You can take the (old) girl out of the beaches......

Running

Sunday was my 40th Birthday!  And I'm crazy enough that I woke up at 5am, ran 90 minutes up and down Manly beach to Queenscliff then back to Bower beach a few times. The sun was rising and the crowds quickly built up.  I was happy that the flags were up before 7.30am and there were many swimmers in so I went in for a lovely dip.  I am kind of freaked out about sharks at the moment.  Manly has had 3 shark alarms in one week!

Running at dawn - a great way to start the day

It was all wonderful.  I ran really slowly just wanting to drink in the view, my life so far and what I want to achieve in the years ahead.  I also thought of how blessed I am and also thought about the very tough times I've survived.  It was a SUPER way to start the day.

I love Sydney's Northern Beaches

My shark plan was to ensure many people were swimming in front of me :)

Too beautiful

My other workouts this week and a half
Today: 15 minutes on the bike, Bodypump class
Monday: 25 minutes treadmill 8-12km/hr, 15 minute elliptical, 15 minutes bike (Spin class was full :(
Sunday:90 minute easy
Saturday: Day off
Friday: 21/2 hour intense gym session 20 minutes running, 15 minute on the bikes, 15 minute on the elliptical, bodypump class and a half hour Cxworks class
Weds, Thurs off
Tues:  Hills 1 minute running hard up a hill and 1.5 minutes jog down repeat times 5 (short but hellish!)
Monday: 80 minute run

Birthday

 After that I met my mum for breakfast at the Novotel.

I got home and have spent today playing with my toys (I know, I won't ever grow up) and now am chilling after a family lunch.  I caught up with my best friend on Friday night so today is a relaxed day.

I'm a lucky lady - and my husband is taking me on a holiday for a couple of days too!

Amongst my pressies I got a beautiful new handbag and wallet.  Therefore I've been cleaning out my old wallet and have discovered this amazing app that means I can store all my reward cards in my phone by scanning the barcodes.  I just hope it works when I go to use the app.  Its called Stocard.

A good book before uni starts and my novel ban begins

My son wants to watch Seinfeld's Junior Mint episode while eating Junior Mints - sounds like a plan!

My Mother-in-law made me  a cake to order.  It had to be chocolate with Haig's sparkles on it  (I'm kind of bossy when it comes to my food).  Her cakes beat any cake shop hands down.

The Century - Pyrmont

Its not great having a birthday around Chinese New Year.  The restaurant was busy and we were 10 minutes late so they tried to tell us we were too late for our booking.  It was very awkward, especially since once we got in there seemed to be free tables.  I had to ring my Chinese sister who brings 10s of thousands of $$ to the restaurant for business.  She had given me dinner here as my birthday present and booked the special table.  The call was made.  Suddenly a table was free, the manager came to apologise and we were given a Chinese dessert after our meal.  If I wasn't addicted to the Peking Duck I might not return.  But I am addicted!  Once we were in my husband and I had a fantastic meal and a lovely walk afterwards.

The tanks

The apology dessert

This is a wall decorated with thousands of chopsticks!

Part of the reason I keep coming back!

Happy Year of the Sheep!

Week 8 Day 1 Couch to 5k; Manly Beach

A rocky start to the day.  T2 has a 'thing' about water and I left him for literally 60 seconds and he flooded the bathroom.  If it was another 60 seconds water would have been running down the stairs.  Then when we got him to clean it up and he knew he did the wrong thing he ran down stairs and broke a tea cup.  This was all before 6.30am! After a big clean-up I headed out for my run. It involved 5 minutes walking and 28 minutes running.  I felt really good.

After that T1 and I went to the shops and whipped up another batch of rocky road for teachers/therapists etc.  Then our last school visit before the big first day of school.  The twins met their teacher for next year.  Its all really exciting (and terrifying)!

Then it was the last swimming lesson for the year.  All year I've sat with the same two mums at swimming.  We kind of clicked and throughout the year we've all had injuries, sicknesses and talked about the ups and downs of motherhood.  I never mentioned the twins' autism but mentioned that T2 needed support and the implication was there.  They never asked questions or treated me or my sons as pariahs.  They just accepted us.  One of the mum's is moving away and we'll probably never see each other again.  Its funny that we only officially introduced ourselves today though.  We know all the kids names and our work history etc etc.  I'll really miss them.

More Rocky Road!

Picture perfect day at Manly

So gorgeous at Manly this afternoon

In the late arvo today I took off to my mum's to help her look after some Japanese students she is hosting.  She told me they were difficult, and didn't seem to want to be there - I was a little nervous.  Then I thought - "wait, I look after two kids with autism 24/7 - how hard can these girls be?"  And really, it was a piece of cake!  We went to Manly and it was a gorgeous, gorgeous afternoon.  The girls wanted to build sandcastles and I've just realised that I was overenthusiastic about digging gigantic sand holes and my back is now KILLING me - bring on the neurofen!.  After about an hour of sandcastle and hole digging I suggested a swim.  The water was great and I took a board in and one of the girls managed to catch a couple of waves.  I actually caught one too - I'd forgotten how FUN it is to boogey board!  We were in the water for at least an hour.  Then we went for a walk and I tried to get them to talk about themselves.  They were quite sweet really and tomorrow we're taking them to the zoo while the twins are at preschool. I could have done with a rest day - but never mind.  The zoo is pretty a cool place and I can never say no to my mum.