A rare sunny Winter's day

After suffering through the iciest winter I can remember in years, yesterday's run with the Warrnie Athletics Club was one out of the box.  The weather was beautiful!!!! To be honest I can't remember the last time I ran in a sleeveless top!  Is this the first sign of things to come?  Cross fingers.

It was a 10km and as usual I was first cab off the rank being they use a handicapped system and let's face it ... I'm slow!!  I kept a keen eye out for the orange chalk arrows so I knew where I was heading.  A peril obviously that fast runners face all the time being the front runners, but in our handicap system something I still get uneasy about.

The route this time took us from the club rooms down to past The Flume back to Thunder Point.  I didn't even know there were pathways across there only ever having driven up to Thunder Point before.  The view along the pathway was magnificent.  I got to 3km before the first runner past me.  Then slowly the avalanche comes!  Everyone so encouraging, calling out 'great job' or 'keep it up'.  Best thing I've done for myself is join up the Winter Series.

How beautiful is this view I got to see while running.  Superb!

No gel required.  Goodness what the heck was happening here I'll never know.  It wasn't windy, only a slight breeze.  Looks like I'm going for a Mohawk.

I was last back at the club rooms and dear Kellie ran the lap of the oval with me.  Here's Alison, Kellie and I at the end.  Love the new club shirts, I needed to exchange my size so will be able to wear it next time.

The club put on pizza and drinks afterwards being that this was an afternoon run.  It was a great afternoon.

So countdown is on till my next half marathon.  Koroit to Warrnambool on 13 September!  Hopefully it will be happy birthday to me!! ;-)

Mosaic 2 Mountain

Race recap only a week late!  

So last Sunday was the Mosaic 2 Mountain in Dunkeld.  I'd been checking the weather app from about 10 days out daily.  Oh okay I checked twice a day!!!! The temp seemed to be dropping.  

I decided the day before I would be wearing long tights, double layer (long tshirt topped by short tshirt), hat (in case of rain) and gloves would be a definite addition.  They could be taken off and hooked into my spibelt if necessary, but as it happened I wore them the entire 10km.

I was to meet my good running buddy Chloe who would be coming from a couple of hours north and we planned to have a great time.

As I got closer to Dunkeld I couldn't even see the mountains they were shrouded in low lying cloud.   Finally they appeared as beautiful as ever.  I know I've mentioned many times I adore The Grampians.

It was good fortune this year that they had the conference room at the Royal Mail to check in and hang out in the warm before the run started.  Not long after I got there Chloe arrived.  Yay let the fun begin!   Hey Mt Sturgeon has done its disappearing act again!!

So time came to head out I checked the weather.  I announced it was "6 degrees feels like 2" and I swear if nearby people had something in their hands they would have thrown it at me!

Earlier that morning the 21km race and the 26km race to the top of the Mount had already commenced.  My super running friend Matilda from Run Mum blog was doing that but I missed the start of those races.

Finally came time for the 10km.  Off we started.  It was all about enjoying the moment, we talked almost non stop!  

Action shot!!!  Excuse the blur (maybe we were running too fast!!! Ha).   We headed out towards Mt Abrupt towering ahead of us with Mt Sturgeon to our left.  Then as we turned it was as if we were heading directly to Mt Sturgeon, just beautiful.

As we were running we were amongst the last runners and the sweeper bike rider came upon us.  What pressure!  We kept telling him to stop and talk to the people at turning points.  Then I threatened to start talking girl talk if he didn't leave us alone. Ha.

We finished and I saw Matilda as I crossed the line for a hug!  I didn't even think to grab a pic and went back later but couldn't find her :-(. Where did you go Matilda!!!! There was some fruit and bottles of water at the finish and some very welcome and delicious soup put on by the kinder ladies.  

