I was here at 7:30am yesterday morning:

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The Sussan Women’s 10km fun run in St Kilda. It was my 4th and last fun run for the year. It still makes me laugh to think that at the beginning of the year I couldn’t even run once around our neighborhood block and somehow I’ve ended up doing 4 fun-runs in the last 8 months. I would have never expected it, never forseen it.

But I’m thankful I did stumble across something I can just do for me - an hour of time in the day when I can just be by myself with my own thoughts and not have to be working on something or looking after someone or cleaning up after others . . . you know what I mean, right? I think it’s important for us to have something we can do just for ourself - something that refreshes us and clears our minds and at the very least, prevents us from resenting the loved ones with whom we share our lives.

All that being said, I must admit this run almost had me beat! I ran the first 3kms faster than I should have, which means by the the 6th km I was ready to lie down on the side of the road and have a nice, long siesta. The last half of the run ended up being one big pain fest but I somehow made it to the finish line (let’s not mention the lady who was running WITH A STROLLER that zipped right past me at the end). I even met my goal time, so I’m a very happy (albeit very sore and achy) girl today.

The atmosphere was great and the weather was perfect - mostly cloudy with a few breaks of sunshine and next to no wind. Plus we ran by St Kilda beach and it provided a very calming backdrop to the run.

I’m looking forward to doing more fun-runs next year, including attempting a . . . shall I confess this out loud . . . ummm . . . . a half-marathon! There, I said it. 21.1kms of pain. I have no idea how I’m going to fit in the time to train for it but that’s my goal for next year and you can help keep me accountable! :-)

Any seemingly ridiculous goals for next year that you’re willing to share out loud??

Now for something totally not craft related :-) I did the 10km race at the Melbourne Marathon yesterday and I can honestly say that this was truly a ‘fun run‘. I thank God for the beautiful morning - it was around 12°C at the starting line, sunshine, and no wind. Perfect conditions.

The atmosphere was electric - for the 10km race alone there was an estimated 5,500 people. I was inspired to see all these people from different walks of life, of different ages, some with disabilities, out there and excited about taking on the challenge.

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I had been training for this run for the last 3 months and encountered an injury at the beginning and then two weeks of illness towards the end, so I had mixed feelings as I stood at the starting line. But it ended up being so much better than I had expected. I could go on and on about this run but to cut it short, I think it was my best run this year :-)

I enjoyed every minute. I had so much more energy than I had expected and my legs didn’t feel tired, even after crossing the finish line. I even met my time goals. The weather, the course, the fact that I ate a whole heap of carbs this past week :-), and a good breakfast helped to make it a great run. I am so thankful for a very supportive family who allow me to indulge in these kinds of events.

The last kilometre included a lap of the MCG to the finish line and that was a fantastic experience. The MCG is where the late Kerryn McCann (a running hero of mine) won the marathon at the Commonwealth Games in 2006 in an epic race. As we ran into one of the MCG gates, Stevie Wonder’s “Higher Ground” came on my iPod, then we ran into a tunnel and emerged onto the huge MCG field where spectators were cheering. It was an amazing way to finish a race :-)

I still think it’s funny that at the beginning of the year I could hardly run one full kilometre and somehow we are now in October and I have run in 3 fun-runs! And the biggest surprise for me . . . I am actually enjoying it! I’m looking forward to starting my new training plan this week for the next 10km fun run in December (and it’s for a good cause). Anyone want to join me? (And don’t say you can’t do it, because seriously if I of all people can do it, you can do it too!).

◘ Watch Kerryn McCann’s brilliant finish at the 2006 Commonwealth Games here.

Cheery chimp in a brown-&-blue kind of colour scheme is done! He’s been promised to a very sweet little boy :-)

I really love that elephant fabric - can’t remember where I bought it from. All I know is that it’s from Japan and I wish I had bought heaps more!

Wish I had something to show you in my creative space, but unfortunately my creative space today is all inside my head and my hands haven’t had a chance to catch up :-) Speaking of what’s inside your head, here’s a little conversation I had with my 5-year-old yesterday:

Ava: “Mama, what is my brain for?“.
Me: “You use it to think about stuff.”
Ava falls silent with a look of deep concentration on her face, then says excitedly, “Hey, I’m thinking about stuff and it’s working! My brain is actually working!”

I just love that pure excitement that kids have when they discover something new about themselves. Given that the girls are still young, it happens practically everyday over here and it is infectious :-) I even had my own little experience yesterday morning.

