Have I told you lately...

• That I am the excuse queen? My latest one is that I couldn't run on the weekend because I got my hair done on Friday afternoon and had a job interview on Monday morning and my hair had to stay nice until then. Just to let you know, before Friday afternoon, I bore a startling resemblance to Hillary Clinton (all grey and frizzy, so I have to tie my hair back in a pony tail).

After my first visit to the hairdressers in about 6 months, this was the much improved version of me:

• That I find my husband really, really annoying? This week I have run with him. I pushed him a bit and we did the full 5km loop (but walked up the "hill"). This morning he took off and I spent 3.5km staring at his back and telling the dog to settle down as he wanted to catch up. I've spent months running (admittedly sporadically) and he just comes in like it's no effort and blitzes me. I should run with my son more.

Bastard.

• That I think my scales are broken? I completely forgot it was Wednesday yesterday (and Thursday Weigh-in just doesn't have the same ring to it). But I got on them nonetheless this morning after my thrashing, and this is what it has to say for itself:

Bastard. 77.3kg - 170.4lbs

One foot in front of the other, and all that...

Don't you forget about me...

Hi. I know - it's been a while!

I've been away from home for a bit - up in Sydney working. So this poor blog is sadly neglected. I did however do a couple of runs in nearby beautiful Sydney Park (Sydney's biggest park). It was lovely running around there - but I really missed running with my Max (there were dogs everywhere).

I've been running with my new iPod Nano - it doesn't use a GPS, but has an accelerometer built in that synchs to Nike+. I'm not sure how accurate it is, but it's light and plays music - which is fine for this non-athlete. And I still need to get Nike+ to move into the 21st century and display in metric.

But my good intentions were undone by a nasty case of the flu (mixing with the great unwashed in the office) and also some serious amounts of rain in Sydney - it never seemed to stop!

I did get out to the Athlete's Foot at Eastgardens, where they "expertly fitted" my feet and I tried on a few shoes. I ended up going with Mizuno Wave Inspires

I think they were the ugliest shoe I tried on, but I opted for comfort over fashion (see how grown up I'm getting). 

I also had issues with low blood sugar while I was away - the shakes, sweating, palpitations - not nice. I think it was brought on by too much simple sugars (read lollies and chocolates while I was working) and then coming down from my sugar high. So I will go get my bloods checked out and also try to have a much more low GI diet, to even things out.

I managed to try my new shoes out this morning back on my home turf - complete with Max and also my son. 

Now, you have to understand my boy is not a runner. He is not anything remotely physical. He has developmental motor dyspraxia - which means he is spectacularly uncoordinated. Him running is hilarious. You have to see it to believe how unco he is. But he wanted to come with his mum, so we started off with a 5 min walk and then ran/walked to the end of the path and back. I left him at the end to have a bit of a go. I think it will be good for him, but I'll have to ditch him if I want to get back into things properly.

And I know you are all on the edge of your seats to see what impact all this lack of exercise coupled with living the high life in Sydney has done to the scales:

75.5kg - 166.4lbs

So, we begin again. Never, ever, ever give up.

Wednesday Weigh-In!

Well after a little break from the scales, I hopped back on this morning to see what damage I've incurred:

75.2kg or 165.8 lbs

Well, that could have been a lot worse! Now back to business! I got out there again yesterday, this time with my brand new Mother's Day present iPod Nano (no more chafing arm bands for the phone!). Using the Nike+ Fitness thingy, I did 5 min warmup, 30 minute run, 5 min cooldown - 5.45km, 7.36min/km (apparently) - I cannot get it to show up on the Nike+ website, but that's what it says I did!

It uses a gyroscope rather than GPS, and MapMyRun puts it at 4.73km (which would be 8.43min/km - that's more like it!). But anyways, I got out there. I have sore legs now, but hip seems OK.

I have also been enjoying the fruits of my juicer (also a Mother's Day gift - I scored big time!) - lovely fresh juices in the morning and not-so-lovely detox juices during the day. Still waiting for my poo to turn green!

Firework

"Do you know that there's still a chance for you, 'Cause there's a spark in you, You just gotta ignite the light and let it shine, Just own the night like the 4th of July"


Oh hello there! Did you think I gave up? Slunk off to my couch and my wine and my brie? Oh, well maybe I did for a bit. But I'm back. Sucking it up and getting back out there.

