The Sydney Morning Herald Half Marathon - 16 May 2010

I had decided a while back that I wanted to 'tick that box' and complete a half marathon before turning the big 4-0 in June this year. I started training in January, on and off but interspersed with lots of other exercise. By the week before the race I had not run further than 11km so did a 16 km training run with a week to go. Seemed to survive so turned up fully registered on the day and expecting to take about 2.5 hrs. Once I got to the 16km mark (my furthest distance ever) I seemed to hit a mental brick wall. I was not going to give up but I suddenly felt like it was a huge struggle. At that exact moment I spotted Dunc and Iona in the crowd cheering me on!!! It could not have been more perfect timing. They had not planned to come in and at the last minute Dunc had left the boys with various friends and raced into the city to see me. It was just brilliant. Seeing them gave me the motivation to carry on and I completed the 21.2km in 2 hrs and 11 minutes!! I was absolutely thrilled with my time - I want to do another one now to break the 2 hr barrier!!!

Our new house!!!

Well, well, well. We were not even house hunting but had often fantasised about owning acreage! One Saturday evening, while Dunc was asleep, I found THE house in the paper - on 1.5 acres and just four mins drive from our current house and the kids' school!! After four visits, a pest inspection and six nervous days we found ourselves at the auction and our final bid was the winning bid!!!! We move in at the end of August and are all systems go to sell our house.

Pumpkin joins the family!!

Finally our four legged baby was ready to FLY to Sydney airport from Melbourne airport, aged 11 weeks. The boys and I went to collect her, leaving Iona with our lovely new Dutch au pair, Fenna who had arrived jetlagged the day before! Pumpkin was extremely shy and nervous when we first met her but within a day or two she was well and truly part of the family. The first few days were quite ridiculous - Pumpkin howling in the laundry, me sleeping on the deck one night to keep her company, Dunc sleeping on the living room floor the next!! Glad to say that she now sleeps in the kitchen and usually goes through until about 6.30am - a massive improvement but not quite late enough bearing in mind that the kids are often still asleep at 8am! As you can from the photos further down, Pumpkin is growing far too quickly!!

Seal Rocks - April 2010

Long overdue bunch of pics from our favourite spot in NSW - Seal Rocks. We had a wonderful week with the Highnams and Whitings, sadly Helen didn't come along. Glorious weather (most of the time although some gale force winds at night!), fun on the boat, fishing, 4WD outings on the sand - some ending in cars stuck for hours and having to be rescued, races on the sand, dune jumping, hot walks, rainy walks. All fabulous.

Manly Surf Club 1km & 2km Ocean Swims - 7 March 2010

WOW!!! Today was the day of my first ever 1km ocean swim (racing) and Dunc's second time doing a 2km ocean swim race. Having only ever done it twice this week in the ocean and wearing fins both times I took a bit of a gamble and abandoned my fins (comfort blanket!) at the last minute on top of a friend's pram. The girls and I walked from Manly to Shelly Beach in our cossies feeling slightly less self-conscious than we normally would as everyone seemed to be in the same lack of clothing for the race. Just a few minutes before the start gun fired my two gorgeous oldest boys appeared with kisses for good luck, having raced round with Dunc and Isabelle from the car park to see the start of the race. When the gun fired and we set off it was like entering a washing machine - arms, legs and bubbles everywhere. However, being as slow as I am it soon spread out. It looked deceptively calm from Shelly Beach but the swell grew swiftly and for the middle 600m it was pretty rough. Then we had to negotiate huge waves to actually get to Manly Beach and run the last 50m or so for the finish line. I was greeted once again by Arthur and Barney who ran through the finish line with me which was awesome. I was very slow - about 27 mins - but I did it!! I am still on a high and looking forward to the next one!!!

Half an hour later Dunc's 2km race began from Manly Beach this time. It was much rougher than the Cole Classic a few weeks ago but he did well. Not sure of his time at this stage - waiting for the results on the website. I think we've both discovered something that will continue for quite a while!

Ocean Swim tomorrow!!

In the lead up to my 1km and Dunc's 2km ocean swim tomorrow I came upon a great bunch of mad ocean swimmers who meet DAILY at 7am and swim from Manly Beach to Shelly Beach return. A girlfriend, Laura, and I tried to join them last Sunday but were put off by the radio warning as we arrived telling us that a tsunami was due in 55 minutes!! Not a good day for our first attempt. Got coffee and watched them taking off regardless but found out today that we were wise not to have gone - apparently the undercurrents were totally different to normal. The idea of worrying about sharks AND the risk of giant freak waves was a bit too much additional stress for us first-timers! Anyway, we went back Wed and Sat mornings and swam the return trip both times (I wore fins) in preparation for tomorrow's race. I still intend to decide at the 11th hour whether or not to don my fins for the race or to go it alone as it were, depends on the conditions. Like the idea of having a bit of speed up my sleeve in case I see a shark or something - not that a pair of fins would make much difference! It can be like swimming in a washing machine with so many entrants so it will be quite different to our practise runs this week. Wish us luck!!!

Arthur's rock climbing party

Had great fun at Arthur's rock climbing party. Ten young boys, Dunc and I were all harnessed up. Two staff members belayed for the kids and Dunc and I joined in to reduce waiting time for the kids. All of them were totally fearless - even Tenzin. At the end of the session the kids had half an hour "caving" in the tunnels, with and without head torches. I decided to have a quick go at climbing with Dunc belaying for me. Thought I'd do half a wall or so while the kids weren't watching but they spotted me and started heckling so I had to go all the way and touch the ceiling to prove that I was as brave as them!! I remembered my fear of heights when I looked down from the top!