I mentioned previously that my goal was to be able to run 10km by the end of this year. Well, for some reason (could have been due to the freezing cold at 5am or the gorgeous full moon that was lighting up the sky), I decided I was going to just do it - run 10km and see if I actually had it in me. I even brought along a mini Milky Way bar to be eaten half-way for a sugar/energy hit - any excuse to eat chocolate at 5:30 in the morning, right? :-)

And I did it! It’s the farthest I have ever covered on a run. I’ve been struggling with my runs over the past week so it was a relief to finally have a good run again - everything just fell into place. I’m not saying it was a breeze - there were some difficult spots and I kept telling myself to just “suck it up Princess and get on with it” - but I can honestly say that I enjoyed it from beginning to end. It also helped to see that there were a few crazy people out there running at that time of the day too :-)

Like Ava, I was excited and happy to discover something new about myself - that my body and mind could carry me through 10km. A goal that seemed impossible for me at the beginning of the year was now possible.

Challenge and discovery is a great thing - Kootoyoo wrote about the same thing yesterday morning. I’m agreeing with her - I need to get that challenge and discovery back into my crafting time. I feel like it’s been going stale over the last few months and this may be just the thing to kick it back into life again.

P.S. Just noticed this book when I visited the book store this morning: “Wesley the Owl: The Remarkable Love Story of an Owl and His Girl “. Might be one to add to your reading list if your like owls :-)

Case in point:

Hahaha!! Found this photo of me during the recent Run Melbourne.

As you can tell by the pained look on my face, this was at a point in the race when I was thinking, “What the HECK am I doing here?? What is the whole point of this?!“, which was soon followed by what can only be described as the dead man’s shuffle and the mantra, “I’m gonna die, I’m gonna die, I’m gonna die . . .” :-)

I’ve managed to do a little sewing here and there but everything is still in a state of ‘in progress’. It’s been so lovely just hanging out with my two little girls with no schedule and no need to rush anywhere. I do hope to have something crafty to post up soon (it’s been a while . . .).

Thank you for the comments on previous posts and emails. I am a little behind on responding but hope to catch up on the weekend.

Hope you are all having a fantastic week!

Phew! It’s done! I am relieved more than anything else - and knackered! You’d think I had done the marathon! But boy did those 5km wipe me out today.

I think it was the (unexpected for me) number of hills on the route, and also probably the cold/sore throat I have been fighting off since last weekend, and lack of sleep this week due to the youngest having a chest infection (with some vomiting thrown in too). Thankfully she is so much better now.

So I really struggled with this run and am pretty sure I didn’t beat my personal best for this distance (also forgot to turn on the timer on my watch - d’oh!) but I gave it my best effort and am happy that I crossed the finish line . . . without gagging - yay!! :-).

It was about 8°C when we lined up at the starting line but the sun was out in its glory. There were HEAPS of people. It was so lovely to see Mums and Dads running with their kids, some of the older folk giving their best (and some were kicking my butt!) and couples crossing the finish line hand-in-hand :-) I am trying to talk my hubby in to running with me in an upcoming fun-run ;-)

Thanks so much to all of you who have donated towards fund-raising for the Mirabel Foundation. You have donated $750 in total which is an awesome effort! I hope to run for them again in next year’s Run Melbourne.

Despite feeling just a tiny bit deflated about this run, I am planning to do a local fun-run in about two weeks time (as long as it doesn’t rain - I am a wimp about running in the rain!). And then I am hoping - hoping - that I will be ready to do the 10km run in the Melbourne Marathon event in October. There should be plenty of time to train- and this time I’m going to purposely train on some hills!

My parents kindly slept over last night and then took the girls out to Church this morning, and then to lunch. When I got home to an empty house, I found this note left by my 5-year-old.

It reads :”Dear Mum, have a lovely run“. Made me a little teary :-) Their support is priceless! (Although the first thing they asked me when I picked them up from my parent’s house was, “Hey Mama, did you win??“).

Have a lovely week all!

I am so excited - I have one whole week off from work! Yippeeee!

{image credit: “A Brand New Day” by Thomas Hawk}

I left the house at about 5:30am today, jolted awake by the 3°C temperature, and went off for a slow run. I ended up running the longest distance I have ever run in my entire life - small beans by marathon runners - but I never thought I would be able to go that distance. It feels good to know that I am slowly, slowly, inching closer to my goal of running 10km by the end of the year.

