F*uck Yeah Friday!

Today has been a series of niggles and gripes, and it's only 8:06am! Let's change it around with a F*ck Yeah Friday and think about awesome stuff. Yes? Yes!

These are some things that have been making me smile this week:

• Riding Susan. I'm really enjoying this bike. I feel safe and steady, and even managed to overtake someone! Granted she was grandma age. But sometimes you gotta take a win where you find it. 
• I went to hot yoga for the first time last week and loved it! I haven't sweated that much in... Well, ever I think, but it was good. It felt very detoxing.
• On Sunday I was in the area so called a friend and went to a bar in the hills I've wanted to try for ages. Cider on a sunny day = win
• I went for my first run in three weeks last night. 8kms of slow awesomeness right there. 
• My husband. It's been a stressful week and he's cooked and cleaned and been generally awesome <3
• Cats That Look Like Pinup Girls
• Ben Davis' book is being released on New Year's Eve. It's my birthday two weeks later. Just sayin'
• How good does this fruity Christmas tree look? Via pinterest

I hope everyone has had a wonderful week and takes some time to think about the amount of awesome, no matter how small, in their lives. Have a great weekend xx

F*ck Yeah Friday!

I've haven't done a F*ck Yeah Friday for a while, so without further ado, here are some things that have been making me thankful of late :-D

• Melbourne Cup public holiday means that this is a 4 day week. Since it was a Tuesday it really feels like it's a 3 day week. YES!
• I joined the iPhone brigade. Expect instagrams and other iPhone-type stuff
• I did chin ups for the first time in ages and hurt everywhere!
• Obama won, and Romney lost. Even in Australia we're pleased with this result. 
• Speaking of Obama, this story made me laugh
• Gala's account of Hurricane Sandy was amazing
• Good things are happening at work
• I went for my first run in two weeks (and got thwarted by my dog who insisted on eating dead birds). Nevertheless, it was good
• I'm on my way to doing splits again. It will happen by the end of the year
• I've ridden by bike into work once this week and lived! Woohoo!

It has been a good week. I hope everyone else has had a good week too :)

Weekend stuff - the 5 minute chocolate mug cake

It's been a pretty cruisey weekend so far, which has been good. It's been one of those weekends which has been a bit of a struggle between what you want to do, what you should do, and what you can do. Don't you hate that? Finding the right balance is always hard.

Friday night started off well, with me making a healthy dinner (Asian soup with vegies and noodles) for my housemate. She kept on craving cake, despite the crazy amount of chocolate currently in the house. I suddenly had a brain wave and remembered that you can make a chocolate mug cake. That's right, a cake in a mug. Dangerous. Only not so much, it turns out.

She made the nutella mug cake, and I made a generic chocolate cake whose recipe I can't find again, although I added some peanut butter. How did it turn out?

Chocolate cake just out of the microwave

...and you see what I mean

Yeah. It was rubbery, dense and lacking in flavour. We ended up putting nutella over them, and they both tasted a little better. Although with the amount of ingredients used, you could easily make something just as awesome, and if you have nutella all you need is a spoon!

This weekend was also for bike rides with the dog. I'm still loving Susan my bike - she's perfect for lazy rides. Bike riding should not be a race in my opinion (I may just be saying that because I ride very slow).

Cookie and Susan

Cookie enjoying the creek

I'm really missing running (it's been 9 days since my last run), but at least having a bike is helping a little.

Operation Kickstart

Last week I was feeling sore and stressed out of my eyeballs. Life is really good, but it reached the point that even the things I love doing such as spending time with wonderful friends was stressing me. I needed some me time.

I had a bath on Saturday night with crystals, oils and candles, and it occurred to me that I haven't taken my crystals out since well before the wedding which was seven months ago tomorrow(!). Nor have I been to the hills and out on one of my sanity saving hikes through the ferns for around the same amount of time.

Even though life has been great, I haven't been focusing on the things that make me truly happy or that make me a better person. And so Operation Kickstart was born.

Operation Kickstart - because every campaign must have a wanky name. 

I decided that I needed to make some changes in my life, both on a personal and a physical level. And the best way of doing that is to do one small thing every day towards that goal. 

Sometimes it's about changing habits, or sometimes it's about taking tiny steps towards something big.

