10km Sandown Road Race -- 41.24!!!!

some old photos from San Churros with Iylia and Ray 2 weeks back.

Me looking greedy.

Highlights of my week

Thursday 15 May
Had a good painful massage with Liam. Liam's really nice, nice to chat with. haha. He is a damn fast runner/triathlete/adventure racer!

I had Bible Study at Kylie's pad. It was awesome! She baked some lemon yoghurt cake which was delicious. After that, Ray swung by to pick me up and we were headed for a nice cafe in Brunswick street, but alas, none of us copied down the address so we just stopped along the street and went into "The Oven" .

Nutella-banana pizza with vanilla ice cream--this is da shit!

Then we strolled along Brunswick where there were many Greek cafes, and Ray had never tried a Falafel so I barged in and bough ONE BALL and we tried it--some kinda spices taste which Ray didn't like. haha

Then to get rid of the taste, we bought a box of 4 pieces of chocolate from San Churros--Earl Grey milk choc and Pink champagne white choc were the best =)

Drove to Preeny for a nice long stroll while savouring the chocs. We walked to the playground and PLAYED! haha climbed into all the structures, walked across the swinging bridge, balancing beam, slid down the slide, down the fireman's pole, looked thru the fake telescope, climbed thru the tunnels...sat in the baby swing and finally swung on the (adult) swing until i had a headache!

So we slumped on the park bench and played...shoot, shag and marry! hahaha while popping mentos. Actually, Ray was rationing the mentos to contain my sugar high. it was HILARIOUS!!! I'm damn good at coming up with tough gay combinations man! Game results are confidential. haha it was soo funny.

Saturday 17 May--Sandown 10km Race!!!
I've been looking forward to this race! Very psyched up...until the morning. It was raining, windy and friggin 8degrees!

Ray came by, dropped off his handsome new bike at my place and we headed off to pick iylia and kaighin up to drive to the race venue. We followed D2's car all the way until...we had to stop at a petrol kiosk coz i had to pee...then we got lost. haha we were pathetic coz we cldnt read the map properly and were driving up and down Springvale Road like idiots...or rather, just warming up to run 3 n a bit laps of Sandown Racecourse...

haha, we got there and it was FREEEEZING! Liam was so sweet to take off his fleece jumper and lend it to me coz i was shivering and turning blue.

Liam: u shd put another jumper on, Elaine
Me: I don't have another jumper
Liam: Geez Elaine, you should've told me just now! Here, put this on. You can't be shivering like that before the race.

How sweet =) So I warmed up in a large oversized jumped which looked like a dress. But who cares, as long as you're warm. haha. I didn't do a thorough warm up coz it was too cold to be out there.

Anyway, I felt awesome during the race and kept a very constant pace throughout! I surprised myself with a smashing 41.24!!!!!!!! That's 3 n a half minutes faster than last year! Woohoo!!! haha during the race it was very windy--headwind on the uphill. And my R big toe and L small toe was seriously hurting, to the point i was certain the nails were falling off. I took off my shoes and there! Under my gold nail polish were blue/purple nails. haha. it's peculiar...

It's not very clear here, but the small toe is swollen, nail pruple. The R big toe is light blue (funky!) and it is very swollen and DAMN FRIGGIN PAINFUL I COULDN'T SLEEP ALL NIGHT!!! it hurt even when i didn't move.

Had Jap dinner with Ray in the city post-race, followed by dessert of crepes! Blueberry/Strawberry cheesecake crepe and red bean custard crepe from this place in Melb Central. Delicious!! A perfect treat for some awesome 10km running =)

Then we did the MOST RETARDED THING ever! We went into Coles supermarket and browsed around. Then I spotted this round sieve with a handle. It looked like a large table tennis bat. I grabbed it and pretended to smack it around. Then clever Ray took another one and suggested we could play badminton. So we walked inconspicuously to the fruit/veg section and plucked 2 green grapes. We considered taking a fresh springy mushroom as well, but it was kinda big. anyway, we scurried back between the supermarket shelves and started playing badminton with the grape! it was hilarious! Then grape #1 smashed and died, so i kicked it under the shelve. Then we took grape #2 and were getting quite pro at grape-badminton. but alas! some Coles staff were nearby so we ditched the match. Ray took grape #2, with a 2 step hop he smacked the grape and sent it flying over the shelf into the unknown (hopefully not on someone's head). hahaha. we burst out laughing, flung the sieves back onto the shelf and ran away. HAHAHA!!! RETARDEDNESS!!

Sunday I was feeling kinda frustrated so I grabbed my bike and headed out for an 85km ride despite the awefully painful toes/nail/feet (i could barely walk). My calves and R heel hurt alot too. But the ride was good. I felt strong, free, independent, aggressive, successful, confident on my bike. Yes, that's what I am.

