The lovely wet weekend

Fabulous weather for training this weekend! Not! Well that's a bit of a fabrication, yesterday was quite nice if a little chilly, today was bollocks! Yesterday I decided I needed a sleep-in as I felt that I hadn't had one for ages so I kinda casually got up when I woke, then managed to watch the Tour de France while having breakfast so I think it was probably about 11am by the time I headed to the plantation for my run with the dog in tow. This was going to be interesting, I had to run for 2 hours, which means so does the dog and he hasn't run that fat before! I decided that I would do the blue track twice, one lap anti-clockwise and one lap clockwise, that way its anything but monotonous and I almost managed to lose the track on the way back, one part looked a little unfamiliar on the way back, it turned out I was running parallel to the track but on a super sandy part, funny thing was I convinced myself I was on the track cos I could see my footprints from the way out. Good one 99, how many people run in asics?? That was a little funny. Zac did pretty good, he's quite the wee running dog! He started to get tired at around the 1hr45 mark, his longest run to date has been 1hr40 so I kinda expected him to run out of steam around there. He stopped running off so much and was quite content to run along beside me on the track instead of investigating everything in sight. It was nice when we got back to the carpark so I did all my stretches there, tried to convince the dog it would be smart for him to do some as well but no, he had found some energy and was busy running round the carpark with a couple of other dogs! Dropped Zac at home then headed to the pool for a 45min swim. My Saturday sessions have only just started doubling up so I haven't quite worked out whether to swim/run or run/swim. I don't normally swim at QE2 these days so it was nice for a change and the pool was 50m! Yay, that was cool! Only 2 lengths to do a 100m instead of 4! Yeah I know its the same distance but it feels less cos you are turning and counting less. I decided I would treat myself to a wee relax in the spa afterwards, something there is never time for in the mornings! It was a little bit like people soup and it certainly became more pleasant after the kissing couple left! Eek, not into very public displays like that when everyone is in a spa! I managed to be in front of one of the spa jets so managed to massage my back by sitting in front of that and as my calves were a bit tight from all that running I sat on the side and used it to massage my calves as well! Felt heaps better after that! Then home to finally eat! That's the thing with swimming you need to plan eating around it or swimming is a whole lotta unfun! I think I overdid it and have discovered that I cannot eat a whole can of baked beans! hehee, the dog got a nice wee treat in his bowl!

This morning was sposed to be a 3 hour ride with a 15min run off the bike. Weelll, at about 6.30ish I dragged myself outta bed to watch the end of the TT in the tour. The weather was miserable so I wasn't feeling very enthusiastic, texted the boys and yep the ride was still on, ick, long bays in the freezing cold and rain? Went back to bed as we weren't riding till 9.30, woke up again at about 8.45 and managed to convince the boys via text that waiting a while was a good idea and they postponed till 10.30. Got up around 9 and had breakfast while snuggled up on the couch watching the Tour, again! Well I missed most of it the first time cos I didn't get up early enough! By now you should know where this is going..... I poked my nose outside and decided that I didn't want to get hypothermia and then spend the rest of the day cleaning my bike so I sent the 'I'm piking' text and stayed on the couch, well only until the tour was over! Packed up the dog again and headed back to the plantation for another run cos running in the rain is actually kind of enjoyable, in fact it's downright fun compared to cycling in the rain and cold! Zac was pleased to be going out again, I think the plantation is his absolute favourite place in the whole wide world at the moment! I decided to only run for an hour today since I had done such a big run the day before so we headed in along the purple track which is nice and sheltered, we barely even noticed the rain to start with. You eventually end up near the beach on the Pegasus Bay track so we ran along there for a bit and stopped to play on the beach, it was awesome down there with the tide in and the waves crashing on the sand, that was a nice interlude and a bit of fun to stop and throw a stick or two for Zac to chase. This was about 30mins so we turned and headed back in, ickies was raining a bit more now and we were out in the open so it was less fun but at least we were on the way home. Heading back home someone (not me) took an unexpected swim! It was the funniest thing! If you know the plantation you will know that there is a pond near the intersection of Tango and 20th Ave. This pond is always covered in tiny green leaves and apparently when you have four legs and are chasing something it looks like a stretch of nice green grass, otherwise why else would you run in there on a freezing cold day? Was soo funny, I was a little bit behind Zac and he was running along and something obviously caught his eye so he took off, next thing I hear all this splashing (Zac isn't a huge fan of water) and figured that some other dog was round the corner, that is until I came round the corner and saw a rather pissed off Zac climbing out of the pond! Poor wee thing, I honestly just stood there and laughed at him, he looked highly annoyed! It was hilarious! Blimey it must have been cold cos it was freezing out! He is all happy and dry now though and has spent most of the afternoon asleep in front of the heater! And I'm feeling a little virtuous having cleaned my bike since I didn't ride her today, she was certainly rather filthy after all her icky winter rides, poor thing, I need to look after her better!

