Still Struggling

I have officially entered panic mode.  Between my Achilles injury and now this blasted cold that is making breathing difficult, I am so concerned that I will not be able to do our Heyson hike which is in only 3 weeks.  In fact, I am almost positive it will be too hard.  :o(

I am so disappointed.  Ross and I are going to cram training in, but at the moment it is just too hard to breathe.  We are preparing for the fact that we may not be doing this until next season (the trail re-opens in May).  I am hoping and praying all will be well, but it is too risky to do it when under-prepared as we will have no phone contact while we are out there.  Everyone please cross your fingers that I wake up tomorrow completely healed and can do this hike.

Nothing else really going on here.  I have a meeting tomorrow of a new Writers group that I am looking forward to, although I have not done any writing for the last month or so.  Life, as usual, gets in the way...

I probably won't get online much over the weekend, so have a great weekend and i will catch you all next week.

xox

After the Weekend

I had a good weekend.  I did not turn the computer on once.  It has been ages since I have done that and it was actually a really good feeling when I got to last night and realised that without even thinking about it, I had done it.

Friday night Ross & I were meant to go for a hike.  But the torrential rain we have been having, and were still having Friday night, put an end to those plans.  Instead we just spent a lovely evening in.  I was up until 2am reading.  I kept thinking - at the end of this chapter I'll turn out the light - but then I would get sucked in and before I knew it I was in the middle of the next chapter.  So I ended up finishing it. :o)

Saturday I spent at my Mum's.  I needed to use her big table to pin the knitted blanket to the backing fabric.  Since I was there I also ended up using her sewing machine to sew the binding.  Now all I need to do is tie the top to the bottom, which I am doing with cute little buttons.  I am about 1/5th of the way through that.  Hopefully I'll be finished the blanket within the next week or so.  Finally! LOL

Sunday started off beautifully.  Weather wise.  I went out to check on the veggie garden.  The snow peas and dwarf peas at about 2 inches high.  They look sensational.  The lettuces were coming up but one of the cats used it as a litter tray so they are pretty much gone.  I need to get a wire frame to put over to top of the pot before I put more in.  The rest are starting to sprout we think.  We have lost a lot of top soil due to the heavy rains we have had for the last couple of weeks, so I will probably have to put the rest in again.

Around 11.30 the rain kicked in and was settled for the whole day.  We went to the Nursing Home to visit Grandad.  It was hard.  He had no idea we were there.  He has shrunk and has aged about 20 years.  I don't think he has much time left.

Yesterday was especially hard for Ross.  It was his first Fathers Day without his Dad.  And then seeing his Grandad getting so frail before our eyes made it even harder.  But he tried to keep his spirits up.

This morning the last book I ordered from the Book Depository arrived.

Fast Food Nation.  It was one of the one recommended from Food Inc.  I am looking forward to reading it and will let you know what I think when I'm done.

xox

Another Night Hike

Ross and I went up to Shep again last night.  This time we decided to do our usual track in reverse.  That way as we came down the last big hill we would have the twinkling lights of Adelaide in front of us instead of to our backs.  It was a beautiful night.  We ended up just in t-shirts.  The steep down we usually walk became a steep up.  And I mean steep!  I had no idea it was such a steep hill.  LOL  It is amazing how different your perception is depending on if you are going up or down.

It normally takes us an hour and a half or so to do our track.  On Sunday, because we kept stopping for photos and to look at the birds, it took nearly 2 hours.  Last night we did it in 1 hour 10 minutes.  I have no idea how or why.  It didn't feel as though we were going faster.  And believe me, I had to stop several times going up.  But it took a lot less time.

I have been loading my back pack with books and things to start creating weight when we hike, but soon I will have to start doing the hikes with my full kit on so I get used to it.  I am a bit wary about how the weight will go, but I need to do it.

My ankle held up really well.  It was twinge-ing at the end, so I iced it when we got home and it feels good now.  I have decided not to even attempt to run until after the hike.  I am not risking an injury.  Once we get back I will start running again.

xox

Busy Weekend

I had a great and busy weekend.  It started Friday night with dinner at Mum's.  Well, the real reason I went was to raid her fabric stash, but dinner was an added bonus!  :o)  I grabbed a whole heap of fabric ready to start my hexagon quilt.  I have been planning this quilt for a couple of years, so it is going to be great to actually get started.  We had a great night catching up.

