Sports carnival today

Today my running post is all about Mr 8!!!

Today was his athletics carnival at school. He came 5th in the 50m, 2nd in the 200m and he ran in a relay with children a year older than him and his team placed third! I am one proud mummy tonight! I am proud of how well he went, but I am even more proud of the way he congratulated fellow peers and cheered other children on in their races! He even missed one of his team sports because he was too busy cheering on a dear little girl who is 2 years younger than him! Mr 8, I am so proud of the young man that you are becoming, you are a very polite caring and gorgeous boy! We love you so so much xxxx

I did it.....

On sunday I crossed the finish line of the Perth Chevron City to Surf after completing the half marathon! I am rapt that I completed the distance! Will I do it again - my word I will - in 7 weeks time at the Melbourne Marathon Festival (Half marathon again).

I have set myself some realistic goals for my next race and I can't wait to train to hopefully achieve what I have set for myself.

I feel like after only 5 months of consistent run training that running a half marathon is a HUGE achievement, and pair this with major knee surgery 20 months ago where the surgeon said I may never be able to run again, and I am on cloud nine right about now. If only on cloud nine there was a little less leg pain!

As soon as I have the professional photos I will upload some to my blog here so that you can see the pain and joy on my face!

If I can do it you can too...... I saw a post the other day and now I can't find it...... It said "it doesn't matter if you run 4 minute kilometres or 7 minute kilometres, its still a kilometre" - I wish I could find it again!

xxx

It's nearly time to run 13.1 miles

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Well all my runs are complete and I am in the final stages of race prep now ready to run my first half marathon on sunday!It's resting time, epsom soaks and carb loading time :-) This morning I soaked up the first bit of the atmosphere by attending the race expo! Mr 8 and Mr 3 are doing the 4km walk with Daddy! They are VERY excited.

I have had a couple of good runs this week, so I am focusing on that in the lead up to sunday. I am excited, but also quite nervous. I must make sure I pace myself well from the start and not race out too hard and then find I have to really slow down in the second half. There are some big hills in this race, but the hills I have had to train on at home have been much steeper than the hills in the race so I am feeling quietly confident about the hill aspects. In my training run of 21.1km, I finished in 2.11.06. I have set a realistic goal to finish in under 2.10.00, anything quicker than that is a bonus in my eyes!

I will try and post again before sunday! :-) xxx

It's taper week for me

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It's taper week here ready for my half marathon on sunday! This morning was a very easy paced 45 minute run. I felt like I was cheating heading home after such a short time on the road. I headed out early at 5.45am, it was great to see the sun start to come up and the beautiful colours in the sky!

Monday is a busy day in our house. We spend all day, 50km from home in 'town' - activities for both of the boys and I get to have some time catching up with a friend for a coffee or having a swim! Now though I am kicked out on the couch, the dog is asleep at my feet, both boys are sound asleep and I will finish this post, check university emails and unit page, have a read and make the most of an early night.

xxx

13.1 in 6 days time

Hi all,

yes once agin it has been a while since I stopped by here! Oops! I'd love to write more, but I seem to just run out of time. I know I have the same amount of time as everyone else, I just need to decide how I use it.

How do I use my time.......

I love the fact that a cherish the time I spend with our 3 year old! He will be in kindy next year so I am making the most of his last year at home before starting school. He doesn't go to day care at all - he is a very easy little man to have around and we do some pretty cool things together. I'm not even thinking about next year yet - I am going to miss him a lot!

I have started studying again - prior to having MR 8 I managed child care centres (my last centre had 180 children and approx. 45 staff). I have enrolled by distance education, to complete a Bachelor of Education (early childhood) with the University of Tasmania. I have started with one unit - so I can get a good start and also because I didn't want to compromise my time with Mr 3. So far so good - today I submitted my first assessment.

My running miles have really increased now, all with a good response from my dodgy knee. A week from today I am going to be running my first half marathon. I am racing in the Perth City to Surf run and I'm VERY excited. I've done a training run for the 13.1 miles (21.1km) and now I just want to race quicker than that run. I will then have a low key week post race and then I will get back into my training for my second half marathon in October in the Melbourne Running Festival.

All my training has gone so well until friday when I stumbled upon a VERY aggressive dog and an equally as abusive owner on the top of a one way up, one way down hill. I was very frightened and found the remaining 9km of that run rather difficult, but this run chick was not going to let someone else cut my run short! There is no place for people like this or dogs off lead who want to tear you to shreds!

I'm going to try really hard this week to give you an insight into my taper week leading up to the race on the weekend. Tomorrow mornings run is only 45minutes long - It will feel very odd!

So much to tell you.......

Here I am with some of the fellow runners from my coaching tem just prior to the start of the HBF Run for a Reason last weekend. This was my debut race and I LOVED it. I had a plan from my coach to run the race at an average pace of 5.35/5.40 mins/km, but overall I raced at 5.34 pace and finished in 66.51! VERY happy with my time. There were over 29,000 runners and walkers on the day! I crossed the line knowing I gave my all and sore, so I knew I had raced as best I could.