All in all not a bad week, I missed Thursday's run due to weather/flight mishaps, I thought about playing catch-up by doing it on Friday which is traditionally my rest day but wasn't too keen knowing that I had to do a 2 hour run on Sat, I figured best to focus on the one that counts the most and do it well rather than do 2 mediocre runs and now that I ran again today I know I made the right decision there. Not too concerned about missing a ride at this stage esp as my next event is a half-marathon, I figure the extra running can only help there. And managed to cross off some things on my to-do list this week as well, I entered the Palmy Half Marathon, the PhysioMed Triathlons and bought a brand new tri-suit off trademe. It's gorgeous and it only cost $40 so that's pretty cool. It may be a little big but I will race in it a couple of times and see what I think.

Quote for the Day:

Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.

- William Butler Yeats

It's life Jim but not as we know it

Ok, odd title I know, not sure why that, it is what I emailled Richard when I discovered that work stuff was trying to interfere with my training - I guess it is just life at the moment and I am lucky that life doesn't interrupt more often!

Marathon running was all good fun again, I did however discover a place I now wish I never knew existed! If you ever go up Rossmore Terrace be wary of the steps at the top! They are pure evil! I think I was a much happier person not knowing that such things existed! I knew it wasn't going to be pretty when everyone in front of me slowed right up, I had started walking at the previous corner as it was so steep! So, yep, if you are after a new challenge, get out there and have fun on those steps!!

Was feeling a bit flat at spin last night, still managed to have fun tho cos spin is fun!

Had to zip off to Wellington for work today, found out yesterday morning that I was going so that was entertaining. Made things a bit challenging to get a run in today, I was going to run with the dog when I got home as my flight was at 5pm. Well, Wellington being what it is I was blimmin lucky to get home at all. Just about every flight out of Wellington was cancelled due to the weather. So instead of leaving at 5pm it was more like 6.45, I think I have seen more of Welly airport in the last couple of weeks than I really cared to but at least I didn't have to try and find somewhere to stay at the last minute. That would have been fun as I only had what I was wearing and my handbag! Good excuse for shopping tho eh! And I managed a little of that this time which was nice and finally have some nice jeans that fit properly, yay for Just Jeans sale. So the upshot of all that was that I was far too pooped and it was far too miserable to run by the time I finally got home. Never mind, was only a 40min and this way I will be nice and rested for this weekends mammoth efforts. 2 hour run on Sat with a 5km TT in there for fun, then 3 hours on the bike on Sun with a 15min run off the bike!

Quote of the Day:

I am here to chew bubble gum and kick ass and I am all out of bubblegum...

- Roddy Piper in "They Live"

Oops...

Oh dear, I broke stuff today! heheee

Yesterday I noticed that the cord on my hairdryer looked like it had been chewed a little by a certain wee dog who shall remain nameless to protect his identity! I got Geoff to check it over and he reckoned I would be ok as long as I didn't hold it on the chewy part. We also figured that the dog may have had a wee zap given that it was plugged in while he was chewing. So off I trundled this morning for my swim etc, I took my hairdryer along which I wouldn't normally do but I have cool hair now so best I don;t have bad hair days. Anyway started drying my hair and BANG! I had the hairdryer in one hand and the cord was on the floor! oops! I guess it wasn't so safe after all, oh well, no harm done and Centennial have hair dryers you can borrow so I headed out to the desk to borrow one, all good except now it won't go! I quickly figured out that I must have blown the fuse so I trundled round to the family change area to use the plug and it worked well round there so I very shame facedly returned the hairdryer and explained what had happened! I only hope that it was only a fuse and nothing more serious! Lucky I had a good swim cos I then discovered that I had left my access card for work at home so had to ring someone at work and sweet talk them into letting me in! It never rains but it pours! Makes for good giggles tho! :)

Quote for the Day:

Let us leave pretty women to men with no imagination.

