Interviews galore

Ok, so they aren't all job interviews, although I have had a couple and live in hope that something will come soon (it has to be soon I only have a couple of weeks left in this job). The other interviews I've been doing is media/advertising. Before I start let me say it's awesome and I will post more articles as they are published but to say it's draining at a time I really need to keep positive is only the half of it.

There is no way I wouldn't do the interviews - if I can touch one person and get them behind the cause, how can it not be worth it? Emotionally though it's killing me. I've been in tears so many times at work, the emotions of losing Mum, losing my career in the Navy, losing my general health and losing my family don't need to be made all raw again but they are. On a positive, I guess I am getting better at handling them which can only make me stronger.

One of the things I needed to do for one article was to dig out the most recent picture of Mum and I - keep in mind she died in 1997, so it's not really "recent" per say. This is the picture and while it is pretty cute (as a few people have told me) it is double edged. I can see in my Mum's face how much pain she is in from her cancer (the smile on my face isn't half as bright as the one that use to eminate from hers) and the other sad element is that we didn't know it then, but the reason I was so sick and in hospital is that I had a tumor too. That was taken the day after my 20th birthday. I miss her horribly so.

On brighter news, my training is going well - loads of aches from lazy old muscles, so I must be getting fitter! I was able to run a full lap of bridge to bridge last week (around 5km) which I haven't been able to do for a couple of years and just as pleasing is that I can get up Mt Ainslie with a pack on without stopping (great given a couple of months ago with no pack I was stopping 2-3 times at least). 10 days from now I'll be doing the Canberra Times Fun Run - I hope to be able to get under 1hr10min, but I'll be happy to complete the course and more so if i can jog more than half of it.

So, if you haven't been to my fundraising page lately too, please check in - I've updated it and although it's still slow going to my target, it's still climbing!

Fit to train again!

So the rule with training now is back to "you can do anything that doesn't hurt"....lemme think about this! Ha ha ha. The team at Clinic 88 have been awesome - I'm getting the least amount of pain through my lower back than I've had during/post training since I hurt it in 97. Huge thanks to Steve (aka the Spatula) and Nicole (aka Knickers according to Spatula).

Today my not-so-athletic frame was published in "Inside Finance" - the internal newsletter for our agency. It's brought on some new supporters which is fantastic - despite knowing 1 in 2 people will get cancer and knowing that for each of those people there are 3 or more people directly affected by that person's diagnosis, I'm only just finding people who share my pain of losing my Mum.

Yesterday Jenn who is doing the same trip as me got in contact (I'm organising some trek training for the people travelling) and when I read her profile it was as if she was talking about my Mum: "I am running this race in memory of Great Aunt Mary, who passed away from pancreatic cancer 19 years ago. It's been 19 years and still we do not have a cure for this and other horrific forms of cancer! Aunt Mary was a strong, kind, caring, loud, funny but all-round loving woman and she inspired me greatly to be the same."...

It's been 13 years since my Mum of the same character died from pancreatic cancer and I think close to 35 years since my grandfather died (he died before I was born and my Mum died before seeing any of her grandchildren). I live how I think my Mum would be most proud of me which includes doing challenges like the one I am treating myself to - I've always wanted to go to Vietnam and what a way to do it!!

Anyway I best get off to the gym. I will try and get a bunch of pics up tonight when I get home from the gym.

Fi

Half way!

Well, another immensley busy week down. It's now 83 days since I started this blog and at the end of my very first post I had a tongue twister I was going to master (master criteria being able to say it three times reasonably quickly) during my training walks....I still can't spit it out! In case you're just joining me on my journey, here it is again:
A skunk sat on a stump. The stump thought the skunk stunk, the skunk thought the stump stunk. So which one stunk, the stump or the skunk?
Funny enough, I couldn't even type it just then, no wonder I can't say it yet!

So back to it being 83 days since I started, it's also 84 days till I fly out....I'm half way! Positives are that I made the August fundraising target, my iron has increased and I'm getting stronger. Negatives are that I'm only at 11% of my goal fundraising total, but I do have my two major initiatives to go. First up is the Degustation at the Green Herring on September 10th with wines matched and donated by Granitevale Estate (bookings at dego.fundraiser@mail.com, tickets are $100) - it's set to be a huge night and bookings are rolling in. Then, I have this Monday as an annual leave day to drum up the vouchers for the 100 Club and then I can register it with the ACT Government as a raffle (disappointed it's going to cost $111 for the registration, but I wanted to give blow out prizes). Tickets for that are $50 and limited to 100 tickets, so even if I have to buy all the prizes it will still be a huge boost to my fundraising.

Wednesday night I finally got to use the Gym at work - I got access a little while ago but couldn't find it! Turns out it's in the sub-basement not the basement.....Anyway, my friend Alex kindly held my hand navigating the corridors and we had a good little work out while it rained and blew a gale outside. My hip is settling so I gave it a little work out and focussed on my upper body instead. My Biceps are still killing but when I tried flexing them to see what the looked like, nothing seemed to happen! Although it was flexed, I had to use the fingers of my other hand to feel out the muscle they are so tiny!! Steve at Clinic 88 just laughed when I showed him, but as a boxer he has well defined arms anyway so I he was always going to giggle himself silly.

So that's it for today! I'm working all weekend this weekend so training will be light again, but the cash all goes to paying for my trip so that is important too. Next mission on that front is to seek out a corporate sponsor - running out of time to get a new job before I go and desperately worried I might have to borrow the money to pay for my travel & have a bit of spare cash!

Crazy times!

Wow...I have been so flat out I didn't realise 2 weeks have passed since I blogged!

So, my magic list...erm...well hasn't progressed much unfortunately but it's time to update it anyway:
1. Dego - booked for 10 Sept, advertising underway and 20 out of 74 seats look to be gone already. Please send me an email at coachmcfi at yahoo in Aus and I will send the invite out to you.
2. 100 Club - I am taking next Monday off to traipse around and sort the vouchers out. Need to design the tickets.
3. Race Partner - still solo...someone must be interested!
4. New job - still job hunting :(
5. Fund raising tins - Cure Cancer have some fundraising tins on order which they are happy to send me down. Need to organise to fundraise at DFO and maybe one of the Duathlons.

Injuries and illness have grabbed hold of me again in the form of a strained hip and a head cold. Still not as bad as cancer and so I march on to November 6 :)

Rollin', rollin', rollin'....

That's the song ringing through my head at the moment although all I can remember beyond that bit as far as words go is "keep them...la la lala....something something something Rawhide!"

