY !

Meanwhile my training was ramping up with the 23km GOR in May.  With day light savings now finished, bah to that!  I ended up doing early morning runs.  Weather was still okay so I'd be out there at 5am running laps, with my awesome head torch.   Love my light up reflective shirt, I call it my disco shirt!!  I tell you you could see me from the moon with my flashing bands around my ankles and reflective gear.  Don't let the black shirts fool you.

 

Seems to be a 'thing' with us now, Easter saw us go climb another mountain, this time the beautiful Mount Abrupt just out of Dunkeld.  I'd done it once before, but Mike hadn't.  We got to try out the new walking sticks we got, they were great.

How's this for magnificent.

Righto Mike, yes you made it to the top!  

He was pretty jazzed.

  

Proof that I got there too.

And look at the magnificent view from the top.  Magic!

So worth the climb.

I also rejoined Aths Club for the winter season, 

so got to run with my running friends again.

I say "with" figuratively!  They are way faster than me!  ;-)

April done, on to May.

January catch up

So how to catch up on my blog being that we're already past half way in 2017.  How about a monthly catch up, it might be the easiest way.

So we finished 2016 on yet another loss in our lives when our beautiful Bo Bo girl passed away on New Years Eve.  We had started 2016 with the loss of Molly and ended 2016 with the loss of Bo Bo.  Then a few days into the year and this happened ...

We still hadn't had time to process the loss of Bo Bo and step-daughter number 2 turned up one evening after having driven 2 hours with this little bundle.  He and his siblings had been found in a car boot at the wreckers in the summer heat.  The call had gone out to find homes and ... well ... as much as we weren't ready, Mike has always said when a cat needs a home they will find you.  Looks like this little bundle had found us through my step-daughter.

It didn't take long for Mike to fall under his spell, I took a little longer.  We named him Buster Q.   He looks like a little Buster, don't you agree?  The vet placed him as about 6 weeks old, way too young to be without his mama cat, so Mike and I were surrogate parents and we had to bottle feed him the first week or so until he started chewing through the teets of the bottle.

       

And let's just say it took a LOT LONGER for poor Lucky to fall under his spell !

Oh boy we were in for some fun and games.

Lucky would get the whole crazy eyes and body shakes happening with Buster's tiny high pitched meow.  I think Lucky would have ripped his head off if he could.  If Lucky was out of the house, Buster could roam.  If Lucky was in the house we had to have one in one room, the other in another.  We halved the loungeroom with a wire fence, yes we got that desperate, until Buster learnt how to climb.


During the month Mike and I ran the Surf T Surf in Warrnambool.  I ran the 10km and Mike the 6km.  And we got to chat to the famous Steve Moneghetti, always a treat.  Feeling very proud running in our Aths Club shirts.

We dedicated our 16km total to Mike's Uncle Frank in Scotland

who is ill with cancer.  He was chuffed to wake up and see our photo on Facebook.

Although words of  "why run when you can drive missy" would ring in my ears.

In the meantime we had a very special visitor when Miss Aleyna came for a visit.  Already a month old and just as sweet as can be.  Grumpy was definitely under her spell.

  

During the month we could have both Lucky and Buster in the room together under a watchful eye and hand.  Still not able to have Buster roam around with Lucky on the loose.  Still some stressful times.

Stressful not just for us, but for Buster too - keeping a watch out for Lucky...

   

Mel and I had made it to the back page Sports section of the newspaper!

Woo hoo.  Always knew one day it would happen  ;-)  ha!

One might think we were running so far out in front with no other runners in sight.

Ummm, more like bringing up the rear!

And January saw Mike's veggie garden start to fruit, 

and soon we would be swimming in zucchini and tomatoes.

    

And that's a wrap for January!  

The things I put up with!!

Sooooo last Sunday was a 5km Charity run with proceeds going to "Steps for Aaron" in turn going to Brain Cancer Research.  Aaron was young local man who recently passed away from Brain Cancer.  The family have arranged a walk from Melbourne to Portland each year raising money for Brain Cancer.   So in turn our brains trust from the Aths Group decided to dedicate our charity run this year to "Steps for Aaron".   Just on $1000 was raised by those wanting to run or walk from the Flagstaff Hill car park around the foreshore and ending back with a victory loop round the little lake at Flagstaff Hill.

After such a dismal day on Saturday, I don't think the temp rose from 7 degrees, with wind and rain all day, we despaired about Sunday's run, but despite the cold it was a brilliant day with perfect running weather.  Of course Mister-Fair-Weathered-Running-Man had to wear long pants, long sleeved shirt and his jacket during the run.

And as what happens strangely enough with our Warrnie girls, we tend to rock up at these events wearing matching outfits.  Crazy but true.  Leah was the only one of the crew there this time but look!  Great minds think alike.  Of course wearing our Aths Club shirts, but who knew the long sleeved yellow was going to be part of the ensemble too!   It never fails to make me giggle when this happens.

