Monday 23 July 2007

how do you ...

I'm freezing. Looking forward to summer. Our house (like most old homes in QLD) just isn't built for winter.

So I'm wondering how you decide if it's the right thing to do to move your family to a foriegn country? How do you determine that the cultural experience will be more beneficial for them than the experience of growing up with local access to grandparents and cousins and aunts and uncles? How do you decide that you will survive living in one of the biggest and busiest cities in the world. not speaking a word of the language? How do you decide that you will be OK having a new baby in said city without the help of friends and family? How do you decide that it will be the right move career wise, especially when it could mean the start of a totally new life for your family that means you might not return to Brisbane, or even Australia for a significant period of time? and mostly, how do you know you won't regret it if you decide not to go ...

Anyone got a crystal ball going cheap?

Tuesday 10 July 2007

stuff ...

so, there hasn't been much going on. I've been feeling a bit ordinary. A bit nauseous. Haven't felt much like going to the gym or getting out for a run. I've had a couple of better days this week and have told myself I'll get back to the gym next week.


Surprisingly eating wise I've actually gone off junk food. That said, I have had to eat for what feels like all day every day to fend off the sick feeling. But the thought of eating stuff like chocolate just turns me off even more. So that's a plus!!!


I've been thinking a lot the last couple of weeks about the whole exercise and pregnancy deal. I've never been very confident about my body, let alone my pregnant body and the thought of waddling up to the gym with a pregnant belly is enough to make me want to hibernate for 7 more months. I haven't a clue what I would wear for a start.


When I was pregnant with my first I attended some exercise classes specifically for pregnant women, so it wasn't so bad, we were all in the same boat, although that said, I know a girl who looks so damn good when she's pregnant it's almost a crime. It's just not fair that some women get the "you will look like a graceful fertile goddess" and others get the "you will look like beached whale, puffy, fat and uncomfortable" - where's the justice I ask you?

Anyway, so I'll continue to struggle with that and don't know what will happen.

Max is determined he's having a brother and told me the other day he would be "very cross" if the baby was a sister and was a bit surprised when I told him even I didn't know if it would be a brother or sister. I found out for both Max & Maeve, but this time I'd like a surprise. We'll just have to prepare Max for the fact that it could well be a girl!!

The Japan job is still in the background. A is off to Tokyo for the weekend on the 27th. After that if both parties still wish to proceed we both head over sometime in August to check out housing and schooling ... but the July trip is the most important and we'll hopefully have a much better idea about things after that. I feel a bit in limbo at the moment. Realistically if we were to accept the job I would be going until the end of October because of uni. A may have to go before that, but I hope not. Anyway, we'll cross that bridge when/if we get to it.

I was wearing my shirt from the GC 10k the other day and Max says to me "Great shirt Mum"!!! ahhhhh, I love him!! :)

Thursday 5 July 2007

straight lines

2 of them ...

pink ones ...

So I'm wondering if the glute pain I've felt on the last 2 runs has been a bit of sciatica - early days I know, but the body is a strange thing.

Also I've been getting horrible sinus headaces every day and have been feeling totally exhausted, so the desire to exercise (and run) has been minimal. I have to say I saw Clairie run past in the half on sunday and she looked amazing - she is amazing.

Monday 2 July 2007

offical time

1:11:20 - 42 sec PB. I'm dissapointed it wasn't more (not that I was expecting it to be) but can't complain given the preparation I did and the glute thing.



a few highlights I thought of last night -



seeing the guy run past the cheersquad in the full in a white singlet and 2 red seeping marks in 2 unfortunate locations - poor fella, I wanted to give him my sachet of sports shield.



The girl in purple who ran past me in the 10k and said "Hi coolrunner"!!



finishing



the fact that i didn't fall over or cause a spill in the congestion of the start :)

And realising there was a payoff for being a larger runner when I could waltz right through the 'medium' t-shirt and medal collectiton queue when all the other girls were waiting for ages in the 'small' and 'x-small' lines!!!

I can walk normally today and the glute is feeling much better - I'm convinced it's a nerve thing as there is no muscle soreness and it's fine to stretch etc, it just seems to be certain positions/movements which causes a sharp stabbing pain and me to catch my breath! It's certainly less frequent today.

Sunday 1 July 2007

GCM 10K Race Report

So, this is going to be a long post. Consider yourself warned.

Saturday afternoon we packed the kids up and took them off to mum and dad's for the night and headed to our hotel at the GC. Mainly because I'm lazy and didn't want to get up at some ungodly hour and deal with traffic and stress about getting there on time.

Had a short rest at the hotel and then headed out for a 'romantic anniversary dinner' - we went to a nice Italian place on Tedder Ave and then once back at the hotel took a walk down Cavill Ave for an ice cream. mmmmmm!! Watched the Lions game and for a little while it looked like they might actually win their first game in AAAAAGES. Unfortunately it wasn't to be.

I wanted to get up early in the morning to participate in the cheering for the half and some of the full. So we were up at 6:30, had breakfast at the hotel and then on the bus to the race prescient. There were people everywhere, infact, when we were out the night before it seemed every conversation I overheard was about running the next day!

Found Cirque and a couple of other CRers and joined the cheersquad just before the home stretch. I was particularly keeping an eye out for Nikki who was running the half. When she ran past I thought she was below the time she wanted and looked a little distressed, so I decided to run alongside the track to try and gee her up a bit coming into the finishing area. Turns out she'd been having some knee problems and was struggling a bit.

After that saw a few CRers go past in the full and then had to head to the loos and the start line for the 10k. Graham and I lined up together and ran together for the first 4k. The run was tough for me today. From the start the HR was sitting around 180 and I felt like I was fighting to keep my breakfast down for the first 4k. Plus I managed to get 2 stitches (one each side) before we hit the 2k mark!!!!!! I ran through those and managed to get rid of them with some 3:2 breathing.

At the 4k mark I stopped for a short walk break then got going again. I managed to catch Graham and kept behind him for a little while (he didn't know I was there) but took another walk break as we came up to the turn onto the bridge. My glute was really hurting and I was struggling a bit and felt like I couldn't even walk properly, let alone run. Just in time Paul Kelly's Dumb Things cane on the mp3 - it was just what I needed - so after a bit of walking I took off with the music and managed to close the gap a little again. Coming up to the last drinks stop on the bridge I realised I couldn't really feel my fingers on my left hand. It was totally numb and tingly and my glute was killing. I kept shuffling and I didn't think I was going to beat my time from Brisbane. Then I saw Nikki at the side of the road, which gave me a great lift, I looked at the watch and could see the turn around leading into the finishing area and worked out if I really gave it everything I had left I could probably beat my Brisbane time.

So I ran, and it hurt like hell. I just really really wanted to beat the time. Passed quite a few runners coming up to the finishing line and by the time I crossed it I was totally spent. I just wanted to sit down and vomit!! I was in such a state I forgot to check my watch until I was walking in a daze past the medical tents, at which point it said 1:12:06 - so I obviously beat my Brisbane time of 1:12 ... it's just a matter of by how much.

Anyway, my glute has been really sore and I'm still this evening struggling to walk and move without feeling like someone is stabbing me in the butt with a huge great big knife. I'm hoping that it will feel better in the morning.

I'm not sure why this is happening. But it's not much fun.

I'm off for an early night.