I don't have a rawhide, but I did make it to the $1000 target late yesterday which is a huge relief! My interview yesterday was ok, but I let my nerves get me a little and in a moment of babbling told them how I'd run out of tasks in my job and in a moment of boredom had stolen my boss' orange and held it for ransom till he gave me some more to do.....funny ha ha - yes, funny peculiar and not appropriate for an interview - definitely. They had asked how long until I finished working here - hope they see the funny ha ha side of my answer!

Yesterday I started writing to businesses asking for help with fundraising. I also wrote to the social club at work asking for their assistance and was surprised and giddy with prospective excitement when I got a call from the Vice Pres who just wanted to know when I was travelling - fingers crossed they might be able to help me do some fundraising!

Tonight I have an appointment with one of the PTs at the AIS to get a program but it also dawned on me today that once I've rebuilt some fitness I can start training with Sarah (another triathlon coach who has a great group of long distance/HIM/IronMan athletes which is where I'd like to get to and where I have sent a few people I used to coach). Looking forward to one day getting up to the level needed to train with that group!

Slowly coming together

So looking back at my list the other day of things to do:

1. Casino Royale - it was a brill night as you would've read in my last post.
2. Dego - tentative date is Friday 10 Sept. Will be confirmed on Monday
3. 100 Club - time to start writing letters...had hoped to get a local radio station involved in the advertising but they are doing another person's trek the next two months :P
4. Race partner - had a sniff from a friend but I think they are just too snowed under at the moment.
5. New Job - I have an interview this afternoon which is very promising.

Other good news is that my fundraising is finally starting to get some traction. I need to hit the $1000 mark by the start of August and I am only $80 off :) Yay :)

So here's hoping my next up date will include me saying I made the $1000 mark and that I have a new job and that the 100 club is underway with prizes coming in!

"My sides hurt!"

That was the most accurate call of Saturday night's Casino Royale antics. Pussy Galore was laughing so hard at one stage she gasped between giggles "My sides hurt from laughing!"

We started the evening with a potent cocktail that would render anyone incapable of driving and so you can imagine how our poker skills progressed from there. Thankfully our host come bar tender come croupier was on hand to make sure the game flowed.

All guests we assembled and advised that Mr Bond would not be joining us as he had been murdered and the assassin was someone within the room. Everyone was issued their clues to who wasn't the murderer and what wasn't the weapon and then it was all down to who was the best sluth. Detectives perused all the possible weapons in the eveidence room while some others settled at the poker table for a battle of wits. Those not playing poker assembled in the bar (around the kitchen bench) regaling each other with hilarity while carefully scoping out the opposition. In the end, there was a bit of a rush to guess the right answer with Xenia Onatopp (aka Tia) taking out the coveted prize of Detective Extraordinairre. Camille Montes (Peta) was not only the murderer but also won the Poker Challenge and Jaws (Paul) took out best actor for both his acting and his efforts to look the part. Most entertaining award though would have had to go to Solitaire (Sophia) who had us all in fits of laughter with her breezy enjoyment of all aspects of the evening (especially betting on the craps table).

All in all it was a great night. We raised $230 to go towards the research undertaken by those sponsored by Cure Cancer Australia which is a good effort.

Words can't encapsulate my gratitude to Steve and Dee not only for coming up with the idea, but all of the artwork, the food and the willingness for them to open up their house for the evening. It was amazing from having Bond movies theme music playing in the "bar" and Casino Royale being projected on the wall in the lounge near by the poker table to their efforts to accommodate the non-vegetarian guests (the fake ham in the cheese and ham triangles had everyone fooled as did the fake sausages in the mini sausage rolls). The evidence room was brilliant with 13 weapons ranging from nerve gas (in a scuba tank) to a voodoo doll and a sexual torture chair equipped with handcuffs and a whip. There were hand painted pictures of playing cards on the walls, helium balloons and everyone had their own name badge (with the funniest being Nick's which read as "Mr Big - Nick" for which many of us had to look twice on reading it. All details were covered with guests getting a character brief, chips and a packet of cards they could take home to practice their poker skills. There was nothing our fine hosts didn't cover and I just can't thank them enough.

We took a couple of shots which I will get on here shortly so you can all have a giggle.

Back in the swing

At the start of the blog of my journey I promised a no holes barred/honest report. I think you can see that you've got that so far!!

Although I don't know how I am going to get there, I am striving ahead with my plan to do this trip. If I have to go back to retail/hospitality/cleaning work then so be it. Likewise if I have to sell my car to fund it that's ok too - I'm loving taking the bus to work (it almost feels like I'm back living in Sydney/Newcastle!).

Last night I finally did my first gym class at the AIS - by all reports from the regulars it was the hardest they've done in the last couple of years and I couldn't have picked a worse night! They welcomed me with open arms though, getting me through all the terminology for each activity and although I was completely demolished by the end of the session I was heartily satisfied.

Yesterday also saw me get good news from the doctor - my iron levels have returned to "normal" (with normal being what the average non active person should be). It was enough for him to give me the green light to ramp up my training from the occassional light session to gradually smashing myself. I do need to up my vitamin D intake for the next 4 months and I do need to stay with the iron tablets for at least the next 3 months, but I can drop the dose of that to one tablet/day now. So now it's just up to Steve the super huge boxing soft tissue therapist (that being the only thing soft about the guy who is 6"10' and 127kg) to give me the green light on power work using my shoulder.

As it stands I've had a significant blow with my job/income status being very shakey, but I've been waiting 2 years to get my iron levels out of the "reserves" - it was literally sitting between 12 and 18 and now has jumped to 79 - so that news is huge as it was the one thing that would physically prevent me from doing this trip. My resting heart rate has even come down from 76 3 weeks ago to 70 - what does that mean? It means I'm getting fitter and that my heart is starting to be more efficient. When I was at peak fitness, I sat generally between 48 leading into the end of the season and 52 at my laziest part of the off season. Still a way to go yet, but happy to be making some progress on the health front.

Things to do:

• this weekend is the Casino Royale night
• still need to finalise the degustation date which has moved back to early September
• still need to get prizes for the 100 club raffle
• still need to find a race partner
• still need to find a new job

Offers of assistance very welcome! :)

All over red rover

It's been a sad couple of days after a lot of soul searching but it does appear that my challenge is over. When I made the decision to take on the challenge it was with a number of factors in mind - I had a team mate to take on the challenge with; I was going into a much better financial position and so it was part of a social responsibility; I had been improving in my health; and, my studies were looking to be strong.

