Happy Anniversary! Back to the beginning...

On the 21st July 2013 I did something that I never dreamed that I would ever do in my entire life.  I entered, participated in, and completed a Fun Run, specifically the Winery Running Festival 5km event called the Winery Wander, and I did it with a time of 1:15:39.


On the 20th July 2014, on the first anniversary of that day, I did it all over again and smashed it out of the ball park by knocking it over in 1:04:55, which is an improvement of 00:10:44



10min 44sec!

10 minutes and 44 seconds!

Ten minutes and forty four seconds!

Did I mention that I was 10 mins and 44 seconds faster this year??

The course remains the same each year, which makes it great for using it to gauge your progress and fitness, and that is just one of the reasons that I'll be doing it each year, and because the darn thing is pretty much nothing but hills, its always going to be a challenge.

Obviously I'm more than pleased with the improvement, but it was only this week (3rd week of August) that I actually realised that I could in fact, have had a time of less than 1 hour if I hadn't slowed down for a chat!  More on that in a little while...

The day dawned beautiful and crisp as most winter mornings are wont to do , and we headed off to Hunter Valley Gardens to meet Lyndal, who was joining me in the event.  I say 'joining me' but we each ran our own race, which is to say that she ran on ahead and waited for me to finish.

Being the good friend she is, Lyndal backtracked (after having crossed the finish line herself) and came to meet me so we could cross the line together.

She even managed to get a very plodding Cliffy Shuffle out of me for the last 20 metres!

That's right people, she made me run!  and she claims to be my friend.  Pfft!

While the mob were all milling around like lost lambs waiting for the start of the race I indulged in a spot of people watching, one of my favourite pastimes, when I spied this mob.

The crew from Garage Fitness

Garage Fitness Bums

They obviously all belong to the same gym, which just as obviously must be a really fun place to go for a workout.  Every single one of them wore a Onesie which depicted a cartoon character, and pinned on their bums they each had a different humorous quote.  Now, I am philosophically opposed to the sight of a Onesie on anyone over the age of around 3 years of age, but this mob really rocked them, and after all, it was for charity...

So after several minutes spent reading and photographing strange peoples bums, the event kicked off.

The course takes you around the village green, through the Hunter Valley Gardens, exiting the nursery area to the Talawanta Vineyards, up the hill to Thompsons Road, down to MacDonalds Road, following it along to Brokenwood Winery, then cutting through it to the carpark at the rear of the gardens, down past the Aqua Golf and back to the village green.

Before I'd even left the village green I was in reverse first position again, which didn't worry me at all, the only goal I had was to do better than I had last year.  I didn't have any concerns about not finishing it, I knew I could as I had done several other events by this time, including climbing a mountain, and Madam Lash is big on incline training.

Anyway.  There were two ladies in front of me and they seemed to be going at a fairly steady pace, and were staying roughly the same distance in front of me all the way through the gardens to the Talawanta Vineyards, not far... maybe around 50 metres, at which point I began to gain some ground on them.  I had thought that I would pace myself by keeping them in front of me, if I could keep up with them I knew I'd beat last years time.

When we got to Talawanta, that's where the hills really start to get serious, and the going began to get tough.  The ladies in front of me were slowing down considerably, but my pace stayed fairly constant and I gained ground quite quickly.  That's when I noticed the lady in the yellow jacket was getting in the other lady's face, and her arms were going wild, and she was bouncing around the place in a manner that reminded me of Madam Lash.

Collette & Jen

It turns out that they were this years version of Madam Lash & Me.  Collette  Lash MKII  and Jen  who has the most glorious purple hair ever!

Jen was doing it tough. We were only about 1km into the course and she was in tears, ready to give up, telling herself that she couldn't do it, that she was no good, had no chance, that she needed to stop and sit.  The whole time this was going on, Collette, who is obviously her trainer and friend, was bouncing along beside her encouraging her to keep going, not to let her self talk convince her to give up.  So instead of powering past them, I fell into step and talked with them.

I spent what seemed like 20 minutes with them, but it was probably only 5 minutes at the most.  I shared my story with them, and told them what Madam Lash and 12WBT has done for me, and how I had the same battle with my inner Voice as she does now, how I cried when I realised I was going to make it, and how I wore my medal for 3 days afterwards. I told her how she can do anything, how to stick it the haters - the ones who told her she could never do anything like this, and how I would be waiting for her at the finish line to give her a big hug.  This is what makes me think that if I hadn't stayed with them to talk with Jen, that I would have finished with a time of less than an hour - but you know what?  She was worth it, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

They rocked in a few minutes after I did and Jen was almost delirious, I waddled over for my hug and she was so surprised to see me there to greet her, I don't think she thought I meant it, but I felt it was important for her to know that strangers can believe in her too, and have faith that she can do what seems impossible at the time.  We made a promise to see each other there next year.

Something that I did this year was to ask for sponsorship for the official charity, the Leukaemia Foundation, in honour of my father-in-law Peter Ellis.

Just weeks before I did the Winery Wander last year, he was diagnosed with a terrible form of Leukaemia which turns out to be quite common in older farmers, he was the fifth gent in his immediate district to be diagnosed with the same condition in the last few years,  I put it down to the old way of handling chemicals, pesticides etc.  There was no such thing as OHS or PPE and there was probably as much of the stuff inhaled, ingested, and absorbed by the farmers as the animals and crops got.  Sadly, after only a few short months, and only 3 days after his condition was diagnosed as 'full blown' we lost him, it was 14th November 2013 and he was 79.

So as well as a celebration of sorts for me, the Winery Wander became a way for me to do something constructive for Peter, and others with the condition.

I had a goal of $1,000 and almost made it, my beautiful family and friends donated $740 with only 12 donations!

So all in all I had a brilliant day.  I made new friends, my good friend Lyndal got me to actually run, my darling hubby BM and daughter DD met me at the finish line, and surprised me with an anniversary gift of a sterling silver 5km charm for my Pandora bracelet, I got another medal, and I raised the most money of all the fundraisers for my chosen charity!

Stats n stuff

My anniversary gift from BM & DD

Race blingage 2014 style

Next year's goal is to finish in less than an hour!