Happy Australia Day

It's Australia Day here in the land down-under and Australia Day means pretty much the same thing to millions of people around the country - that's right, a sleep in!!! Unfortunately for those members of the Gale Force Running Squad it meant something quite different. For the dedicated few of us who are totally addicted it meant getting out of bed before 5am to be at the Queensland Uni for a special, extended version of our usual speed session.

Talk about value for money. Usually it's $5 for a one hour session but today we got 50% extra for no extra cost - except for the physical cost of muscle pain and copious amounts of sweat. And sweat we did! It was 23 degrees when we started and 24.5 when we finished and the humidity hovered around 80%. It was the closest thing you could get to running in a sauna.

Coach Chris split us into two groups - the fit and the less so. I'm in the less so at the moment and we got to do the ladder session. 200m, 400m, 600m, 800m, 1k then back down again with a 200m recovery in between. One of the guys who'd been out for a while thought that I'd be a good bet to run next to for consistency. Boy was he wrong! I explained about overtraining syndrome (it was a very gasped explanation) but he didn't quite get it. He thought I was just going through a flat period so I elaborated a little further about doctors and sciency things like blood tests and cortisol/testosterone imbalance and he realised that it was a little more than just a flat period.

We were rewarded for our hard efforts with an outing to a local cafe for breakfast. Good food. Good Company. And a good start to a good day.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's Off to Work I Go.

Today was the first day of my working year. Yes, I know that it's already the 25th of the month and that it's a public holiday tomorrow but I had to start at some stage. I love my work. I love the quiet times when we can listen to the tv. I love catching up with my sister who works with me three days out of five. And I love seeing customers - some that hae been coming for over a decade and some that we've seen grow from children to young women.

The best part about work today was not my sister or what we watched on tv or any of the four clients we saw. It was the fact that the workroom is air-conditioned. It has been disgustingly hot and humid for a week and it's going to continue until the weekend so the air-conditioning was such a pleasant reprieve.

My dogs were also grateful that work had started. They are smart animals. They know that if the door is shut it will be cooler in the room than out. So they press their cute little doggy noses against the glass door and look pathetic and hot and it works every time. At least they behave themselves fairly well when we have clients in and refrain from passing gas and sniffing butts.

It looks like it'll be a good work year. We started with orders on the books and the rhythmic gymnastic costumes are already starting to pile up. I'm very grateful to be able to work at something that I enjoy so much.

Modelling Good Behaviour

As a parent you like to try and set your kids a good example - they should see you being a loving, caring parent and spouse, a diligent and responsible worker, someone who cares for the environment and someone who takes responsibility for their health. Yesterday evening made me feel that I'd done something right.

Saturday evenings are always my evening to walk with my friend Natalie. She lives and works as a teacher at the Gold Coast during the week but on Saturday she drives the hour to Brisbane to work as a receptionist at a car yard. And on Saturday afternoon she comes to my house and we go for a two hour walk and a one hour chat over coffee. (Actually we chat for the whole three hours - we have the problems of the world to solve and that takes time) This Saturday was no different except on our arrival home. The house was very, very quiet and relatively empty. There was only Iven and the dogs to greet us. The boys were nowhere to be seen.

It turns out that Sam was at the gym, Josh had taken himself off for a run and Luke had met a friend to play tennis. All three of my boys were out exercising. Add on to that the fact that Iven had gone for a thirty minute jog that morning while I was out doing my 12k group run. I was a happy mummy last night. All that behaviour-modelling seems to be paying off.

BTW - my morning run went pretty well. It was disgustingly humid again and I'll be REALLY pleased when Summer is over but I survived the run well - 5:38 min/k pace - and recovered well too.

The spectre of the Empty Nest

Last night was unusual. Instead of the head count being five, it had dropped down to two. Just Iven and I. Sam was out working. Josh was indoor rock climbing and Luke was playing tennis with friends. It was quiet and weird and a little scary - like the whole empty-nest thing that is looming. I know it won't be for quite a few years yet. Luke has yet to finish high school and then there'll be about four years of uni. But I think that in under ten years it'll be just Iven and I sitting looking at each other, wondering what we can talk about.