- Marcel Proust

33 weeks to go

Yep, thats right! Only 33 weeks left until the big IM. Yes it may be sad that I know these things but hey I'm not quite at the counting sleeps stage, that will come tho! Right now there's far too much going on to be doing that just yet.

It's been a pretty quiet week this week being an easy week. Well an easy half week, still not sure which part of the 2 hour run followed by spin was sposed to be the easy part, yes I will move on from that eventually, actually tho I am quite keen to do it again cos it was fun :)

On the downside I may have a minor knee injury from all that hill running, mainly the downhill running I think. While running downhill is easier, it does put a bit of pressure on the old knee joints. I was fine at the time but on Thursday am when I walked the dog it felt a little niggly, it was fine when I was at work wearing heels however. I have spent some quality time on the couch over the last few days with a trusty bag of frozen peas on my knee followed by some elevation and have been wearing my compression tights as I don't have a compression bandage. It is feeling heaps better so that is good and it was fine on todays ride so that is even better.

Swam at QE2 again on Thursday night, I need to not watch the Tour de France on Thursday morning and go swimming at Centennial instead cos I'm not really into swimming after work and I think I really prefer Centennial now. Ohhh discovered why guys may have been introducing themselves to me at the pool.... seems my togs have worn through quite quickly! Let's hope that has only happened in the last few days, they are now in the bin! I was pretty unimpressed at how quickly I can kill a pair of togs!

Did short bays with the boys, blondie and Kalina today which was nice. I like the enforced coffee stops on my weekend rides! It was a tad chilly when we first headed out, this wasn't helped by the fact that the dog has chewed up my only pair of long fingered cycle gloves. I guess I just pretend it is warm from now on. Short bays was great tho, I haven't actually ridden just short bays in a while so it was a nice ride to do today.

Quote for the Day:

It is an equal failing to trust everybody, and to trust nobody.

- English Proverb

I have my running mojo and I like it

Ohh I do like to run! Well I do now! Ah tis funny how times change, I used to refuse to run but now I love it and am almost gutted that I don't get to run again until next Tuesday! Went to the Marathon Clinic again last night, I am now a fully paid up member, anyone see that coming?? Was another fun night of hill running, this time up Hackthorne to the Takahe, every time I bike up there I see people running up and think ohh that looks hard, well it is hard in case you were wondering. So other than walk/running the hilly part the rest of the run was sweet, no walking anywhere. That's a huge improvement for me and the hills are starting to feel easier after only a few weeks which is great. Then today I was lucky enough to get to do a 2 hour run before going to spin class! I went onto mapmyrun last night to work out where I could go as I was planning to run from spin, I mapped out a run between 17-18km (here tis) starting from Pioneer stadium. I was a bit surprised that the Halswell Downs were so close, I thought it was about 10km but no! So lucky I mapped it out first or I wouldn't have gone far and then had to meander round working out where to go to increase my run. Again other than walk/running the uphills I ran the rest and had an awesome time out and about in the afternoon, its nice to have the occasional afternoon off work so you can do stuff like this. Spin was a bit challenging, we do these pyramid thingees which are pretty blimmin' hard and my legs gave out half-way thru but seemed to come right after a quick break so that was good, hard tho! Richard has this thing about taking hard pills, I think it all started back when Darryn introduced us and told Richard I needed to harden up and some hard pills would do the trick. I figured today's session was going to need some extra hard pills so was stoked to find giant sized jelly beans at the supermarket last night and took some along for spin class this evening! Hehehee

Quote for the Day:

