Life in Dot Point

• We’re halfway through the school holidays. I’ve been enjoying the slower mornings and relaxed afternoons where Ed can sleep as long as he wants without being dragged out of bed to pick up Lil. We’ve been to the movies, the circus, and had playdates at the beach and park.
• I finished the couch to 5k program on the weekend! Now to work on getting a bit faster.
• Trip prep and associated financial shufflings have been taking up a lot of time in the evenings. 77 days until departure day.
• We’ve been enjoying series 2 of Call The Midwife.
• Craft Collective is growing and we’re getting more new people every time we meet. It’s fun!
• I’m thinking of a crochet project inspired by this but more multi-coloured. I bought wool and all (Spotlight had a sale). The little squares seem like a good travel project but fitting the wool in the bags might be wishful thinking. We’ll see.
• I’ve also been kind of making up a sewing pattern for a top. It’s half-made but it remains to be seen if it’s a wearable success or not.
• I ended up deferring uni this semester. I just couldn’t focus with all the trip stuff and losing so much time a week to school pick-ups.
• Life is pretty sweet at the moment!

Running Progress Report

Sunday was the 5km race that I signed up for almost seven weeks ago after seeing (and feeling!) how unfit I was when I ran Parkrun for the first time (with no training beforehand.) Between then and now I have been working through the Couch to 5k training program using the Ease Into 5k iphone app. I have two more runs left on the program and then it just says go off and run! Run for 30mins! Just running! Amazing. And I can now do it.

On Sunday I just ran. I ran the 5km race with no walking and did it in a time of 32:46. Almost 10 minutes faster than that first Parkrun seven weeks ago. I came 187th out of about 400 entrants. I’m not stopping now though. I’m going to keep going with an aim of getting to 30mins for 5km.

Here’s my progress over the last seven weeks. You never know, it might inspire someone out there.

16/2 – 5km – 42:39 (Parkrun timed race)
20/2 – 4.15km – 35:59 (week 2/run 1 C25k)
22/2 – 4.40km – 38:16 (week 2/run 2 C25k)
24/2 – 4.53km – 35:59 (week 2/run 3 C25k)
26/2 – 3.01km – 24:59 (week 3/run 1 C25k)
28/2 – 2.95km – 24:59 (week 3/run 2 C25k)
03/3 – 3.06km – 24:59 (week 3/run 3 C25k)
05/3 – 3.56km – 28:59 (week 4/run 1 C25k)
08/3 – 3.51km – 28:59 (week 4/run 2 C25k)
11/3 – 3.52km – 28:59 (week 4/run 3 C25k)
13/3 – 4.15km – 33:59 (week 5/run 1 C25k)
16/3 – 5km – 35:25 (Parkrun)
18/3 – 3.40km – 27:59 (week 5/run 2 C25k)
20/3 – 4.00km – 32:59 (week 5/run 3 C25k)
22/3 – 3.50km – 28:59 (week 6/run 1 C25k)
24/3 – 4.09km – 32:59 (week 6/run 2 C25k)
26/3 – 3.76km – 29:59 (week 6/run 3 C25k)
28/3 – 4.67km – 37:59 (week 7/run 1 C25k)
30/3 – 5km – 33:05 (Parkrun)
02/4 – 4.52km – 35:59 (week 7/run 2 C25k)
05/4 – 4.65km – 36:59 (week 7/run 3 C25k)
07/4 – 5km – 32:46 (Fort5 race)
09/4 – 4.87km – 37:59 (week 8/run 1 C25k)

 

 

Easter Weekend So Far

Easter has been quite pleasant so far. The weather is gorgeous, sunny but not as humid as it has been all week. Yesterday we went to the beach for a coffee and a play. We dropped Dave off on the way and he ran 8km around the foreshore to meet us there.

The afternoon was spent lazing around, and while Lil was next door playing, Dave, Ed and I had afternoon tea on the verandah and then got stuck into some garden pruning.

The garden is going strong and we’re on to our third round of capsicums from this little plant in a pot. Chillies galore too.

This morning I did Parkrun again. It’s my third time now and I did it in 33:05 which is 2:20 faster than two weeks ago and almost ten minutes faster than my first time six weeks ago. My big 5k race is next weekend so I’m hoping to scrape a little more off that time. Dave snuck this photo of me before the run this morning. Lucky there is no after photo. Isn’t the course beautiful?

We’re about to frock up and head to a birthday party for a friend of Lil’s. The rest of the weekend holds much chocolate and on Monday a day of sewing for me with the Tuesday night craft group girls.

Happy Easter all!

Walk In Her Shoes Progress

I’m now over half way through the week and half way through day five of my Walk In Her Shoes Challenge. Thank you very much to all who have sponsored me. I’ve gone over my target now which is great and it’s very inspiring whenever a new donation comes through!

Yesterday was the hardest day so far. It got to 6pm and I’d still only done 4000 and something steps. I don’t know how because I felt like I was going all day with barely a break, it’s just the things I was doing (cafe, playgroup, a park playdate etc) didn’t involve a whole lot of stepping. Too busy talking!

So when Dave got home I went off to a shopping centre to get up to 10,000 while he put the kids to bed. It was late night shopping and dark outside so this seemed a good idea but man those steps took forever. And I was hungry and there was all this good smelling food and people eating every time I lapped by the food court. I did spend a lot of time being grateful that I was doing these steps in air conditioned comfort, in safety, and had money to make a few purchases along the way. After quite a few laps around and up and and down escalators I was well and truly over the shopping centre and at 9,500 I headed back to the car and finished the rest when I got home.

On the days that I run in the morning (every second) it’s much easier. Today I’m already at 6631 and there’s still the afternoon school pick-up walk to go which should bring me close. Two more days!

You can sponsor me here.

Getting fitter and faster

Four weeks ago I did my first Parkrun and was so slow, and felt so terrible during and afterwards, that it spurred me into action. I signed up for a 5k race and started the couch to 5k program again (I’m up to week 5 since I skipped week 1).

Today I did my second Parkrun and beat my previous time by over seven minutes! Or, 434 seconds, as the email told me. I’m very proud of that.

The 5k race is in three weeks time and I’m aiming to do it with no walking.

On Monday I start the Walk in Her Shoes Challenge. I’ll be walking (with a bit of running too) 10,000 steps a day for a week. I don’t quite know how I’m going to do that while still keeping up with uni work and other things, but then that’s kind of the point. Women in many places can’t get an education because they spend all their time walking for clean water, food, firewood. I can suck it up for a week. I’m still $20 off my fundraising target so if you’d like to help me along click here. Big thanks to those who have already contributed.