I decided while waiting for the rain to stop, I would get on top of my chores which included two baskets of washing that needed to be folded.  I honestly don’t know where all the washing/folding comes from in this household but it always there waiting to be done, it drives me insane!!  Got everything done and there wasn’t a drop of rain in sight, so headed out.  I swear, no word of a lie, I turned the corner at the end of my block and it started to rain again, I couldn’t believe it!!  I knew I had to keep going because there was no way I was going to escape twice from the evil clutches of my family   It was a fabulous run with no sign of any niggles from calves or shins, woo hoo!  The podiatrist had dropped my adjusted orthotics to me the night before so I really wanted to test them out and I was happy with them.  Lets hope it stays that way.  I ended up doing 40 mins and had a good stretch on front verandah once home with a few calf exercise thrown in.  I should probably do my push-ups after runs as I haven’t been doing them because quite honestly, I can barely remember everything I am suppose to be doing.  I was totally drenched when I had finished and couldn’t wait for a hot shower only to find that darling hubby had decided to have a shower while I was out and there was no flipping hot water left!!  How cheeky is that???   Pesky husband

I am going to have to work out some kind of schedule with my blogging as it seems to be getting done weekly!

Last week I stuck to my schedule of runs and Pilates, and on Sunday did part of the Rat Run with some Coolrunners.  RJ was originally working but I managed to talk her into giving up her shift and come with me to do it.  Then I realised I didn’t actually have anyone to look after my kid’s while I flitted off for the run  RJ suggested we stay over her house on the Saturday night and her hubby would look after all the kids on the Sunday morning.  What a friend!!  

We got up at the crack of dawn  , had breaky and headed down to the clock tower about 7:00 for the 7:15 start.  Introduced ourselves which is always funny when you only know people by there usernames, and it wasn’t long before we set off.  It was decided that we would run the trail in reverse due to the wind that was forecast.  Well, it didn’t take long for all the CR’s to be totally out of sight because we are such flipping slow coaches but we knew that was going to happen  We had scheduled a 70 minute run at a pace of 7min/km.  I could have kicked myself because I forgot my Garmin and it would have been great to look at that run along the coast, ggrrr!  The funny thing is I remembered to take a change of ear rings as I knew the ones I had in were going to clash with my running top, now there’s your priorities!! 

It was a great run which we both really enjoyed.  Not sure how far we ran but we both felt that we had ran a little faster than planned.  We did however stick to the 70 mins.  There is going to be another one planned down the track sometime and we should be able to run entire track when it happens.  We all met up afterwards and headed to the local cafe for coffee and a chat which was really good.  I couldn’t stay that long because my family I had to be at my in-laws by 11:30am as they were off to Greece.  So collected the troops and then the hubby from home and off we went.  Spent the rest of the day waiting at airport for plane to take off, lucky buggers!

Monday

Went and saw the podiatrist at the sports clinic as I felt I should be getting my orthotics checked because I have had them for 18 months.  I have also been getting a few shin twinges and chaffing on insteps.  I was really happy with consultation apart from the fact that he told me I have shin splints and a mild case off Plantar Fascia   Its not all bad though, he is adjusting my orthtics which he thinks may be contributing and I have more stretches, massages and exercises to do.  I can still run so thats really good!

Plan to run tomorrow and somehow get to Physio’s to do Pilates.  It school holidays so I have to play it by ear.  Happy running everyone

Better late than never   It was a great morning for running, cool and just a sprinkling of rain.  I had decided to just run this 10km on the way I felt on the day as my longest run over the past few weeks had only 6.5km.  I met up with RJ and it we headed to the start.  We found ourselves way up the front and I said to RJ we better move  back as this must be the 1st wave of runners.  It was actually hard to see where to place ourselves so we just moved back a bit and hoped for the best.