Now, I don't have a team mate, I am still sick, my job has fallen over (the work I did drove the change to abolish my position - go figure, you can actually do yourself out of a job by working hard) and the subject of my research paper for uni has lost interest in my studies.

So it's back to survival mode where I just have to find a way to get through the day while saving as much money as I can until I catch the next wave of stability - turns out this wave was a huge flop. My mindset has changed from the beautiful mantra Jason gave me a few days ago to this - Life's Lessons: Hope only ever leads to devastation. When you're on your own it just sucks.

I'm back in the office today attempting to hold it together in the knowledge that I only have a few weeks left here and yet I am working on future engagement strategies - an insane waste of energy given they are scaling back engagement and yet it fits so well with the APS's ability to maintain bureaucracy for the sake of bureaucracy.

Living as a blue collar born and bred in the white collar world is just too hard when you have no-one to help you up when you're feeling down or being fucked over. So it's time to return to the ranks of unskilled labour where people tell it how it is rather than get your hopes up for something that was never going to be. I wish they never found my tumor and that it ran its course - my life has been a series of battles and failures ever since and yet I'm told I should be grateful I still have it? I have nothing to be proud of and even less to be grateful for.

Let the pain begin!

Sure, I know, the title should be in the vein of all things sporting and good and thus read "let the games begin" but as far as fitness, if there is one thing I've always been terrible at, it's my abs. When I was younger they were always just there and were pretty strong/good (as you would expect of someone who was active). Since I hurt my back....whoa...different story.

Tonight we're off to do "TO THE CORE"...eek! My panic is starting to set in as I realise I am about to kill myself with exercise. I was going to see Steve the super giant soft tissue guru in the morning, but now I am riding my bike to work so the editor from "Inside Finance" (our dept's internal newsletter) can take a picture of me on my bike to go with an article about this trip. Not sure which activity tomorrow morning would've been worse, but needless to say I need the exercise.

My cold is finally starting to dissipate and I'm beginning to get some energy back even though my eyes/head is telling me to sleep. I'm getting through work by rocking out to the Glee albums on my iPod and am limiting myself to one coffee in the morning and a chai latte in the afternoon so I get a better sleep at night (so the theory goes). I couldn't sleep on saturday night because of the mess in my house - I am working every day now until the Casino Royale fundraising night and my house is still not organised and nor is the spare bed built (the room is working great as my chinese laundry drying space at the moment!). Although Jamie and Pip are old friends from my ADFA days I can't have them sleeping in a messy house! So one night at a time I am going to start the clean up. Tonight is the smallest room but the most loaded - the understair storage closet....bring it on! Sore abs and all :P

mmmm...swimming....

The swim yesterday was brill! My first time back in the 50m and I'd forgotten how lovely the AIS main pool was. It was so good DJ and I went back for more today and Dee and Steve joined us. Earlier today Steve, Dee and I all joined the AIS gym too. It's a great deal - $57/month for as many classes as you like. You have to go out there to pay which sounds like a hassle but it isn't - if you're away or you don't get out there by the time you're due to pay, you just pay the next time you're there. So for now my payments are due on the 10th of each month, but when I go away on the trip I don't arrive home until 2weeks after that so I just pay then and it'll start from that date (say the 24th) and run to that date and no longer to the 10th. Does that make sense?

So on Monday we're doing "To the core" and on wednesday I'll do my first spin class ever - super excited and super crapping my pants at the same time! I'm so glad to have compression gear to get me through it. Tomorrow it's off to work at DFO again and then back to the pool for a swim and well earned spa. Right now though it's off to bed - this keeping healthy stuff is well tiring!

Oh, forgot to mention that I spoke to my Uncle William and Aunt Pauline today over skype. It was so good to see them (first time in 18 months) and was a welcome boost to have a chat with them.

Persevere and allow mind to defeat matter!

Yesterday I nearly gave up. I'm so exhausted between work, uni, training and fundraising all I ever want to do is sleep. It's now 6 weeks into my challenge and as strange as it sounds I still have an inkling that my Mum is pulling strings from the other side to keep me going.

Dee had her citizenship ceremony today and it was just lovely to see her all sparkly with excitement. I have vague recollections of my parents becoming Australians when I was young and it was really nice to be able to share that with Dee again today. I came back to work trying to hang onto the positive vibe and on opening my email I had a message from a lady who works for the same agency as me but she is in another building and I have never met her. She saw my advert on the intranet looking for a team mate and wanted to reach out and encourage me on my challenge. I melted.

Shortly after I checked my fundraising page and my friend Jase made a very generous donation. He's overseas and we haven't spoken in a few weeks, but I dropped him an email thanking him and he said he'd meant to do it weeks ago but forgot and wrote himself a note yesterday to make sure he did it today. His timing was impeccable as it always is :)

Jase also set me a challenge of getting my shoulder and fitness sorted out by getting strong and fit enough to swim 1km non-stop as the first step (not an unfamiliar thing for me as a swim coach, but I've only been doing about 200-500 non stop the last few times I've been in the water so I don't over do it on the shoulder) and the second step is to join him and his training partner's challenge of getting under 18minutes for the km. They started at 20mins, so that is my second challenge once I'm up to the full km. So it's back into the pool tonight!

Thank you Jase and thank you for the mantra: "Persevere and allow mind to defeat matter!"

What's the point?

No one really gives a damn about anything these days, so what's the point in caring? Everyone is looking for donations for this that and the next thing and most all of them have a really important cause. My challenge is just another cause in the mix but one that I give a damn about. I just wish I knew how to help people see they are saving their own futures not just mine.

Where is all this coming from? I'm still sick with a cold - 4 weeks now and why? The tumor I had changed the way my body works. My stomach freaks out at almost everything I eat, I don't absorb iron very well at all, I'm vitamin D deficient and yet I get out in the sun/daylight and take suppliments. I'm completely wrecked from this cold but without iron I'm completely wrecked anyway. And who cares? Honestly no one really does. Why should they? Everyone has their own lives to deal with and in reality who do I have? A blog no one reads and a teddy bear who is in bear hospital because I hold him so tight when I cry he's falling apart.

Dee, Steve, DJ, Paul and Mars obviously all care and have been great trying to help me raise funds and Mary is letting me live in her house at a rental rate massively below the market rate, so I can't really complain. But when you're always sick it just really sucks and it's hard to stay positive all the time. I'm one week short of having my period for 6 months. When you don't absorb iron that doesn't really help. I'm always tired and I always have to be strong. Cancer stole my mum and with it knowledge of my youth that only she had, my only source of strength, the one person I would always look up to and who would never fail me. Cancer has also reduced my health, my happiness and my will - I fight every day to find a reason to keep going.

