My most amazing day

Today was the day that my team partner and I competed in our first triathlon. This was a special one just for women and proceeds go to breast cancer research.
the day started very early at 5am... yes you read correctly I was up at 5am and by the time I got the girls up, my support team arrived and we met up with my partner in crime.

Now no event is possible without coffee and this guy was making a killing!!

We registered and received a really nice singlet top, sun visor and swim cap. You can see here my timing chip that I had to wear on my left ankle (note the pink toenails and fingernails!!)

I have big black numbers on my right calf and right arm... in permanant pen!
The order of a triathlon for those who don't know, is swim, cycle and run. Our distances were 200m swim/6km ride/2km run. Quite doable we thought, this was the medium course. My partner and I have been training for months and felt really confident that we would do well and have little or no problem with the distances....

We were partly right... Swim was pretty good, I did get stuck behind a couple of ladies on the last pool can (floating thing to swim around!) so lost a few seconds and also at the steps waiting to get out... Then on the bikes and away I went.. need to work on those transitions! the ride itself was good, but I was puffing a bit and could see the running track.. it seemed MUCH longer than 2km.

My family and friends had placed themselves along the course at intervals which was great as I was cheered on not once but up to 4 times! They really kept me going.. and the thought of my team mate who had a big head start lol.

When I got back to transition I couldn't find my position on the rack for my bike and lost valuable time (lesson to learn!) this kinda threw me off my timing and I struggled to keep going. We had to do 2 laps of the running track, I felt that I ran twice as far as I was supposed to! The weirdest thing is that running is usually my weakest leg and I beat my partner in this and she beat me on the bike which I usually blitz her on... I think I better at hills than her lol.

At the end of the event we received a lovely medal and a huge sense of achievement.
I placed 43rd overall (out of 129) and 8Th in my age group out of 15. I have to tell you though that I placed 3rd in the run leg!!6Th in swimming and 9Th in cycle. My team mate really did well and came 22ND overall and 4Th in the age group. she came 4Th in swim, 3rd in cycle and 7Th in run.
We can now call ourselves triathletes and will be doing this again!

cold, dark and wet

At 5.30am think of me..... outside in the dark, and the cold and the wet!

Tuesday morning was a classic! We got into 3 teams and off we went to do battle. We all had sheets with exercises to do and the aim of course was to finish first. I had my team coffee with me and then there was the ring ins lol.

We had to run around the oval and one of the boys wasn't as fit as some of us, so we dragged him around, yelling encouragement to him all the way... the other teams and the instructors thought it was hilarious and great to have such team spirit. I think the people that live in the houses behind the gym might have been cursing us and wondering who in the hell was up at 6 in the morning yelling at the top of their voices.

We got our man around the oval and he did all the extra exercises then he found out we had to go around the oval again! He didn't let himself or the team down and made it around again. In fact the team did so well that we won the overall challenge against the other teams that had some of the more fitter men!!

So tomorrow we have John. He is no push over, actually he is bloody hard and if you stuff up or try to skip out or drop to the ground, the whole group will have to do at least 50 push ups... every time. *groan* But I don't mind being pushed, I will rise to the challenge as I don't like to be beaten.

To reward myself for my hard work I am taking the rest of the morning off and going shopping for fabric.

challenges and sewing machines

Today was the first proper day of our challenge. We started inside the gym and did circuits in teams of 3. I had my best buddies Georgina and Seb to keep me on target, we flipped tyres down the length of the gym and picked them up and ran back only to do it again. then lots of sit ups and push ups in between all the sets. running up and down ladders on the floor, step ups onto the stage, side steps with 5 kilo weights, more push ups and running through tyres.

Then it started to get light...... we ran outside. Now, I'm not a runner and it usually hurts my feet and shins but I managed to run the entire course without stopping and I wasn't at the end of the pack! Last year I found another girl who jogged at the same pace that I did and she is doing the challenge again, so we found ourselves pacing each other and Georgina also jogs at the same pace.

We finally could see the gym again and Seb who had run ahead as he is an awesome runner, came running back towards us, yelling encouragement to keep going. I thought he was going to run past us and keep the back of the pack going, but he turned and started to yell at me to run hard, so I did! wow. Didn't know I had it in me. The thing that really impressed me was that by the time I walked back in to the gym I had caught my breath and didn't feel like throwing up!

Being the sucker for punishment and I'm on some sort of fitness mission, My partners in crime and I returned to the gym at 8.45am for another knockout class with our instructor from hell. He worked us even harder than he had at 6am and left us feeling like large jellies.

I was really fatigued earlier this afternoon but had a 15 min power nap while the froglet and her friend practised their dancing in the kitchen.

While we were on retreat Kate from Kate's sewing centre in Bundoora http://www.katessewingcentre.com.au/ came and showed us a new machine on the market.


This amazing machine does sashiko, yes that's right it does sashiko beautifully.

It was amazing to watch how this machine worked, it doesn't have a top stitch, it only has a bobbin and a little arm comes up and hooks the thread back down. Very nifty.

So if you are in the market for a machine to do your sashiko or indeed it also looks very much like hand quilting then pop in to see Kate and have a look at her machines, she has lots of other machines for sale and some fabrics too.