There's lots of ways Operation Kickstart can work. The point of it is to make a promise to yourself to start making changes, and then actually doing them. It's a good way of being mindful of the fact that you do have something you want to work towards and keeping it in the front of your mind rather than forgetting about it (tax returns are a good example of this!).

To start it off, here's a couple of my pledges:

• Go for a solo hike in the forest (Sunday)
• Having bircher muesli for brekkie yesterday rather than toast (Monday)
• Having a delicious noodle and vegie soup for dinner rather than pasta (Monday)
• Catching up with family today and it will not be strained. 

And most importantly, I bought a new bike!! A friend was selling it so I snapped it up. I rode it home on Sunday and it rode like a dream, so I'm very much looking forward to many lazy bike rides this Spring and Summer!  

Meet Susan

It will definitely help with getting more exercise in and since it has a basket I will be able to ride it up to the shops. This will assist with Operation Kickstart I'm sure.

I'm looking forward to Operation Kickstart. I hope you join me :)

Stuff

I haven't posted in a while, so here's a picture:

:)

Final pole class

This week was my final class in beginner's pole. Since I couldn't make it on Monday as I was in Sydney, they were able to fit me in on Tuesday, which was absolutely fantastic. 

The first thing I noticed about the girls in the new class is that they were good. We had to climb three times and then invert, which they all did easily. Compared to my class where it was only me and another girl (who was on her third round of Beginners and is also doing Intermediate) that could invert, it was really inspiring and made me want to lift my game! 

We had to do a performance for the other group and vice versa, so we learned a routine based on most of what we'd learnt over the past 8 weeks. I always forget what comes next in things like dances, tai chi or karate (which is why I no longer do them), so this was an interesting challenge. For the most part it was fine -  I did better than expected, although I did forget a step which meant that Fan Legs didn't work. And because a lot of it was on the floor my knees are still bruised, several days later. But all in all, it was fun! 

Someone took a photo and put it on FB, so you can see what it was like! 

I'm in the green shorts

We did our routine in front of the girls doing Fan Dance 2, so we had an audience. It was pretty good when they'd cheer at an awesome move, particulalry when we all slid down in Fireman's pose at the same time. We then watched the them do their routine, and it was great to see. It really is quite body affirming as there are all these women of different shapes, fitness and colours doing their thing wearing not a lot. It takes balls to do it, so well done to them!

Unfortunately both Beginners and Intermediate 1 are booked out for term 5, but I might be able to do a casual pole strength class. I'm interested to see what that is like. I'm hoping it will be a heap of conditioning and stretching exercises and will fill the void until next year. Fingers crossed!

Pole dancing

Unfortunately, this was my last class in pole dancing tonight. And due to a last minute (yet awesome) work trip I couldn't make it!

My friend K and I had been deliberating whether or not we'd do another class. I was keen to, but she wasn't sure. If we weren't going to do it I had plans to follow my physio's instructions and do Pilates instead.

In the last session I was the only one who was able to do the basics for Spiderman ( I still don't think that's it's real name). Basically it's where you jump upside down on the pole, wrap your legs around it and then slide down to the bottom. Next class would have been removing my hands so it was just being held up by my legs, but unfortunately I wasn't in class today. Boo!

It looks a little something like this, minus the arms holding on. And in this photo doesn't look nearly as awesome as it is:

I realised after spending a tram trip to work thinking about how I could do a vertical splits move up the pole and what grip I'd need my hands to be in for maximum effect, that I should probably do another class. Luckily, my friend decided she wanted to continue so we've reenrolled in Basics again. I could probably do Intermediate, but it will be good to perfect some of the moves and keep on practicing them.

After looking at a lot of the Sillygirrl archives where she had been trying to get stronger and more flexible, it inspired me to do the same. So now I am pledging to do the splits by the end of the year (which I haven't done in about 12 years), and open up my hips so my middle splits are more splitty (which they're so not at the moment).

I'm really looking forward to it. It's nice to have something where being strong and flexible is a requirement. rather than just a nice to have tacked on the end. I'm really looking forward to getting bendy flexy again. To goals!

Running

Two runs in two days. Life is good. 

Pole progress

It's been ages since I last posted! Things have been good but crazy. Fitness-wise, not a lot has been happening. Injury (shin splints/tight calf and bad neck/back) has meant that I've been out of action for a while.

