This Week......Donate!

Alright, I'm running regularly three times a week and doing over twenty kilometres. I'm serious about my next big event-The City To Surf!

I need your help. Every year 42000 babies are born premature or unwell in Australia. 22000 of these babies need to be in the care of a Special Care Nursery or NICU. Miracle Babies Foundations help these families during their time in hospital and beyond. Miracle Babies helps families like mine during this often emotional and stressful times.

Jenson and I are running the C2S for Miracle Babies. We'll do the running and we would love for you to help us support the organisation that on day may help you, your family, your friend or someone you may know. 42000 babies is a lot of families who are affected by prematurity or their baby being born unwell, it is not something most people think about and cannot be planned for.

So if you could find a minute to please donate here we'd really appreciate it.

With all this running and the school year well and truly in full swing my poor body and mind is feeling weary. It is great to be having an extra day this weekend!

Quote for the week-

"What the world needs now is love, sweet love!"

I'm changing what I'm concerned about to On My Mind.

On My Mind (OMM) this week-

1. I'm going to have a teenager in my house as of next year and watching the news I'm watching teenagers involved in all sorts of things which make me shudder!
2.That it is early winter and it is already cold plus wet and it isn't much fun :(
3.It is taking half an hour of stretching a morning to get moving and to stop my back ache. I need a live in massage therapist :)
4. A man told me last night I only look 27 and too young to have 5 kids! This made very happy until I realised he was drunk and it was quite dark!

Have a good weekend everyone :)

This week......run for the hills!

Hills are currently the enemy. I view them with disdain as I attempt to climb them. I'm in a quandary as to how I can easily run up my driveway yet on race day I look at a hill and my legs become jelly. I heave myself, huffing and puffing up these giant mounds as other runners voice encouragement 'Keep going!' as they pass. One lady who suffers from the same predicament as I called out to the backs of some fit young guys 'Show offs!'. We smiled at each other and put our heads down to continue our struggle. It didn't really help us.

If not for the hills I'd be setting a good pace.Next weeks race is my favourite course as it has long gentle hills that you climb steadily and then roll all the way down. This to me is much better than suddenly having to take on a mountain!

Also this week we had to slosh through mud. Not once but numerous times. What surprises me on these runs is how I actually dive in and through these muddy bogs. I'm known to be a bit of a girl about these things but when I'm running it is a case of just get on with it, it is only mud! I feel like it is a real achievement to cross the finish line a bit grubby :)

In true Bless-ed family style and, yes, like life isn't busy enough we've accrued over the last month seven poddy calves! This entails extra work for us as they need to be bucket fed twice a day at 8am and 4pm. With winter upon us it is a getting to be a chilly undertaking! They're so cute though as you can see by the photo.

Quote of the Week- Inspiration from the Sound of Music (Climb Every Mountain)

Climb every mountain,
Ford every stream,
Follow every rainbow,
'Till you find your dream.

A dream that will need
All the love you can give,
Every day of your life
For as long as you live.


On to my concerns...let's see-

1. This is going to be a long cold winter.
2.Life is way too busy and really wonder how anyone ever gets everything done.
3. That my favourite daydream is to be running across the finish line of the City to Surf with Jenson. I really wonder how I'm going to keep up with him.
4. Entries open this weekend for the City to Surf and I have set an alert on my phone to remind me.
Am I obsessed?

This Week.......ok it's been a month or more!

Yep, well arrgh, righty, ahhh, yes, it's been a while. Life can be amazingly hectic at times.But I'm full of good news, good thoughts and motivation!

Running, I've been running! Some weeks 2 or 3 times and some weeks not all. After a week of no running I turned up at the Cross Country meet and pushed myself. Basically I pushed myself on the premise that I had fresh legs which were like jelly at the end and pulled up sore the next day to run a time not far off my best time for that distance for last year!

So with motivation I downloaded an app on my iPhone (I could write a whole post about how much I love my phone, in fact Apple should pay me for my enthusiasm about it's phone). Anyway I have this free, Aussie app and it is set for 14 weeks to the day of the Sydney City to Surf and I've begun the program it has planned for me.

I'm finding it great to have a course set out for me as I usually I plod along doing my own thing. Plus at this stage it all is a bit easy! Though my stomach turns when I sneak a peek and see weeks where I'll be running 30+ kilometres and I have to stop myself from panicking how I'll achieve it time and energy wise.I simply need to worry about it then!

All this planned running is giving me head time to think about my book. I have some fresh ideas about it though I'm awaiting for clarity if what I'm thinking is the right direction.

My quote for this week-

'Listen to your wise self. Let your inner compass direct the course of your life!'- Cheryl Richardson

What am I concerned About-

1. I love my daughter but some times I think we named her incorrectly as Harmony she is not! Currently she is loud, vibrant, pushy, emotional, beautiful, excited and occasionally borders on obnoxious.I heard that girls are different to boys but I hadn't planned on this!

2. That suddenly it is cold! Golden summer days are gone so I've posted a photo to it's memory :(

3.Not so much concerned but excited that I'm going to the Miracle Babies Ball at the end of the month!

