Cows!!

Soooooo there were cows involved in my day today.  First off my morning run.  Told His Nibs that I would be getting up early to get my 8km in.  Feh!  Only 8km.  It was a drop back week in my training schedule, I feel like I should do more but what's the first thing people will say ... TRUST THE PLAN!  So I did.   The plan was that I'd go out and do a 4km loop of town and when I was five minutes from home I'd send Mike a text and he'd meet me up on the corner and he'd do the next 4km loop with me.  Win-win.  He'd get his 4km in and I'd do my 8km.

So text sent when I was five minutes from home and I get to the corner and no Mike.  I rang him and get a feeble "errrr I'm not fully dressed yet".  [read: I'm still in bed].  Yes my fair-weathered running husband / accountability partner for this morning piked on me.  So darn him I kept going but decided to put a big angry-assed hill in it too so ran up the stock route instead. There, I showed him!

Cow legs made me mooooooove it !  haha  someone had to say it.   My awesome tights from Run Amok Tights.  Honestly so super super comfy and some great patterns available, but really who can go past cow legs!

What a glorious morning though, here's a pic of the Mill against the morning sun coming up, it looked eerily spooky and beautiful at the same time.   Oh and yes, got home and His Nibs was definitely still in bed!  Hmmmm.   

Sooo then because it was a magic winter's day today, absolutely glorious out this afternoon I took the little boy out for a walk.  So much fresh grass to sniff and pee and sniff some more!  haha, yes it's a drawn out process when there's so much goodness to get into for a little dog.

EXCEPT ... when there are cows involved.  Heck don't know what came over him this afternoon you'd think he'd never seen a cow before.  But there they were lined up at the fence.  Oh right, yep never been THAT CLOSE before hey Lucky.  His little tail went between his legs and he trembled and wouldn't go any further.  Only with some extreme urging would he walk but only on the other side of me giving that fence a wide berth.

He soon realised the cows were more scared of him than he was of them.

But his eyes never left them, don't take me over there mum, noooooo don't take me over there!  Don't worry mate, I won't let anything happen to you, we'll stick to the road and leave the cows over there.

And then after all this, later on this afternoon at 5.30 the guilt had got the better of Mike, and off he want for his own 3km run.  Good man!  I'm not going to say I shamed him into it, but the smile he had when he got home and then sat down for his roast lamb dinner was worth it!  

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!

Catching up - life, home and running!

I'm sooooo not enjoying winter at the moment.  The icy cold rain, the arctic wind, okay so that might be over-dramatising but it feels that way.  Yes we get the odd nice days, but 90% of the time it's horrid.  Which has made it hard to plan my days running, the weather man seems to get it wrong every time.  Oh well, grabbing moments when I can.

Mike also is grabbing moments and he's been out in the studio.  An old workmate of mine has been up the red centre and was posting his lovely photos on FB.  This one caught Mike's eye and I wrote to my friend to see if it would be okay for Mike to paint it, he was delighted.

I wish I had taken more progress shots though.  Half the time he never finishes a painting, he gets the painter's hissy fit and it ends up in the fire.  Not this one, he's actually finished it!

This was from when I started taking pics.   I love that big dust cloud coming from behind the truck as it barrels along the dusty road.

I was a bit worried about all that pink, but the man had a vision, getting there.

Oh oh, he's about to do trees, that's usually his downfall, dead trees yes, but trees with leaves is where the hissy fit usually comes in.  But by joves he's done it.

All done bar the signing of it, I told him to steady as it goes and don't let the signature be the thing that stuffs it all up.  Pretty darn proud of him, I love it!

So last Saturday night we were invited to a friend's 50th birthday, a James Bond theme birthday party.  I will say I did check out the gold lame body suits until hubby sees what I'm looking at and "helpfully" lets me know "err I don't think you could pull that off honey".  Yes dear darling husband of mine, I *KNOW* I wouldn't pull it off, I wasn't asking for an opinion, I was just looking.  Grrrr.

So we decided to go as Bond and his Bond Girl.  So much fun getting dressed up to the nines for a birthday party.  Oh and it was at the ritzy chi chi pooh pooh Club Warrnambool too.  Oh and notice the goatee and mo as disappeared, he gave me the heck of a fright when he came out of the bathroom like that - apparently no self-respecting James Bond would have a goatee and mo!

There were lots of Bonds and Bond girls, a couple of Pussy Galores, some villains, it was fantastic. And at 9.30 my friend was all excited as her daughters were doing a Battle of the Sexes quiz, boys versus girls, how much do we know about her with the last question being what year do you think Di and Steve will get married - no trouble there everyone was yelling out "never".  She quite frankly said to everyone "well you're all wrong, we're getting married tonight!"

Well talk about catching flies, mouths dropped open everywhere, all of a sudden the celebrant came in, flowers were quickly affixed to lapels and corsages for the girls and a wedding happened!  Oh boy oh boy, how fantastic.  I've heard of surprise weddings but never been at one before, it was terrific.  I'm so sooooooo happy I was able to be part of it.    Best quote of the night from one guest though was: "And I came to a wedding dressed up with a cat's tail!!!!" hahahahaha

And back to the weather as I hear the rain outside pelting on the roof, I'm really not kidding...