Met Ray for the last 30km of my ride. You're awesome, Ray. haha. very good for a first ride on the roads...haha we then rode to Thresho's for a nice excitement and laughter filled dinner! haha! had to ride home in the freezing cold of the night post-dinner. I almost froze to death i tell ya. torture.

Monday I had the most painful run ever. it was just a 55min easy run, but both my calves/Achilles were hurting so bad i wanted to cry. anyhow had a nice dinner with Ray after. We had indian food followed by some dessert at Brunetti's.

Bleuberry cheesecake and chocolate tart. yummm...

Tuesday morning Ray gave me a wake-up call to have brekky of muffins with Wilson at thresho's. My favourite muffins, i'd definately wake up for them! hahaha. anyway after that we walked over to Video Dogs, a quaint cool DVD rental shop nearby to look for Raging Bull, this 1980 Martin Scorcese film starring Robert De Niro. I had to watch it for an assignment. Alas, the shop was not open at 10am, so we went back to thresho's, shared a date scone and big brekky then went back to borrow the DVDs. hahaha.

Headed back to my place to watch the show. It's a good classic film, very deep character portrayal which i liked. The show was more about La Motte's character--his insecurity, vulnerability and weaknesses than about boxing. Anyway...I did a swim workout after that. Can't cycle, my calves are injured.

Wednesday was awesome. I did my swim sesh in the morn, met up with Maddie in the arvo--it was great catching up!! haha. then i had a productive afternoon assignment wise. At run trg in the evening, we did a hardcore 5x1000m with decreasing rest. It was fabulous. Actually Tony said for me to do 4 coz my calf was injured and hurting quite bad. But i like pain yeah. haha. it was a good session!!! Felt tired, but great after.

Post training, 10 of us headed to The Clyde pub for some dinner. It was really nice. I had Beef & Guiness pie (delicious!!!) and some of Dave's fries =P and some of Ray's Chicken Schnitzel. haha. Jas bounced in and announced that she made the Aust Open team for Orienteering World Champs in Czech Republic! Way to go, Jas!!! We were all so happy, she's awesome at orienteering, and fully deserves the spot. It was a nice dinner and chat with the MUAC guys =)

After dinner, Ray, Iylia and me had planned an all-nighter to watch the Champions League Final--Man U vs Chelsea. haha. I'm not a soccer fan, but i'd accompany the boys. haha. the match was at friggin 4.30am! So we planned to watch a movie and snack pre-match, then head out for a 60km bike ride post-match. PERFECT eh? haha.

Ray went back to grab his bike so he could leave it at my place for our morning ride. Jas and I went to the supermarket, gossiped and giggled about girly stuff...haha. I bought a whole lot of snacks--Maltesers, gummy snakes, doritos with Salsa dip and Solo The Sub. haha. then we headed back to my place and chatted a lil before she had to leave. I lent her a pull over and scarf coz it was a cold night =)

At Iylia's place, Ray and I watched The Family Man, a Nicholas Cage show about "what ifs"...alternative paths in life if we'd made a different decision--How'd life have panned out if I hadn't left? Iylia was inking his comic book at the dining table.
Ray took sickening videos of me ranting bitterly and proclaiming my big career ambitions. haha. And IYLIA! there is a very INCRIMINATING video of you!!! hahaha.

Anyway, I rested on the couch post-movie while the boys played FIFA on Playstation of psych up for the Champs League match...haha!

3 guys huddled on a couch for Champs League Final. Except...the prettiest one on the left slept thru halftime, the 2nd half, and penalty kickoffs. Only woke up for the highlights of the Giro d'Italia cycling tour after. hahaha!

But i knew what was going on in the match coz i was constantly disturbed by Iylia the nutcase who was shouting, cheering, bouncing on the couch, jumping, bowing to the TV...anyway, congrats Iylia, YOUR team won =)

Ray and I left for our 60km ride in the biting cold at 9am. Met Wilson along the way too. My legs were spent from 1000s last night, and I was sleepy too. The first 30km to Mordi felt soooo super long! like forever and it's only halfway?!?!

Great shot of me and Ray at Mordi =) I was wearing 3 layers of long-sleeved tops, leg warmers, had a headband on as well. While the brave and tough Ray was in short sleeve?! Hats off to you man!

Ray and I. We had some competition up a short hill coz someone said he wanted to leave me behind, so i say--YEAH YOU TRY!!!

haha it was awesome, but i was soo tired after that! Came home and slept man! haha.

At Bible Study just now we had Pumpkin soup with bread, crackers and dips cooked by Kylie. We watched a sermon recording titled "indescribable". Awesome =)

also had an absolutely hilarious chat with iylia and ray online. man, i love u guys. heh heh heh. I'm loving life, and looking forward to my HOT DATE WITH DAVE TOMORROW!!! Wheee...hahaha.