Blog has moved

Howdy readers - I have moved my blog

Got fed up with this Beta version so I have moved to the more Mac friendly word press.

I won't import my old posts so I'll hang onto blogger.com for the history

You can find me at www.emruns.wordpress.com

hope you like my new site! It is still under construction and will evolve over the coming weeks.

1 more sleep to go.....

RunningBowling and Drinkin'
Phew, it's been a big week, I feel like I have eaten and drunk more in the last 3 days than I have in the last 11 months! Today was a blast, we had a couple of hours bowling at St Kilda Bowls club, obviously as I was holding the mobile phone this is not me in the photo, it is a colleague (who was a much better bowler than me), as you can see it was a fantastic day for it. It started off as a "friendly" but pretty soon became very competitive, especially with me in the side ;-) Despite proving to be an appalling bowler I at least proved to be an A1 sledger which I like to think had a pivitol role in my side ending up taking the day by 1 point. As some school kids had turned up we graciously allowed the losers to buy a round rather than take a topless lap of the green.

After our 2 hours on the green we were supposed to have a BBQ, however the caterer we had booked kindly decided to NOT turn up. Was supposed to be there at 2pm, we gave him until 2:30 but considering many jugs had been consumed by that stage it was time to get to the pub for some nourishment before things got very messy (as opposed to just messy), not sure if the BBQ dude ever did turn up but he did have a mobile number to contact us on.



The remainder of the afternoon was passed very pleasantly at a pub looking over Fitzroy Street. The last time I was at Fitzroy St I seem to recall a great big fecking brickwall greeting me at the very top, I then had to spend the next 4Km attempting to climb over the top of it and finish my half marathon with a PB. The view today was much more agreeable, LOL



Only one more sleep until I can have a run, I don't care how short and slow it is I am gonna love every step of it. Speaking of running, it is not even '07 yet and I have already been mailed a flyer for the Gold Coast Airport Mathaon due to be held 1st July next year. As long as it fits in with the AV season I will be doing this one again, it will be a good course to have a crack at sub 100 minutes and of course my brother and sister live up there too. I'd like to get another 2 half marathons done next year and if all goes well I may be well positioned to give the Melbourne Marathon a go in October '07. A totally terrifying thought because I want to have a proper go at a good time, not just do it for the hell of it. Not 100% committed yet, let's see how the body copes with a winter season first. Then again maybe I am just being too damn cautious and I should just stop analysing things and go for it.

Almost ready to run

After forgetting myself and running to catch a green light I realised that there was no complaining from my foot (ever tried walking up Martin Place in Sydney, so many damn lights of you don't catch the greens it takes FOREVER!) Guess who's looking forward to a gentle run on Saturday??!! And not before time too, I feel like a fat cow. Alrighty, got a cab to catch, can't wait to get home, way to humid up here.

RunningRiding
Another 60 minutes on the bike, rolling hills today. Not such a bad one this evening, managed to get into a "zone" and the hour passed pretty quickly. With the trip to Sydney and some Christmas functions taking up most of the week looks like that will be it for the working week. Still keeping my fingers crossed for a gentle run on Saturday.

Goodbye
I don't have the ticker for much chat tonight. A blogger who I have followed closely since he came by and visited my blog at the start of the year has decided to finish up posting to his blog today after going through some tough times in his personal life. I feel a bit like I have said goodbye to an old friend. I am not posting a link because I have left some pretty personal comments there over the months. Isn't it funny how this brave new cyber world has changed the way we relate to people. How someone who you'll never meet who lives on the other side of the world can still feel like a mate. That you can find yourself feeling empathy and compassion towards them and you can only wish them well and hope for the best for them. This is a bit jumbled because I am not much chop at expressing myself in this way, but I mean well. So anyway, if you stop by again, I can only say take care and I'll miss your posts.

Back to the Pool

RunningDeep Water Running
Back to the pool today on my way home from work. Spent about 40 minutes in the water, 30 minutes of solid "running" with 30 and 60 second intervals. I could really feel that I was doing something today, checking my pulse I was certainly working which is a positive. After that I just did some attempted swimming as a cool down, problem is I do have a tendency to sink :-)

Life
Gotta go to Sydney overnight on Wednesday, shame I am not running because I would have enjoyed running through the gardens in daylight, unlike the terrifying pitch black bolt I experienced back in May. However, as a result of winning a quarterly team award a few months back myself and my 2 team mates have $100 each to spend on dinner, so I am expecing a pretty good feed on Wednesday night. Then Thursday we are having our bigger team's Xmas thingy at Toronga Zoo, God knows what they have planned. No team building/bonding crap I hope, just point me to the bar and leave me the hell alone, LoL! And Then, on Friday I have my Xmas lunch with my Melbourne work mates, lawn bowls followed by a gourmet BBQ (Veggie Burgers on special order for me), now that one I am looking forward to! So a pretty big week coming up hey!

The new blog is coming on, it's just quite a bit more detailed, more like a web page with links to different sections, I probably won't have it ready for another week.

That's me for tonight, dinner is almost ready.