Saturday morning I got stuck into finishing the last knitted square for the the blanket.  I knitted while watching Season 1 of Charmed on DVD.  A great morning.

Around lunch time Ross & I headed out for our hike.  It was a stunning day.  No rain for the first time in a week, and we even saw the sun!  My foot hurt a little going up the hill, although I found going backward helped with that.  Besides, going backwards I got to watch this amazing view unfold before my eyes.

The stitching together of the panorama isn't great (it gets bigger if you click on it), but you can get an idea of how high we climbed and what we could see.

This is Ross right at the top.  Those teeny tiny building in the background sticking up is the city of Adelaide.

There were birds galore out in force and it was just stunning.

Going back down made my foot hurt a tiny bit, but it wasn't too bad.  We got to the point where Ross likes to turn off, however we couldn't get across.

At least, I wasn't prepared to since I don't have waterproof army boots!  (For some reason Blogger won't let me put that photo in the right way up, sorry about the side view...)

We made it round in a couple of hours and had a great time.  I was thinking of going again, but my ankle was a bit twinge-y so I decided to stop there.  I got home and put my foot on an ice pack for a couple of hours while I finished knitting.  The ice pack seemed to really help, and it is feeling good now.

I got the last square done and laid out the blanket how I am going to put it together.  I meant to take a pic of it all laid out, but I forgot.  Sorry about that.

Sunday morning I went to the local quilt shop with Di to get the backing for the blanket.  I got a nice deep red with a black curly line pattern on it.  It will look sensational.  I spent the rest of the day alternating between sewing the blanket together and baking cookies.  I really enjoyed the whole day.

Tonight Ross & I are heading back up to Shep to do another walk.  We leave in 7 weeks, so I need to walk as much as possible in that time.  Either hiking or just walking in general.

xox

Feeling Crafty

I haven't worked on any of my craft projects for ages, and I am currently feeling the crafty bug.  First things first, I need to finish the knitted blankets.  I laid them out and realised the size I was going for is just going to be too small.  So I have a couple of choices here.  I can knit for another year to get enough squares to make them big enough, or I can combine what I have and make one good sized blanket.

One blanket won.  That was the original plan but Ross wanted his own.  I have now convinced him that we can share one good sized blanket and snuggle under it together.  So I counted up my squares and I am 2 squares short.  Well, I was.  I finished another one last night.  So now I only need to do one more square and I can put it together.  YAY!

The other reason I want to finish it (other than I am sick of knitting squares) is that I have not done any quilting for ages.  I have been planning my first hand quilt for a few years (I usually work by machine) and have decided it it time to start.  All my fabric is at Mums so I am heading over there tonight to start picking colours.  I am doing a hexagon quilt and I want it to look like a field of flowers.  This project will probably take me a couple of years (especially the speed I work and how often I get distracted) but I don't mind.  I am looking forward to getting started on it.

I walked again this morning.  And I am feeling better for it.  Tomorrow Ross & I are going hiking.  Just to Shepherds Hill, but it will be good.  The plan is to do 2 loops which should take us a few hours.  It's hard to judge distance, but at a guess I would say 6-7 kms.  I am looking forward to it, and the hills will be a real test for my foot.

I hope everyone has a magnificent weekend.

xox

I Wanna Run...

OMG - I actually want to run!  This just came up over me.  My foot is not ready yet though.  I caught the tram to work today so I have walked 2 kms this morning and I will walk that again tonight.  The foot is okay, as in it is not hurting but I can 'feel' it if that makes sense.  My legs are greatly improved from yesterdays garden soreness, and this mornings walk was great.  I haven't done that in weeks and gee I can feel the difference.

But I want to run again.  I need to let this heal though.  Our hike is in 2 months (a bit less actually) and this injury has seriously gotten in the way of training.  I need to walk as much as possible in the next couple of weeks so I can hit some hill training in the lead up.  Otherwise we won't be going until next year.  :o(

So the goal for the next 7 days is to walk every day.  Even if it is just 2 kms in the morning and 2 at night.  I have to walk.  Butt kicking is required if i don't do it.  :o)

xox

No Running Group

I skipped Running Group last night.  David wasn't going to be there, I was tired, I was still head-achey from Wednesday (had the day off work, was feeling sick), and I had a bubbly tummy that I felt sure was going to turn into 'toilet runs' (which it did).