Race started and it wasn’t long when I was thinking I had made a mistake in wearing my new runners for the first time.  I usually don’t have a problem with the Glycerins and have done it in the past but my left calve was hurting a little and all I could think about was the fact that it may get worse.  Thankfully as I got further down the track it settled.  I then felt warm so took the jacket off and tied it around my waist.  Another mistake, I had put my mobile in the pocket of jacket and it kept thumping me on the back of the leg.  This continued to annoy me the entire race and it was hard to concentrate as I was trying to find the best spot to position it.  I ended up tucking it the corner of my jacket down the side of my skins which was still annoying but not as annoying than the thump.  Just one more thing to annoy me on the day was that I had to use my Samsung MP3 player as I couldn’t find my iPod shuffle and because it doesn’t have a clip, I ended up having to carry that.  I did try and tuck that in my skins but that wasn’t working for me.  This is probably the first event ever where I had lots of annoyances while running and it was hard to keep focused   I lost RJ somewhere along the track, I think it was at the bottleneck under the Swan Street bridge, she didn’t run under it, she kept on the street.  So I continued in a steady pace, I don’t mind running by myself because then I can run my own pace and not go into competitive mode   Kept chugging along and have to say everything bodywise felt great.  I am so glad I had a massage as once that initial niggle in calve settled, I never gave them a second thought.  Usually when I run, I have to stop and stretch all the time so the massage did the trick for sure.  Spotted RJ on the loop around the MCG and she was quite a distance away and I thought there was no way I would catch her up but have to admit, I kept thinking I wonder if I could.  Anyway, she must have slowed down a bit because I did end up catching her up   We soon found ourselves at that very rude incline on Lansdown Street heading towards Peter Mac and we did a short walk up it.  Started running again and was so glad when I hit Batman Ave because there was some guy on the sidelines giving encouragement and he screamed out “come on guys only another 100mts”, and sure enough turned the corner and there was a sign confirming exactly that.  I had absolutely know idea how far we had run as I seemed to miss the km markers and I thought my Garmin was out so I didn’t bother looking at that.  It was so nice to just all off a sudden finish   I wasn’t happy about the muddy finish with my new shoes on!  Finished in just over 63 minutes which I sort grunted about but when I saw the elevations on the Garmin, I don’t feel too bad about that now. 

Went to the Transport afterwards and caught up with a few CR’s, no ausrunners in sight   The service in that joint is just shocking and after waiting 1/2hour for a coffee we decided to have breaky somewhere else.

Monday

My quads were a little sore but I did go and do my Pilates at the Physio’s.  Had intended to stretch and massage yesterday but the day somehow got away from me, so didn’t end up doing anything else.

Tuesday

Today I didn’t feel like hitting the streets for a run so decided to run on the tready.  I noticed a little gym walking distance from home and thought I would go there casually for $4.  Well, I can see why it was only $4, two treadies in whole gym and they looked like they were 100 years old.  There was a big note on them saying, “due to insurance reasons, no running on treadmills”, pmsl!!!  The girl running the place did let me run as I said I didn’t want to walk on it.  She looked at me and said, ooh, you’re runner aren’t you so that is ok   Made my day actually but I only ran for 30 minutes with a 5 minute walk warm-up and 5min cool down because I couldn’t wait to get the hell out of there!  There a few bogan muscle heads floating around   I am still sore today and I do intend to stretch and massage as soon as I catch up on the housework…. damn that housework!!!!

Well its been a busy week again but with most of it being all about me  I cancelled my pod appointment and decided to have a massage done instead as my calves have been really screaming out to me.  I couldn’t get in at the sports clinic at the drop of a hat so I booked in somewhere else.  Oh my fecking god!!  Did it hurt or what???!!  Now I know what you have all been talking about   It did really hurt but sort of in a good way I had lower back, glutes, hamstrings and calves massaged.  I also had some cupping done on my calves and that was a joyful experience not, especially when she was dragging it around to other areas.  I was trying not to think about the fact that there was probably about 12 inches of skin sucked into the cup and I actually had to deep breathe……. something I haven’t done since childbirth!