In a forum discussion on Christmas Carols I was reminded of one of my favourite "Christmas" Songs, not that conventional but I am not really into Christmas anyway, the gross orgy of commercialism makes me slightly ill. Anyway, the song in Fairytale in New York, a duet with Shane McGowan of The Pougues and Kristy MacColl

It was Christmas Eve babe
In the drunk tank
An old man said to me, won't see another one
And then he sang a song
The Rare Old Mountain Dew
I turned my face away
And dreamed about you

Got on a lucky one
Came in eighteen to one
I've got a feeling
This year's for me and you
So happy Christmas
I love you baby
I can see a better time
When all our dreams come true

They've got cars big as bars
They've got rivers of gold
But the wind goes right through you
It's no place for the old
When you first took my hand
On a cold Christmas Eve
You promised me
Broadway was waiting for me

You were handsome
You were pretty
Queen of New York City
When the band finished playing
They howled out for more
Sinatra was swinging,
All the drunks they were singing
We kissed on a corner
Then danced through the night

The boys of the NYPD choir Were singing "Galway Bay"
And the bells were ringing out
For Christmas day

You're a bum
You're a punk
You're an old slut on junk
Lying there almost dead on a drip in that bed
You scumbag, you maggot
You cheap lousy faggot
Happy Christmas your arse
I pray God it's our last

I could have been someone
Well so could anyone
You took my dreams from me
When I first found you
I kept them with me babe
I put them with my own
Can't make it all alone
I've built my dreams around you

Phew, hot!

RunningRiding
Hit the Warby Trail today for a 40km bike ride, in lieu of a long run. My plan was to go early, around 7am and I was up and ready well before then. Of course it's not just all about me is it! So the reality was we didn't get going until about 9:45. Just as we headed off a mate (Mark) ran by finishing his long run, can I say I was jealous, yep, I was jealous :-( but riding it was and I was off to make the most of it.

HOWEVER, it ended up hitting about 42 degrees in Melbourne today, which made for some very hot riding, thank god for my Camelback, 3 litres of Gatorade at the start, none by the end! I was motoring along really nicely, the heat has never really bothered me, but my other half being A) a boy and B) about 20 Kgs heavier was not doing as well. Normally he power's along really well and we push the pace taking turns leading but the heat was too much for him today so we erred on the side of caution and took it easy. Me, being a total clutz fell off my bike trying to get through one of the special gates they set up to stop motor bikes and stray cows, as a result I now have a pretty impressive bruise on my thigh from the handle bar.

New Blog, maybe
I may be switching blogs, Mac have a fantastic set up that has more features and is sooooo easy to use, no more mucking about with HTML for starters and to insert a pic you just drag and drop. The only thing that has put me off so far is you have to pay for the service. Being stinking hot outside I was happy to sit under the fan this afternoon so I signed up for the 60 day free trial and started building my web page, which includes a blog, this is why I am so late blogging here today. I'll still need to fine tune some of it then I'll publish it here and start posting to it in a couple of days. I'll give it a month or so and see how I feel about it. Though I will keep this blog as an archive and so I can still comment on other blogger.com blogs.

Almost forgot to mention the injury, Hmmm, what injury? Today I feel almost like my old self, I was able to walk around barefoot with NO discomfort at all, but not too much, don't want to tempt fate now. One annoying side affect that I haven't mentioned........incidental running! You know, to catch a green light or a train. I must have wasted hours over the last 3 weeks waiting for the lights to change, not to mention all the missed trains!

Deep Water Running

RunningPool Running
Finally got myself to the pool this morning, I got there nice and early figuring it would get pretty busy on a day like today. Got the water running belt on, cinched in nice and tight, jumped in the pool, completely forget that your body kinda changes shape under water and the belt promptly popped up right under my armpits. Flailed around, got out of the pool and tightened the belt, I had it as tight as it would go, would probably be no good for a tiny wee person. Back in the pool and off I went, it would be fair to say that drowning dogs swim with more grace than me. Anyway, took a few minutes but I finally found my rhythm and I managed to stick to it for 30 minutes. Once I got the hang of it I pretty much did intervals. Then I took the belt off and spent about 5 minutes "swimming", unfortunately breast stroke is about all I can manage. God knows how I managed to come first in a 50 metres freestyle in the school swimming carnival one year. I probably could have managed a few laps freestyle but I had my contacts in so was keeping the head above water.

The life guard seemed to be hanging around alot too, perhaps he thought I was likely to need rescuing at any moment, the way I was looking, I am sure the look of determination on my face was pretty funny. Still, not a totally horrific experience and I'll head back there. I think I'll get some goggles though and cool down with a couple of laps in the slow lane next time. And you know what, my legs are sore, so even though it didn't feel like I was doing much at the time I obviously was.

Fun with the kids
My best mate has recently bought a block of land so best mate, her 2 kids (3 1/2 and 2) another friend and I had a bit of a road trip today. First stop the block of land, in a lovely estate at the foot of the Dandenongs with the National Park as a backdrop, then off to Roweville to look at the house she is chosen half built in another estate, then over the Cranbourne to look at the display home, Phew. Kid duty was being shared, our other friend had the back seat for the out journey and I got it on the way home. I figured it would be after lunch and the kids would be asleep. Hmmmm, well, I was partly right, they did go to sleep but not before they both finished cleaning their faces with wet ones and then shoved them in my face and said "look Aunty Em, SNOT!!!". Aunty Em's reaction, Aghhhhhhhhhhhhh, get those things away from me now, in the meantime their mum is nearly wetting herself laughing!

Here are the wee little snot faces, sorry, darlings, playing at the new block, it was so bright I didn't realise I hadn't turned the camera lens on my phone around properly, that is why there is a shadow at the top.