Wonderland

I had major Wonderland envy when I saw the pics last year for their inaugural event. I just knew I would do it this year and Mike surprised me that he wanted to as well.

A pic from the most awesome race shirt ever!

Let me back up.  Wonderland is an event run by Big Long Run P/L in the Grampians, at Halls Gap, our favourite town on earth.   The Saturday had the 8km and the 2km kids run.  The Sunday is when the big boys and girls, the serious trail runners, strut their stuff in a gruelling 20km or 36km run up over and around the mountains, alongside waterfalls, over rocks and well you get my drift.  Those two events have mandatory requirements and you need to qualify to run them.

Needless to say we were doing the 8km!

So why did I have Wonderland envy after last year?  Well Wonderland is actually an area in the Grampians, but they theme this event after Alice in Wonderland.  The most amazing volunteers dress up and do their utmost to ensure we have the best ever time as runners.

So the 8km Fyans Flat it was called and hmmm there was a few bits I wouldn't call flat. But nothing bad though. And despite the torrential rain they got yesterday the trail part wasn't too bad at all.

So freaking cold before the start with rain on and off.  We got a good park, probably because we were there around 12noon (the race wasn't starting until 2pm), so wandered (actually dashed through the rain) to the local hall to pick up our bib.  We got looking at the Thirs there and Mike decided he wanted one, not to be outdone I would get one too.   Mind you if he told me once he told me a thousand times he was looking like a "bad-ass" !!   He did a double take when on facebook later that night one of his mates likened him to Keith Richards! hahahahaha  And his sister queried "what's with the pirate look".  Not so bad-ass after all.

So once bib was picked up we popped back to the car for a cuppa, Mike had a sandwich and I had a banana as we still had over an hour to kill.  Saw a couple of the girls from our Runners Connect group, always good to catch up.  The bibs were so cool with our names on them (The Sodd being Mike's camping nick name) although he wasn't too keen on the pink! ha.

So I dragged him to mill around the start line about 30 mins to go, I get anxious to be amongst the throng like that.  Of course he complained - it's cold!!!!!!  And then it started to rain, oh joy.  We huddled under the picnic shelter amongst other race goers.  Time to start moving up to the start line and lo and behold the rain stopped and the sun came out.  It was lovely.  

The idea of doing this event was purely for fun.  I wanted to run with Mike.  He's not really into events, so the first surprise was that he entered.  But I just hated the idea that if it was miserable weather and he was bringing up the rear, he'd be hating it, he'd be wet and cold and well I've been there done that and it's a horrid feeling when you're on your own knowing you still have to slug out X amount of kilometres.  So I figured if we were going to be wet and cold we were going to have a darn fun time together doing it.  

Mike had planned to do his 1 minute run, 1 minute walk.  That was all good, but when his runkeeper told him each time that it was time to start running he would never warn me and he'd take off like a jack rabbit (or was that the white rabbit, tee hee!!) and leave me in his dust, only to stop and walk a minute up the road.  Gaaah!  Warn me when the one minute ding happened will ya!

So I mentioned the volunteers, they were nothing short of amazing.  Dotted around the route we just smiled and smiled.  Pics following.  

Probably about half way through it clouded right over and at times some misty rain, but it was okay, we were hot from running so the misty rain was welcome. We took so many photos, today was about fun. Loved hearing the kookaburras (who were prob laughing at us!!) and seeing lots of kangaroos and wallabies. The bush smelt so good too.

Didn't realize though I was running with Usain Bolt!!   This bad-ass took up that Bolt pose for every race photographer!!! Good grief  

Pics courtesy of the facebook group from the local people taking photos around the traps.  The Sports Image photos have come through today, I just haven't yet had a moment to purchase them.  They are as equally hysterical.

Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee directing us down over the bridge to the trail below.

Really now magnificent is this area, look at the running track.  Yep, another Bolt moment! 

A lovely racegoer who came up behind us took our photo.

Something you don't see every day in the middle of the bush - 

Mike was passing a Tweedle Dum race goer.

The pose wasn't only a static pose - he did it on the fly also!  

This is probably one of my most favourite photos, he was having the time of his life.

Even despite the torrential rain we had seen on the FB group from the day before,

the track wasn't too bad, only a couple of areas like this.  

How high can you jump?  As high as needed.  

Got to the Bramuk area and the sun was magnificent.

Still with the pose - da plane da plane (a la Fantasy Island I reckon)

  

How magnificent is this area - this view stopped me in my tracks.

More of the rockin' volunteers who just made this event fantastic.

Mike really tired in the last couple of kms as we were heading back to the start (by way of a big loop).  The cloud cover had come over and it started raining a little bit but soon stopped.  I could hear the loud speaker and I said to him that when the finish line area came into sight we had to run.  And he did.  Over the finish line a bit red in the face but oh so happy.  Until he realised his very first piece of bling, his finishers medal was also PINK! hahahahahaha  

  

We came in I think third and fourth last, ha.  But as you can see from these pics, there was so much fun being had, it wasn't about racing.  We certainly got our moneys worth.   Mike was worried he was holding me up but heck, if I had gone on ahead I wouldn't have had half the fun I did.   It truly has gone down as my most funnest event ever being able to take part with my running-bad-ass-bolt-like-keith-richard-pirate-looking husband !!

And the best part was he said "I think we should do it again next year" !  

We finished off the day getting an icecream cone from one of the shops, and on this cold afternoon it was really yummy.  Then back to the car to have our thermos of coffee and hit the road back home. 

LSR ramping up

EDITED TO ADD:   I had written this post a couple of weeks ago and still had it sitting in my drafts only to realise tonight I hadn't hit publish!


So my weekend LSR (long slow runs to the non-runners reading this) are ramping up as I continue on with my half marathon plan.  Not sure if I've ever mentioned, I use a plan from the Marathon Training Academy to which I also avidly listen to their podcasts.  But heck it's hard to get out when the mornings have been looking like this - ICY !

My weekend runs are taking me out of town and down lonely country roads.  Actually lots of roads around here like this, but admittedly this one lead out of town.

And I had the 'girls' for company, a veritable cheer squad lining up along the fence watching me run by.   Actually this heard of cows started following me along the fence, not sure how I can get the video I took in here, it did make me laugh.

But you know when you run way out of town, you've got to run back in, so in my effort to do a big loop I went along under the cypress trees and came across lots of puddles like this.  Oh no!  Not my finest hour.  

Didn't really think that plan through properly did I?

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.