I was happy with my run, but like usual no matter how fast I think I'm going, the pack always goes faster.  It wasn't a handicapped race, it was all off at the same time.  But all good.  At the out and back I passed Mike while he was still heading out, and I saw him limping.  Ouch, shin splints.  But he said he was okay - one minute walk, one minute run.  He was paying the price of not steadily running throughout winter.

He got back to Flagstaff Hill (which for those who have no idea what I'm talking about, it's a maritime village from yesteryear) and as he was the second last runner back ... hooray, he beat a heavily pregnant woman wheeling a pram!! we yelled out to not worry about the lap round the little lack but to take the shortcut.  Oh no, the man was doing the full course.

Chugging his way to the finish line...

Oh and ever the Showman (you can't ever call Mike shy, that's for sure) he drops to his knees at the finish line and crawls through the witches hats.  Oh dear!

After catching his breath, having a drink and then everyone dispersing, he spotted the Undertakers at the village and had to pose for a shot.  See what I have to put up with??????

On the way back home we popped in to see the grandkids as we had to drop something off.  Yeah yeah, any excuse.  What's the best thing on a cold winter's day?  Grumpy getting warm snuggly cuddles from Saxon.  :-)

And the look that Codan is giving his Grumpy here is just priceless.  Yep Codan, Grumpy loves you too little man.

That's what it's all about really, leading healthy lives so we live a long time for these little guys.  With a third grandchild due in December (yep thought I'd drop that one in) a little cousin for these two, I wonder what this wee one will be.  ANYONE WANT TO GUESS????    ;-)    I'm pretty good at hints!

Sooooo ... what's the next big thing?

Okay well first off today's Aths Club meet was an 8km and the venue was moved because of inclement weather expected not wanting a muddy track to run.  I knew we were in for a rough trot when Kellie texted me knowing I'd soon be heading for the coast and warned me not to look at the weather forecast but to wear long sleeves and bring gloves.  Oh joy!  

And it was cold.  Ouch.  Along the coastline the cold air was chilling and with His Nibs not running as he feels he's lost some condition since being laid up with the chest cold and not capable of 8km, I ended up at 4 min handicap but it still made me the first runner being that he wasn't there.  I went like the clappers in the first half and was at 6km almost back to the clubrooms when the avalanche of runners started passing me.  Still no shame.

It was good after the event as the President did a talk for aspiring marathon runners, which really was a talk for all of us - his ten top tips.  He didn't include the one I mentioned to him earlier about adjust the bra straps and make sure any undies wedgies were taken care of.  Hmmm.  I'd actually put that at the top tip!

And so this leads me to my (ta daaaaaah!!!!) NEXT . BIG . THING.

See these girls, these running legends, well they can talk a person into anything.  I get a message from Kellie one evening saying ... "Alison and I were wondering..." and I said "yes" before I even knew what was coming.  I just knew if these girls were part of something, I wanted in! haha. 

Soooooo........

This was what they were wondering ... mean anything to you?  I see three runners and a Sydney Harbour Bridge in the background.

Yippee!!!  We're going to Blackmores Sydney Running Festival.   Entries have been done, flights booked, accommodation paid for.   How flipping exciting, we get to run ACROSS THE SYDNEY HARBOUR BRIDGE!!!!!!!!!!!!   You can see the video at that link on their website.  How exciting does the route look - Sydney Harbour Bridge, the beautiful Harbour, Circular Quay and finishing at the Opera House.  Now all Sydney has to do is put on a nice day for it and we'll be set.  No nasty weather please!

So there you have it grasshoppers.  My next half marathon is in Sydney.  :-)    I have races before then, but this is the one where the excitement is building.

Mind you four weeks after this one I have my fourth half marathon for the year in Melbourne.  I don't do things by halves now do I?  Or maybe I do! ha.

Why we do this thing called running ??

Well I guess I'm going to comment on why *I* do it.  And maybe I can speak for hubby too.  See this little guy.  He's one of the big reasons why I wanted to lose weight.  I got to be a nanna year before last, now we are Nanna and Grumpy to both him and his little brother.  So we want to make sure we are around for a long long time to watch them grow and learn and become fabulous young men.

I just long for the day I go to his school sports and Saxon says to his friends and he points to me ... "that's my nanna, she runs marathons".  How cool would that be?  Well I still have to get to the actual marathon stage, but to a young kid a run to the shops might be classified as a marathon so I'm not going to split hairs here.

So back to this little guy here.  We had a family gathering as his great grand dad plus his mum were having birthdays.  And when he saw both of us when he got there his eyes lit up and he said "nanna" for the very first time.  I near on melted into a puddle on the floor.  Then he points at Mike and says "gumpy gumpy gumpy".  And the more he saw us getting excited, the more he said it.

What a great day.  So yep THIS is why we both want to get fit and healthy and yes the running is a major part of that, it's keeping us young.  For this little guy.  And all the little guys in our lives that come after him.

So roll on Sunday and we had an Aths Club meet.  6km.  It was chilly, but perfect running conditions, no wind, overcast, and there were about 70-odd taking part.

One of my friends wrote on facebook that we are aging backwards.  What a kind comment.   This pic was actually taken after the run, let me roll back a bit.