Last night went a bit like this.

"What's on tv?" (Iven)
"Not a lot - but the tennis is on" (Me trying to persuade him that tennis is an excellent viewing option in the non-ratings period)
"Is that all?" (Iven is not much of a tennis fan or sports fan if the truth be told)
"Have a look in the tv guide and see if there's something you'd rather watch" (I try to look unselfish always knowing that I'll get my own way in the end)
"I think I'll just have an early night"

And with that I was left sitting alone holding the remote control. In this instance I enjoyed it, after all Roger Federer was playing (and winning) and one of the three Aussie's left also had a win. But I can see the day that I'll find it really lonely. Life with kids is busy and noisy and exhausting but I'm really not looking forward to the time when we get off the merry-go-round. I might have to take up night classes. Yoga, french, re-upholstery or trouble-shooting car problems. I've heard that learning new stuff will delay dementia so I guess it's not all bad.

Feeling Good!!

Just a quick line to say that I'm feeling so good. I don't know if it's the magnesium, my new nutrition strategy or that I had a very lazy week last week ... and I don't really care which has brought about the change. I'm just so grateful to be feeling like me again.

Yesterday I signed up for a cake decorating course and I can't wait to get started. It all came about because my sister Julie is a nurse. She was nursing a man on Thursday last week and found out he owns a company that sells cake decorating supplies so yesterday we went out there to check it out. Her patient was there and got talking about the classes that they run. Amazingly they fit in perfectly with my business hours and before I could talk myself out of it I'd given them my name and phone number. It's just a starter course and it's only four weeks but I'm excited.

Happy Anniversary Iven!

Today marks 24 years of marriage for Iven and I. One of my friends recently told me that life, for criminals is 25 years, so I've only got one more year until I can be let out on day release. Actually I'll probably hang around for a few more years cause after 24 years I'm sort-of used to having him around.

The weather today is remarkably like it was 24 years ago. It's hot and humid and there's a storm predicted for later this afternoon. Back in 1986 the storm wreaked a little havoc on our wedding reception. It was an outdoors affair in my parents garden. We'd hired a dance floor and had a live band (of two). The floor got soaked when it rained and dried slippery. Our wedding video is hilarious - one couple after the next trying to keep from slipping over. Our cake didn't fair too well in the humidity either. It had been three layers separated by tiny champagne flutes. Somehow it became unbalanced and came tumbling down. Luckily the pastry-chef was a guest and he managed to resurrect two layers of it.

Small disasters - but they didn't detract from the day at all. I had a ball and we haven't looked back. Sure we've had our moments. All couples do. But all-in-all we're happy. Hopefully we'll still be going strong in another 24 years.

Beach Run Sunday

It was beach run day today. Have I mentioned that I love beach runs? I woke up at 4:45 am ( It says 4:55 on my alarm clock but I've set it forward so it doesn't seem quite so early) and it was still just a little dark. The sun started to rise as I ate my pre-run banana and the house glowed a pretty pink. I took off at 5:20 and arrived beachside at 6:20.

It was already 23 degrees and we were in the shade to start with. Heaven knows what the temperature it was by the end of the run. All I know was that it was hot! And everything I was wearing was saturated! And I was tired. (no surprise there) But having said that, it was a great way to start the day. All the dogs were back from holiday and were having a ball on the sand and in the water. I'm smiling just thinking of how much fun they were having.

I experimented with my nutrition a little today. As well as my banana, I had a piece of white bread with honey before I ran and straight afterwards I had some Powerade. I'm just hoping that more attention to nutrition gives a better recovery. A little later I had poached eggs on rye and I'm currently feeling pretty good. I'm hoping the problem I had earlier this week was just a temporary set-back and that I'm back on track now.