Flower Power

Another weekly wrap up…

Start off with Wednesday night running group – we joined the 14km slow group.  It was a hard run, and I don’t think I would call it a slow group exactly!  We really got to push ourselves though and felt great afterwards.

Friday lunch time I went for a short run.  I was feeling a bit sore from Wednesday and a bit yuk from hanging around so many germy people (Josh and Sam were both home sick during the week with some kind of head cold / stomach bug combo.) so I took it easy.  I ran around the inside of the Botanic Gardens and got lots of nice photos of the few flowers that are out at the moment.  So I will call this the Flower Fartlek… which basically means run until you find a nice flower, take a photo and run to the next nice flower!

            

Dirty Thirty

We reached a huge milestone on Sunday when we completed the THIRTY KILOMETRE run!  I made up a route that took us all around Melton, the highlight being the run down Harkness Road… which is a long country road, most of it being a dirt road.

 

 

We turned at Hardy Rd and made our way to the end… I had been down here during the week to check out where we were going to go.  It was night time, and with high beams on, there were rabbits jumping all over the place!  I got to a bit that I thought I had better turn around, since we don’t own a 4WD!!! 

It was really exciting for me to see what was beyond the bend (I love seeing new sites and going on little adventures!).  It was amazing… there were huge rocks and a bit of a gorge that went down beyond the trees.  It was really beautiful and I couldn’t believe that this kind of place existed so close to home and we had never seen it before.

Looking down to the gorge…

The rocks…

A photo of Carli stretching while I stand on the rocks…

Some cactus…

The tree stump that Carli would like to turn into a table… she just needs a glass table top to put on the top… oh and somebody to go all the way down there, pick  it up and take it home… any takers? lol

We saw sheep, we saw tractors, we saw horses, we saw…. a high heel shoe!  What the?!?

This lonely shoe was found on the outskirts of Melton… and yes, there was only one of them.  Does anyone know where the owner of this shoe might be?  Cinderella?

We struggled home with Carli nursing a sore knee, which sounds like it might be ITB syndrome.  I had this last year before I did the Half for the first time.  It’s not nice.  Hopefully ice, massage and stretching will do the trick.

Our final time was 3 hours 54 minutes… of which 2 hours 56 minutes was spent running.  I was a little bit shocked to see that we had used an hour on breaks!  Though I must admit we did spend a bit of time at the gorge – it was just so pretty. 

Wait for me!

That is what I was thinking on Wednesday night at running group!  Usually we are in the slow group which runs about 6 min/km.  I always feel like it is a bit too slow and I end up running up the front and sometimes getting in front of the run leader.

This time I thought I would give the Medium group a go.  They say they run 5:15 min/km.  Ideally I would like a 5:30 min/km group, but I thought I would give it a go.

Straight away I could tell we were going pretty fast, and I wasn’t sure if I would be able to keep up.  The whole time I was worried about being last and being left behind.

At one point we ran across from Rod Laver Arena to the MCG and there were a whole heap of people walking the other way toward the last Melbourne Pink concert.  A young girl yelled out ‘Go girl at the back!’ to me! That kept me going for a while… just to try and not be the girl at the back!

I did make it to the end.  And was shocked to hear that we ran 9.4km at an average pace of 4:58 min/km! No wonder I was struggling to keep up!

Back to the slow group for me next time.

Hardcore!!!

Last week was an easy week for us.  That meant that I ran 8km   with the running group on Wednesday night, and that was it until Sunday.  I was going to go for a run at Friday lunch time, but instead I did a bit of a stair workout (well that is a bit of a stretch, I actually went up the stairs at work from level 20-30 selling raffle tickets). 

Sunday was a step back… meaning we only had to run a half marathon.  And it lined up nicely with the VRR Princess Park Half.  This run was really good for us – it wasn’t too far to travel, it started at 8am and only cost $20, compared to the Sandy Point Half which started at 7am, cost $70 and was way on the other side of the city.

Saturday night I started to get worried when I saw the weather forecast… 60km/hr wind with gusts up to 110km/hr.

The thing that kept me going was the thought that:
a) everybody will be running in the same conditions;
b) even if we weren’t running the race, we would still be running, and would still get the wind; and
c) it is good training in case the marathon day is windy!

The first part of the race was good, no wind to slow us down… but as soon as we turned the corner we got hit with that strong wind.  We kept pace with a really nice old man named Phil who let us draft behind him.  He had a bright fluoro yellow top on, so he was easy to spot when he got away from us at the first drink stop… but we made sure to catch up with him in time to draft behind him again on the 2nd big lap.

