Mary Mary Quite Contrary...

How does your garden grow?

In toilet rolls

So far we have (from left to right) sunflowers, Kent pumpkin, spring onion and lettuce.

The hard part now is stopping the bugs from eating them.

The inaugral Caroline Springs fun run

On Sunday I entered a 10km fun run at Caroline Springs (to celebrate their 10 year anniversary - I can't believe it has been that long!).

I was envisioning a fun run with about 30 people in it... but it was actually really well run, and there were around 100 runners.

I hadn't run at all since the half marathon (unless you counted a couple of times I had to run for the train). But it was funny how the mind works... because I could tell myself "it's ONLY 10km!... when prior to June that was the furtherest I had ever run at all in my life!

It was a very hot and windy morning, and I was so tempted to stop at the 5km mark. I really had to push myself to keep going.

I finished with a personal best of 52:45 (my previous time was 55 min).

It was a really good day. They had Bob the Builder there. Sam was so excited... but he ended up bursting into tears when Bob got too close. In the end we did get a photo.

Colouring Comp King

The other weekend we headed down to the new Eynesbury estate. They were having a big launch day with lots of freebies. Free bbq lunch, jumping castle and showbags.

Josh entered a colouring competition. He spent ages on it. Sam had a go too. There was a pretty good chance he would win something... they had 8 prizes, and you had to be there to collect your prize.

So we waited around until the end, and heard them call out seven names. Josh was complaining that he didn't win, when we told him there was one more to come, and they called out his name! He was so excited. He got to run up the front and grab his prize... a matchbox car.

Melbourne Marathon

October 19 was a date that I had been counting down to on my calendar at work. It was the date that I became one of those crazy people who decide to run a half marathon (21.1km).

I was really doubtful that I would be able to do it, especially after hurting my leg. But I did! With a final time of 2 hours and 22 seconds.

It was the best feeling running onto the MCG!!!

Me and Carli (a runner who is crazier than me and manages to talk me into these things!) were sprinting, racing each other to the finish line. (she beat me by 2 seconds). We actually turned up late for the start. So there were only a couple of people running with us, and we couldn't see anybody else. It made the start easier - in that we didn't have to walk at the start, or jostle and dodge people... but it did feel really strange not having that big build up. In the end we caught up to everyone, and that was very satisfying.

When we got up to the 10km mark we were asked to move to the side and this motorbike with a camera came along, and there were two Ethiopians and a Kenyan who were doing the marathon. They were just sprinting along! So that might be my 2 seconds of fame (depending on whether they were zoomed in on the runners or not). And to think that they started half an hour after us!

Sam's 2nd Birthday

This year Sam had a Bob the Builder themed birthday party. Sam loves Bob and Wendy... and it is actually nice that he likes something that Josh wasn't really that into.

This is the cake... Sam thought it was fantastic, though he did run off with Wendy just before the party started!

Here is our traditional family birthday photo...

A photo of Sam opening one of his presents. He actually wasn't very interested in presents at all, until the end of the party, when he finally got the hang of it!

And this is a photo of Sam's new Firetruck bed (with Bob the Builder doona cover)

Tyrannosaurus Reg

The boys have another favourite book... called Tyrannosaurus Reg by Dan Crisp.
It is a book we got from the library, and ended up reading nearly every night for over two weeks.
The fact that it is about dinosaurs meant that it was likely to be a hit with Josh. The fact that the last page has noises and vibrations meant that it scared the crap out of Sam... he actually started crying it was that bad. But funnily enough, he wanted to read it again the next night.... and the night after that... and the night after that.

He got to the stage where he was waiting with every page turn to see if that was the noisy page. A couple of times I would try to trick him and turn to the last page halfway through the book.

(The book has something built into it, similar to those musical birthday cards. And something that makes it vibrate like a vibrating mobile phone ring tone.) Surprisingly for a library book, these things still worked.

This book has just the right amount of words for a bedtime book, and the kids have fun trying to find where Reg is hiding in each page.

This book was a winner for both the kids and the parents :)

Running

About three years ago I started running. I did the couch to 5k running program and entered a few 5km fun runs. Then I did a triathlon... and then nothing until I entered the Run Melbourne 10km fun run. I used to run 5km and wonder why on earth people would want to run for longer than half an hour. Then I got talked into trying the 10km run. I figured I would run half, walk for a bit and then run again. In the end I ran the whole way and did it in 55 minutes! I was so happy at the end, I couldn't believe that I had done it.

In 12 days time I am going to enter in the Melbourne Marathon and run the half marathon (21.1km). Some people (well probably most people) will think that I am crazy. I was going to only enter the 10km again... but I couldn't see a challenge in that (unless I just tried to beat my previous time).
I have joined a running group, and it has really challenged me to push myself out of my comfort zone. One morning I got up at 4:30am and we went for a 15km run. It took us an hour and a half. And then I went to work!!! I was so pumped when I got to work, telling everyone that I did it... it was the furthest I have ever run.

Then while we were on the Penguin Holiday, I did a run. I didn't want to fall behind the others in the running group, since I knew they were going to be doing a 17km run that day. I mapped it out in the melways and planned my route. I was going to run along the main road (since they had a really good bike track there) and run to the general store that is half way to San Remo and back.

Things started off well, and I even stopped to take a photo of the sun rising over the paddocks.

I came across a feral cat that looked like it was going to pounce on me. I saw the Amaze'n'Things house with the tap turned off. I tried to see koalas as I ran past the koala park. I kept running, and was almost wondering what would happen if that general store didn't exit anymore! Would I just keep running and find myself on the bridge to San Remo?

Finally, the general store was in sight! I turned around for the run home. It had seemed to take forever to get halfway! Then my foot started to cramp. I kept going. But it got worse. I didn't want to walk the whole way home, so eventually I stopped and tried to stretch it out. It worked for a while, but I did have to stop another couple of times before I got home.
I made it home, and it took almost exactly 2 hours. Later that day we drove to Churchill Island, and we measured the distance in the car... and I found out that I actually ran something like 19.4km!!!
Needless to say, I am feeling a bit more confident about the half marathon now!!!
http://www.melbournemarathon.com.au/

Edited to add: I've had a bit of an injury around my right knee the last week or so. This has pushed out my training plan, I hope I will be ok for the race.