People were just heading to the start here. Don't be fooled by the empty space though! It was super crowded! I may have trod on several people as I was running, but was also trod on several times myself. It all evens out in the wash!
My dad was in Melbourne this weekend (from Tassie) so forced him to come and watch me finish and take me out for breakfast!
There may also have been a sneaky visit to the Lindt shop for peanut butter balls. After all, I had just RUN 10km!!!!
For an extra $2 you can get a text from the organisers to say what you're official time was. It literally came through moments after I crossed the finished line.
So the sun wasn't out yet when we arrived! I am notoriously early for EVERYTHING! It keeps me calm. And it meant that we got an easy peasy car park which was my biggest worry.
This is right before the run. I am clearly the orange blob in the middle. My personal trainer Leanne is the lady with the blue number and I credit her with the fact that I was able to run at all! She runs Swift Fitness if you are interested.
My friend Vanessa and I with our nervous grins at the start line...
...and thumbs up at the finish line!
According to my Runkeeper I actually ran 5.77km in 30 minutes and 30 seconds. We don't receive our official time till Tuesday in the paper but I think this is a personal best for me. It was super crowded for most of the course so there was loads of ducking and weaving to get past people.
This is Miss Jane, my own personal papparazzi for the day! Janey and I lived together at Uni and just happened to be in town for the weekend so was able to come and cheer me along.
A quick post run breakfast in very busy Degraves Lane with my brother and his lovely wife where I completely grossed them out by discussing the whole issue of pooing in the morning.
And my charming son took this picture of me this afternoon, mid nanna nap. An early morning, feelings of anxiousness about parking, then the actual running all resulted in me collapsing on the couch this afternoon.
I must say I may be a little addicted to this whole fun run concept. There was such a lovely 'vibe' around this morning and you simply can't beat running down the home stretch to the finish line with bunches of people cheering everyone on! I'm thinking the Mother's Day Classic might be next! Then maybe RunMelbourne! Who's with me?!
So tomorrow I am doing the Run for the Kids. The short family friendly version of 5.5km. With about 35,000 other people apparantly. I had every intention of catching a train in but since the first train into Flinders Street Station arrives at 7.47am and the race starts at 8.10, I now have to drive. And find a parking spot. With 35,000 other people. Did I mention the ironman event also on tomorrow? And the road closures? And the fact that I never drive into the city so have no concept of parking? As a consequence I plan on leaving super early to give myself plenty of time to find a spot and walk to where the race is on. Which throws me into a bind. What if my morning poo is not ready when I am ready?! Throw in a nervous tummy (where will I park? how long will it take me to walk from my park? how much will that parking space cost? what if i can't find a park? what if I'm late and completely miss the race?) and an aversion to any kind of public toilet and we have a situation!
Eeek! Tell me where to park?!
Do you know any secret city spots that 35,000 other people wont know about?
Olivia the Pig fabric made into a sweet wee girly skirt.
Progress on my ripplealong rug started with a whole bunch of people over at One Crafty Mumma.
To much running equals plantar fasciitis. Whoops. Still running in Run for the Kids though in two weeks time. I'm embracing the pain! (And strapping it and having some proper treatment just to be on the safe side!)
My completed quilt top from the scrappy quilt along that was doing the rounds on instagram. Just got to teach myself what to do next!!!
Some crochet blankety progress. It needs to be bigger!
I have not been here. I have been everywhere else instead. Mostly working (relief teaching) and lots of running with a little bit of parenting thrown in for good measure. And some craft.
So while I may not have been physically here I am actually still here. Reading all my favourite bloggy things, wasting time on Pinterest, instagramming till the cows come home. Basically as much procrastination as you can possibly imagine.
I would looooove to have a big clean up here. Getting a real person to show me how to pretty this place up. Use an actual camera for photos instead of repeated instragram ones. Commit to blogging more regularly. It takes time though, and that's just not on my side at the moment.
I say thank goodness too that this revolting Melbourne hot spell appears to be coming to an end tomorrow as well. Can everyone give me a halla-bloody-lujah!?
Every time my alarm goes off at some ungodly hour of the morning I think of this woman who switches it off and rolls over for an extra bit of snooze time. Then I think of how pasty and unhappy she looks for the rest of the ad compared to her healthy version.
That literally gets me out of bed.
This morning I ran just over 8km. The whole way. Without stopping. I'm aiming for 10km but after that I'm not sure what. Running for more than an hour just seems kinda boring. I play music during my runs and get little updates on how I'm doing with the Runkeeper app. My shuffle button is quite intuitive too... every time I feel like stopping and walking a peppy upbeat song comes on and off I go! To name a few... Pat Benatar (All Fired Up), Transvision Vamp (I Want Your Love), Guns and Roses (Civil War), Madonna (Like a Virgin, Express Yourself, Like a Prayer), Bonnie Tyler (Faster than the Speed of Light), Tina Turner (The Best, Nutbush City Limits, Proud Mary), Cindy Lauper (Girls Just Want to Have Fun), Aerosmith (Janie's Got a Gun) and when the going gets really tough on comes Eye of the Tiger!
I have a wee running companion too!
(see all those leaves and tree branches in the background... his favourite activity is eating everything in the garden!)
Milo turned 1 today!
He is finally learning to run at my pace rather than his and when I go out in the early mornings I always feel a bit safer with him next to me. I wager he's better than taking another person in terms of motivation because he still gets me out and active as he needs exercise too and he doesn't expect me to make any conversation! While I love a merry bit of exercise with a friend you can't talk and chat while also attempting to breathe!
I crocheted 2013 in! I drank a cup of tea! Then I went to bed at 12.13am.
Then this morning since I was feeling so peppy from my non-hangover I went running with the dog. I've been doing about 5km most mornings since October and I would like to build that up to an occasional 10km's but I'm really not sure how my knees and cankles would cope with that. For fear of losing my jogging mojo I even entered Run for the Kids this March, only 5.5km course because the 14.5km course just looked to scary - too many hills, running through the tunnel and over the Bolte Bridge, plus 14.km... I don't think so!
How was your New Years? Here's hoping it was a happy one.