Baseball is 90% mental, the other half is physical

- Yogi Berra

Good Deeds

How does it go? Something about doing a good deed a day? Well, I seem to be clocking up the good deeds at the moment in a random kind of way. Yesterday's good deed was a combined effort with Geoff. We had popped down to the Palms to the supermarket and the car we pulled up beside had the keys sitting there in the drivers door! Eek, how would you feel! We umm'ed and aah'ed about whether we should do anything or not. We decided we had better cos it would truly suck to come back to no car! So we locked the car up and left a note saying what had happened and left my cell number saying we were just in the supermarket and if they texted or called we would run out with their keys. Anyway, we get back to the car about 20mins later and no-one had turned up or contacted us and the note was still there. Now what to do, they could be at the movies or anything and it was just after 6pm so the mall was shut. So another note and I went in and told the folk at the Customer Service desk at Woolworths what had happened and they were happy to hold onto the keys. So, hopefully the person turned up, read our note and got there keys back from Woolworths. Better that than no car we figured.

Then today, I was being good and took the big flash red limousine (the bus) to work. I was finishing work at 6.30pm so checked the bus timetable before I left cos standing on Lichfield St for ages isn't my idea of fun. Anyway I had 5mins to get downstairs and down the street so heaps of time. Hmm, about 15mins later I had just given up and called Geoff to come and get me when the bus finally turns up so I decided to bus since it was there. Anyway I hopped on and the lady bus driver asked me if I knew the bus route cos she didn't and apparently neither did anyone else on the bus! No wonder it was late! I said that I knew it as far as my place, so I was nice and sat at the front and talked her through the way home, I even had to point out where the bus stops where when people pushed the buzzer! Poor thing, she reckons she only drives that route about once a month and it can't be easy in the dark, some of those bus stops are nearly impossible to see.

So 2 days, 2 good deeds, thats kinda cool and hopefully I've helped some people along the way :)

Quote for the Day:

The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.

- From Moulin Rouge

The Sunday Ride

Well, there are 2 kinds of Sunday rides, there are the full on hard out spending time in the hills kind of Sunday rides and then there are the coffee rides. Luckily I get these specified in my program, just in case I confuse a serious ride with a coffee ride!

Yesterday was the serious type of ride, 4 hours on the hills, no coffee! The boys were excited until I told them there would be no coffee stop. This unimpressed them, although I did say they could stop for coffee at the bottom of the hill and I would ride home alone and head out for my 15min run like the good lass I am. Hehehee, I think they then decided that they would look soft if they stopped for coffee after I said that.

What a stunning day for a ride tho! It was a tad chilly but beautiful out and barely any wind. We rode what will now be known as the figure zero. Up Dyers Pass Rd to the Kiwi, right along the Summit to Coopers, down into Teddington, along the bays, ahhh the b*tches, thru Lyttleton (take the hard way, up the last street not the first one!) up Evans, left along the Summit back to the Kiwi, descend from the Kiwi and head home. Definitely a good workout if you need to do a nice long hilly ride! Surprisingly there was still a little bit of snow along the Summit Rd when heading to Coopers! Blimey, it had been a week since it snowed!

Legs felt pretty shattered when I headed off on that wee run, it didn't help that the dog was being a goof-ball and kept stopping right in front of me! Legs came right pretty quick though which was good, only takes about 5mins to start feeling normal-ish.

Looking forward to next weeks ride which is only 2 hours with the compulsory coffee stop thrown in, so if anyone feels like a coffee ride on Sunday you are welcome to join me for short bays with coffee somewhere in Sumner.

Quote for the Day:

My education was interrupted only by my schooling.

- Winston Churchill

The week so far

Another busy week is coming to an end! I had my swim analyzed/assessed/whatever you want to call it the other day which was interesting. I was at Aquagym along with Tim who Richard also coaches and just to increase the audience size Richard was there as well. It wasn't really too bad, it's just never fun being critiqued is it even when you know damn well that there is heaps you can do to improve what you are doing. The major 2 things I have to work on (so far) are relaxing my neck, do you have any idea how hard it is to relax when someone is standing there telling you to relax?? And the other is lifting my hands higher on my recovery, I need to pretend those wee flags run the length of the pool and try and touch them for the whole length, thats quite challenging and I can really feel that my left arm is less co-operative than my right, oh and of course I need to try and relax my neck while doing this! Went for a swim on Thursday and tried to put all this into practise, phew I got tired a lot quicker thats for sure, all that thinking while swimming is hard work!