The presentations weren't until 12 and being that there was that lovely warm conference room to hang out in, we found not many people left but instead hung out, it was nice.   They had two young chaps with guitars singing to entertain, another table of fruit and oat slices.  A lady doing massages and a display from Athletes Foot and Steigan Socks.  And they had a computer hooked up to the timing if we wanted to get our official time there and then.  A couple of darling little kinder boys were checking out random bib numbers as people were milling around and would appear in front of you with a "here you are" and hand us a docket with our race details and time.  Too cute.

The majority of the big runners came in and presentations started, many spot prizes given out, it was a really well organised event.  Kudos to the kinder, that was the third year I'd done it, and it gets better every year.  Really enjoyed the different route and direction this year too.

So there you have it.  It's a wrap.

Roll on August

First day of August tomorrow and I'm all in.  Last month of winter (thank goodness!!) and I'm going to be all about challenges.

First things first I'm doing the No Junk Food August.  I did it last year successfully.  I mean come on it's only 31 days right?  How hard can it be to eat clean.  Come on join me, you know you want to!!

And second challenge I am aiming to finish winter with a bang.  I want to run 100km for August.  I started winter and ran 103km in June, fell in a heap in July with the flu, so aiming to finish winter with a bang.  I have a number of friends from our online running group also doing it so we shall urge each other on.

Feel free to join me on both or either of these challenges.  It's only 31 days!!!

Shopping!!!

Got to love my Fridays off work, best thing I've ever done!  And perfect for today.  My brother's birthday is during next week and I bought a gift that was way too big to mail.  Doh!  It was one of those lovely furry rugs in a leopard print.  Love Catch of the Day! ha.  But when it came it was in one of those suck-you-in-vaccuum-type-bags.  Which I undid to wrap up the rug and poof, it was kinda huge!   Wrap it I did and it ended up being 2.5kg without even being placed in a box (and in any case the biggest box I could buy from Australia Post was still too small) ... I really don't think these things out do I?

So what's a girl to do but take a trip down to Geelong to deliver said present in person!  Plus a spot of shopping while there.

First stop the yarn store.  Love Twisted Stitches.  Ended up with some beautiful Silk Noro which I will make into a scarf for the CWA competition next year.  Starting with the crafts early.  

A visit to Kathmandu to buy yet another beanie, Mike liked the beanie I bought for myself yesterday for running so much he wanted one too.  Lucky for him there was only one black one left, otherwise he may have been sporting a lilac one! ha.

Then lunch at the Pickled Duck ... or was it the Pickled Rabbit ... it was the Pickled something.  Corner Malop and Yarra.  Lovely little cafe I had never been to before and the most delicious cauliflower and bacon soup.  Yum.

After a bit more shopping, headed over to mum's for a surprise visit and to leave the pressie for my brother, so he could collect it after work.   And on the way home, what's a visit to Geelong without a quick stop in at Rebel.   Sale on too!  Bonus.   Stocked up on some GU as they had 8 for $15, yay!  I've been told the peanut butter and chocolate one is nice, so I added that to the stash of GU.  Jury is still out till I try it.

And look at this little number, wooo hoooo, no I'm not off to a disco, this is my new reflective running shirt.  By day a mild mannered black number with greyish white dots on the sleeve.  By night with a bit of flash added in, whooooosh!  I become a super hero, haha.  I was so in love with it I started running round the back yard with a torch.  Mike was mega impressed, he didn't even gulp at the price when he could see how well it worked.   Too bad at the moment it's that darn cold that my bare arms will not see the early mornings without a jacket on too, but all in good time.

So I would call this a very successful day's shopping.  And now I can hear torrential rain outside tonight so lets hope it rains itself out so I can go out for a shuffle in the morning.   Half Marathon training is back in full swing.

I'm baaaaaaack ... just!

Well after a horrid two weeks I feel like I'm starting from scratch again, which annoys me no end being that I was so happy completing my goal in June.  I have coughed and spluttered, and choked and sore nose from blowing then the sneeze days started and yes, it has been horrible.  Both of us have never got the flu shot but we are re-thinking that now, I know people who get the flu shot can still get the flu, but apparently the symptoms are not as bad.  This has hit us both for six.