Pretty much the only thing that I've been doing is pole dancing. Which is pretty awesome.


We've been doing a lot of climbing lately, and this is one of my favourite tricks/positions: The Seat

It takes a bit of strength to clutch the pole with your thighs, and it hurts a fair bit, particularly on your foot as you've used it to climb and it's now gripping the pole. Both of my feet have massive bruises from the climbing! 

Last night was a mixed bag in terms of performance. We learnt some new spins which just didn't really work, and even practising some older ones just wasn't working, so it was all a little hard. And then we did a final trick which involved going upside down. It was the basis of an intermediate trick, and I was the only one to do it, so that was kind of awesome. I thought it was called spider legs, but trying to Google search that got me some weird responses :-/ 

It it pretty much this one, which is the start of the Eagle. 

We have a couple of weeks left of the class and I'm weighing up what to do from here. I think it's hurting my neck and shoulders so it may not be a long term thing. But it's really fun, and I'm enjoying doing something different that incorporates both strength and flexibility (I don't really have the sexy/coordinated aspect so am not going to focus on that!). We could do the Beginner course again to perfect everything, which many people do, or move onto Intermediate which I'm technically good enough to do but not as good as I'd like to be. 

Decisions, decisions! 

F*ck Yeah Friday!

it's been an interesting week this week. I had grand plans of being very active and doing lots of running and weights. Unfortunately things like the weather, Olympics and general laziness laid that to rest.

What awesome things have been making me smile this week?

• First pole dancing session this week.
• Nurofen Plus. I hurt my back (I think from too much sitting on the couch watching the Olympics) and they are the only things getting me through today. 
• Trying to find balance:



via pinterest

• Getting tickets and album on order for the Tread album launch tomorrow. Woot!
• Going for a fast 5km run listening to Disturbed after work and having it STILL BE LIGHT!
• This post on Running off the Reeses on being angry if you're hungry. Amen sister!
• Words of wisdom:

Via Run the Edge (facebook)

Pole Dancing

On Monday, I had my first Beginner's pole class. After doing pole dancing at my Hen's night earlier this year, a friend and I decided that we wanted to take a class. After some issues with timing, we finally got around to booking it and Monday was the first session.

We got there pretty early, not really knowing what to expect. After waiting around for  a while some other students came in, mostly for pole but one lone person for burlesque (that would have made it an slightly awkward class I'd imagine!).

Our group had a mix of people - my friend K and I, some uni students, some women who were back for another semester of beginner to try to improve, one who was on a dare, and another who was a roller derby chick who can't skate anymore so thought this would be low impact. There were a range of body shapes from thin to large and everything in between.

Our teacher Jacqui is pretty cool. She looks like an aging stripper and is awesome. I like her a lot. Her pole is named David (as in Beckham).

Our teacher Jacqui

On to the tricks! We learnt how to to do Round About (which is basically walking around the pole in a very sexy way), and Carousel, which is spinning down the pole. It's easier to do if you don't have a cut in the middle of your hand that opens every time you spin.

It wasn't as hard as I thought, and we didn't end up doing as many things as we did at the Hen's night. Class was only an hour though, which wasn't long enough. I'd like 1.5 hours - an hour for stretching/conditioning and an hour for practice. It's also important to do the moves correctly, as it ends up being a sequence.

All in all, it was fun. I am looking forward to the next couple of weeks when we'll be climbing up the pole and doing awesome stuff. I only ended up with one bruise on my foot, but am anticipating a whole lot more in the next 7 weeks!

God bless the Olympics

I watched the Olympic marathon for the first time ever just now. Wow. Just...wow.

The women are insane! They were hooning along so quickly, and their muscles are crazy. I feel so inspired now! I was partly watching to see Kara Goucher, an American runner I discovered through Run the Edge, but it was great to see the Ethiopians and Kenyans up the front. And then a Russian who kept up and placed as well. Awesome stuff!

And now I'm watching the men's gymnastics finals. I've always had a soft spot for Japanese gymnasts and am not disappointed.

God bless the Olympics indeed ;)

F*ck Yeah Friday!

It's Friday. What has made this week awesome?