I also had my physio appointment and I know I am definitely going to get sorted out, hooray!!  She basically said that I do my entire running on my left leg and the right leg just goes along for the free ride, in fact she said alot of things that are going on with me but I came out feeling so optimistic.  I have been checking out my butt in the mirror as she said I have a great left glute muscle but absolutely nothing in the right due to my imbalances   I hope you can’t notice that!  She has given me heaps of self massages to do on my hotspots with a foam roller and also a spiky ball, and some adductor strengthening exercises to do with a weight around my ankle.  I have to continue with Pilates once a week and do all the other exercises that I have been doing a home.  The best news is I can get right back into my running, woo hoo!!  Now which training program for the half  

I have only done one session of Pilates and one 6km run this week, I was going to run today but have to say my lower back is feeling a bit tender.  I am doing the 10km Run Melbourne on Sunday so I will just do heaps of stretching between now and then.  I plan to just run leisurely and enjoy the sights.

I couldn’t help myself but I have bought some more running gear  I bought another pair of Brooks Glycerin’s and some Body Glide from Running Warehouse which arrived yesterday, and today I bought some long skins.  Running gear makes me happy  

running

Since the Mothers Day Classic I have been putting all my energy into treating my hip bursitis.  I have been using the reformers at the Physio twice a week and over the last 10 days have been also doing home exercises everyday specifically for the hip.  I have still been able to run but keeping the distances short, 5 - 6.5kms three times a week.  I have to say I am loving my running at the moment   I can honestly say, my hip feels so much better in taking these steps and I feel like such a doofus as I should have done this a very long time ago!!  I couldn’t make an appointment for a review with the original physio I saw as she only works evenings now, so, I had to swap to another physio.  I read the profiles on each physio and picked one who is a long distance runner.  When I was reading about her on the Alphington Sports Medicine website, I was thinking her name rang a bell and I have since found out it is the Karen Natoli, the womens winner of the 2006 half marathon at MM    Very excited about this appointment!

 I have also made an appointment with the Pod on Monday to get my orthotics reviewed as it has been over a year since I have had them.  It is my intention to to run my first half at the Melbourne Marathon in October so I want to get on top of absolutely everything.

I did enter the 10km Run Melbourne but I am going to check with physio to make sure it’s ok to do.  My instructions were to only do shorter runs but my hip is feeling so much better so I am hoping I can do the 10km.  If I have to, I will downgrade to 5km.

ramblings

Life on the home front has been really busy which is why I haven’t really been blogging much.  I tried a couple of times to do a quick “the week that was” but before I knew it, I was half way into the next week.  In the end I just decided to take the pressure off and not blog so much.  I have mainly been reading and posting a little on the Ausrun and Coolrunning forums to keep my finger in the pie and for a bit of a laugh, Coolrunning has supplied a few laughs I must say        

So all is well in my world apart from my chaotic home life but my running world is certainly making up for that, can’t wait to start increasing distance again

P.S  As you can see I have changed my template again, I think I am having a mid-life crisis, pms!!  I think this one is here to stay, if I do get bored with it, I can change the colours

Up at the crack of dawn and one thing I was aware of, I wasn’t really in the mood for running!  It was so warm and snug in bed and it was the first time ever that I struggled to get my butt up and moving for an event.  Eventually got myself organised and headed off.  I decided to park in the Sofitel Hotel parking and I just knew I wasn’t on the planet when I tried to pay on arrival   It was coming up $0 owed and I stood there looking perplexed for a moment or two before a parking attendent told me to pay when you leave, pmsl!  Anyway, met up with RJ and we headed down to where the action was.  I think I managed to roll of about twenty complaints, right down to the fact that my undies didn’t feel right.  Lucky for me, RJ was feeling a little the same so I didn’t come of sounding like the biggest whinging loser as she was giving me a run for my money   It wasn’t long before we were heading down towards start line, still trying to convince ourselves that we would be right once we started. 