What's the point? No one should have to feel the way I do. I wish people could see by helping to find a cure they are helping themselves. Cancer affects 1 in 3 people. 300 Australians are diagnosed every day. I wish I could just make it all go away, for me, for the 300 who were diagnosed today, for the 300 who will be diagnosed tomorrow and for everyone living with cancer. We need a cure for all cancers. Do you see the point? Anyone?

Back into it

Sun glorious sun! The AIS pool let us down again this morning, so after a coffee we did a 40min walk before jumping in the dragon boats. I've almost got paddling sorted as far as timing, but have a lot of strength, fitness and technique to sort out. Sweeping was ok.

The house is getting organised and soon I'll be able to focus more on fundraising. In the morning it's back to jogalong - last month I did it in 50mins & 9secs so I hope to drop a minute or two but I am still sniffly & coughing, so we'll see.

Today was a good day - let's hope we all have many more to come thanks to the team at Cure Cancer.

Strapping, Swimming and Sweeping

Blah! I've already missed a day - told you I was crap at keeping a diary! In my defence, work was pretty full on yesterday and as it was I didn't get dinner until 10pm (more on that later).

Today I conned Steve (the brute fixing my shoulder) to let me swim tonight and sweep in a dragon boat in the morning. He said yes on one proviso - he was going to strap up my shoulder. To say it's just a little bit would be an understatement....I can't bring my elbow close in to my body or raise my arm above my head. I got to the pool only to find out a swim school kid had an "accident" in the pool and they had to close it! I'm all strapped up with no where to go. We're hoping to jump into the water in the morning if the 25m is open again before going of to HaGs training where I am going to start learning how to sweep a Dragon boat. I'll see if I can get a picture or two of my shoulder - it's incredibly well strapped up!

Last night I cooked my first ever lasagne with another virgin lasagne maker - we rocked! Steve the Brute though wants some left overs next time and given he's freed my back up so much already (making it easier for me to train) it's the least I can do. For now though, it's off to bed - I'm exhasted

iPhone, iPad, iSponsor?

Time is counting down until they release the iPhone 4th Gen in Australia and I can't wait to get mine so I can start playing with it. My big hope is that I'll be able to blog with it when I am away without having to lug around a laptop instead. If it's not winning me over to do that I'm going to look at getting an iPad - if I can afford it (even on the student rates it's expensive but it'd be good for uni as well).

It got me thinking too about the degustation night. I wanted to have something that people could fill in to donate to Cure Cancer and eventually decided I'd have my laptop. I mentioned it to my colleagues and one of them suggested getting hold of Apple and seeing if they would donate an iPad for my trip to blog on but as I sat through one of two of the most time wasting meetings I've ever had today (2 in one day...rediculous!) and I watched a client with his work iPad it hit me - why not ask if I can borrow enough to have one on each table at the Degustation for people to be able to donate online while having a play with an iPad and also having a look at my website? Fingers crossed that in weeks to come I will hear back from Apple in Sydney and that they will say they will loan me several iPads.

Fingers crossed team!

Dear Diary...

Yesterday I confessed that I've never been any good at keeping a diary - although the times that I tried make for much entertainment and embarrassment now (and that's without even letting anyone read them!). So in an effort to step it up a little here, I am going to try and blog every day for a week, then try taking it out to two and by then I hope to be in the habit of keeping you up to date and keeping myself organised.

It's now nearly 3 weeks since I moved into my new HQ/home and I still haven't unpacked because it's also nearly 3 weeks since I got this damn cold. As I mentioned yesterday I got an appointment pointment with the doctor today and while I had planned to go to work this morning then to the GP then back to work, I am soooooo glad I stayed in bed and got some extra shut eye. My throat has lost most of it's fire today, but I'm chilled and achy all over (would rather be like that because I trained in the cold!). I'm now armed with anti-biotics and super strength Vitamin C. I then toddled off to get some blood work done to see where my iron, vitamin D and thyroid function is at - ever since I had that first tumor out this has been a regular exercise just because none of the three behave themselves.

Good things that came out of the visit - I was a good girl and finally asked about my heart issues from when I was having trouble walking up Mt Ainslie. My GP, Richard (who was also one of my doctors when I was in the military and had the tumor and hurt my back), gave me the good news that it's most likely because my iron is low. He said we can't ignor the weak valve in my heart and that I'm probably due to go back to the caridolgist for a check up but he doubts that it's the problem. My resting HR was up to 76 today which really shows how much fitness I've lost - when I had a decent fitness it was around 50. SO.....when I kick this cold it's back to lots of cardio training.

Speaking of cardio training - two things: one I got the certificate from Richard so I can use the work gym; and two, I met with a client a few weeks ago and when we were introduced she asked me if I Zumba....RANDOM!! Having said that and also being possibly a little over cooked on the infomercials today, I was wondering if I should give it a go. Heck knows I have no solo dance moves anyway! What do you think? Actually, not sure if anyone is actually reading this yet, but if you are what do you think about Zumba? Fun? Fad? Gimmick? Worth a go? Any thoughts?

5 weeks down

So, 5 weeks into my training and where am I at? Well I still haven't got on a bike - so not looking forward to breaking in my butt bones again! My walking/jogging/running has been progressing well but slowly. Unfortunately I am still fighting colds/tonsilitis. Thanks to some prodding from my boss and my pal DJ, I'm off to the doc in the morning.

Meanwhile I found myself today trying to explain to our director why it is that people blog. For me, I'd like to know people are supporting me in my quest to take on cancer in my own way - I'm not a doctor/researcher, I'm not part of a support agency - so I decided I can raise money to help those who can do something. I then I started relaying the story of a movie I watched about a girl who did a similar thing in that she set herself a challenge (12 months compared to my 5) and blogged about it - she was much more diligent than I (I've tried about 20 times or more to keep a diary...I suck) though and did actually blog every day and ended up with loads and loads of followers. That then led to an article being written and then of course the movie that I am watching again as I blog tonight.

So because I am sick and sooky I am also going to indulge on your reading patience and share that I miss my Mum. There are so many times that I miss her - cherishable moments with my friends that I just can't tell her about (things like Steve and Dee rocking up on Saturday morning, getting me out of bed and taking me to the Pancake Parlour for breakfast). I miss her of course when I'm not feeling well and I just want her to hold me and sing to me. I miss her when I fancy a new boy and want her approval or when I do something awesome (which of course is all the time! Ha ha). The hardest ones are when I see/experience something I know she would've loved or that is just so her. I wish I had some scanned pictures of her - she was such a lunatic and compassionate and organised and giving of all that she could. My Mum was amazing.