Today was going to be the day, I really wanted to go all out with this run.   Being a handicapped race, Mike was off on zero, he took off with another girl and I actually had a handicap again, I was off on 3 minutes.  Soon enough I overtook the other lass and after a while I caught up to Mike, and I could see he was struggling with his jacket.  My fair weathered runner wanted to run with his jacket on which he soon got hot, and he yelled in answer to me as I ran passed that it was slipping around his waist so he had it tied over his shoulders and it was flapping just like flipping superman.  Yes the jacket happened to be red.

Well I ran my heart out in this race and I got to the bollard to turn and no one had passed me.  As I headed back in the direction of the clubrooms I saw some runners coming up and there were some high fives and call outs, but still I was in the lead.

Back along Pertobe Road and almost to the roundabout and a chap passed me.  Hmmmm, was he a recreational runner out for a morning run or part of the club, I didn't recognise him.  Until he called out to me "do we turn here".  Darn, he was one of us.  I was in second.  Back to the roundabout and crossed the road and a lass passes me.  Gaaah, into third spot.   I got all along the dirt track all the way back to the clubrooms ready to do my lap of the oval, and then an avalanche of runners took me over.  I had held them off until about the 5.3km mark.   Ecstatic doesn't even come close.  Especially when I saw this ... Wooooo hooooo!  

So waiting as other runners came back to the clubrooms and then the lap of the oval and then I saw Mike.  He was getting what I call the "Sally treatment".  We have a super fantastic runner in the club who is so motivational and just a wee bit scary!!  But she will often run with some of the runners in the last lap if she sees them struggling, calling out to keep going, catch the person in front, don't stop, faster faster.

Well Mike was running with Sally until she broke off in the final sprint and arms over his head he started flapping his coat like Superman.  Oh yes!

Through to the end and over the line big smile on his face.  And then he drops to his knees.  Everyone thought he was a hoot and still carrying on (as he does!), except I could see he was struggling for breath and wheezing and quickly found his asthma pump in his pocket.  Things turned a wee bit serious for just a moment.  A few quick puffs and a drink of water and he was okay.  But heck he scares me when stuff like that happens.  

And best part of Aths Club is catching up with my running mates.  Don't ask me why I'm standing like a dork here, I think my feet must have been glued to the ground.  Got to love our club colours hey, recognisable from both the front and back.

Best thing I ever did was join Aths.  Keeps me running all through winter with no excuse. 

Running with new runners!

It's a happy day indeed when you pop on the new runners and bounce around the lounge room!  I decided to get my new Brooks Adrenaline 15 out of the box and retire my old ones today.  You served me well ol' mates, 644km to be precise.  Heck I must land hard, there's no tread left there on the ball of my foot.  If I were a car I'd have a defect notice placed firmly on my butt and taken off the road with tread like that!   No wonder I was feeling every stone I ran on.

My brother had given me a Rebel voucher for Christmas and at their last big sale I got my new kicks for zip - being that they were on sale and my voucher more than covered their price.  I figured the last two times I've been fitted expertly at The Running Company, each time I came back to Brooks Adrenaline, so I have had these beauties sitting in the cupboard for just the right time.  And today was their maiden voyage.

Move over oldies, the newies are about to take your place!

Must admit I have seen the limited edition Brooks Adrenaline 16 and I am soooooo wanting to try them on.  They are tartan!  What's not to love living with a Scot.   But they shall have to wait.

So today was the second Aths Club event of the winter series and lookie lookie, the man is looking quite the athlete wearing the shirt.  He says he must be an athlete, the shirt says so!  ha.  

So after the last naked run, this was handicapped and ... OMG ... I actually got a handicap that wasn't off ZERO!   FOR - THE - FIRST - TIME - EVER.   Okay so it helps that Mike was actually off zero, gotta keep it in the family and all.   I was off 2 mins 30.

So off the man runs.  WTF is he doing?  Wings?  Airing out his armpits?  You be the judge!

I caught him at the turnaround point, he'd only been passed by one other runner by then so what does he do ... stops and waits for me.  This is not how you run a race Mike!!!  Someone tell the man.  In his defence he said he saw I was only just behind me and thought it would be nice to go round together.  How gallant!  Okay stop laughing people.

I was delighted finishing strong so was able to look back and see Mike rounding the oval and then down the home stretch.  He really kicked it into gear (can you tell I'm proud???).   "Maybe if I shut my eyes it won't hurt so much sprinting" he's thinking.

I'm still chipping away at my 5km time.  I was so rapt.  Not my best 5km, I checked back on Garmin and that was earlier this year.  But slowly slowly I'm getting there.  Must have been the bouncy new runners helping me today.

I can't tell you how much I'm enjoying having Mike along for the ride with this running gig.  He really enjoyed today too - or maybe it was the delicious morning tea and the one (or five) pieces of jelly slice he acquired!  Either/or, after my painful 16.7km yesterday and being chased by a dog where I thought I was going to be bitten, yesterday wasn't good, I was pretty defeated.  But I recovered well and today was a great day.  So many ups and downs in this running gig.