Old school

This morning's run was through the streets from a time long ago, past roads and streets that I used to walk and play in, to the primary school that I went to for Grade 6 and 7 and from the house that dad still lives in. Hot and humid and with the sun popping from behind the clouds intermittently the interval session was sweaty and hilly.
Well I have been in Queensland now for almost 24 hrs which means that my shoe challenge needs to be met...........game on!

Merry Christmas

( think 12 days of Christmas tune) On this very day of Christmas Coach Tippett gave to me, a slow run along a sandy beach.........Merry Christmas everyone :)
After fending off 2 migraines in 3 days with the help of the magical imigran tablets, we arrived in Ballina yesterday afternoon both exhausted for different reasons (me because I was a migraine warrior and my beloved had been a superhero coastal driver) we had a magnificently looooonnnngggggg sleep we headed out along the beach for today's run........the water was choppy and wild, some may even say treacherous, the sun was out, it was warm and the easy run was hard! We certainly felt alive! I am starting to feel like relaxation is not too far away!

Have a sensational day wherever you are, whatever you are doing

PS I unwrapped a funky pair of sneakers this morning........cool!

Coastal climb-ax

Hill session from Coogee to Bronte and back again this morning in humid conditions with the sun peeking through the clouds every now and again. Spectacular coastal scenery with challenging inclines and steep declines, past craggy rocky outcrops and a cemetery with prime views all followed by breakfast at Bronte. Great way to start the day.......made a shoe purchase yesterday and am thinking that perhaps I did not set my shoe challenge high enough!! Only time will tell :)

Change of scenery

Ran along Botany Bay this morning. Wonderful to see to Sydney skyline for a change. Can't wait for my legs to feel a little less tired and exhausted....managed almost 12kms of intervals so can't really complain...............maybe my legs will know they are on holidays when we reach Ballina in a few days........

Quickie

Had a quickie 60 min hill run this morning as we are heading off to Sydney today for a funeral. So my holidays have started sooner than I expected...watch this space as I cross many state borders over the next couple of weeks on holiday! Aiming to add to my shoe collection (shall I challenge myself to a new pair in every place I stay???) as well as take in new scenes running.

Little Red Caboose

Surely everyone knows the story of the Little Red Caboose with the line "I think I can, I think I can".......keep that in mind as I share my morning run.............when I got up this morning my legs were screaming at me - achy and tired -I thought I would just see how I went before making a decision about whether to stay home or go...........although I am exhausted, once I am awake there is pretty much no chance of me being able to fall back asleep and I wanted to get the run done before the predicted strong winds hit so I took myself to Port Melbourne and just got on with it..................I think I can, I think I can......................about 15 minutes into the 100 minute run I couldn't recall whether I had locked the car or not so I ran back to the car. Yep I had locked it! I started running again and this 'dressed in customary black' caboose stopped..............my legs ached and I stopped my watch (tracking pace/distacne etc) and said to myself...........'right that's it. This isn't happening today"......................but I was stopped in my tracks looking at the bay and those wretched good cop/bad cop voices started to talk to me..........'toughen up princess - tired legs never killed anyone. You've run a couple of marathons and you need to push through this" "You are exhausted you poor thing. Work has been super busy. You have a lot on your plate. You can try this tomorrow. Go easy on yourself"
I remember putting my hands on my head to listen to the debate raging in my head and then gave myself a virtual bitch slap across the face and told myself to get moving and to think of how I would feel after completing it. And off I went "I think I can, I think I can, I know I can"
Between you and me it was a mongrel of a run but it is done and yes I feel good that I kept on with it.

Bananas are da bomb!