Dego Date Done!

I met Pam's lovely husband Max today and we set a preliminary date for Saturday 14 August for the Degustation night. Unfortunately it coincides with the Aus Dragon Boat Federation Australian Team Selections which I'd been keen to be involved with to help with my uni work...I am sure I can figure something out there.

Cost will be somewhere around $100, so keep the date free, venue is The Green Herring at Gold Creek Village. We have 70 seats to fill so spread the word!

Fi

So tired....

This morning I had the plan to run the Canadian Fun Run for Cancer sticking to the same plan I had for the Jogalong 2 weeks ago - 2 mins on, 3 mins off and I predicted it'd take about 45 mins but was hoping to do less. I smashed it in 38:53. I deviated slightly from my plan, jogging 7.5mins and walking 2.5 mins recovery. My shoulder was a bit uncomfortable and my lungs were chock a block with snot, but it felt good (even better when I had the pancakes with maple syrup and cup of tea at the end with Steve and Dee - who were also near the end of the course cheering me on which felt awesome, oh and let's not forget that Steve made an awesome faux butter chicken and chai tea for my pre-race dinner).

Tonight I am knackered. My feet kill, my butt muscles ache, oddly my shoulder blades/lats are achey too. My lungs are still goey (I have the sexiest wheeze going on when I breathe deep) but I feel satisfied. Imagine how I am going to feel once I get on this adventure? Today was 5km run and 6 hours working (another reason my feet hurt) and I feel warm and fuzzy for having done something directly, on my own to help people with Cancer. I know every day at the moment I am doing something by getting ready for this trip and coordinating the fundraising - oh wait till I tell you what my new fundraising idea is! Oh wow! Now I remember why my shoulder blades might be aching....Oh it all makes sense too because the right one is more sore than the left!

Yes Steve, I accept your verdict that I am a tool sometimes! After dinner last night we played 100 pin ten pin bowling and golf on their Wii.....lemme think about why my right shoulder blade is achey....Der me! Which leads me to my new idea - I was at the Australian Open a couple of years ago with my gorgeous girlfriend Di. Amongst all the activities in the gardens outside centre court, they had a contest for Wii tennis. It was pretty funny and it was hard not to want to help the people playing. I'm not sure if I know enough people who have a Wii and I don't know how I would get enough projectors or a venue big enough, but I am thinking of holding a Wii extravaganza - 5 challenges $20 entry fee, prizes to the top 3. I'm so excited already!

First thing is first though - need to get through Casino Royale, get the degustation underway (meeting tomorrow) and then start work on the 100 Club raffle. Soooo much to be done!

Nighty night all!

Another week down

Most of my week was lost to a cold as far as training goes, but I did manage to find the pedometer Marty gave me late last year and I notched up 7503 steps today (not counting several laps up and down the stairs this morning!). I know it's supposed to be a goal of 10,000 steps per day, but I will so out do that on Sunday when I run the 5km Canada Fun Run for Cancer and then back up to work a 6 hour shift at Jacqui-E, so I'm not worried about missing that target today.

Tomorrow I pick up the last couple of things from my old place but not until I've had a nice sleep in. After that it's back to hit the trails, the plan being to walk the equivalent of the City to Surf. Yes I do note that the following day I'm planning to do another 5km and that I have been sick all week, but City to Surf is now only 7 weeks away. So the plan is to jog/walk the 6km trail (still doing the 2min on 3 min off regime), then walk up the walking track to the top lookout and jog back down (4km and meant to simulate Heart Break Hill), then back onto the trail for the 4km jog/walk. I'd planned to do it over the long weekend last weekend, but the cold got the better of me by Sunday afternoon as I was finishing up for the day at J-E.

Anyone wanna come?

What a week!

Before I get onto this week, GUESS WHAT?? Max and Pam from the Green Herring Restaurant in Gold Creek here in the ACT are going to host the Degustation Night Fundraiser. I am completely thrilled! BRING IT ON!! Pam and I used to work together late last year (we're both still with the same firm, just different contracts). I'm really pleased I can get the name of their restaurant out there at the same time as raising money for Cure Cancer.

So last saturday was huge! I moved from my bedroom into Mary's house (Mary is overseas for a couple of years). Mary's cat Ming, aka skitty kitty named so because she has no want to know humans, is here to keep me company...as much as a skitty kitty can! Actually, it's now Thursday night and she meowed to me for the first time ever.

The move went well and I am in progress of unpacking - this is going to take some time partly because I have a lot of crap which is also still being cleared out but also partly because on Sunday I started coming down with a cold which has wiped me out all week. In one of the awesome changes my body has undergone over the last few years, I seem to be unable to absorb iron, so even little colds wipe me out energy wise. This one is a little one though, but my glands and tonsils are up which is somewhat uncomfortable.

Great things though have been Steve and Dee brought me over dinner on Saturday night to save me from trying to cook something and we played games late into the night. Sunday I bought a new cook set and cutlery set (first non-supermarket ones bought from proper kitchen store). Monday I got to watch the end of season one of Glee thanks to a friend bringing it over in exchange for dinner (which I couldn't taste but had left overs tonight and it really was good!).

Sunday is a big day coming up - the Canadian Embassy is hosting the Canada Fun Run for Cancer. Of course I'll be there with bells on and a few of my friends are running too. The best part of that event though is the free pancakes with proper maple syrup - really makes the physical challenge more enjoyable. Although I wanted to do the 10km, I think I'm going to have to stick to the 5km.

Come out and join us if you are in town and haven't made plans for Sunday morning - You can walk the course!

One more sleep

Tomorrow I move into what is to become HQ for my challenge. What an awesome end to a challenging week! Soon my bike will be set up on a windtrainer so I can belt out the kms without freezing myself to death or risking the icy roads with the crazy drivers.

Unless my girlfriend Deciana decides to move early (she may not actually move into the spare room but I live in hope because she'd be an awesome flate mate and her company would be comforting and inspiring - I have some amazing friends I'm sure you'll get to hear about the next few months), I'll even have an office to get myself sorted and strategise maximum fundraising planning and execution.

Just now Casino Royale is bubbling along with almost all the spots filled. The next big body of work is getting all the prizes for the 100 club. What is the 100 club I hear you ask? 100 tickets at $50 each. You have a better than 1 in 5 chance of winning the equivalent of your ticket back with 21 prizes on offer from $50 vouchers to the biggest of a $500 prize pack.

So, as I sign off tonight, I hope you've had a good week; for those in Aus I hope you have a lovely Long Weekend.