Today is Mother's Day (in Australia, is it in the U.S. too?). Rather than sloth away in bed (like I have been doing for the last, oh, 4 weeks or so), I got up at 7:10am and put on the Asics, grabbed the dog and went for a run! I know! What a shock (to my body!).

It was a fair bit chillier than it was last time I ran - so much so my eyes teared up and I ran half the way with tears streaming down my face. Actually, it's not that cold (maybe 11C), but it is significantly cooler than the 25C I was trying to run in a few weeks back. It was very nice once I'd warmed up.

I couldn't run the whole way (I set the app to run 5km) - I had to walk up the steeper hills, but I "ran" 5km! I ran it at a slow 8.49min/km, but I figured I was not there to beat any records. I was actually there well first, because I was overdue for a run, but second, because my dear friend Jodie has been doing the C25K program, and ran 4km in the Mother's Day Classic! Go Jo!!

And I've been reading another book: Running Pink by Deborah de Williams. She ran around Australia to raise money for breast cancer research, so after running my tiny (but significant) 5km, I donated $30 to her cause.

So Maxy and I are relaxing now. I hope I'm back on track and we might even see how much damage I've done on Wednesday weigh-in...

"Cause baby you're a firework, c'mon show 'em what your worth, make 'em go oh oh oh, as you shoot across the sky"

Never too late...

"It's never too late, we've still got time, never too late, you can still be mine, it's never too late to change your mind"

I've been slack. Every night I've said to myself "tomorrow". And then slept. But not this morning, this Anzac Day morning.

Last night I watched Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead - a film by Joe Cross about juicing and detoxing and rebooting your life. It was pretty inspiring:

When I was teaching, I suffered urticaria, an auto-immune condition - do you want to see a pic??? Of course you do....

freaking itchy - it was all over my body

I also suffered back spasms and migraines. I'm much better now that I'm not in a massive stress-inducing job, but I know that my body isn't too far off going that way. And I seem to go OK on the diet/fitness thing for a couple of months, then lose motivation and slip back into my unhealthy, so maybe a juice detox/kickstart every 3 months or so is a good thing.  I'll look into the juicing detox thing. I might get a juicer for Mother's Day. 

Anyway, this morning it was time to get back out there in the fresh (chilly 13C) air and lovely sunshine, with the puppy who has sadly been missing his walks/runs. After multiple wee and poo stops (him, not me) we did 5 min warmup, nearly 30 minutes of running (plus some strolls to catch the breath!), walked up the stairs from hell and ran back to the car. Done. Very happy with myself. 

Oh yeah - it's Wednesday....mmm:

75.4 kg - 166.2 lbs (don't you love my Lululemon socks?)

"And in my heart I will forgive you, I've got so much love to give you"

Weigh-in Wednesday

Oh. It's Wednesday again - already?

Probably just as well it's a weigh-in day, otherwise I would have nothing to post about and the blog comes dangerously close to being the most boring "get fit" blog ever, because no getting fit has been happening. I feel like I need to go to confession: "Father, it has been two weeks since my last run..." That's the old Catholic guilt trip coming out.

I don't know why I'm in a running funk. I just haven't been motivated or something. Part of it is my hip, which is still tight and is in desperate need of another massage. Part of it is I haven't done much of the hamstring strengthening I'm supposed to be doing to counteract the hip thing. Part of it is I've finished C25K and need something else now - City to Surf is too far away to be real. Part of it is...I can't put my finger on it...laziness???

I'm so lazy at the moment I couldn't even be bothered to take a photo of the scales. But trust me when I say it said 74.8kg (164.9 lbs) - I'll put it up on the table to the left. Well - what do you expect if you eat whatever you feel like, drink whatever you feel like and do no exercise? But this blog is about being accountable and so up it goes.

On the plus side, overall my pants are too big for me and I need those waist tie things to hold them up!

Still need to work on the double chin though...

Stay tuned loyal readers and see if anything actually happens this week!

The good, the bad and the ugly

The good:
Lots of lovely inspiring people! Kerry running the Canberra Half Marathon this weekend! Nancy get out and about (10km runs - woot!). Jo up to week 5 in C25K (and purchasing very "profesh looking" sports bra). Kylie running with the outdoor bootcamp pack. Marcella doing 5km time trials!

Climbing Mt Durras!

The bad:
Chocolate, wine, camembert, Peking Duck.

74.0 kg - 162.8 lbs

The Ugly:
Haven't run for a week! What's wrong with me?? New week, new start.