Sunday, May 25, 2008

Happy 1st Birthday Hugo!
So, it's one year on and my little nephew is celebrating his 1st birthday today. Jase and I just got to say happy birthday over Skype, we sang to him and watched him open the presents we sent. He had a lovely grin when he heard my voice, it means so much to see that, just shows that he's not forgotten me! I just wish I could get my webcam working so he can see me too. Anyway, he liked the birthday card a lot more than his presents as it had a big bear on the front! Chris was telling me that Hugo was pretty sick last night with a high temperature, luckily he's feeling much better today, but still a bit sniffly. He was still on top form though, little monkey!

Monday, May 19, 2008

I did it!!
I ran the half marathon yesterday, absolutely estatic!! As you know I was worried about my ankles, but they actually held out for the whole run, unfortunately in the end it was my knee that went. I got to about 16km and that was it, but I managed to run through the pain and I got to the water stand and gulped down a painkiller, there was nothing going to stop me from completing this run! It must have been adrenaline that got me through the last 5kms, and it was such a buzz, I was very emotional when I ran through the finish line, this was one goal I didn't think I had it in me to ever achieve. My time was 2hr 5mins, which was so much better than I'd ever expected, especially after all my injuries! Jason did really well too, his time was 1hr 47mins. It's funny, I really hate the feeling before any runs as I get really nervous, but while I'm doing it, I'm really loving it, it's such a good feeling running the streets of Sydney with thousands of other people and the weather was perfect, although a bit chilly to begin with. On one of the streets, there was a nightclub blaring out the music at about 8am, a few of the clubbers were standing outside cheering us on. Also, you get the young kids who stand by the sides of the road holding out their hands so you run by and high 5 them...really cool!
It wasn't really until I stopped running that I realised how much pain I was in from my knee. I've been pretty much hobbling ever since, and it's such an effort to stand up or sit down, I sound (and feel) like an old lady, I've never ached so much in my life. I went back to the physio this morning and she taped my knee up and gave me some exercises to do, apparently my knee cap is moving around too much...yuk...it's a real sick making feeling, not nice. I think I'm going to work from home tomorrow, it's such hard work to get to work and limp around all day.
Yesterday afternoon we went to the after party for the charity we ran for. I don't think I really said much about our fund raising before....I found the leaflet at my gym, it was the story of a lady and her husband who in 2005, gave birth prematurely to triplet boys. Unfortunately, they died after 1 hour, 10 days and 2 months respectively. Of course Sophie and her husband were devastated. One of the things that helped them with their loss was to start training for half marathons, so this was how their fund raising started.
Last year's half marathon they raised $80,000 for the Royal Womens hospital to help buy new humidicribs for the premature babies, this year with 130 runners raising funds, we're hoping to beat that amount. They really are such an amazing couple, to go through all that and then selflessy go to all this effort to help the hospital and other parents and their tiny babies, and it's so lovely that Sophie is pregnant again, and is due in only 5 weeks and everything is going really well. The after party was quite emotional as there was a few speeches and presentations, I feel so privileged to have helped them in their special cause, Jason and I raised almost $1,200 which is so much more that I'd ever expected, we have lots of generous friends and colleagues. Doing the run was great as Sophie and Ash had running singlets made up with the Henry, Jasper and Evan fund and the hospital name, they even had the tiny lifesize little handprints of Sophie and Ash's triplets on the back, Sophie's motivational message to us was that if we found the run really hard, to just think about her little boys' hands pushing us towards and over the finish line (it makes me teary just thinking about it) well, if that doesn't help you get over the finish line, then nothing will! It was great seeing all the runners throughout the run that were wearing the same t-shirts. Another bonus was, we met a lot of lovely people over the last couple of months, I hope to do it again next year if my body ever recovers!!

Thursday, May 15, 2008

I'm getting very, very nervous now about the big run on Sunday. My ankles are still not great, I went for another short run last night and they are still sore, it was such an effort to do 5km, let alone doing 21km!! bit worried really. I went to the physio today and she told me that after the run I should do no more running for 6 weeks...what am I going to do, I've been running now almost every other day for the last year or so, I'm really going to find it hard not to do it, but of course I need to repair my legs, so whatever it takes. I'm going to take some strong painkillers before the run to see if they will help. It's really important to me that I complete this run and I'll do almost anything to make sure I do....watch this space!
Things are changing here at work, we're 'merging' with the British company, BUPA. The vote went ahead this week, and it was pretty much a landslide in favour. Unfortunately for me, it means that it's proving to be a real struggle getting my permanent contract, I really hope I'll get it sorted out by the end of June.
Last weekend I got to catch up with my great aunty Betty who was over from New Zealand visiting her son and family (Grant and Sue). We had a nice evening, playing cards and catching up. We don't see that much of each other these days, I guess we all just lead busy lives.
We had our first flat inspection today. She was very impressed with our clean and tidy flat (thanks to me being so anal!). I envisage a rent rise coming up now though, the renting situation is really bad here at the moment, there is just not enough property around, plus the interest rates are so high, it's making landlords put up the rent by miles. I guess we'll hear something soon, bummer!
Can't really think of anything else to update, so I'll sign off now.

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

I finally had my hair chopped at the weekend! It's been coming for a long time, but obviously I wanted to wait until after our wedding. I felt pretty sick when she started cutting, but it actually looks ok, I had some more highlights too. I'm just getting used to styling it now, when I first washed it, it felt so healthy and it was easy to get a brush through it for a change. I think I had about 4 or 5 inches cut off!
I just paid a visit to the physio today. I've been suffering with pains in my ankles when I'm running and it's got really bad over the last week. There's been lots of coming and going with new shoes etc, long story, but it finally got so bad I needed to do something about it. Basically the way I've been running has been putting pressure on my bones and muscles and one of the bones is out of place, I also have fluid on my lower legs, amongst other things! She taped my feet up, gave me a really painful massage, and told me not to run until I see her again on Friday, so I'm just hoping that all is ok on Friday, otherwise I'll be buggered for the run which is only in 10 days! yikes! Good news is, Jason and I have raised $680 (and still counting) for our charity, I'm very pleased, but I have a lot to recover for now!
Oh and more bad news, last week I phoned up to find out where our sofa was (it's 3 weeks late) turns out the company are going into liquidation and our sofa is still in China! I've tried to phone up the liquidators, but noone is returning my calls, we just want to know what's going on. I hope we don't lose our deposit...I'm gutted!