On the third lap, right when we were running into the wind… when we thought it couldn’t get any worse… it started raining!

We couldn’t see where we were going! The rain was really sharp too, it almost felt like hail!  And it made my sunscreen run into my eyes.  We actually stopped for a little bit during the rain for a stretch, because it was just ridiculous!  I just had to laugh and wonder what else could happen!  Hail? Snow?

The rain stopped for our final lap and we caught up to Phil again.  We passed the finish line with a time of 2:04:34.  We were really happy with that, considering the conditions, and the fact that we were just using this as a training run. 

Phil came up after the race and thanked us for keeping him going… funny, coz he is what kept us going strong!

Next week is a big milestone… we break the 30km mark!

Fundraising

Friday I didn’t go for a run… instead I spent the time selling raffle tickets at work.  I bought a couple of Gold Class movie tickets from the staff social club for $30 each and some raffle books from Coles.  I sold the tickets for $2 each or 3 for $5.  I was a little bit worried about whether I would sell enough to cover the price of the movie tickets, but it turned out ok. 

I actually had a lot of fun selling the tickets and talking to people about what I was doing and why.  Basically I wanted to run the marathon while raising money for charity… but I didn’t want to just donate money and not know what exactly it was going to.  That is why I chose a target of $2,200 toward a walker for a child with Cerebral Palsy.

It is a big target, but hopefully one that we can reach between Carli and myself.

In the end I raised $272.  The winner was drawn at the end of the day… and the winner was…..(drum roll) Dan from level 26!

Some fundraising tips for anyone else who is trying to raise money for charity:

1. When holding a raffle in Vic, you don’t need a permit as long as the value of the prize is less than $500, the prize is not cash, and all the raffle tickets are sold within 24 hours. The winning ticket must be drawn on the same day as the tickets are sold, or within 8 hours.  More info here.
2. It is much more successful to ask people in person rather than leave a book of tickets on a table in the lunch room.
3. Coles brand raffle books are CRAP! but I guess you get what you pay for!  So many of the tickets didn’t tear properly across the perforated line.

Sunday - 29km

Sunday morning, bright and early we got up for a nice 29km run.

The moon was still out when we left…

Before we left, Carli had to come inside to use the loo… (now normally I wouldn’t bother to go into such detail – but this is a very funny story!).  The boys were still in bed at the time and I just waited in the kitchen.  Sam woke up and wandered into the toilet in his just woken up state, saying “Mum…” and got the fright of his life to see Carli there!  He ran out crying and I had to calm him down.  He was saying something like “Don’t do that to me mum”.

The run was pretty uneventful for much of the way.  We went on a similar route to last week, up to Toolern Vale, with a slight detour down Roslyn Park.  When we got to Toolern Vale we made our way up to the local park and had a toilet stop there.  It looked like a busy time at the Toolern Vale shop with three cars out the front!  We ran along the road that goes to the school, and this is where I found something that really reminded me of my Grandpa…

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They even had a sheep!  You can just make it out in some of the photos.

Self portrait!  Notice me headband to keep my ears warm! I also had matching white cotton gloves to keep my hands warm.  I wore them for more than half the run before I felt warm enough to take them off.  Then I just pinned them to the back of my pants.

This weeks gel flavour of the week is Strawberry Banana!  Verdict… very nice, but watch out if you spill some on your gloves and watch! Very sticky (though that is probably the case for all gels, not just this flavour!).

Heading back toward Melton and I got the scare of my life when I heard this blood curdling scream.  In my mind it sounded like a woman was being murdered with an axe.  My heart was racing.  Turned out it was actually a horse… with a very strange neigh!  Would have been funny if I had a heart rate monitor on at the time!

After the run I jumped into a cold bath to help my legs recover.  The boys think it is so funny to hear me screaming as I get into the cold water.  I took a magazine with me and Kel made me a nice warm Milo to keep my insides warm while my legs were freezing.

My legs did recover ok after that run… but the next morning my back was killing me.  (I have a feeling this is a Wii Fit hula hooping injury!)

We get an easy week next Sunday… a half marathon.  I’m looking forward to it… it will be nice to get out of Melton for a change.