So after my mild freak out at my half marathon plan slipping away, and even though I wasn't 100 percent better last week, Mike kicked my sorry tail out on the road and I was so glad I did.  Small runs.  3.25 km in the rain on Monday complete with hat and raincoat so I remained nice and dry.  Followed by 4.4 km on Wednesday running blockies around the neighbourhood, heck I picked the darkest night with no moon to speak of, looks like I'm about to head down into the mines.  Followed by a decent 5km run on Friday which although cold started out dry, but I got a drenching about 1 km in, I thought briefly about taking the short cut home but on my headphones came the song 'What have you done today to make you feel proud' and seeings I was already wet, I kept on going to put 5 km into the leg bank, and yep felt pretty proud.  Amazing the power of music.

Then today the Athletics Club had a 6km run.  Oh how we laughed and laughed.   Last time we all got together we all turned up wearing pink.  I swear we don't do a gear check before hand.  When our jackets came off we just looked at each other and cackled like the four yellow chickens we looked like.  How funny!   You weren't going to lose us in a crowd, that's for sure.

I toughed it out today, started off on the knocker in the handicap and was the last across the line.  I had some wheezing in my lungs so there were a number of walk breaks to catch my breath.  So glad I did it, and this Athletics Group is so encouraging, there's nothing shameful about coming last.  In fact Leah's hubby and another very encouraging lady Sally in the group came back to me and ran the last 200 metres with me.  High five to them.  Very much appreciated.

Got home and Mike had gone to art group so tried to light the fire, I just couldn't get myself warm this afternoon.  I think I went through almost half a box of fire lighters.  Would probably have helped if I actually cut some kindling instead of using the smallish looking logs.  But got it going and just took it easy this afternoon.

Want to get back into it next week, the first half marathon is eight weeks away, gulp!

Too late!

When I hoped I wouldn't catch Mike's dreaded man flu it was too late I reckon.  Ticklish throat had started.

And here I am after coming home from work Monday afternoon and a couple of days off work and still feeling dreadful.  Although of course not as bad as any man who had had man flu right?? Ha

My little buddy has not left my side.  I can't make a move without him following along and then settling down by my side.  Precious boy.

I'm already freaking about how many runs I've missed, my last run was last Friday so I've missed my all important weekend LSR.   I'm week 3 into my next half marathon program and can't even contemplate when my chest will feel ok to run.  After being so on track and kicking training goals I'm now in Panic panic mode.

PS I wasn't squishing Lucky in that pic it was just a pic together.  I wouldnt use him as a pillow!

No LSR for me

Firstly this happened ...

Yay I did it, 29 June this was my total.   I set out to run 100km over June, the hardest month of the year I find to run, and I did it - through rain and wind and cold mornings and cold evenings and darkness and rainbows and a little bit of winter sunshine thrown in.  

Then this happened ...

And let me tell you, when he gets sick, he REALLY gets sick.  Yes we joke about man flu but he's on antibiotics, he has no energy, he has been barking up a storm.   

And a lot of this has been happening ...

Aided of course by Nurse Lucky making sure he stays put.  He's coming out the other side now, still a bit weak but the barking has stopped.  Just in time as we are going to an American Theme Night at a local restaurant for 4 July tonight.  

However I feel like I'm on the beginnings of it.  Just a tickle in the back on my throat that I can't shake.  I'm on the Olive Leaf Extract courtesy of advice from my bestie, urrrgh it tastes horrid.   But I woke this morning thinking hmmmm I was planning my LSR (long slow run for non-runners reading this) today and I thought I would be tempting fate.    Will see how I fare tomorrow, although I want to be up super early cheering my friends on who are up at the Gold Coast this weekend for the marathon festivities.  Love that we can live track them and see how they are going too.

And with 4th July upon us, there were lots of American style goodies in the Designer Digitals store this weekend so I put them to good use.

Goodies I used from Designer Digitals