Monday, July 16, 2012

We RAN! Melbourne!

Well we did it! What a fantastic morning. Besides some pre-run nerves and an anxious wait in the line for the toilet we got there! To the start line that is! And check us out.... don't we all look so dapper in our matching tops!
L-R Sooz, Nicolle, Sarah, Me!
It was such a glorious day in Melbourne. The sun was out and we were all sooo pumped that the day had finally arrived. There were people everywhere, live music on every turn and crazy characters dressed up to the nines! It was awesome. I felt great running and had absolutely no problem with my kankle which was a relief. We all ran great times each one of us managing a PB. I got my text last night that confirmed I had smashed my goal of completing the 10km in under 60mins. 

It was such an enjoyable run made great by an atmosphere that I had never experienced before. This was my biggest fun run yet. The last two kilometres were pretty tough but in the last stretch, I'd say the last km, the song from this you tube clip came on (see below). I had only just discovered this on Saturday night whilst searching for some new music for the run. It reminds me of my boyfriend and I. It's pretty much exact! He thinks so too - he keeps making reference to the metallic taste in his mouth! ha! So when this song came on I felt pretty inspired, especially as he was there at the home stretch to cheer me on... awwww barf! that's enough- promise! But it's pretty cute!

After the race we were given a showbag and a medal! YAY!!!! Evidence to one day show the grand-kids that I actually ran!! Susie and I were very lucky to be invited to use Runners World Magazines VIP tent (because we are subscribers- love the perks!) which meant we got some yummy sambo's and an awesome rub down/massage AND another show bag weeee! It was so good! 

We ran this 10km not only for self achievement but for all the Animals out there that need homes or special care. I managed to raise $305 for the Lort Smith Animal Hospital and Sooz the bloody ledge raised about $600 which is awesome. We both love animals and so it feels pretty good to be able to do something like this for all the poor pooches and cats out there.
We celebrated with an yummy meal and loads of wine at the Coburg Post Office Hotel. There was no calorie counting allowed. But like I said, I'm back on track today. Feeling the best that I have in a long time, inspired by my own efforts and the awesome support of my friends! Woo friggin HOO!!! Life is great. I'll be back mid-week after I weigh-in!

Friday, July 13, 2012

Week 6: How honest?????

Time to be totally and brutally honest. As an avid user of Twitter (follow me @emaja) I saw this from Miche on Wednesday....


Oh shit! She's watching me! Yep, smart cookie our Miche. What a co-inkydink! Right smackbang on lunch-time. What do I do? I'm not replying, no way. Even though I was eating soup. Nice healthy pumpkin soup. Homemade by yours truly. I could tell her that.... but I couldn't tell her about the massive seedy BD roll layered in butter on the plate next to it.... could I? But she'd banish me foe shizz.... BUSTED!!!! 

But there's more. It's not always sunny in Durbs land and although I try my hardest to be uplifting and positive, sometimes things just suck and I'm hating big time on the world... So I guess it's time to be completely straight with you all. 
It begins with this:

              It's been two weeks since my last weigh in.

Gaaassssspppp! SAC-RILL-EGE! I know! Shit! But the scales haven't moved. Again! And for some crazy stupid reason, I cannot bring myself to type this into my stats page. Boy do I feel like a figgin loser. What the heck happened to me? Soz guys - I mean I am supposed to be the 'inspirational blogger', the friend with the success story. I have been people's motivation... and now, well now I'm a sorry loser that can't stick to her word...or her goals!

I flipped out guys. I totally flipped out. BUT WAIT -  before I go on, I don't want anyone to feel sorry for me. I don't want to hear an excuse offering. Do NOT be my enabler. I am very good at seeing beyond this and so back to my flip out.....

I didn't want to be told what I had to eat. I didn't want to feel like I 'had' to fit that gym session in, I didn't want to know that the chocolate bar that was entering my mouth was approx. 248 calories. I just didn't want to do anything. I wanted to deny and rebel. EF. EM. EL! I wanted to go out for dinner with my boyfriend - on a whim like we used to - like when we didn't plan our meals each week and we'd enjoy really nice wine and be totally relaxed and not think about all those calories or about how much exercise I'd have to do to burn it off. I wanted to talk about something other than my running and how many kilometres I'd have to do this week to beat last week's effort and OH EM GEE!!! Shut up! Shut Up! 
       SHHHUUUTTT UPPPP!!!!! 

Total. Flipout.

So I didn't. I didn't do my 12WBT shop this week. I didn't do my big 'Sunday Adventure Run'. I didn't weigh in. And you know what. The world didn't come to an end. But you know what else? It wasn't any awesomer either. I got totally drunk on Saturday night - it was fun, but then I felt totes crappola on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. And now, well now, I want back in. Because, all of those things that I didn't want last week, I didn't really not want them. Make sense???? Perhaps it was just my inner 16yo coming back to haunt myself for all the damage I did to my parents back in the day. Because now I like exercise. I remember now that I don't like feeling like crap. Duh, go figure hey. But I don't, really don't, so what the hell was I whinging about? This time I am back on the horse. This time- for reals. 

And then this happened. 

No, this is not a photo of my totally awesome new shoes... (well it is, but there's also another purpose to this shot). It's a photo of my Big Fat Kankle (BFK). Seriously? Like WTF? 500m into my 'return to regime' run and I roll my ankle. Not on anything, just decided to roll out. Great. God got me. Out to teach me a lesson.  I cry. Five days before Run Melbourne. Five days before the day that I have been preparing for over the last 3 months. ARE YOU FROM SERIA????? I don't deserve this do I????
So since this incident all I have really wanted to do is go for a run. I've seen other runners this week and I can't help but want to be out there with them, doing some last chance training before Sunday.
I said to my mum the other day... "this must be what Olympians feel like" and she was like "Emma, they're totally different" and I was like "No! It's exactly the same!" SO I am going to run on Sunday, I've got my little survival pack to get me through....