Ok enough from me. Time to go running!

Cathryn

This week....ggrrrrr treadmill!

Ok, I admit defeat. I need to use my treadmill.

Well, yes I know, what is the use of having one if you don't use it. Sadly since Tia I loath it. It speaks confinement every time I look at it. "YOU are stuck inside" it screams as I eye it off when I walk pass. When I'm running my heart out on it, its like going no where and not very fast. I hide the time and distance under a towel and focus on the song or thought going through my head. Pound, pound, pound on the spot.

"Haha only 500 metres!" it laughs as I pull back the towel for a peek!

I want to run outside with the sun and wind. Or like yesterday with a soft misty rain sweeping my face keeping me cool and making me feel alive.

But to achieve my dream of running the City to Surf with my boy Jens I will have to put in some time on the mill.

I must conquer this resentment of confinement. I can't sit in my little office room with the door closed without getting up and opening it. My bedroom feels tight and cramped (probably because it is). I don't like being penned up anymore. Simple as that.

Ok so this week- 2 runs and 1 chiro appointment. The Chiro counts as he gives me a massage and helps me to be able to move!

Quote of the week- Forrest Gump

Jenny: Run Forrest Run!

Forrest starts running and breaks free of his leg braces.

Forrest: Now you wouldn't believe it if I told you. I could run like the wind blows. From that day on if I was going somewhere I was Running!

What am I concerned about-

1.Yet another week has passed with no work on my book.
2.My good friend who used to sit through the torture of swimming lessons with me has been replaced by Gravity Guy.
3.My daughter who loves dance lessons didn't attend this week as punishment and she didn't really care. So what's the point of that!?

Time to break free and be running,

Cathryn

Forgot My Quote for the Week

I think a little Louise Hay via Miranda Kerr is in order for the week. Spirituality mixed with high fashion who ever would've thought!

I am grateful for each day- Louise L Hay

I am grateful for who I am and who I am not
I am grateful for the life I have been given and for all that I have and for all that I don't. Every breath I take is a blessing and an opportunity to fully experience the sheer joy of being alive- Miranda Kerr on gratitude

My photo is of Miss 5 enjoy the beach on a beautiful summers day. She is so absorbed in the moment. So grateful to have captured a moment like that.

Happy Days :)

This Week.....ended with Gratitude

WoW....where have the last two weeks gone??

Recap- two weeks ago I was here on the farm with 4 kids awaiting the return of hubby from his and son no.3's trip to the States. On cue, my stoic grandma passes away the day he returns home. Here's my tribute. A beautiful lady with the grand age of nearly 94. Two days of madness with hand over of our business to dear hubby and a lot of packing and we're off for the weekend where I am left at my parents so I can attend her funeral while hubby and kids return home to attend school.

With a deep breath and I find myself in front of 100 people sobbing trying to exhale the bible readings. Unfortunately I am on the order of service directly after the tribute so tears are on mass! At one point I decide to surrender to the crying as holding back the tears is merely making the words a jumbled mess. So the congregation watches as I regain composure by letting it out, simply crying because I'm crying. Followed by sucking it up and doing a reasonable job of the second half.

Upon returning home I'm exhausted mess from dealing with all sorts of family matters and have to jump right back in and get on with my life.

So the last two weeks- 2 runs, 2 short stretching sessions. That's it! And somewhere in there I managed three uninterrupted hours on my book.....sigh.

What am I concerned about-

1. My iPhone died and I miss it.
2. My eyes are still twitching after two good sleeps.
3. I'm so far behind in my housework and washing it's ridiculous.
4. There's only 3 weeks of school left for this term.
5. Someone will make the mistake of asking me to do the bible reading at a funeral again.

As I look at my concerns I realise I really don't have any. As the news unfolds in front of me for the third night in a row showing mass devastation and destruction in Japan. My life is pretty bloody good!

Thanks and gratitude xo

Cathy

PS No photo as my phone has recently departed this planet....sigh.

This week

Saturday is officially my check in day.

This week I managed 1 run, 1 yoga session, and 1 bike ride. Not setting the world on fire but all equates to better than nothing!

Our business is fairly busy and keeping me on my toes. I'm nearly finished a 3 week stint without hubby and to be truthfully it is all starting to do my head in.

The kids are tired and all a bit off colour. The first weeks of the school year are taking a toll. We're going to lay low for the weekend.

My dreams are in the corner waiting.I did manage to pick up a book at the shops this week. Who Would You Be Without Your Story by Byron Katie. Interesting reading though in parts its a struggle.

Quote of the Week:

The Mad Hatter to Alice (Alice in Wonderland 2009)

"You are not the same as you were before. Before you were much more........muchier! You seem to have have lost your muchness.......in here (pointing at her heart)"

What am I concern about?

1. That I'm on the computer on Facebook and checking Facebook on my phone at the same time!

2.It's not quite 5pm and I'm sipping a G&T!

3.I found myself buying my undies in Woolies again as I'm running after my 5 so much I don't have time to go shopping in a decent store!

So that's me. How was your week?

Holding onto muchness,

:) Cathryn