Catch up.....

Well a lot has happened since my last post!!! I finally crossed to the dark side and turned 30 :-) I am actually really excited about being 30- life is good! I had a lovely birthday weekend. I caught up with the family on the Good Friday and had lunch with friends on the Monday.

Charlie is 4 months old this week and she is so lovely! She has started to laugh and is such a happy baby. She is still sleeping through the night which is bliss! I have weaned her off being wrapped to go to sleep and the next challenge is to try and wean her off needing to be patted and rocked to go to sleep. With the reflux we have gotten into a routine of patting to go to sleep. It is not such a drama except it makes it near impossible to leave her with others as she will not go to sleep. Any way I was suprised at how easily she adapted to not being wrapped so fingers crossed! She is trying really hard to roll from her back to her tummy and is not reaching and picking up toys. I love watching all the changes- it is so exciting and amazing to watch her grow. She makes Ray and I so happy!

I have been running and going to the gym. I am very excited to report that my long run has increased and yesterday I managed 21km! I ran with Bernie, Kerry, Deanne and Bec and I had a ball! I have not run with the girls in over 12 months! I have missed them so much and it felt so good to be running along talking crap :-) We ran the Vaucluse Star and it was a typical Striders run....hilly! It felt like each time we turned a corner there was another hill to run up! My hamstrings were feeling it!! I felt pooped at the end but felt like I coped with the distance really well! I felt great for the rest of the day and had no sore bits to report. I met a friend this morning and we did a 6km run with the prams. I was surprised how good the legs felt. I was expecting to feel like crap, but they felt great. I have increased my mid week runs to 9km and will start my program via email from Sean this week. Sydney Marathon here we come. I managed a 8km run with Charlie in the pram last week at 6 min pace and it felt a lot easier than the first two attempts....but we had a hedgehog fatality!!! Charlie managed to throw her beautiful hedgehog out of the pram while we were running along!! I ran up and down the street looking for him....but he is gone! Well I did learn a valuable lesson- do not run with toys that are not securely attached to the pram or have a back up :-)

New friends...

This week has flown by! I caught up with a friend on Monday who has just had a baby and Charlie looks soooo huge in comparison! They were the same weight born, but I can not remember her being so small. They played together on the play mat....well Charlie stared at her with lots of curiosity.

I went for a run on Tuesday and my legs still felt heavy from the gym on Friday. It started out feeling like hard work but after a few kms I started to just enjoy the run. I plodded along with my music on and felt really relaxed. I managed 9km- average pace 5:45/km. I was going to run with the pram today, but I left it in the car which went to work with Ray...ooops! We went out for a walk and just used the carrier instead. I went to pump last night and worked really hard. I will go for a run today but I will go when Ray gets home when it is cooler.

Nothing much else to report.

The big fish tank in the sky.....

Well I went to the gym on Friday afternoon and did the cross trainer class. I love this one....she makes you work really hard and it gets the heart rate up as well as working all the muscles. Well she must have had a bad day because she made us pay!!! I was so sore by the time we finished I could not tell which bit hurt the most....but it was great! We did this very long and intense abdominal work out which is just what my mummy tummy ordered! The other killer were the many many many dead lifts she had us doing....needless to say my hamstrings are still feeling the sting today. As a result of this my legs were dead on saturday so I did nothing. Well I went and spent the day with my lovely family but no exercise :-)

This morning we were going to Smithfield but somehow the alarm was turned off and we went back to sleep *ooops* After a much needed sleep in (7am) Ray went for his run while Charlie and I played and then at 9am I headed out the door. It was cloudy so it did not feel too hot until the last 15mins. I ran 12km, average pace 5:55/km. This is the longest I have run in a while and the legs felt tired by the end!!! I ran a really hilly loop and some of those hills almost killed me....haha I have a bit of work to do on hills thats for sure! But I did find some long steep hills that I can start trying to do some hill work on. I am aiming to get my long run up to 15km in the next few weeks....God that seems like a long way!!!

Not a lot else to report. Charlie is great....growing every day! We have not had any more rolls so I am glad I got it on camera....I might have thought I imagined it :-) She is eating a lot and getting really chubby.....so cute!

Oh on a very sad note our beloved Fish Merry died this morning and was flushed to the big fish tank in the sky! We have had Merry for the past 6 years~ which is a good innings for a fish. So we will be off to get a new addition to the Rowell household this afternoon. Poor Merry!

Almost 30.....

Not too much to report...I went to the gym on Wednesday and did a pump class and then yesterday I had a do nothing day. Well we actually did a lot during the day so I was pooped by last night so I opted to have a bath with Charlie instead of my run :-) I am hoping to go for a run tonight or to the fatburner class at the gym.