As much as it was a bit of a crappy run for me, I really enjoyed the course.  I lost RJ somewhere along the way, I think around the 5km mark and I was convinced she was ahead of me.  I spotted someone ahead that looked like RJ and I was trying to catch her up but just couldn’t do it.  I felt like I was running out of steam towards the end and my legs felt like lead.  Not sure really what was going on but there was a lot of negative self talk going on and I was desperately trying to turn it around!  It was such a relief to see the final 200m mark and as much as I could see I was going to do a sub 50mins, I couldn’t do that last sprint.  When I checked my Garmin afterwards, I crossed the finish line at 49:32 which means I knocked off 3mins of my best 8km time   I am pretty rapt with that result thats for sure   I looked around for RJ and couldn’t see her anywhere.  I didn’t think I was going to find her in the crowd and decided to to head back to our meeting place at the Arts Centre in hope that maybe she was waiting there for me.  I was just about to head off and I saw her coming out of finish area, she was actually behind me!

After we collected our very impressive showbag and medal, we headed to Southbank for a very scrumptious breakfast.  I might add here we continued our whinging conversation about what crappy runners we are and how on earth are we ever going to do a half marathon!!       

running

As scheduled, I ran my three 5km runs this week, unfortunately they were all street runs.  I honestly find suburban street runs a tad boring and absolutely love it when I can get down to the Tan or Princes Park.  I am so looking forward to running my 8km’s at the Mothers Day Classic on Sunday, I can barely wait!

ramblings

Things have settled slightly on the Kinder front with me leaving the pesky 4 year old after about 1/2 hour after it starts.  He is certainly not happy but does settle………. eventually   I have been picking him up earlier than finishing time and he always looks ok when I front up.  Wednesday he had everyone in hysterics as he was belting out a Kiss song with guitar in tow, he does the Gene Symmons tongue thing and all   Oh well, as long as he is happy!

So the plan for me now is to resume my Pilates program that I had to abandon due to Kinder duties and I am also going to try and get to the gym at least once a week to start my weights up again.  As soon as I get the MDC out of the way, I am going to start my 1/2 Marathon program in preparation for The Melbourne Marathon in October.

I will be going home in August as my sister has decided to become an honest woman and get married   It has been a bit of a bone of contention as the first date that was set was going to be on my Dads 1st anniversary of his death.  My other sister (the one that was just here visiting) and myself were not happy at all about this I can tell you.  Anyway, to cut a long story short the date was changed and is now set for the week after, still not happy but what can you do!  I honestly thought my next trip home would be to scatter my Dad’s ashes, not attend a wedding.  I am really hoping we can plan to do Dad’s ashes as well because I really don’t know when I will be able to get back there and I really want to have some closure on the whole thing if that is at all possible    

I gained 200gm this week but I am back on the wagon again.  I found it a little hard to get back into the swing once my sister left to go back to Perth.  I am telling you though, I am going to get this bloody last 4kgs of if its the last thing I do 

Got up this morning and decided I was running no matter what.  Put the running gear on and waited for hubby to get home so he could look after 4 year old, we wagged kinder today   He stepped in and I stepped out, and even though it was sunny, I just couldn’t get my head around running the streets.  I decided because of time frame I would go to the gym and run on the tready.  Today I realised that I miss going to the gym and I am going to try and get there a bit more, no idea how but I am going to try.

I ran 5km and loved every minute of it.  The second song that came on my ipod was La Grange and I love running to that   The whole run was great and it was good to listen to my music.  My running time is the only real time I get to listen to it.  I do in the car but its not quite the same as when you are exercising.  The other bonus today was I was able to get an appointment with the Beauty Therapist at the gym and get my bikini line waxed

My plan is to try and run every second day leading up to the Mothers Day Classic.  I am doing a refresher pathology course at Monash Uni over the week-end but it finishes early enough on the Sunday to hopefully slot it in at the end.  I might take my running gear and do it over in that neck of the woods so that it is done and out the way before I get home to the troops

Weighed in yesterday and I lost 200gm while sister was visiting, very happy with that as I was a bit nervous I had undone some of my good work from the previous week.  So a total loss of 1.6kg in the last 2 weeks

West Coast Eagles are playing Carlton tonight and I am not sure who to go for, my first team or my second

Hhhmmpphhh!  I thought I better post as it has been a while and thanks for asking Andrew, everything is fine apart from the old mojo going awol! 