So I decided to drive to Ross's work and surprise him for dinner.  He was stunned to see me walk through the door, and very happy.  I got to meet some more of his work mates and we headed off to have dinner together.  I miss him a lot now that he works Thursday nights and weekends, so it was really nice to spend that half hour with him.

I have a busy day at work today.  I have next Monday & Tuesday off so I have to get a lot of next weeks stuff done today.  Thankfully I got all of Wednesdays stuff caught up yesterday (we are slow at the moment so it isn't too hard to catch up).  I don't have any plans for my days off.  Ross is working Saturday, Sunday and Monday, but we will try and do something on Tuesday.  I'll go for a couple of runs, some rides, I need to go to the library, plus I have Book Club on Sunday.

I am really looking forward to Book Club, mainly because I did not like the book we read at all (Lunch in Paris by Elizabeth Bard), so it should create some interesting discussion.  Last month we all really enjoyed the chosen book (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson) so while the discussion was lively it was all positive.  I am kinda thinking the men may not have enjoyed this book so much either so I am really hoping for a good juicy morning.  :o)

Nothing else happening here.  Thanks everyone for getting involved with Question Day again yesterday.  It is great to see everyones answers.

xox

Night Hike

Last night Ross & I went on a night hike through Shepherds Hill Recreation Park.  Ross picked me up from work and we headed from here.  When we were about 10 minutes away from the park, it started to absolutely bucket down.  But we decided to do at least a 20 minute hike no matter what.  Unfortunately (or fortunately) we missed the turn off to the entrance and had to do a big loop (in peak hour traffic) to get back to it.  By the time we got back there the rain had stopped.  :o)

I was really nervous.  I have never done a night hike before and have never been confident even in the day.  But I had my new shoes and my head lamp and I had Ross with me.  He has walked the paths of Shepherds Hill many times at night and assured me we would be fine. 

Off we went.  Straight up the first big hill.  It took a while, but it was so worth it when we got to the top.

What an incredible view!  The paths were wet and slippery, but my shoes proved their worth and I did not slip once.  They were muddy and saturated, but my feet were perfectly dry.  I LOVE my new shoes!  LOL

We did a big loop.  We couldn't go to the far side of the park as the creek was seriously gushing and there was nowhere to cross.  But we wandered, and climbed, and talked, and had an awesome time.

I was stunned when we got back to the car, it felt like we had only been walking for 30-40 minutes and I knew the park was bigger than that.  We got back in the car and I was quite amazed to see we had been walking for an hour and a half.  It truly did not feel like that long!  It was sensational. 

Because Ross usually works on weekends we are going to try and do this once a week for our training for Heyson.  I am actually not worried anymore.  We would have easily covered 4 or 5 kms last night - probably more.  If we take 5 days to do heyson it is only 12 kms a day.  I am no longer worried that we won't be able to do it.  We have heaps of time to start taking heavier and heavier packs with us and I know we will be fine.

The other cool thing last night was I got to test out my She-Wee.  It was easy to use and mess-free.  And it was VERY cool being able to pee standing up!

Yesterday I went to the bookshop to get a running book I have wanted for a few months.  Unfortunately they were out and I had to order it, but I ended up getting a copy of "The Ultimate Runner: Stories & Advice to Keep You Moving" by Tom Green & Amy Hunold-VanGundy.

It looks pretty good and I will try and start reading it in the next week or so (although I have about 12 or 13 books out from the library, plus the next Book Club selection I need to get through as well). 

Tonight I am going for a walk and I will do a few little runs in there.  Start Running starts Thursday.  My heel/achilles is still slightly tender so I don't want to push it too much, but I do want to have done something before Thursday.

xox

No Hike

Well, the rain didn't really let up yesterday, so the planned hike did not happen.  But we decided to turn it into "Date Day" and went out.  The first stop was to Ross's work so I could get some new hiking shoes.  I can;t wear my sneakers when we do Heyson, and my hiking boots are a bad fit and hurt.  So I wanted Hiking Shoes. 