Went and did my normal good deed yesterday and donated plasma, for those who want to know what is involved go and check out the NZBlood website. I used to donate blood but cos I have lowish Ferritin levels it would take me awhile to recover so I started donating plasma which is better as I get to keep my red blood cells and I can give more regularly about every 4-5 weeks which is cool. It takes a bit longer, it can take up to an hour so I just make sure I have a good book and plan it for my rest days. And yay my iron levels were actually better than just borderline for a change! And I have been a bit slack about remembering to take my iron tablets so that is really good that my iron levels have increased!

Had the best run today! I thought I was sposed to run for 2 hours so was quite happy to notice that it was really only an hour 40. Took the dog to the plantation again, he just loves it there! Bless him, he has such a good time and it takes ages to wear him out! He is currently crashed out on the couch and I don't think he will be moving for the rest of the night! We zipped around the blue track again and once back at the carpark headed back into the plantation along the purple track for about 20mins before turning round to head back. I was trying out PowerBar gels today to see what they are like, FYI the Banana/Strawberry one is gross! Who the hell thought up that flavour combo? Ick! Honestly it was that icky that I had to stop so I could get it down, once I downed a few mouthfuls of fluid as well it was a bit better, I tried a chocolate one a bit later and it was a bit better but not near as nice as GU's. Guess I better get used to them though cos thats what's on course at IM. So other than stopping for my two fuel stops there was no walking at all today which is a huge improvement over last weeks effort where those little undulations on the track felt like mountains! Maybe it was the donating of plasma, maybe it has side effects like EPO, heheee.

Right, off for dinner with work folk at the Fox and Ferret so that will be nice and then fingers crossed that the weather holds for a nice 4 hour hill ride tomorrow! Yeah, bring it on!!

Quote for the Day:

The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.

- Ann Landers

Ginger Meggs...wow!

You may or may not know that I recently won a voucher from Slynkey.com for a cut and colour at Ginger Meggs. I finally got around to booking in the other day and headed off there this evening and had an amazing experience! Mike Hamel cut my hair, he is one of the best hairdressers around and is a pretty nice guy and certainly knows his stuff!! I didn't really have any idea what I wanted done so was pleased that he had some great ideas straight away. One of the colourists, Nicole, spent about an hour putting foils in my hair (I think this is why I don't spoil myself at the hairdresser very often, I'm not good at sitting still for long periods!) and she did an awesome job. I'm very impressed at how the foils work in with my natural colour, when she dried my hair off before it was cut it looked a gizillion times better before the scissors even went near it! Interesting having your hair cut dry as most hairdressers cut it wet, so that was new. Mike seemed to kind of fly at my hair with the scissors and before I knew it I looked stunningly different, I was blown away at how easily he gave me a new look. We had a chat about looking after my hair properly since I am swimming so much, luckily it somehow seems to be in ok condition. I bought some rehab conditioning cream to put on my hair prior to swimming which should protect it from the chlorine, Mike said they are developing a wax to use which will work really well for those of us who are into swimming etc, it should be out by summer, so thought I would do a wee bit of PR seeing as how this question gets asked semi-regularly on the tri forums. You can buy Mike's products online via their website, they are pretty reasonable prices too, on a par with other salon products. My only wish now is that I could afford to go there all the time for my haircuts! I know I would look fab if I did!!

Ohhh and I was even naughty and ditched a training session to go for my haircut! Gosh I felt like it was such a girlie excuse, I never ditch training sessions and certainly not for something like a haircut! hehee, oh well, it was worth it :)

I need to add to this again, I keep up dating this blog! I just wanted to say that all the staff at Ginger Meggs realy seemed to enjoy there work, they were all happy and fully engaged in what they were doing. It was nice to see them helping each other out when they had a few free moments etc. All good things to see when you are a new/potential customer! Very impressed!