• I did a presentation in front of 180 people on Monday, and it went pretty well and I got good feedback! Relieved and a little proud!
• Dinner at a a South American restaurant I've been wanting to go to forever. Looking forward to going back and having some Bolivian tequila agwa! 
• New cardigans in bright colours
• Talking babies and not freaking out
• The anatomy of a wasp. This is just glorious:

via Pinterest

Goals

It occurred to me this morning that I have enough time to start training for the Melbourne (half) Marathon. I had planned to sign up for it, but it was only when I was going through a training plan for a different run on the tram this morning that I realised that I'm actually five weeks into the program. I thought there would be a lot of time to start, but apparently not!

So I vaguely made my training plan, and tonight I went for a run incorporating some tempo work (well, running faster for bits then slower for bits. Very scientific). It was good. Today was crappy, and this helped.

I am now sitting at home reading Runner's World, drinking Baileys and finding useful tidbits of information. Did you know that dogs have also been found to have the same 'runner's high' chemical that humans do? How awesome is that?!

On that note, here is a gratuitous picture of my training buddy extraordinaire, Cookie.

F*ck yeah Friday!

Because we all need a dose of internet love.

What's been making me smile lately?

• Reading trashy books - the Shifter series by Rachel Vincent is rocking my world atm
• Beautiful Melbourne winter days at the beach. Don't believe me? 

Sunny and 16 degrees. Don't mind if I do!

• Going out for Spanish tapas with my mum and brother for her birthday, and seeing her delight at having churros for the first time!
• Preparing for a presentation in front of 200 people (which is making me smile and want to wet myself in terror)
• Drunken phone calls from old friends
• Finger 11. Some of their songs make me cry, but such is life
• Because I've also been reading 50 Shades of Grey (don't judge me), this tickled my fancy immensely:

via  http://iwastesomuchtime.com

What has been making you thankful lately? 

Run Melbourne - the recap

I know, I know, I'm a crappy blogger. It's been almost two weeks since the run and here I am writing now. In my defense, it's mainly me reading this blog, and I know what happened (I was there, after all!).

So, the day dawned crisp and clear. I woke up easily and took Cookie for a walk, which was gorgeous as the sun was rising but the stars will still in the sky. It was ironic to think that I was out at the same time that I would have been starting the half marathon *sob*

After a breakfast of toast and vegemite, and coffee, I caught the tram to the city. Along with half of Melbourne. It was great to see so many people up that early on a tram to go for a run. Good stuff Melbourne!

Gratuitous Melbourne photo from the expo

I made it to warm up aerobics but couldn't see my colleague J anywhere, so joined in and felt like a fool. When it was over him and his girlfriend L found me and we slowly started getting ready. L kindly watched over our bags as she was injured and couldn't run.

As J and I were waiting in line I dispensed my first bit of advice (he was a virgin fun-runner): make sure your shoe laces are tied properly. He said he doubled knotted - I said double knots offended me. Little was I to know that I should have taken either my advice or his - I had to stop TWICE to do my laces during the run! Argh!

When we finally started running, I was kinda pleased to hear 'Everybody Runs' by the Butterfly Effect playing. Not only was it literally true, but I was getting a tattoo of their logo later that day so it seemed apt.

We started running, and I overtook J, then he overtook me, then I overtook him, and then he overtook me and that was the last I saw of him. He did it in about 50ish minutes (and raised more money than I did too!).

The run itself was...hard. My music wasn't giving me love, and I was pushing more than I would have liked because I really wanted to do well. In the half I was able to relax and just get in a zone, with the music choices being able to carry me along. This time it was all slow, mellow stuff (and no Disturbed at all - very upset), and overall it wasn't my best run. I finished it in 55.47, so under an hour, but I didn't love it.

The packed finish line (officially the line is too the left)

Afterwards I caught up with J and L, collected my bag, got a free coffee (SCORE!) and waited for my friend A to finish. It was her first 5kms, and I was SO proud of her for doing it! She rocked it in 43 minutes or so, which was great. I'm not sure if I can put photos of her up here, so instead I'll put a photo of me that she took afterwards.

Highlight of the day though? Guide dogs!!!

Guide dogs! Which we could pat!

Afterwards we went home then went out to get tattoos. That's a story for another day. Although interestingly, my thighs (ITBs) hurt for three days after the run. The tattoo I couldn't even feel. Strange turn of events indeed.