Today's run is done...............fabulous morning to be out running..............legs and body really tired but I pushed myself as hard as I could in the interval sets and made the most of the 1 minute walks in between! Fueling my body for the long sessions has been a bit of trial and error but this morning's banana was a winner :)
Saw a huge red balloon (and its passengers) land on the beach at St Kilda.....................in the light of dawn it looked like a massive ruby tear drop floating to the ground..............
Enjoy the sunshine everyone :)

TGIF

I am not only thankful that it is Friday for the very fact that Friday is followed by 2 days not at work but it is also the last Friday I will have to get up to go to work for a number of weeks......YAY for school holidays!
I was sent a message yesterday asking me about how I stay motivated to get up and run...........................I replied that the best motivator is having a running partner....................so when the alarm went off @ 4 this morning I had to dig deep to find the motivation to just get up because slumber was feeling pretty good! I did get up and out the door but about 15 minutes into the session my partner in crime wasn't feeling up for the run and headed back to the car...................the good cop/bad cop sitting on each of my shoulders tried hard to put their case across "ok you can do this" "just do half the session" "let's get moving. It will be over before you know it" "you're tired-head back to the car too"...............I had to dig deeper to find the motivation to push the negative thoughts out of my head................................motivated to feel good after the session I kept on with the interval session and before I knew it I had completed the session and 15.46km :)
Have a fabulous Friday

Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy

Do you recall Linda Evangelista (former ubermodel) once uttered the quote, "We don't wake up for less than $10,000 a day"? I had a similar thought this morning ("I don't wake up for less than 10km") when I considered my run session................in store for me today was an easy peasy lemon squeezy 30 minute run @ easy pace.........I got up and headed out the front gate with the pooch and we set off around the neighbourhood.
Great way to start the day :)

Rip van Winkle has nothing on me!

Seriously I am getting more sleep than Rip van Winkle but even with such sensible amounts of slumber under my belt, getting up to go running isn't getting any easier........I am going to blame end-of-term-itis! Hill run for 60 minutes done for the day...................
See you tomorrow :)

And for those that have asked about my puffy feet and my dilemma of what shoes to wear to the wedidng - crisis averted - my ogre feet went down so I could once more see bones and veins in my feet and the shoes that I had bought to wear to the wedding fit my feet like Cinderella's slippers and took me effortlessly through the garden wedding and function! Phew!

Head Junk

Apparently one person's junk is another person's treasure.................however I am not sure that anyone (other than the dog!) would want the junk I am blowing from my head! Off to Sydney in a tick for a wedding this afternoon....................alarm went off at 4am but I had been awake thinking of work stuff since midnight as well as blowing my nose and I just couldn't find my way to get up......so trying to not beat myself up about missing the session...................have packed a second pair of heels to wear to the wedding - I almost had a meltdown last night when I looked at my feet and instead of being able to see the veins and bones as per normal, I saw fat puffy feet.................fat puffy feet that DID NOT fit into the fabulous dusty pink platform slingbacks that I had bought to wear to the wedding. AAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHH............seems you cannot have summer weather in Mlebourne without a pay off and that pay off for me was puffy feet! I tried on another pair of shoes but broke the zip doing them up AAARRRRGGGGHHHHHH.......................So I have hopefully averted a disaster and have packed a second pair of platform heels that should see me through the wedding if my feet remain as distorted as they were last night!

Trying to breathe through a doona

It truly felt like I was trying to suck in air through a doona on this morning's run along the day.............chest is full of gunk from the head cold but I managed to get the run done with all the associated heavy breathing and gasping! 12.51km later and I am happy I pushed through :)

Time Poor

Just sitting down as the day finishes and I realised that I hadn't even had time to write about today's run (nice and short, 30 mins!) and yesterday's run (60 minutes of hills)......so there you have it..............tomorrow's run tomorrow......................heading to Sydney on Saturday for a wedding which menas I get to debut a gorgeous new pair of heels......watch this space!

Ain't no fun in run

The Sussans fun run ( Sussans fun run) happened this morning and I have been registered for quite some time to do the 10km run...................I figured it was a nice change from the long distance running events that I have been doing.......................the training for it from my coach has been just as demanding and intense as the endurance training but the thought of finishing the run in about 50 minutes (instead of hours like a marathon takes) was my motivation.................however after some incredibly trying times at work in recent weeks my immune system has taken a beating with stress and of course this weekend my body has happily invited some bug/germ to reside in my body................so the fun run was skipped and I stayed indoors blowing my nose feeling sorry for myself....................anyone need a Rudolph the Reindeer impersonator for your Christmas party?

Short run

Good morning everyone. My news for today is:
On Friday morning we got up, got dressed and took the pooch for a 40 minute run near Port Melbourne. We saw the sun rising in the sky. It was lovely. Nothing else really happened.
The End :)