The Coffee Thing

So whats with this coffee thing you ask? Well, it's the thing I need/want to have everyday. I was going to say that it is my 'nirvana' then I Wikipedia'd it and decided that word doesn't really fit the bill. Hmm how to describe to non caffeine people just how good that coffee is, that first whiff of the freshly ground and roasted beans, the perfectly steamed milk blending with the espresso to make the most heavenly tasting thing ever. It is just divine! Well when you get a good coffee it is, when you don't then yeah not so much. I am pretty good these days and usually restrict myself to one coffee a day, the folk at the Coffeesmiths on Cashel St know me by name and make my coffee without me even having to order it, this can cause problems as when I buy coffee elsewhere I actually have to stop and think about what coffee I drink! I do feel sorry for my regular baristas as they always get to see me pre-coffee which isn't always a good thing! So interesting experience on Thursday where I spent the day with people who also appreciate the fine art of coffee yet drink a lot more of it than I do! Thursday involved no less than 4 coffees so I was buzzing for quite sometime which was most entertaining but possibly a good thing seeing as how I had been up since 5am. On Friday I decided that having that much coffee again might not be so smart so I managed to whittle it down to 3, 2 during the day and another at the airport before flying home, I really needed that one, I was starting to feel pretty zoned out by that stage. So along rolls Saturday and I get up, eat breakfast and head out for my run, when I get home I am feeling a bit cranky and all I can put it down to is caffeine withdrawal! How funny is that?! I'm wondering, is it really possible to notice the effects of less caffeine after only increasing it for 2 days? Maybe, maybe not. To put it all in perspective I will have 2 coffee days about 1-2 times a week so it's not as if it was total off the wall to have extra coffee, but I was still noticing it today so today became a 2 coffee day as well. I have even managed to join the Caffeine group on Facebook! Such is life!

The rest of the week...

Ohh I have been a slack wee blogging girl eh! Here's a quick catch up:

I went off to Wellington on Thursday for work. OMG, flying into Welly was terrible!! Super bumpy and not fun at all, I am an ok flyer but that one had me a tad worried! There were a few green looking people getting off that plane. You know its bad when the pilot says that it is unsafe for the stewardesses to serve your water and muffin. So a very busy day in Wellington, gosh they drink more coffee than I do, I normally just do one coffee a day but try and make it a decent one, so 4 coffees later and I was still buzzing that evening! Tania (who went to Wellington with me and is also doing IM) and I went for a run along the waterfront that evening, it was lovely mostly. It was beautiful and warm, well compared to ChCh it was. It was the first time in ages that I have run without jacket, gloves and hat on. It was however rather windy as you would expect when in Wellington, it was very nice on the way out with the wind at your back and a whole lot less nice with the wind in your face on the way back. Looking up at all those lights when running back was just stunning however! It almost made up for the wind. Had a nice quiet evening in the hotel room watching telly, very boring but nice to have some time to myself and to sleep with a bed to myself and no dog stretched out across my feet and legs. Managed to catch up with Jill for lunch on Friday which was nice as it was only the second time we have met yet have been chatting to each other online on a number of different sites for a few years now.

Yesterday I took the dog for another run in the plantation, he knew where we were going this time and was super excited about getting in the car and was bouncing around all the way there which isn't that clever of him as it's not easy to focus on driving when he is doing that. We ran the 10km blue track today rather than my normal random effort of just following trails till I have had enough before turning for home. He was a good boy again, he did try and follow a couple of guys who had passed me so I had to keep calling him back until they were far enough away for him to leave them alone. Today was sposed to be a 4 hour ride followed up with a 15min run, well the weather was shite yet again so I stayed in initially and watched the Tour de France replay, by then the weather was almost respectable so headed out with the boys convincing myself that a ride to Sumner and back for coffee was almost like a 4 hour ride.....it works if you have a good imagination, really it does, I feel that I visualised 4 hours of riding! Oh well, at least I did the 15min run off the bike and took the dog for a run at the same time! Better than nothing and in the middle of winter not many training weeks are going to go perfectly!

Quote for the Day:

It requires wisdom to understand wisdom; the music is nothing if the audience is deaf.