Its been a month since R4K’s and I think I have been out about three times for a run since then   I entered myself into the Mothers Day Classic to get myself motivated but so far it doesn’t seem to be working!  There are 11 days left so if I want to run the entire 8km, I guess I should get myself out there somehow.  I have been finding it really hard to slot the time in around all my 4 year olds bits and pieces.  I am still having to stay for all kinder sessions and have to say, I am a little over it.  All I can think of is what I could be doing instead of playing dress ups, doing puzzles, reading stories, playing hide and seek etc, I think the kinder should put me their pay-roll When we are not at kinder we are doing Speech Therapy sessions and soon we will be adding Occupational Therapy.  My big plan was to use the kinder session times as my exercise time guilt free but I can’t seem to fit it in anywhere else at the moment.  I know this is not forever but I can’t help but find it a little frustrating.

Now on a positive note, I started using a different Weight Watchers method which they have added to the program and in the first week I lost 1.4kg, woo hoo!!  Was extremely happy with that and I find it so much better than counting points.  My diet has been so much better and the biggest bonus is, I am definitely not hungry!

I have had my sister staying with me for the last 5 days and it was really great to have her here.  When I went home in August last year for Dad’s funeral it was such a short sad trip that we both felt we needed some time together.  She is the only person in the world who I can have a real good laugh with at the most ridiculous things, and I mean rolling around with tears streaming down out faces.  Although I had the kids home for her stay, we also somehow managed to cram in quite a bit of retail therapy and we were both really happy with our purchases, although the kids weren’t!  Its the first time in ages I have been to the shops and bought clothes and shoes for everyday wear and not running gear!  I had actually planned to utilise her while she was here to get out and run but I just couldn’t be stuffed, and have to say the weather is also turning me off a bit, it is so cold!

So feeling a little down in the dumps today as she flew home to Perth and now its back to reality.  I have to somehow get out and run!

And its all to do with my weight!!  I weighed myself yesterday as I couldn’t remember if I weighed in on the Friday or the Saturday and I was 400gms lighter.  Now I wasn’t overly wrapped with that figure, but hey its better than nothing!  Then I get on the scales this morning just to double check and I have frickin maintained, how can that bloody well be!  I feel as if I have been starving the whole week for nothing, I was hoping to have at least lost 1kg.  I hate watching what I eat, it seriously sucks especially when it appears you haven’t in fact lost anything!! 

So, I am starting again today……… I am taking todays weight and am going to continue with the starvation diet Weight Watchers points.  I am going to try and not have any alcohol for a week which is going to down right kill me, no actually I will finish the four sisters bottle in the fridge and then no alcohol until next weigh in.  I can do that surely???  I am also going to try and do some activity everyday, even if it is only a walk.  I have been finding it really hard to slot the exercise in as I have been having to stay for all my 4 year olds kinder sessions as he is not settling in at all  

My knee feels much better now but I do feel a little tightness in in the quad.  I haven’t done any running since Mondays run group and I actually feel as though I have lost my mojo a bit.  This always seems to happen after I do my goal event.  I am planning to do the 8km Mothers Day Classic but it just doesn’t feel the same as Run 4 Kids.  I feel a little apprehensive about going to Mondays run group as I am scared I am going to hurt myself again.  

Will finish by congratulating both The Girls (Jaykay, Em, Michelle and Corrie) and Team Muttley (Clarkey and co) who both participated in the Oxfam Trailwalker event.  First the Girls, you are an inspiration to us all!  With all your blood, sweat and tears that you have put into the preparation, and following through and completing the event earlier than anticipated, you girls do truly rock!!!  I have loved following your journeys through your blogs and thank-you for sharing them.  And Team Muttley, what a sensational achievement!!  Not only did the team run the entire way, they broke the bloody Australian record   Absolute legends!  I feel very proud to be associated with all these ausrunners   Oh boy, that all sounds a bit gushy, doesn’t it, but I can’t help it because I am blown away by everyones achievements