I have mentioned previously that I was never the athlete or the sporty one (still not) but I have been wondering why this running bug has hit me so hard. I sucked at competitive sports - competing with other people was never my thing. It didn’t motivate or thrill me, and neither did beating people (which was a very, very, rare occurrence in any case!).

But running is different - you are only competing against yourself, you have tangible goals to work towards, and in the process you are improving your health including and beyond the physical. Since I started running regularly I can see changes not only in my physical make-up but I feel a lot more positive these days, I can handle stress better, I am more patient, and have been more resilient in areas of my life that are not going so great.

Funnily enough it has also made me much less afraid of the dark (except the time when an insect jumped onto my neck, bit me, and I sported a nasty red rash along the side of the neck for the next week).

Plus, it feels good to be able to relate to many of you who run on another level apart from the craft/mamahood level - to have another thing in common :-)

I stumbled across this gem today. It’s so well written and communicates so clearly what I have been feeling about running. Hope this encourages you runners and walkers out there!

“There’s a stretch of road that I run on that is long and straight and seems to go on forever. I used to hate it, but now it’s my favorite place. See I don’t have to do anything, just run. I don’t have to avoid dogs, dodge traffic, or encounter potholes. It’s just me and the road. Breathe in, breathe out. Last night while I was on that stretch I began to think how powerfully simple this all is.

We ask our body to run and it does…at first not far…but then over time it becomes this machine. A simple perfect machine. Breathe in, breathe out. One foot and another. An endless repetition of a series of moves that propels you further and further along. And the miracle of the human body is that it responds by carrying you further and further until one day you show up at work and say, “I ran eight miles yesterday” and all the jaws drop. Yes…you did. Something that your co-workers consider positively superhuman. You did it. You may not look like a superhuman, but at that moment you are.

My mind flashes back to a conversation I’ve had about running. Every run is a test; a test to see what you are made of. Do you have it in you today? Here on the road there is no way to cheat. It’s simple, you either run it or you don’t. Either you win or the road wins. And no matter how sick you are, no matter how tired you are, the road still asks, do you have it in you? Even if you had a great run yesterday, the road is still out there today and today you have to prove what you are made of. Breathe in, breathe out.

The road doesn’t care if you are good looking, smart, young, old. The test is the same. What do you have in you today? Some days you come home glowing with accomplishment. Other days you lose. You feel fat, heavy, out of shape, tired. Well meaning friends say “why do you do that to yourself?” but you know…you aren’t doing it TO yourself, you are doing it FOR yourself. You lose the stress of the day. No matter how bad your day is, you sweat out all those problems on a long run. You shut off the voices. You silence the chatter. Just you and the road, alone. Breathe in, breathe out.

I know we all have goals. Five K goals and marathon goals and negative splits. But on your next run let me encourage you to just run and enjoy the simple pleasure of running. No watch, no time limit, you’re not going anywhere, you’re not getting anywhere. You just are…a simple lone runner…on a long stretch of road. I’ll see you out there.”

(Found via here, who found it here).

Happy Friday all!

{image credit: stevacek}

I think I just might be getting into the swing of this running thing :-) I went for a run at 5:45 this morning with this as my running partner. It was dark, cold, and f-f-f-frosty. My hands tend to go numb when the temperature dips so I wore some woolly gloves and it helped heaps. Plus it’s amazing how much warmer my body felt just by wearing them.

This was the first time I actually didn’t feel like vomiting at the end of the run - seriously, I have been gagging at least twice every time I have finished a run, including the Mother’s Day Classic last month. Classy. I run 3 to 4 times a week so that’s a fair bit of gagging. But this morning - no gagging at all! That’s got to be a major improvement, right? :-)

So I felt quite good after the run for a change. I think my body is finally getting the message . . . despite the fact that when I leave the house, I am dressed very badly, with eyes half-open, and wearing yesterday’s make-up, a la Pip :-) But it’s so dark, I don’t think anyone would notice (BTW are you moving like Mike?).

I’m excited to actually be reading a book just for the pleasure of it again. I can’t seem to put it down - I steal a few pages away at every spare moment like when I’m waiting for the lights to change so I can cross the street. It’s called “What I Talk About When I Talk About Running” by Haruki Murakami.

Murakami is a critically acclaimed writer of both fiction and non-fiction. This book is a memoir on his preparations for the 2005 New York City marathon, which brings some wonderfully fresh and insightful philosophical reflections on the similarities between the disciplines of running and writing. I never ever thought I’d enjoy a book about running (but then again, I never thought I would ever get up at 5:30am of my own accord to go for a run!). The book is most likely not everyone’s cup of tea but I highly recommend it if running and writing are two of your passions.

