Race Day

The Jetty to Jetty race has once again come and gone. It was a beautiful Sunday morning, perfect day for a race. I wasn't feeling the best that morning, to be honest I felt like a bucket of butt, but I was looking forward to the run. This year they were offering a half marathon option, it was tempting but I decided to stay with the 10km distance. I did the same race last year and was looking forward too seeing how much my 10km time would improve over a year. And what an improvement it was. I was hoping for a 10km time of 48 minutes, to my delight I finished with a time of 47:15, with an average pace of 4:35 a kilometer. I was very happy. Last year's time was 56:06, so I shaved off almost 10 minutes. 47:15 is a new personal best for my 10km time.

Random pelican...I'll name him Pete...

Random dog....I'll name him Jesse

Random guy in shark pants.....I'll name him Steve

Where's Steve? Hint.....look for the red hat....

Me trying to convince my heart not to stop.....I was able to this time, but it warned me that this may be the last time.

Dan and Amy also ran in the Jetty to Jetty Race. They opted for the 5km run. They're both doing the Bridge to Brisbane 10km race at the beginning of September, so this was a good chance to get a little taste of what to expect. Here's Dan rocking across the finish line with a 5km time of 22:32....

Amy coming in with a 5km time of 26:22.

Group photo.... We're all happy and smiles now, but I'm also doing the Bridge to Brisbane race in Sept so they'll become competition. 3 of us will start, but only 1 will finish....wa hahahahhahahahha

I was asked to leave for this photo because I smelled like an anchovy's butt.

Steve (sore as) Dickinson

Weekend in review...

We had another good weekend. Just the right balance of fun and relaxing. On Saturday we headed downtown to do a little shopping. I didn't find anything I liked, but that's probably a good thing...we leave for Melbourne in 4 sleeps, so I can save my money for shopping there!
On Saturday evening, we headed over to Marianna and Nick's beautiful apartment on the Brisbane river, for a Mexican fiesta. They made an amazing Mexican feast, everything from scratch, including the yummiest nacho chips and salsa! Marianna is originally from Mexico and Nick is from the States. They moved here not that long ago and it's been great meeting and getting to know them!

The food...

The girls...

The guys...

The kids...

Miss B.

Thanks Marianna and Nick for having us over! We had a terrific time!:)

On Sunday, Steve ran his Jetty to Jetty race. I'll leave him to post all about that later. He did a great job...I was very proud of him!

Sunday afternoon was spent nappin' and chillin', with a wee bit of housecleaning. Not nearly as much as what needed to be done, but sometimes ya just gotta let it all go and relax! I'm slowly learning this! Sunday evening, we headed over to Rej and Clo's for a movie on their projector. Thanks guys, that was fun!

In other news, I want to shout out a big thank you to my sister, Connie! I received a parcel from her in the mail this past week. I just love the earrings and the little sister ornament is adorable! It made my week to get a parcel, so...thanks!:) I'll try to give you a call soon , to thank you in person!

Who Knew?

Well, Jesse has struck again. I think this one may just be a winner, beating the handcream, whole bottle of vaseline and pantyhose (okay maybe not the pantyhose!). Steve discovered our camping candle shattered all over the floor under the house, where Jesse stays when we're out...the only thing...the actual candle part of the candle was missing. Jesse must have actually jumped up, knocked down the candle, broken it (it was in a ceramic holder), and then ate the large citronella candle inside. I googled it and yup, citronella candle is on the list of toxic things for your pet to ingest. So, I phoned the vet and they said to give Jesse a tablespoon of salt, mixed with just enough water to make it a paste. You have to shove it to the back of their throat and force them to swallow it and that'll induce vomiting. It took a couple of minutes but it worked! Who knew??? Jes barfed up a lot of the missing candle and the emergency vet that I spoke to said we have to keep a close eye on him throughout the night. Did I mention that I've been home sick yesterday and today with a really bad flu? That's right, Steve was left to clean up this round of puke, seeing as I only just started being able to stomach more than crackers only a few hours ago. The lady on the phone laughed when I said Jesse was 6 years old and he eats this kind of stuff. Honestly, I don't think he'll ever stop....The pic is us waiting on Jesse to vomit...fun times...

51 weeks ago today.....

I entered my first running race.... Next Sunday I'm running the same 10km race. The Jetty to Jetty is where it all started, the hopes, the dreams, the inner leg chaffing after a hard long run.

In the pic to the left I just finished the race with a time of 56 minutes, It was only the second time I ran that far. A few things have changed over the last 51 weeks, I'm 20 pounds lighter (I'm 206 pounds in this pic) I've run 10km distances dozens of times, and I now wear a 32 waist jean (I wore a 36 back then).

Getting ready for this race has been a little frustrating. First off I hurt my lower back getting a little over zealous on my rower. I love my rower, and in the short time I've had it I've seen some really good results. But the rower needs to be respected, and you need to build up a good base before you start going harder. Just when I thought my back was getting better I slipped off my front steps and really hurt may back, and my chest.....Fun times. So training has been really off and on over the last 2 weeks. My goal for this race is to finish under 50 minutes, I'd be a real happy camper if I could get under 48 minutes.