My fundraising tally came to $1600. I feel very proud that that $1600 is going to make a small difference to another family in Western Australia who have a sick child in the specialist children's hospital here in WA - Princess Margaret.

I've planned out the next few months with my running.......


Sunday 9th June - 10km run as part of a team for the 31st annual Dampier Tiathlon


Sunday 21st July - 12km at the Chevron City to Surf WA Country tour in Karratha (I hope to run an even quicker 12km)


Sunday 25th August - Chevron City to Surf half marathon in Perth - a very hilly and challenging course.


Sunday 13th October - Melbourne Marathon Festival Half marathon - a flat and quick course!


After a very quiet week for my legs I feel very ready for the next journey of my running adventures, including but not limited too repeats of running up and down the one and only steep hill in Wickham!!!!


Until the hit the road again have fun and love life xxx

Fundraising

I am really excited to report that so far I have raised $1085 for the PMH Foundation. The Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation was my chosen benefactor for my HBF Run for a Reason fundraising efforts.

It's a great feeling knowing I have made a $1085 difference to sick children and their families here in Western Australia.

Until I hit the road again, have fun and love life xxx

I LOVE intervals

Good morning bloggers, readers etc!

Its monday and I am feeling GREAT! I had a FANTASTIC interval run this morning. Here is a table showing the break down of my session.





This was my last 'hard' run prior to my 12km HBF Run for a Reason in Perth on sunday. I have a short tempo session on wednesday and a easy 30 minute jog on friday. I normally cross train on my non-running days but I think I might just rest the legs this week and prepare for my fun road race adventure.

Although I did do the MDC I see this as my first real race! I am really excited - a little nervous as well, but the nerves are slowly disappearing and excitement kicking in. I know I have given every run session all I had and a bit more, there has been no 2 and 3 sessions a day of training to prepare for the event and I am eating beautiful healthy food not just fish and broccoli!!!!!!

Not only is sunday exciting for the race, once the race is over and I have recovered I am looking forward to prepping for my first half marathon in August and my second in October!

I'm in the process of reading a very interesting book on my i-pad on marathon and half marathon nutrition. Its a fantastic read so far and when I have finished I will let you all know a little more about what I have read.

Master 8 received a merit certificate at school the other day - VERY proud, Master 3 is such great company - I dont want to speak too soon but I think tantrums are a thing of the past in this house and I take my hat off to you if you have more than 2 children, we had 2 extra's for the whole weekend and 4 was hard work!

Until I hit the road again, have fun and love life xxx

My easy pace 10km today!

Good morning!

This is a snapshot of my 10km run this morning! I took a very different road this morning, and I purposely took this particular road for the constant undulating hills! I think I have got running fit for the flat, now I want to focus on getting running fit for hills.



Even though this doesn't look like much of a change - it changed from only 6 metres above sea level to nearly 30 metres above sea level, and compared to running between 5-10 metres above sea level this was hard work.





And here are my splits for my run.


I am 8 days from my HBF Run for a Reason! Nervous and excited


Until I hit the road again, love life and have fun xxx

Tempo in the dark!

This morning I put on my brand new Petzl Tikka XP headlight and headed out in the dark for my tempo run. I had a tempo run to do today as a pre tester for my HBF run in 10 days time. I ran 5.46 mins/km for 12 mins, 5.37 mins/km for 10 min and then 5.22 mins/km for 8 mins. My coach has suggested a first half (6km) at 5.35 pace and then speed up or hold at that pace for the second half of the race. Excited and nervous!




With my new headlight I was able to take a slightly different road for part of my run now that I could see where I was going, however soon turned around because its very remote and very dark and decided it wasn't the safest option. Living in a small town has its downside in terms of always needing to run the same roads to stay safe and get the required distance in. As my distances increase I am going to need to drive approx 50km to a larger town to be able to run far enough instead of going round and round in circles. There is a highway, however its a heavy haulage road and having trucks with 2-3 trailers on behind going past you at 90-100 km/h is a very unpleasant feeling.

Does anyone have any small town running strategies?

Until I hot the road again, have fun and love life xxx

MDC Karratha

Today I ran my very first race! I ran the 8km Mothers Day Classic in Karratha. I had a great run and loved every minute of the experience. It was such a great feeling to be competing in an event where I wasn't judged or assessed according to someone elses expectations of how I should look! I was racing against my own time, and what a great time that was for me. I ran the 8km with an average pace of 5.33 mins/km with a finish time of 44.30. Not only have I finished my first race I have also run the most number of km in any one week this week - 38.85!

Having my husband and sons there cheering me on was a huge bonus as well. It was hard to wipe the smile off my face.

This race was a 'rehearsal for my HBF Run for a Reason in 2 weeks. There are a couple of things that I will do differently but as for my first race I feel very proud and excited about how it all went!

Until I hit the road again, have fun and love life xxx

Inspired!

First of all its great to be home and Essie is improving at a good rate. He is still in pain but we are able to manage this with much lighter pain medication than we had been using! We have to head back to Perth tomorrow for an appointment at 8.30am on Wednesday for a check up. My fingers are crossed that the surgeon will be happy and that we can return home that very same day.