And lastly running.  I got out between downpours today to take Lucky for a wee joffle, then dropped him home just as the rain started again and waited for the next downpour to pass and then got out myself.  Check out our new club shirts, although I ended up wearing a long sleeve under it today.  We couldn't get cow print anywhere for shirts, but found a site that we could get black/white patterned and it's worked out fine.  It's been fun seeing the pics pop up on our FB group, there have been cows running all over the country today!

Yep, windy AND cold !

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.

Last days of #runfortania

And so the last days of the six day challenge, hooley dooley I've not run every day like this in ... well ... forever!  Not sure my knees really like it.

#runfortania - day 5 (Wednesday)

So it was one of those lovely winter afternoons so I went for my run afterwork.  I was aiming for 5, ended up 6.5, yay!   And it was absolutely glorious, I ran up to Thunder Point, love that run, what views we get up there.

#runfortania - day 6 (Thursday)

Last day, what a difference a day makes.  The weather app said it was going to rain 24 hours, eeeeek!  It was still raining when I left work.  Hmm wonder if it will be better at home.  Nope.  I said to Mike when I walked in the door that I think this last day might be a miss.  He once again said you have to finish what you started, what's a bit of water anyway, mind you it was icy outside and the wind had picked up.  Said he who was about to sit down and eat pizza in the warmth of the house!  

So dressed in two long sleeved running shirts, a running rain jacket, a reflective over vest for the dark, beanie, gloves, long tights, and headlamp, I decided to do blockies.  I ended up 4.4km in the dark, rain, wind, and freaking freezing conditions.   Done!  And so incredibly happy and proud.

Definitely one of those instances where the pain of not doing it would be worse than the pain of doing it.

And there you have it.  Six days in a row.  Actually seven in a row because I ran the day before the challenge started too!!  Tania may have run 250km and I did ... well ... a lot less!  But I'm really happy that I completed the challenge amongst some quite trying conditions. Go me!

More running for Tania

#runfortania - day 3 (Monday)

Well while Tania is still out in the Simpson Desert running her 250km, I kept slogging away at my miniscule runs!!  What a beautiful evening it was.  Seems like I haven't run in Warrnie after work for ages, mainly because it gets dark too quick, or it's too freaking cold or windy in the winter!  But tonight I had my gear with me so trotted out a weekday 4km.  Yep, told you it was miniscule, ha!   But I'm not as comfortable to run in the dark in Warrnie as I am here at home.

#runfortania - day 4 (Tuesday) - as in tonight!!

It's been one of those days.  Just couldn't get up for a morning run before work and thought yep I'll do it after work when I get home.  Got home and and there was a bit of misty rain, my hips were a bit hurty from the every day running which started before this challenge, I've run every day since last Friday!!  It was cold.  I had dinner to make.  I trudged through the back door and then hubby kicked my sorry arse into gear and told me to lace up and get out there with Lucky at least.  I can't start a flipping challenge and then pike on it while the rest of the group are out there doing it.  So okay it was only 1.5km joffle ... haha I #joffledfortania but it was something.  Even in the dark Lucky still wanted to pee everything he could so there was a lot of start/stopping.

But done.  Yay, I haven't let myself down.

And Cat patience grasshopper, once this #runfortania challenge is over, I'll tell you about my NEXT.BIG.THING!

#runfortania

Sooooo a friend of mine, well an online running buddy from our awesome 12WBT Runners Connect Group, is doing the Big Red Run at the moment.  What's that you might ask?  Well it's a grueling 250km from the Birdsville Pub, across the Simpson Desert in six days.  WHAAAAAT???!!!  Crazy crazy stuff.  You can read more about the Big Red Run HERE

So because our online running group is so awesome and so supportive and well yep, so awesome (tee hee!!) sooooo many of us have pledged to #runfortania over the six days she's running.  My pledge is to run every day, oh Lordy Lord I hope these knees hold up!

#runfortania - day 1 (Saturday)

I took Lucky for a 1.5km walk, pee, scratch, sniff, pee, joffle, pee, did I say pee?  How much pee can a little dog have, honestly!

   

Then followed it up with another 3.5km run myself.  

Where this awesome cow, or maybe it was a bull, posed for me.  How idyllic.

And quite frankly what a different winter's day from yesterday!!

#runfortania - day 2 (Sunday) - as in today!!

We were going to get up early this morning and go for a run and get it out of the way.  But at 7am the weather app on my phone says it was 2 degrees outside, feels like -2.  Errr, the doona went flying back over me.  It was Sunday, there was no hurry.

At 8am the temp had dropped to 1 degree.  This is celsius for my USA friends.  Nope, still not going out, made some porridge for brecky instead!

Mike and I ended up heading out at 11am where it was a more civilised 6 degrees.  Oh my fair weathered running husband, he came to the back door wearing long trackies, a jacket and a beanie.  Like really, it was okay out there, ditch the beanie man!  He conceded and wore his running cap.

Don't ask me what was going on with my hair, it wasn't even windy!  

Good grief!!

Mike is still wringing his hands together, we'd already run a km!

We ran to the footy oval.

Mike did one lap and then headed home.

I did four laps then took the long way home.  Another 6km on the tally.

And I am !