Ross works at Kathmandu who happen to be on sale at the moment.  So I went in and picked this really comfy pair of shoes.  50% off plus Ross's staff discount gave me an AWESOME deal!

But it didn't stop there....  I also got:

Some socks...

A new microfleece jumper...

A headlamp (since we are going to be doing some of our training in the evening)...

Ear muffs for those chilly mornings on the bike...

And a gel seat cover that Saturdays ride convinced me I needed...

I was horrified by how much I picked out, but the sale and the discount meant that the whole lot only cost $184.  Considering the shoes retail for $169 and the jumper for $139, I kinda think I got some bargains!

After spending all of our money we had some lunch then went to the movies.  We saw the new Karate Kid movie.  Being children of the 80's we are both big fans of the original and seriously didn't think they would be able to do it justice.  But we wanted to see if anyway.  And I am so glad we did because it was AWESOME!  Better than the original.  Good story, great acting, amazing fight scenes.  And it was filmed around China so the scenery was amazing.  I highly recommend it.

Tonight the plan is to make up for yesterdays missed hike and go up to Shepherds Hill Recreation Park for an evening hike.  Ross is going to pick me up then we'll head straight up there.  I will get to test out the new shoes, socks, jumper and headlamp.  :o)

I'll leave you with some picks from this mornings ride into work.  There is a thick fog over Adelaide.  The air is so thick that when I took the photos to show you the flash picked up the moisture in the air which has left speckles over the photos.  These were taken from the top of the tram bridge over South Road.

xox

Shopping, Cycling, Bowling and Maybe Hiking

Friday night Ross, the MIL & I decided to go out for dinner since we are currently old person free.  We went to the Central Markets in the city.  We had a really yummy meal then spent some time wandering around enjoying ourselves.  We went into the Asian Grocer (how I love that shop) and fell in love with these cool little teacups.

They come with a lid to keep your tea warm, as well as an insert to hold your tea leaves while your brew your tea.

When the tea is ready you just lift out the insert to drain, then you can put the lid back on and keep your tea nice and hot.  I love it and we all got one.

I also got the awesome granite mortar & pestle.

MIL has one the same and I have fallen in love with using it while I have been here.  So she bought me one of my very own!

Yesterday morning was cycling day.  I had to go to the library and then I had to deliver my large "Photo Cards by Kylie Ann" order.  Everything fit in the pannier so off I headed.  I got to Jeanette's in good time and we sat in her beautiful back yard and had a drink and a chat. 

On the way home I took myself along the Linear Park Bikeway along the Torrens and down to the beach.  I SO wish I had thrown my camera in my bag.  There were so many fantastic things to photograph along the way.  All I had was my phone and the camera on that is not so flash. 

However I had to use it to capture this...

When Ross & I started riding this path about 2 years ago this portion of the River was almost a dry bed.  There was a thin trickle about 1 metre wide in the middle but that was it.  SA is by no means out of drought danger, but this sight was so amazingly encouraging.

I had the bike almost at the rivers edge.  The only reason I didn't go closer with the thick mud.  I had an awesome ride and clocked up just over 42 kms.  It has been a long time since I have done a ride like that and I loved it.  Surprisingly, I am not too sore today which is great.  Next weekend I will get out there and do it again.

Last night was our work social night.  There are only 4 of us in the company, and 2 of those are married, so even with partners there was only 6 of us.  We went to dinner then bowling.

We had a really good night.  I am lucky to work with some really good people.  Normally our social event are children friendly since they all have kids under 6.  But I pushed for a kid-free event.  Not that I don't like their kids, but when they are there, because they are all so young, the whole thing becomes about watching kids, and feeding kids, and disciplining kids (the boss has twin year old boys), and even just plain talking about them.  Very boring for childless people.  So last night was a real treat.

Today the plan was to climb Mount Lofty.  However my achilles (actually it is a spot right next to my achilles rather than the achilles itself) is still sore so we kinda figured that a 4km walk up the steeped mountain in Adelaide may not be a good idea.  So we decided to go to Shepherds Hill Recreation Park instead.  It is still hilly, but not as steep.  The only problem is that it has been steadily raining all morning.  We are still going to get ready, and hope for the best.