- Walter Lippmann

Marathon Running Clinic

Soo this random thing turns up in my program called the 'Marathon Running Clinic' and I know nothing about it and was sposed to go forth and do it on Tuesday! Eek, nothing like not knowing what you are in for I spose. No further info provided, no link to a website, no nothing! If I had been thinking rather than reacting I would have Googled cos we all know that Google knows all! I sent a couple of texts to Richard digging for more info but he was being evasive and yes I told him that! I thought it might have been Karen's running group and while I know that would be good for me I don't know that I am that keen to go, running is something I seem to prefer doing on my own. Well, the Marathon Clinic isn't exactly a solo thing either just so you know and I did dig my toes in and resisted with all my strength but Richard has a way of convincing you that it will be worthwhile so I agreed that I would turn up on Tuesday but if I didn't like it I wasn't going back and there would be nothing he could do to change my mind! Well, of course it was fun, bloody hard work but fun! Tuesdays they do a hill run and run for about 12ish kms. The hills are mean, lets face it tho any hills in ChCh are gonna be mean cos thats the only kind we have! Everyone there was real nice, someone on the committee saw me looking a little lost and introduced herself and introduced me to the other committee members which was nice and they asked what my 10km time was and assured me I would keep up, that made me feel a little better but I was a tad worried as I don't really know the roads around that area. I kept up ok till we headed uphill then I found it pretty hard going, so a bit of walk/run on the hills and I dropped off the back. Uhoh, it was dark and I had no idea where I was, so I kinda just followed my nose cos I knew we had to head down Hackthorne and then up to the steps behind Coffee Culture so I headed off that way and joined on a group of people running back from the steps. Ran with an older guy for the rest of the run, he was lovely and introduced himself and chatted away, when we got to the next hill which was an absolute gut-buster he promised he would wait for me at the top, I managed to pretty much keep up but mainly only cos I have long legs and can stride it out when I am walking and believe me I still wanted to puke at the top of that one! After a wee pause to catch our breath we headed off to run down Dyers, at the corner one of the committee members was there waiting to check that I hadn't dropped off or anything which was cool. Had to run through a cemetery on the way back so was pleased I wasn't on my own for that part! So the ultimate question.....will I be back? Richard texted me to ask that question, it was my turn to be evasive this time so after teasing him for a little about it being the worst experience ever, I let him off the hook and told him that it was heaps of fun and I would be back cos I definitely pushed myself a lot harder than if I had been on my own and that was the point of the whole exercise! It's not even super-expensive at about $50 for a 12 month membership and they do up to 4 club runs a week so thats quite cool if I want company for some longer runs. I have decided that I definitely do run better/harder when running with others, I normally run on my own but this week have managed to run with Nadia, the running club, Tania from work when we were in Welly and have run twice with the dog - hmmmm less pressure running with the dog.

The List

Haha you guys are funny! After I read the first couple of posts I thought I better post the list or I'll never hear the end of it. Sorry it took so long, some of us have a job and umm some training to do for the thing in March. So to answer some of your questions: No Paula there are no cupcakes on or near the list however if you want to bring some to Taupo that would be ok, Rachel yep the pantry really is that big but the fridge lives in there as well and strangely I never find anything in there that I really want to eat and nope no 'blah blah blah's on the list either.

Here it is, it is a work in progress and will be added to as time goes by, it is specific to me so if anyone else is doing IM then some stuff may work for you but maybe not so don't think you need to be doing any or all of my weird and wonderful things.

• Enter IM
• Enter Half IM
• Enter Harbour Ride
• Enter Physio Med Tri’s
• Enter Timaru triathlon
• Enter Oceanswim
• Enter Corsair Bay Tri
• Enter Xmas Cracker Tri
• Enter Palmy North ½ Marathon
• Book flights to Palmy
• Book flights to Taupo
• Arrange accommodation for Taupo
• Organise bike bag/box for Taupo
• Start using Powerbar products
• Sell wetsuit
• Buy new wetsuit
• Buy new tri-suit
• Write race plan
• Write nutrition plan
• Book the dog into the kennels
• Write the ‘what-if’ plan with solutions