Storm before the calm

The saying goes "Calm before the storm" so can there also be a storm before the calm? Thankfully there is 5 months before I head off on the Asia Challenge because this last 2 weeks have been so topsy turvy it'd make anyone's head spin!

Status of everything as of today:
Home: I am moving house in less than 48 hours. I've just dumped some things off at my new place so that I have more space to pack up my room/dismantle my bed etc. - training benefits: I've been lifting heavy things, running them out to my car in the cold and running back in.
Work: My contract has been extended 3 months which gives me a bit of breathing space to find something more permanent - training benefit: I'm less stressed/more upbeat so more active.
Training: I have a session in the pool later tonight which will help me sleep better tonight.
Emotions: Running high!

The media release has stirred up how strongly I miss my Mum. Today Bruce came back and asked a couple of simple questions - when did my mum die and what was her full name. Not a hard pair of questions, but it reduced me to tears. At that point today I knew that work was offering me a 3 month extension, but I didn't know how much I was going to be paid (moving from a contractor to a non-ongoing public servant). Either way it was going to be a pay drop, but I had no gague for how much. They were kind enough to offer me the highest pay point in the bracket so while it's a significant drop, it's $12k more than I could've been dropped to, so I am breathing a huge sigh of relief (the drop makes it a bit harder for me to cover my travel expenses on my own, but with a bit of creative budgeting at home I hope I can still have some spending money at the end for a few days R&R.

Starting to move house is very satisfying. I'm looking forward to not having to coordinate bathroom times in the morning and not running out of hot water too; walking around the house in my jammies and let's face it walking around the house in general rather than just renting a bedroom! The whole clearing things out/recycling/cleaning etc of course is all satisfyingly theraputic.

So, off to the pool to coach DJ and give my shoulder a little work out too :)

Hope you've had a constructive day too!

Short and sweet tonight - given my training was likewise. Actually it was non-existant. Today was a sleety day in Canberra and with a hold up in my gym access (need a doctor to clear my shoulder before I can train in there) there was no way I was going to frolick around in the bitter cold and have my back seize up. Instead I kicked over some admin for the trip, so I didn't completely waste my time.

At lunchtime today, the temp was a bitter 6.2degrees celcius. There was also a cool breeze just tipping it to be colder. By 3pm it was down to 5.5 and just now (11:20pm) it's a lovely 4.2 (we have cloud cover tonight so thankfully it's not dropping too fast).

A quick check of the snow cams showed Thredbo is finally getting some coverage which is good given the ski season starts this weekend!

Ok, fingers are getting cold outside the doona, so that's all for tonight folks!

A big day - the word is going out in a huge way

Today I was contacted by Bruce Heilbuth who is working on a press release about the Asia Challenge. He asked if he could write the piece using my story as a centre piece to the article.

This whole thing, my challenge, my want to do a tribute to my mum, my hope that no one has to hear the words "You have cancer and there is nothing we can do", my hope that I can inspire others to do something to contribute to the Cure Cancer Australia Research Foundation cause - the whole thing is so important to me I am willing to do anything needed. This afternoon Mr Heilbuth and I talked over the phone and I gave him a little more info about me.

Before I go on, I need to talk a bit about my Mum. My Mum was Janet Lyle McWhinnie (nee Warnock) aka Mrs Mc, OoraPoora (aboriginal for Magpie - a name bestowed on her by the local Girl Guide community as she had "ash blonde" hair), Jan, China (my godmother called her that as Aussie rhyming slang for best mate is China plate), Janny Mc (our friend Dixie and his son Michael called her that), there are many names she was known by and all very affectionate. At her funeral, there wasn't enough space in the church for everyone who came to mourn her passing. You see, although my family didn't have much (like many we were doing it tough but ok) but there are always people doing it harder. Mum worked full-time from when I was about 8, but in her down time when she wasn't running around after her own family, Mum was doing stuff for everyone else.

There was very little Mum didn't get involved in - School and Church fete's, car washes and golf days for our Marching Band, the Door Knock Appeal, Cash-a-can (showing my age there!). You name it, Mum would help as much as she could. One of the funniest/most embarrassing fundraisers was one she did with our Primary School P&C. All the male school teachers were dressed as women, the Mum's from the P&C were dressed as men and they acted out a Dolly Parton classic with a spin on the name of "The best little whorehouse in Beresfield". I was in 2nd grade at the time, my sister was in grade 5. Mum being the ringleader of the play and also being well endowed naturally played the part that Dolly played in the original. I know we had a video for a while, but I was never old enough to watch it and now that I am it's no where to be found. Kids were involved in the event by doing the art work (a whole pile of painted blue tarpaulines). The theatre was the school quadrangle - I've no doubt nothing like that had ever happened before and never will.

Mum also made time for us. When we were younger, if it was a good week, Mum will have snuck kingston biscuits and hot water and milk into the car and after church we'd go to the Bolwarra lookout and have tea and kingston biscuits (I still love them). The lookout has a view over the flood plains/farming fields near where we lived. Another thing she did from time to time was to read the Readers Digest short stories to us. Aside from the magazines they produce, they also had hard backs and Mum would read us the stories. She really could make them come to life and it is something I hope to impart one day.

Around the time Mum read us these stories, I had started getting interested in Journalism and I did my work experience with the local rag. Mum was proud of me and I told her "Who knows, maybe one day I'll replace Mr Helibuth as editor of Readers Digest and you can put together a hard back of your favourites." Mum suggested I should get the current editors name right first and we had a giggle about what a heli-buth would be, settling on a cross between a bus and a helicopter with a lisp.

Of course, the editors real name was Bruce Heilbuth - the same man that contacted me today about the press release he's writing for Cure Cancer Australia. Let me ask you - are you thinking what I'm thinking? Freaky. Part of me wonders if Mum is looking down on me and pulling the strings, another part of me laughs and wonders which one of my friends can work out the stats on that connection?

The rest of my day can only be described as busy and intense - Steve belted my shoulder about this morning (he's not a meanie - my back is improving as is my shoulder), I got to work and had one job opportunity sent through that would be great if I'm selected even though it's still contract work. Later my Director confirmed that they can't extend my current contract but they can offer me 3 months non-ongoing work as a public servant which has potential to be made ongoing but no guarantee and would mean I'd be turning my back on the firm who got me the contract in the first place - I have no idea what to do just now. It would be ace if just now I actually had people following this blog who could post a pile of thoughts on what they would do work wise if they were in my shoes.