Friday Sports Stadium Trail

For my Friday run I decided to do something a bit different, so instead of the usual Tan trail, I went down to Anderson st and turned left over the bridge.  We went that way with the Wednesday night group so it was good to see it during the daylight!  I got to see most of the Melbourne Sports stadiums in the one run.

Here is a photo of the construction of the new sports stadium in Melbourne..

It doesn’t have a name yet, but Bubbledom seems like a good option!  According to Wikki, it is a rectangular sport field for soccer/rubgy.  It should be ready to use next year.  The outside will have LED lights all over it that can change colours!  Pretty!

Next I arrived at Melbourne Park and couldn’t resist taking a photo of this…

As a reminder to the Pink concert that me and Kel went to a couple of months ago.  I can’t believe that her shows are still going!

Coming around the corner and somebody had parked their very strange car outside Rod Laver Arena…

or it could be from the Monster truck show…

Next I went around the MCG.  This brought back memories of the half marathon, and I got this photo of a very strange sculpture which I have had no luck finding any information about… I think it looks a bit like a praying mantis…

All up it was a 6km run, 34:54 min, average pace – 5:50 min/km.

The world didn't want me to run today...

... but I did it anyway :)

Firstly I left my running gear on the train, and only realised when I was halfway up Collins St day dreaming about what I was going to do at lunch time... "I might go looking for a new pair of running shoes... hang on, I don't have my bag!". I quickly jumped on a tram and headed back to the train station. They took all my details and managed to track that train down (it was in the yard) and they found my bag! I was slightly freaking out when I calculated how much the contents of that bag was worth!

Wednesday night is the Melb Marathon training group night. So I had planned on doing that... but then Carli wasn't in the city so I really had to talk myself into going by myself.

I got changed after work and headed toward Southbank where the group meets. I ran across the bridge over the Yarra River and toward where I thought I should be going, but there was no street where I thought there should be... I kept running to the corner and turned left, and up to the next corner... nope, not there... kept running straight and found myself at the Art Centre! I don't know how I managed it, but I think I got an extra 2km in there!

We ran 8km with the group (yes I did eventually find them), along the Yarra up to Church st and back at a nice 6 min/km pace.

Which reminds me... I really should go and have a shower!

The week that was

Monday – rest day!

Tuesday – playground boot camp (took Eddie and Sam to the playground and did a workout using the playground equipment. I might even post some photos of the exercises next week)

Wednesday – Went for a mid week semi long run of around 12km with some people from work who I just met. They have both run marathons before, so it was great to hear some first hand advice! They helped to push me, and I ended up running faster than I would have by myself, and also further than I have ever been during a lunch time run. We ran to MacRoberston bridge a bridge at Grange road that goes over the Yarra. I didn’t take any photos so I have done a bit of a Google search about this bridge. I found out that it was named after Sir MacPherson Robertson in 1933. This man was famous for creating MacRobertson Confectionery, which created Cherry Ripe, Crunchie, Freddo Frog and Roses Chocolates! Sounds like my kind of man! The company was later acquired by Cadbury after he died.

Thursday – Another rest day – I walked all around the city looking for some running gloves – with no luck :(

Friday – I tried to get a pb around the Tan. I felt like I was going really fast, but the watch said 17:52 at the finish line… my fastest for the Tan is 17:30 (unless I wrote it down wrong that time?).

Saturday – Massage :)

Sunday – The 27km long run to Toolern Vale and back. This was a bit different… we had to leave at 11:30am, instead of our normal early morning start. We had a tough head wind going up the hill to Toolern Vale, and we even did a bit of practice at drafting (like in bike riding where one person goes directly behind the other so there is less wind resistance)… which did seem to make a bit of a difference. We got Kel to plant bottle of Gatorade and water at different locations along our route, and this really helped! It took us a total of 3.5 hours to complete, including the drink and stretch stops.

Today we tried PowerBar Gel – Green apple flavour. It was a bit of a strange flavour… maybe they should have tried red apples instead? lol Plus we can’t forget the pack of jellybeans which I always carry with me now. I got the Natural Confectionary jelly beans and they are the best! Gotta keep our energy levels up!

Here is a horse that we saw along the way. While we were running it was looking at us like we were very, very strange. But when I stopped for a photo he got all shy!

The road ahead… near the Melton air field.

Look how far we came! Looking back down toward Melton.

Carli at the bus stop (one of our water hiding places!) doing one of our favourite stretches – the calf stretch off the back of a step.

Note Inspector Gadget has a foot pod and a GPS tracker, and there is also a heart rate monitor there too!