We might head to Smithfield this weekend and Ray will push Charlie for the 5km and I might run the 10km. I emailed Sean and I have asked him to do me a program to do at home. It is too hard to get to training so I am going to do it via email. So Ray will go to sweat and I will have my email program and then we will go head to head for 6ft to see who will be King or Queen of the house hold ;-) This will take a bit of discipline to make sure I stick to it but I have some goals so hopefully that will motivate me.

I am turning 30 next week! I can not believe it. Ray and I have been together since I was 16 years old....so we often often can not believe where we are at! I am really excited to be 30...not sure why??? I am feeling really happy and content with who I am and my life. It is a nice place to be.

Back on track....

Well after a week of not much I am back on track- well so far any way :-) Monday I went for a 7km run at 5:30 pace. Tuesday I went to the gym and did a core strength class and then Ray and I went for a run with Charlie. I pushed the pram and we went for a 5km plod. I found that my heart rate was much higher pushing the pram...in other words it felt like bloody hard work! I also felt that my upper body and abs got a work out by then end of it. Charlie loved it and went off to sleep....although hunger called towards the end of the run. We were going to wait until she was 6 months before running in the pram, but she has got such good head control and can hold her head unsupported. She is really well supported and has a head support as well for good measure. We kept an eye on her and she actually did not move around much at all. So I am going to do a lot of my running with Charlie and it will be interesting to see if my fitness improves with the extra weight of pushing the pram.

Today Charlie also managed to roll from her tummy to her back without any help!!! I was very excited and managed to get a video of her doing it to show Daddy and the rest of the family. I am sure she was wondering why I kept cheering her and then putting her back on her tummy to do it again. She managed 4 rolls before getting too pooped. She is also lifting her bottom off the floor and is starting to roll from side to side while on her back. Once she can roll from her back to her tummy the fun will begin....then I will find her in all sorts of places and positions. It is so amazing to think that she has grown so much in just 14 weeks. She has gone from being so tiny and unable to do much at all to laughing and smiling and interacting with us. I am sure she is growing each time I put her to bed!!!

I will put some new photos up soon!

Back online.....

We are back after a short computer malfunction! I have felt lost without email access!! I keep in regular email contact with my nearest and dearest and I felt cut off from the world last week. We are all doing really well. Charlie is now 3 months old and almost 14 weeks. She has grown a lot and looks so big now. She is a really smiley happy baby and loves to play and laugh....but also gets tired very quickly and lets you know about it with a fair bit of yelling until I wrap her and pat her to sleep.

I have not done a single bit of exercise since the 10km striders last week! It is a combination of being busy and feeling flat and tired. I feel I am back on top of the feeling flat and so I am aiming to get back into a routine this week. So tonight I am going to go for a run or to the gym...I am undecided yet. It is amazing how a whole week just slipped by! It was nice though to have a break and no that the world does not end if you do not get a run in! But I am keen to get going again as I feel motivated after watching Ray finish the 6ft track marathon on the weekend. It was brilliant to watch Bernie, Wayne and Kerry and Tim have such great runs! They worked so hard and deserved such great times! Ray ran really well and managed 5:3o- smack bang on his goal! It was so exciting to see everyone finish and I had the urge to get out there again next year! I am going to aim for Sydney marathon to build back my base and then aim for 6ft next year.

Post baby PB

Well we have been busy the past 4 days catching up with friends, family and running! Charlie seems to have grown in the past few days and Ray and I think she is huge all of a sudden! She was brilliant on the weekend....we had her up really early to go to Manly for the 10km race, and apart from Ray and I forgetting the pram it went perfectly. I ran and Dad looked after bub.

I felt nervous for some reason about running on Saturday and almost stayed in bed. We arrived in enough time to get Charlie settled and bolt to the loo. I decided to make sure I did the first half sensibly and not go out too quick and die in the second lap. Of course we started a little quicker than planned but it felt ok so I just decided to slow a little and just try to be consistant. I felt really comfortable the whole way and did not run out of steam in the last lap. I was able to put in a good last km and finished feeling like I had worked hard but not dead....woo hoo! I wanted to run faster than Smithfield and managed to do 52:29- 2 mins quicker. I am really happy with my run and time. I felt good the whole way around and loved the feeling of being out running. I also felt excited that perhaps the sub 50 min goal is not too ridiculous to aim for at Canberra. I have about 6 weeks to go and each time I run it is feeling better and better. Haha my 47:09 PB is a long way off though :-)

5:12, 5:07, 5:24, 5:16, 5:14, 5:16, 5:16, 5:06, 5:13, 4:59, 21 sec (90m)
Average pace 5:12/km