I'll leave you with a pic of Ross 'Cat Trapped' in bed this morning.

xox

She-Wee

Last night I finally got my She-Wee.  What is a She-Wee I hear you ask?  Well, a She-Wee is a "portable urinating device for women". 

I got it for long rides in the country and for when we hike the Heyson Trail in October.  The idea is you can pee standing up like boys.  One of the guys in my office called it a Girlie Doodle.  It is a very bizarre little contraption, and I believe I will need to practice with it before I go...  I will keep you updated!

I have been think a lot about my fitness and how far I have come in the last 3 months.  Once the MDC is over I don't want that to stop.  I am enjoying my new found fitness and energy levels and want to continue to improve on that.  So I have worked out an exercise plan for the next month.

Cycling - 80kms per week

Running - 60 mins per week

2 other exercise sessions a week

I am riding about 60kms just commuting to and from work, so need to add longer rides home or an extra ride.  The plan for running is to get myself up to a 5km run (nearly there) and do that on the weekends.  Thursday night I will have my Start Running Group.  And Tuesday night I am going to walk home from work and do a few sprints within the walk.  No other running, just a few 30 second sprints.  There is also one bridge I want to run up to start getting used to running up hills.  As for the other exercise sessions, they can be anything - swimming, yoga, football with the kids, boxing, hiking, whatever comes my way.

I have started reading the Intuitive Eating book and so far it has some good messages.  So as far as eating, I am going to start trying to listen to what my body needs, rather than what my head wants.  There is a difference, I just need to be able to identify it. 

Daily Goals

1)  Drink 1.5 L of water

2)  Add an extra few kms to my ride home

3)  Listen to my body with regards to food

4)  Relax tonight, and sit down and knit in front of the TV

5)  Try not to go insane at work considering I am the only one in the office today

Have a great day!

xox

Quick Update (Actually, not so quick, but an update all the same)

Well, yesterdays retail therapy continued into the evening.  :o)  Ross & I went into the city and bought a new tent.  Now, considering we actually already have 3, this would probably seem a little over the top...  However this is one for hiking.  The 2 man tent weighs only 2kg.  It cost us $109 from Aussie Disposals.  There was on for $49, however the cheaper one weighed 3kg.  On the surface this probably doesn't seem like a lot, but when you have 15-20 kgs on your back the extra kilo makes a huge difference!

I am starting to get really excited about our hike, and can't wait until I can start training for it.  We now have nearly everything we need, so it is just a matter of getting the body ready.  We have decided to use Ross's old army packs and webbing belts to carry everything, which has saved us a lot of money.  The only thing is, they are all army green.  Blech...  So I have decided to "girl-ify" the one I am using.  I am going to get some cool patches and bright buttons, and make it as girlie as possible!  I can't wait.

The other thing I found was a few more funky plates from the Harris Scarfe sale.

On to a bit more serious news, I am off to hospital on Monday.  Just a quick overview of what has been happening.  On Monday I discovered I was pregnant.  We were stunned to say the least.  I actually thought I had started early menopause based on all the symptoms.  So when we found out about the pregnancy I knew instantly that there was something not right.  It is hard to say how I knew, I just knew.

So after 4 days of being a pin cushion, and having scans and seeing doctors, we now know for sure that I was right.  The pregnancy became 'non-viable' about 5 or 6 weeks ago when the embryo died.  Because I haven't miscarried on my own (which I should have done weeks ago as soon as things went wrong) I need to go into hospital to have a curette.  It is strange that I feel oddly okay about things.  I have been through so many emotions this week, but because I knew straight away that there was something wrong, I have just been focussed on finding out what and moving forward.

We were not supposed to be able to conceive.  That is really the thing that has been hardest to come to terms with.  This really should not have happened.  But it has also made us realise that we truly are happy with the decision we made a couple of years ago when we decided to stop trying.  We are happy with the plans we have made with for our lives.  And with the decisions we have made.  So for the first time in many years we need to start being careful. 

And it has also made us realise that we need to take more control of our lives and start fully living it and seeing the plans we have made come to fruition.  That is why we have really started focussing on our hike, and why I am really keen to get back into my training.  We can't take anything for granted in life, and our plans will only come in to being if we put ourselves into them.  No more sitting back and watching life pass us by.  It is time to take this life we have been given by the horns and shake the shit out of it!

xox