So there we go guys. It's really hard for me too, keeping on track really does require hard work and dedication. I just think that my body and mind have been through so much lately. I'm not going to beat myself up about it. I'm going to just friggin do it! Best of luck to everyone running on Sunday. See you there!!

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

WEEK 5: Cleanse and Re-group

I have the morning off! Which is great news for everyone really. I never thought I'd get around to writing a blog entry this week, I am just so flat out!....I have had a whole years worth of invoicing to do over the weekend and I only just finished last night - I am a women of many talents - accountancy is not one of them (see exhibit A: my credit card).

Anywho, so back to why this is great. It means that I can share with you a delishhhh breakfast recipe that I have been trialling all week -  well, by all week I mean since the girls and I went out for breakfast on Sunday. Gone are the days of ordering the BIG DADDY B'fast, the pancakes with maple syrup and ice-cream or the traditional fry up served with a bloody mary, followed by a beer - and it all begins again..... It's now all about finding the right fuel after a kick-ass workout. My o my how life has changed. Now I choose Porridge! (Man I sound like a cheeseball). It's sooo damn hard to get the words out of my mouth when all I really want to order is a crunchy pile of bacon on a chunky piece of sourdough. But I do, and I pray to god the chef doesn't disappoint me. I could possibly cry.  But this porridge was amaze and the cause of some serious food envy. Which increased it's value to me. And so because it was so good, I wanted to share it with you - my own similar version. I didn't have any pears in the fridge so I have replaced them with some mixed berries and it's still Yummo! Looks pretty good hey!

Durbs' Porridge Treat

RECIPE: APPROX 199kcal

20g rolled oats 

1/2 cup Water

1/4 cup frozen mixed berries 

1 Medjool date (roughly chopped) 

6 almonds (chopped & roasted in oven for 8mins) 

1/2 tsp honey

2tsp LSA Mix - **see note 

Place oats and water in a saucepan on stove top. Stir regularly until mixture starts to bubble and then reduce the heat. If the oats seem too thick then add more water. After 5 mins add the mixed berries and date. Do not over stir but stir enough so that the oats don't stick to the pan. Test the consistency of the oats. If they are soft enough and to your liking then remove them from heat and spoon into serving bowl. Add a sprinkle of LSA mix over the top and add the almonds. Drizzle with the small amount of honey and WOLLAH! EAT! yummmm.

**LSA is a ground mix of Linseed Sunflower Seeds and Almonds. It is great on cereals and is said to be beneficial for the liver. I like it because I love nuts! But he calories are hard to control. So having LSA means I won't sit there and eat the whole bag. You can get it in the health food section of supermarkets.


Ok, now moving as far off the topic of food as you can possibly imagine, I need to tell you something. So if you are eating. STOP. I'm trying to be polite here. So do what I say. Ok, we clear? Alright.... here goes.
On Monday I had a full body cleanse. In the morning I cleansed my mind by attending my final hypnotherapy session. Still going strong - no fags for 16 DAYS and I'm feeling pretty confident.
Then I shot off to have an internal cleanse ... more to the point... a bum cleanse. Yep. That's right, you heard it. I HAD TO! You see, since giving up the dirty fags I've told you that I've had a bit of trouble going to the toilet, and well,  Sarah suggested I go get Colonic Hydration (or irrigation- but hydration sounds so much nicer). I'm not going to go into any details but I will admit that it was very relieving... as you would imagine. I had to detox a couple of days beforehand to make the experience more pleasant. That meant no complex carbs, no red meat and no dairy. WOW, I thought Miche had me thinking about everything I put in my mouth, BUT THIS, this was H.A.R.D. So naturally I turned to GOOGLE to do a little research about raw foods and after stumbling across a few websites I must say, some of the stuff doesn't look to bad. My curiosity has grown and I think I will continue to experiment with some recipes. Like check out this one. I found it on this great website called "The Healthy Chef" -  this looks sooo yummy I can't wait to try it. It's called the Detox Energy Salad. I also want to try making some fresh 'green' juices too. My body is gonna love me by the end of the year!

The Healthy Chef (www.thehealthychef.com)

The Naturopath suggested that I continue to detox for the next few days because my body will still be feeling drained. Did I listen? No. I succumbed to the cravings for bread and now I am regretting it. Feeling like crappppp! So because I have the time I will re-group today. Do some reading and catch up on the 12WBT videos.  I find they tend to perk me up when I'm in need.

And finally I had a muscle and skin cleanse at Bikram. Total sweat box! Sarah came down too. I recently read somewhere, probs Runners World or Womens Health, that yoga can help heaps with running.... it's helping me lots with my recovery.

Well I hope you have all had a great week. I cannot believe that we are in week 5 already. Only 7 weeks to go! WOW I need to pull my finger out if I want to lose these kilo's.
I'll leave you with my positives and negatives for the week and of course my Power Song choice for what has been a cold, rainy and miserable few days in Melbs.

High fives to: yummy porridge, green foods, clear passages. Friends that are inspired and admired, breaking records and making milestones. Achieving goals and making new ones.
Kiss my butt to: enablers and being unhappy,  paperwork and rain. Negative Nelly's and a brain that won't train.

Power Song! So check it. How's this for a flashback- and my how appropriate it is! I figured it was time I broke away from the "yo yo yo" music as to appeal to a wider audience ;).
I remember going crazy to this song at Meredith Music Festival about 4 years ago. Belting out the chorus - AND it works whilst running too!!!! I hope you like it. I'm amazed how pumped it made me feel!  hope you likey