Since my chat with Mr Heilbuth, I've been wound up and teary. After work I went out to DFO, picked up my hiking boots and rode home. Once I was home I realised I had a voicemail message on my phone and when I listened to it there was a lovely message from Lorainne at Cure Cancer Foundation asking me if I would be ok with being involved in a press release about the Asia Challenge. I wish I'd checked my phone earlier so I could call back and let her know Mr Heilbuth and I had already talked but then as I thought that, panic started setting in. What if the piece leaves people thinking I'm more than I am? I'm just a daughter who aches because she misses her Mum horribly every single day and who just wanted to turn the hurt into something positive.

There are things in my story that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy - toture, torment, bastardisation at the hands of others who could at the time that I lost my Mum. Selfish public servants who at different times in my career who have taken advantage of my naieve want to believe everyone is fundamentally a good person and when I wound up suffering for their selfishness I had no Mum to turn to and never will be held safe in her arms again. In amongst the bad has been some amazing things that I've been fortunate enough to experience (including most recently my old boss taking me for a hot air balloon ride with compliments of his new firm). The highs have been very high and the lows equally low, but I know there are so many others who have had a worse deal of cards in life than I have and so I feel responsible to stand up and do something because I still can. It doesn't make me special. I'm just trying to help.

Today 300 Australians were told they have cancer, tomorrow there will be 300 more and yesterday another 300 were heart broken with the same news. We owe it to all of them and all that are yet to be hit by this pig of an illness to help the researchers find a cure.

Catch up

So I've been lazy with my blog, but I do have some good reasons:
1. I've been training most days
2. I started a new job
3. I am moving house this weekend
4. I've been coaching & covering shifts in my old line of work

So, my apologies for not keeping you up to date, but let me catch you up on everything.

Since I last blogged, I've done several walks up Mt Ainslie with varied success. I've also been on a few runs and swims (which I finally confessed to my physio today but he is pleased with the progress of my shoulder).

Summary of my Ainslie walks - I've was joined by my friend Derek on one walk which I made it all the way to the top without stopping which was pleasing given my first attempt I had to stop twice and was pretty shattered that I had appeared to have lost so much fitness. Next time I headed out, poor DJ joined me. It was raining and we got soaked which was fun and we hit the AIS pool and spa to warm up which was great. The downside was that I had to stop three times which was really flattening. I'd found my ventolin and used it in hope that it would save the day but it seemed to make no difference.

The whole lack of fitness thing was getting embarrassing - I am after all a triathlon and swimming coach, how can I be so unfit? I decided to head out on my own after work last wednesday and I think I know what's going on but I don't know why - each time I needed to stop, I took my heartrate (I was timing the walk so I counted the beats pulsing through the caroted artery while watching for 6s by my stop watch and then timesed the result by 10 to get my BPM). My counts when I was stopping because it was getting hard to breathe were all over 22, meaning my BPM was between 220 and 250. This is really not good. I waited until I felt like I could breathe again then took my heartrate again - I could breathe when it was under 200. Why haven't I been to the doctor yet - I don't want to be told I can't go.

So, onto the next Yay moments - I've been on a couple of runs and it isn't hurting my shoulder anymore which is awesome. I am taking it easy and building it up - first run I did 1 min run, 4 mins walk recovery over 5km. Second run was in the rain and so I stepped it up and ran 90s then walked 3.5min recovery over the same course. Last sunday I ran in the Jogalong (womens only 6km cross country) Derek threatened an intervention because I'm not supposed to be running yet but I promised to stick to a run plan of 2 mins on 3 mins off. I predicted 50mins for the course and did it in 50.09, so I'm pretty damn ok with that!

DJ and Will have taken on swimming as part of their off season Dragon Boat training for the might Ice Dragons (only the best Dragon Boat club EVER!). Slight hiccup was that neither of them had really done any swim technique work since they did kids lessons many moons ago. Step in Super Fiona the Swim Coach! The boys weren't as bad as they thought and I was ecstatic to get back into the water - so much I had a little swim. DJ and I went for another swim a few days later and I stepped up the length a little more in the stroke part (was doing mostly kick so to not aggrevate my shoulder given swimming over load was how I injured it - Yes, I know, I'm a swim coach how did I over load it? Showing off a little perhaps? Nope, raising money for MS). DJ, Lachy and I swam on Sunday night just gone and wahoo, stepped it up again and it still felt ok. Physio was so unimpressed but he'd tested my shoulder before I told him and was really impressed with my progress so he wasn't cross. Steve the physio is not a guy to get cross - at 6ft10in and 127kg, he's frame is intimidating enough, but he also happens to be a boxer so I'm not going to be too silly.

On a fundraising front, some invites have gone out for Casino Royale with a great response from those who've looked at the invite. It's amazing the job Steve the host has done. I will try and get some screen shots to put up on here soon.

So now you are caught up. I do have an incredible story to tell from today, but that needs a whole separate post!

Day 2 - ouch

Owee ow ow. Anyone who knows me knows I'm prone to injury (not just because I am a klutz but I have hypermobile joints and a few damaged discs in my back). At the moment I also have an injured shoulder from another fundraising initiative (the MS 24hr Mega Swim). The advice from my physio just now until I strengthen my joints is that I can't stretch before or after exercise. When you don't stretch after exercise, muscles tighten up which is fine for your glutes if you want to have a tight butt but bad for a person with a stuffed lower back.

How does that play with today? Well, after the walk yesterday and a pile more walking around the place, my hips were achy last night and my glutes were sore so I slept a bit wonky (aparently). When I woke up this morning my back was sore (to get technical - errector spinae had siezed, particularly on the right side) and by the time I got to work it hurt to move my head even. In my cleverness of ow I left my work ID at home which also has the key to my drawers which had the docs in it my boss had asked me to read over today while he was away.

Having ridden the scooter today I wasn't keen on riding home at lunch to pick up my ID (and compendium and water bottle both of which I forgot to take back but I did remember the ID). But, ride home I did and as I went over a bump, my hips clicked and my back felt much better - I could move again! Back is still sore (several hours of a spasmed/cramped muscle takes a toll) but needless to say, no training was achieved.

I did however get booked onto the security course for Wednesday so here's hoping that when Friday rolls around I can use the Gym at work to start ride training! Whee! Oh yeah, at the moment I can't ride a bike (as in push bike) for another couple of weeks, nor can I run - swimming is off the books for a couple of months. Stupid shoulder!

Tomorrow is another walk up Ainslie - thank god I found my ear muffs I bought in Prague! Tonight I will sleep with a pillow beside me to remind me not to roll on that side and put my back out again!