Oh yes - and sewing! Almost forgot that this is what this blog was originally about :-) There has been a little softie-making this week. I finished up the final samples for now: Cheery Chimp and a patchwork Seahorse (had fun working with the Autumn-y palette for the seahorse) -

Next on the list are mock-ups for two upcoming projects and a few extremely-late-it’s-embarrassing gifts :-)

Hoping you all have a fantastic weekend!

{image credit: “Joy of Running” by Shikharesh}

Please consider joining Anna Laura and I, and the Melbourne Makers team on Sunday, June 28 for the Run Melbourne! You don’t have to be a pro runner (ahem, I am a case in point!) but just willing and able to enjoy a run or walk in the city.

We all know how hard it is to fit exercise into our schedule, especially when the weather has turned so, so cold. But here is a great opportunity to move out of your comfort zone and challenge yourself to walk or run 5km (or more if you want to!) - perhaps the kick start you are looking for to get into a regular better-health plan. I guarantee you that it is an extremely rewarding moment and a huge boost when you cross that finish line, knowing that you have given it your best and kept at it to the end.

Join up before June 12th to take advantage of the early bird registration and then head on over to Anna Laura’s over here and let her know so that she can add you to the Melbourne Makers team.

It is not compulsory to fund raise for a charity through the run but you do have the option to do so.

Thank you to those of you who have generously given towards the goal to raise $1000 for the Mirabel Foundation. I received a lovely email from the Foundation last week:

“Hi Jhoanna,
Thanks so much for offering your support to Mirabel and nominating us as your charity for your entry in Run Melbourne. Your support makes an enormous difference, not only by raising funds but also awareness for children who have been orphaned or abandoned due to their parents drug use and the work that we do.

From everyone at Mirabel, we wish you happy training & best of luck on the day.”

There are 25 days left until the run and the window for making a donation closes. The current total is $295 - is there anyone willing to tip it over the $300 mark? Please click here if you’re able to help.

Updated 04/06/09: WOW!!! What a response! THANK YOU ♥ ! The current total is now $395 - is there anyone willing to tip it over the $400 mark? Please click here if you’re able to help.

Updated 05/06/09: WOW, WOW, WOW!!! THANK YOU ♥ ! The current total is now $420. Please click here if you’re able to help inch us up to the $500 mark.

Read about the Mirabel Foundation here.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the Mamas! I do hope you were spoiled today and enjoyed lots of extra attention, kisses, cuddles, treats and gifts :-)

I got up nice and early this morning and made my way to the city for the Mother’s Day Classic fun-run. A friend and I met up and made our way to the starting line for the 4km run. Wow - there were HEAPS of people. The turn out was amazing (I think they estimated about 5000 people for the 4km event - there were kids as young as 7 running with their parents and there was one 70-year-old runner too!).

I’d never run that particular course before (The Tan track at the Alexandra Gardens) but it was easier than I had anticipated. The gorgeous sunshine emerged just a few hundred metres out from the finish line and I was stoked to have discovered that I had beaten my personal best time :-)

I highly recommend the experience to any of you that have been thinking about participating - good for your health and for a wonderful cause. You can make donations at any time to the National Breast Cancer Foundation here.

Thank you to Monique for the Eye Spy theme this week - Eye Spy What I Am Reading Now. I must admit that like Cindy, I have not had much time to spend on reading lately. Recent reading has consisted of property investment articles, how-to-sew clothes articles,  a huge amount of blog feeds and recipes :-)

And speaking of recipes, I tried out this recipe for Banana and Choc-chip bread. I didn’t have all the ingredients so I improvised - hence it turned out like a cake rather than bread:

But seriously, so delicious!!! I’m certain I’ll be making another one very soon as this one is quickly diminishing in size :-)

On the sewing front, there has been a little here and there but nothing finished just yet. I finally got started on the scrappy quilt I’ve been wanting to make for at least a year (ha!). I rummaged through my scraps last night and joined a few together. I have no quilt pattern in mind - I’m just going to keep joining scraps together and hope it doesn’t end up too much of an eye sore :-)

My plan is to spend 15 minutes on this a couple times a week and hopefully I will have a single-bed size quilt top soon!

Okay, off to make dinner. Hope you have a great week ahead!