I had a couple of runs on the weekend. On saturday I ran too late and without proper nutrition. I hit the wall very early and much to my disgust barely ran after the 6km mark. Anyone else might have been happy with 6km but I was incredible disappointed. I headed out in the dark yesterday morning and got the 9km! Much better! Now to increase the speed again. WE are having a VERY long hot summer here with temperatures still 30 degrees over night and reaching the low 40's during the day! This makes for a VERY tough run!


Yesterday I watched the Melbourne Ironman on TV. I felt VERY inspired by these amazing athletes. I will be honest and say that if I could do that in a few years I would be very impressed! For now I am going to settle on a few runs this year.


The first run I will do is the HBF Run for a Reason - I am going to run the 12km. I have set up a fundraising page. I am raising funds for the Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation. They made a difference to our recent extended hospital stay, so I thought for our family it was a good option. Please feel free to pop over to my fund raising page and donate any lose change you might have.


The second run I will do is the Perth Half Marathon in August. This is a race with the Western Australia Marathon Club!


I'm really excited about my year ahead!

xxxx

After lots of nights in hospital....... And after seeing many Doctors........ And after 5 weeks away - we are HOME!

Not the post I'd hoped for!

Last time I posted on here I was having the most divine holiday with my beautiful boys and running some amazing times! We arrived home on Tuesday 12th February and on Wednesday the 13th, unfortunately the very relaxed post holiday feeling came to a screaming holt with an admission to hospital for Mr 3 ( and mummy as he is too little to be on his own)! While we were away, Essington had two quick trips to hospital with a swollen left side of his face. No one was really too sure what it was from, but they suspected maybe a chipped cheek bone. This same swelling in the face is what took us to hospital on the 13th!!!!! Initially there were many guesses as to what it might be, but after an ultrasound it was established that Mr 3 had 4 calcium stones in the Parotid gland and salivary duct in his face. Fast forward to today the 9th March.......... Mr 3 and I have been in Perth 3 weeks today on our own away from my beloved husband and Mr 8. In the past 4 weeks we have had 17 days in hospital. Mr 3 has had one operation to remove one of the four stones. Mr 3 will undergo at least one more operation this coming week to attempt to remove the other 3 stones. He's had countless ultrasounds, 2 cat scans, LOTS of blood tests and more needles than I can remember! He has taken more Panadol, nurofen and extremely strong pain killers than I've seen in all my life! I'm doing my best to stay strong - mummy inner strength is an amazing thing! Feel free to leave a message of support - even just a smile will be appreciated! Xxxx

10km and a PB!!!!!

NEW PB NEW PB NEW PB I'm still on leave but couldn't help but stop by and tell you about my next PB! Maybe I need to rename my blog as the PB BLOG hehehehe! I ran 10km in 56.44mins! Only a few weeks ago this same distance said 1.04.44mins!!!! Is it normal in only 3-4 weeks to reduce a time by this much???? So proud of myself! Combine this with a 12 min plank tabata (50sec plank 10 sec rest x 12) I think I can confidently say I'm FLYING! xxx

Whats higher than cloud nine?

I'm on holidays so will do a BIG post once I get home but I couldn't resist stopping by to tell you about my Melbourne run on saturday. Sub 5.50min/km for 10 of my 12km!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LAST WEEK MY RUN WAS AROUND THE 6.25MIN/KM - what a change! Im in Melbourne so there was very little humidity, the weather was LOTS cooler, I had a path to run on and I had a good carb meal the night before! Personal expectations to hold this pace now and improve again are super HIGH!!!!! SO HAPPY! HUGE IMPROVEMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

xxxx

My first 12km

This morning I got up bright and early and ran my first ever 12km! To say I was a little nervous about entering the unknown before I left was an understatement! To maintain the average pace of 6.24 mins/km is impressive for the 'runner' who only started running 8 weeks ago!

Source I first of all ran the 10km from home to this beautiful little town, 'Point Samson' 10km from home and then without stopping I finished the last 2km by heading back to this bridge that I already crossed on the way out.

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Happy New Year

Yes I am a few days late but happy new year!!! We had a lovely christmas at home, including my MIL who travelled and stayed with us from Queensland. It's quite nice been at home at this time of the year as its quite quiet around town. The boys and I are swimming in our pool many times a day - they are loving it and so am I. I actually really love having Mr 8 home in the holidays. We will travel on holidays as a family at the end of the month - including Melbourne and Tasmania. I'll tell you more about the exciting things we have planned in a whole new post. My RUNNING is going really well! I had a fantastic interval and tempo run earlier in the week and this morning a good 10km run - I ran a little too fast too early this morning and had to slow down to a slightly slower pace on the second half of the run. My knee is doing exceptionally well with the running too! This mornings run - 10km, 1hr 2mins and 55 secs. Average pace 6.17min/km This afternoon I broke the weight training drought that was happening here (I have barely lifted any weights since my competition in September 2011). I trained chest and triceps, and abs, it was fun and I expect to be sore! I'll post about our upcoming holiday soon :-) xxx