Tomorrow's Run

Tomorrow is my 10km run. I'm a bit worried because it's my first race in a long time and I haven't run 10kms in a long time.

Afterwards my friend and I are going to get tattoos afterwards. It's my first and I'm a little worried about it, but it should be fine (!).

Until tomorrow...!

Fitness-type things

I ended up doing a circuit class at the gym the other night. There was only one other person doing it and I took pity on her, so I signed up too.  

Things I learnt though? If you can't really do lunges or squats, you'll get given lots of push ups to do. 4 lots of 3x30 second sets make for sore, sore arms the next day. And the day after. 

I love the pain and the accomplishment of still being sore. Even though I whine like a little bitch, I wouldn't change it for a thing.

Not being able to move my arms too much after that meant I could then sit on the exercise bike for 25 mins reading 50 Shades of Grey, along with the other 75% of the female population. Awesome :-D

F*ck yeah Friday

I've been meaning to post for a while, but my phone doesn't let me type any text or add any pictures to a post. Slight problem for a blogging site, yet?

 Anyway, it is high time for a F*ck Yeah Friday! What has been making me smile of late?

• This keyring. At first just an innocuous little Nemo knock-off...

..but then you realise he has googly eyes! Cue hours of fun!

• Tuesday night dumplings and ice skating with friends
• Discovering the pull up machine at the gym
• Realising that my sweet one month for $29 gym deal was the BEST idea ever!
• Getting a good night's sleep. 7 hours of awesome
• My friend starting a new job. Onwards and upwards!
• Officially starting to fund-raise for the race. Only $50 for Red Cross so far, but from little things...
• The truth in this picture:

From Facebook somewhere

 What little moments of awesome have made you smile lately?

On food, exercise and disorders

As someone who is very active, I often think that if I were to change my eating patterns I could be that person with a six pack. It is said that great abs are made in the kitchen, not the gym:

However, there are a couple of reasons why I have issues with this. 

Firstly, I love to eat. Food is so much more than fuel to me - it is a joy, a social experience, a comfort, an adventure, a connection to the land, and so much more.

When I was younger, someone very close to me developed an eating disorder. I won't go into detail to respect their privacy, but suffice to say, it changed my view of the world. I had always thought that people were happy as a baseline. The idea that people weren't turned my world upside down.

When someone else very close to me also had eating issues, it was too much. My way of rebelling was to be happy, and make a conscious decision to be happy. Part of this was by eating. If there were people who were unhappy and not eating, then clearly eating was a key to being happy.

This mentality has largely stayed with me, for better or worse. I have never dieted, partly for this reason. I have also realised that if I try to eat healthier I end up focusing on food so much that I end up eating more. And let's be realistic here - most people who are eating healthier are never going to turn their nose up at losing a bit of weight as a side-effect. Subconsciously, I still equate food and happiness - restriction means unhappiness.

It really frustrates me that society today tells women (and men) that skinny is the key to happiness. You look at all of the celebrities that were larger, lost a heap of weight and now are famous (Nicole Richie, Ricki Lee Coulter, Kelli Osbourne for some modern examples). Many of these women suffered through eating disorders or addictions and really aren't the kind of role models for health that we should have. At the same time though, looking at pictures of super toned women with abs of steel on places like Pinterest (and I love my Fitsperation board on Pinterest) isn't necessarily healthy either! What kind of work and restricted eating have they gone through to get those abs or those amazing triceps? If healthy is indeed the new skinny, at what price? 

I KNOW that I'm not fat. I know that I am healthy, and that that little pot belly isn't the end of the world. But sometimes it's easy to forget that with all of the images you see, all the negative reinforcement that gets given, all of the 'good' and 'bad' labels that food has. I suppose the key is to remember what happiness is. 

And sometimes, happiness is cake. 

The longest weekend

This weekend was a weekend of highs, lows, and blahs. I seem to have lost my mojo of late, and I don't quite know how to get it back. Case in point: three days off for the Queens Birthday long weekend. Normally a long weekend would be cause for joy, but this weekend...not so much.

I'm the kind of person that never gets bored. Even if I'm not doing anything there's always something I could be doing or even should be doing. But this weekend, nothing really worked. I just couldn't be bothered doing much, even things that normally give me joy. Maybe it's because I don't reallky have any goals to work towards  - the half (and full) marathons are out, the wedding is over, pole dancing won't start until later in the year, and I don't really have anything to aim for or look forward to. It's a strange feeling. I need a hobby.