Also today I ordered a new pair of Brooks running shoes...this is a big step for me, I've been a really big fan of Adidas and usually if I find something I like I stay with it forever (thats right Cari, you have me FOREVER!) So I broke with tradition and gots myself a new pair of runners...

Steve

We're still here!

Long time, no posts...I know! No excuses, I've just been plain ole lazy. Here are a few very random things, to help catch you up on what's been going on with us...

Last night Steve and I went on a date. I love doing that! We went for dinner and then to the theatre to see a comedy show called "Busting Out". It's two Australian women and the whole show is about breasts. They are topless for most of it and the tricks they can do with their boobs is shocking! It was super funny and we both really enjoyed it. I got the tickets after a couple of people that I work with said that it was well worth seeing. I didn't tell Steve what we were going to see, but he ended up really liking it. The women in it were very talented, funny (in a crude humour sort of way) and entertaining (they could really sing!). The whole show was very clever...I honestly wonder how they even thought to ever do the things they do with their "jugs", as they referred to them!! If you're in Brisbane, I'd suggest seeing it, very fun! I think it plays for the rest of July.

http://www.twelfthnighttheatre.com.au/
In other news, our $30 washer that we bought from a friend of a guy that Steve works with, when we first got here, died. Well, it didn't actually stop working but the drum started rusting and thus left rust stains on our clothes. Not good, but we can't complain seeing as it's been a year and a half and it did only cost us 30 bucks! We got this spanky front end washer, which has made doing laundry quite fun again (I know, I'm a geek!) and it saves water which is good for here in Brisvegas (no idea why they call it that, but they do!).

We had a little girls night out for drinks last weekend. I thought this picture was kind of cute, so I'm posting it! Taken in the bathroom, or "toilet" as they rudely refer to it here!

We organized a little breakfast in the park this morning. We kind of thought about it last minute yesterday, but had a good turn out considering. There were about 13 adults and 2 kiddies and lots of food. I cannot believe that I didn't take a single picture!!!! I have learned from this and swear to photograph any major or even minor events more in future!!! I love breakfast in the park! Breakfast is just great and then breakfast in the park is just even greater. Great!:)

And that's it for now...geesh, we've been a wee bit boring! Saving money for Melbourne and counting the days until we go...not next weekend, but the next weekend!

Hope all is well with everyone! Miss you all!

Happy Canada Day!

We kicked off Canada Day with a little down home cookin'. Pancakes with maple syrup and strawberries for breakfast. Yum! Now I'm off to work to make approximately 60 kids French toast with maple syrup, in hopes of spreading the Canada Day joy to some little Aussies! Should be fun! Hope everyone at home has a great day!:)

Bunya Mountains National Park...Camping

We went camping again over the weekend. We left on Friday and came back yesterday. Getting there took us about 4 hours with traffic. The drive there was really nice, at least what we saw before it got dark. It was chilly when we arrived. I was freezing the first night in our tent!!

Our campsite. Campsites in Australia seem to be very open, so if other people are camping, you'd all be hanging out together. Since we're camping in the winter, there's never anyone else close to us, but I can see how it would be up close and personal with strangers if there were others around.

On Saturday morning there was frost on the ground. I'm not sure what the temp was overnight but one of the men at the general store in the park said that it had been getting down to -3 degrees. It was really cold!

Saturday morning sunrise...

Me waiting for a hot tea early Saturday morning. Thank goodness I bought a warm coat!

Steve making us a warm fire...

Getting ready to make brekky...Steve and I made Saturday's breakfast...bacon, eggs and toast.

The Purdys brought lunch that day...sandwiches to take with us on our hike...

We did a 6 km hike through the rain forest on the edge of a hill...

We stopped to eat our lunch at a lookoff...

Steve came across this guy causing trouble...gotta watch those cacti!

These are bunya trees...the whole point of the park...cool looking trees.

We also did a second short hike on Saturday. We were told it was worth the walk to watch the sunset...

It was a nice hike with very pretty views...

We had some snacks and took some pictures at the top, while we waited for the sun to set.

Our camera doesn't take very good pictures when the sun is around but this one came out kind of cool!

It's beginning to go down...

Dan enjoying the zen moment...

Bye sun...heading to Canada as someone said;)

Saturday night was chilly but not nearly as cold as the first night. We had chili and corn bread for dinner, compliments of Rej and Clo.

Rej and Clo also brought glow sticks and we brought sparklers. Made for a little childish fun!

The actual kids liked them too!

Sunday morning we had pancakes, with all the fancy trimmings for breakfast. Dan and Amy made this meal. They were yummy and a definite camping treat! We then packed up the stuff and headed to Kingaroy, a little town close to where we had camped. We went to a winery, tasted some wine, bought some wine and then had some lunch in a park with Darryl, Stacey and the kids. We then made our way home to pick up Jesse at the kennel (dogs aren't allowed in National parks in Australia) and enjoyed the best shower ever! It's amazing how good a shower feels after 3 days of not having one! Oh yeah, I also found what we think was a tick on me! Steve put an antiseptic on it and took it out with tweezers. It was really small though, so we're not 100% sure it was a tick but we didn't take any chances, since ticks are quite bad in the area where we camped and the park's website warns you to check yourself carefully.
And that was camping trip number 2!