Day 1 of training

Today was the official start of my training. Did it go well? Hmmm...not as fit as I would like but with perserverance that will of course improve. Today's trek was up Mt Ainslie - 2.2km with a gradient of .... actually I can't find info on what the gradeint of the walking track is. The good news is my legs faired well, knees got a little achy but have been fine since. Unfortunately the altitude doesn't quite match what I have ahead of me, but that's ok.

My ever supportive home team of Danielle and Steve were with me this morning and we had a good few laughs along the way. The best story I think was Steve talking about their Yoga instructor. Before I get to it though I need to set a little context. A couple of months ago a lingerie shop had an advert in their shop window looking for staff. The wording was along the lines of "Come and use your talents to be part of our team" I immediately posted it on my facebook profile given that it was predominantly a bra shop and thus boobs are now codenamed "talents". It's been a great laugh and Danielle and I agree we are very talented!

So, we were talking about their yoga class and as it turns out their yoga instuctor is very talented too. As she was talking them through the Warrior 1 pose she was trying to gesture to push their sternum up as they reach up, instead she pushed her hands up the sides of her talents - not a problem if the class is all girls, but lucky for Steve he is there as is another older chap. It was a good distraction to his training and a good distraction and laugh during our walk today. Reading back over that doesn't do it justice. Maybe I can get Steve to demonstrate it again while I take a pic and post it on here soon?

Speaking of pics - attached is Danielle and I at the bottom of the hill, a view from the top and a view about 50m down the track of Steve and the view of Canberra. We're so lucky to live in such a beautiful city!

I forgot all about the tongue twister which is not a bad thing - I was so out of breath without even talking! Now, this afternoon I went out to Columbia and paid a deposit on a pair of trekking boots - YAY! Now I just need to wait until next pay day to pick them up :)

One of the best things about the walk - a bunch of us went for Yum Cha afterwards and it was spectacular. If you haven't been to 4 Rivers in Dickson, take the time to organise a group of friends and go hit it. There were 10 of us, we took loads and loads of dishes and it worked out (with non-stop green tea too) as less than $17/person. I still can't believe it! We even had a serve of the super not so cheap crispy skin duck along with loads and loads of little parcels, veggies and sweets (Must try is the sticky rice ball desert thing - has sesame seeds on the outside and red paste on the inside...YUM YUM YUM). We really didn't hold back on what we ordered and were all pleasantly surprised at the price. I love it that it's about 2 blocks from home too - note to my friends in Canberra, if you are ever planning on going there I am soooooo in for it!

Tomorrow I'm not sure what I am going to do - I wanted to mix it up and do a walk one day, bike the next, but I'm not allowed to ride my bike unless it's on a wind trainer or is an exercise bike (I don't have access to an exercise bike at the moment and my friend has my wind trainer, but I can't set it up at home until I move into Mary's house in a couple of weeks). I scoped out a little 30min walk near work that takes me up a short rise to the Senate side of Parliament House which I guess will suffice for tomorrow. Plan for tomorrow then is to get booked on the security course at work so I can get access to the gym (the gym is considered and incentive to doing the course) and getting into a GP to get a medical clearance to use the gym - penalty of being a contractor!

And so it starts - Casino Royale planning

Well really a bunch of planning is already well underway. Danielle and Steve came up with an awesome idea to have a Casino Royale night and use it as a fundraiser rather than just a bit of fun. They have been awesome - Steve downloaded a special font to do the invites up MI6/Bond style, Danielle has been madly searching for boxes to put the poker chips in for each guest (no mean feat - she's been to a bunch of places that sell them and with no one able to give us enough she's found us an oragami instruction so we can sit and make them). Their idea is that guests will pay for entry for which they will get some poker chips and a Vesper Martini (the martini Bond describes in Casino Royale which was the only book that this martini featured in and was named after the lead female character).

After one of our Sunday runs, we came up with a bunch of developments including having a "how to host a murder" plot running through the night. After breakfast we started shopping for green felt, poker/roulette sets and boxes for the chips. By this time another friend Derek had joined us and a couple of hours later and stretching the patience of my friends we had a shopping list and some of the goodies.

The following day I started getting perplexed about how much to charge, how best to cater and what drinks should be provided and what should people buy. Thankfully another good friend Paul works nearby so I ducked down to his work for a coffee and lots of advice.

Can I just note, I am very lucky to have so many beautiful friends - I'd be a very sad person without all of their support and counsel and love.

So the drink decision was the Vesper Martinis, champagne and mid-strength beer. The food - ask a couple of good friends to make a finger food style dish each. The cost for the alcohol is $15pp so the cost of the night is $35 ($20 going to the cause). 6 Staff who will be asked to only pay the contribution to the cause and I will cover their drinks, and a limit of potential murderers of 20. The problem being that one of the ingredients for the Vesper Martini is Kina Litte - doesn't seem to be available in Australia....hmmm....Paul suggested trying Dan Murphys in Belconnen because they have helped him find specialty alcohol before.

Taking Paul's advice and not wanting to lose momentumn I set off to Dan Murphy's after work where I met the lovely and super dooper helpful Angela. We found a substitute for the Kina Litte and Angela gave me a form to fill in asking for a donation from them (hoping they'll come to the party with a gift voucher for the winner of the Casino Royale night). Another initiative for fundraising and making if fun is for murder suspects being able to buy clues for $5 and all murder suspects will need to nominate a character (all James Bond characters) and will need to try and at least dress in the theme of their charater or pay a $10 fine (at least trying adds to the theme of the evening and thus also the enjoyment as people get more into it all).

So that is about where the planning is at just now. Oh I forgot to say, continuing in their immense wonderfulness, Steve and Danielle are hosting the event at their house. Told you I had amazing friends!

Tomorrow morning starts the trekking training - just an easy start to more measure where I am at than anything else. 9am at the back of the War Memorial for a walk up Mt Ainslie. The longest and hardest day of the race involves 12hours of trekking 27km from 2400m asl to 3000m asl and back down to 2800m asl with 5 of 5 difficulty.... BIG DAY! The summit is Fansipan Peak if you want to google it.

In the morning, Steve and Danielle are going to join me for my walk and it's up on my facebook page as an open invite. I'm happy to go on my own and really given how out of breath I get just walking 1/3 of the way up to get to the run track, I probably don't need people to see how unfit I am! Note to self - Cancer is a disease that leaves you very helpless and humiliated at times. Walking with friends no matter how out of breath I get just doesn't compare to how that feels.

Goal for the walk: to mater the following tongue twister.
A skunk sat on a stump. The stump thought the skunk stunk, the skunk thought that the stump stunk. So which one stunk the stump or the skunk?