That's the lows and blahs. Now for the highs.

Friday was the final ever gig with Clint Boge performing with The Butterfly Effect. These guys are my favourites. When I discovered them it opened my eyes to a whole new world of music, and I haven't looked back. I love them so much that I have been planning a tattoo with the logo in it for about 4 years. So it's sad that Clint is leaving, particularly as its not the happiest of circumstances. Nevertheless, I was determined not to cry at this gig (I cried like a bitch at the last one), and I decided that this was a joyous occasion. And it was. It was a privilege to be a part of it. 

Today

Today was the kind of day that makes you take back every charitable thought you have of Melbourne in winter. Melbourne in winter has many charms...but not today. It was 13 degrees, cold, rainy, windy and generally miserable.

However, after work I took the dog out and we ran a nice 3kms. Despite the frozen numb hands, it was the perfect temperature. Walking... not so awesome.

I ran on concrete through the streets *shock! horror!* but my knee didn't hurt. I realised that maybe it's due to one of three things: 

• My knee doesn't like that particular running track
• My knee doesn't like compression shorts
• My knee doesn't like the friend I run with

Or maybe just the exercises are working. Either way...WOOHOO!

I also scored a sweet cheap gym membership today. A month at a local gym for $29. Nice. It may help to burn off some of the copious amounts of cheese we bought and consumed at the Good Food and Wine Festival on the weekend...no. What am I saying?? Cheese will fuel my workouts.I know this.

Running, and why you should cross-train

When I started running about 2 years ago, I became addicted to it. The dog got some exercise, I got exercise, I could listen to my favourite music, get out of the house, make time or distance goals and work towards breaking them, and basically life was good.

Because I was running a lot I could feel my legs get stronger. My thighs became like steel, and it was great (I love muscles). So even if I did weights or strength training at home, I wouldn't really bother with leg exercises. Why should I? My legs were strong, and I didn't want to overuse them.

This, it appears, was a mistake.

I finally attended a physio about two weeks ago, and it turns out that I have issues with my ITB. ITB syndrome is a very common issue for runners, and in a nutshell, it means that my muscles are both very tight and very weak at the same time. Awesome.

I now have a raft of stretches and exercises to do to both relax the muscles and build them up. In particular, my glutes are very weak so this week there's a focus on them.

The moral of this story people? Cross train. Make sure you're stretching and strengthening everything. Simply running won't just make you magically strong (sad but true...)

F*ck yeah Friday!

Sometimes I plan on doing a Things I Love Thursday, but then I forget. And F*ck yeah Friday has a much nicer ring to it, yes?

Things that have been making me smile this week: 

• The Butterfly Effect, my favourite band, are doing their final tour before the lead singer departs. Tonight is gig #1 (we're going to 2). Bring.It.On
• Going to the physio FINALLY for me knee. I have lots of IT band and other exercises to do and have to stay off it for a week, but this is progress
• Getting up to date with How I Met Your Mother and Game of Thrones (not running means I have a heap of time!). Joffery...oh dear. 

• Launching a new project at work. It will be awesome.
• Home made baked potatoes with swanky cheese, great vegies, and a bit of salsa. Heaven on a fork. 
• This picture right here. They told me I could be anything.

Have a great weekend! 

Running update

I've had some good news and some bad news with running lately. I saw a running coach who suggested that I ease off running a bit and then build back up. I kind of did that, but I think I went too hard this week. I ran Sunday, Monday and Wednesday. Right after the Wednesday run my knee was sore. It stayed sore the next day too - not just a 'damn, my knee is a bit sore which means everytime I move it I'm doing damage sore', but actually sore. Although yesterday it didn't hurt at all.

Go figure. The marathon is definitely out of the picture, and possibly the half is, too.

In better news, one of my friends has just started running and she did her first attempt at a 5km today. I'm so proud of her! If anyone is going to keep at it and work hard, it's her.

Teehee

via Little White Lion

Things I love Thursday

Well, it's been a while since I've showed some gratitude on the internet! Let's change that hey?

Things that are awesome:

• Autumn in Melbourne. We missed the best of Autumn, but it is still insanely beautiful
• Sticking to my training plans (both running and strength)
• Eating relatively well and drinking relatively little (moderation people!)
• Realising that work will be throwing some massive challenges at me and changing my mindset to make sure I rock them!
• My new husband(!). Still a novelty :) 
• Getting wedding photos from the photographer
• Timeline by Michael Crichton. It's making my tram ride to work a joy

Not my pic, but very similar to the colours atm

Bloody tree hugging hippies ;)

What's made you smile lately?

Running in the rain

In keeping with the training plan, I thought I would go for a run at lunch time today instead of tonight because I'm going to a seminar on running motivation and achieving your goals etc.

However, it's raining, cold and I was very close to cancelling. Why not attend the motivational thing and then start putting it into practice?? I have internetting to be doing!

Luckily tossing two coins and being guilted by my colleague convinced me to go for a run. And it was good. A character building 7kms sharing smug looks with the other runners that were out there. 

Not so good? Realising the hard way that there is no hot water in the showers at work any more. Boo. 

Marathon Training Day 1

After spending pretty much every waking second with another person (i.e. my husband on our honeymoon) over the last month, having Saturday night to myself while he went to work was absolute bliss. How did I spend my treasured Saturday night?

Writing up a training plan!

I signed up for the Run Melbourne half marathon, where I did my first half last year. As I'm planning on using it as a training ground for the Melbourne Marathon on October 14, I thought I would write up a training plan.

Training for May

The plan is based on the training plan on the Run Melbourne website. I'm not sure if this is the best one as it says to run for time (eg 40 mins) rather than distance. I don't know if this will be better or worse, so I'm doing some research.

I ended up buying a 2012 diary for 50 cents (woot!) so I can easily write how I felt, what I did, etc. That way if I injure myself or anything like that I'll be able to track it. And, you know, because Runner's World said to have a training diary.

Anyway, since my training didn't start until this week, I went for a run yesterday morning to help gauge my fitness (or lack thereof). I was quietly hoping that training would start with a bang. Unfortunately, it started with a whimper and shuffle.

A difficult 6kms. I even walked. But that will make it MUCH more special at the end!

Adventures of a bad blogger!

Wow, I haven't blogged for quite a while. It has been a crazy time, involving Tough Bloke Challenge, my wedding, and now my honeymoon! A good blogger would be updating constantly, showing pics (even teasers) of what they've been up to, but no. Not me.

I'm currently sitting in a hotel room in Luang Prabang, Laos. My husband(!) is sick and it's a little too hot outside to venture out so now is the perfect opportunity to blog, yes?

Here is a taste of what has been happening in the past month or so:

Tough Bloke Challenge

Wedding!

Cocktails on the beach at our resort in thailand. Cocktails were to become a normal occurrence!

Noodles from a roadside vendor for breakfast in Bangkok

Monks in the Lao New Year (Pii Mai Laos) parade in Luang Prabang

Hot, hard and unhappy mountain bike ride in Laos

Eating. Lots and lots of eating. 

What a trip. And we still have another week! I've loved it, but I am looking forward to coming home. I haven't gone for a run since the second day of the trip (barefoot morning run along the beach - it's a hard life hey?), and I miss it. I didn't bring running shoes, and it's too hot most of the time to run. So I am very much looking forward to training properly. 

But for now... enjoying my honeymoon comes first :)

Should you be running right now?

YES!

via http://realdeal.tumblr.com

Early morning thoughts.

Had a good run yesterday. 9kms along the river with perfect conditions - not too hot, good tunes, and a well behaved dog. Exactly the kind of run that makes you happy to be alive. 

Work is stressful at the moment, as is life. One month out from the wedding and I'm travelling for work at least once a week is a little too much. I currently have insomnia and woke up at 5am today thinking about everything I need to be doing a should be doing. It's a vicious cycle. 

Something that is really frustrating me at the moment is the fact I am dwelling on the negative, the little things that are really inconsequential. Overall, life is pretty damn sweet, and if things like stupid public transport tickets and email at work being down are the worst things going on in life to worry about, then I've got it pretty damn good. I KNOW this, and I KNOW that my stupid first world problems are just that. But still. It's the little things that tend to make and break me, and a lot of little things are building up.

Does this happen to anyone else? What is the best way to stop worrying about the stupid things?