Recipient of the Ning-Nong of the Year Award

Recipient of above reward would be...moi.

Alarm is set to go for an early Monday morning Body Attack class. If I get up at 5.00 am, out he door at 5.20 am, I can be at the gym at 6.00 am and ready for the class at 6.15 am.

Alarm goes. I bolt out of bed without hesitation, knowing that if I give myself even one minute to lie there, I'll talk myself out of getting up. I'm up, scrambling into clothes, gulping down coffee, grabbing bags packed the night before. Out the door, and I notice it's dark. Very dark. I put this down to the fact it was very overcast yesterday, and will probably be so today.

I'm halfway to the gym before it dawns on me that it's 4.45 am.

Muggins set her alarm for 4.00 am.

Kept going to the gym - fortunately I had some library books I was returning, so I found a brightly lit spot and read them, and was at the door feeling toey by the time the gym doors finally opened.

Ah well...

I was quite good last week - not too much as the knees give the odd squawk if they feel they're being pushed too far, but did lots of other stuff as well.

Mon: Body Attack class
Tues: Rest
Wed: 2km run, 6 x 80m warm up sprints (waiting for mate to arrive for our joint session), cardio & weight training outdoors
Thurs: Body Attack class
Fri: 5 km run
Sat: Body Attack class / 3 km run to gym with backpack when I realised how late I was!
Sun: 6 km run

Weekly running total: 16km. As I keep reminding myself, at least I'm doing something...

Inspiration in a flash of sequins...

I have been doing something with my time besides not writing here the last couple of months...and it's even something constructive. I've been helping a friend get her own fitness regime underway. While always stressing I'm *not* qualified as a personal trainer, meeting up with her a couple of mornings a week has helped make sure I get out of bed. And it's been fun working out by the harbour. She's even venturing to run a bit in 1 min intervals!

We had a session this morning - I got in earlier and did 10mins running, then stretches and a few 80m sprints while waiting for her. After we walk/ran to the playground we do our sessions in, we did some circuit training (I carry a few items like skipping ropes and resistance tubes in a backpack).

Got into work and found inspiration in a flash of sequins. Images of a 1920s flapper dress that a UK dealer has sent me - greens and aqua, like a particularly flashy mermaid who likes a bit of bling. It's a waterfall of light. Measurements are fine, but I have reservations about the length - am going to check some of my other dresses when I get home tonight.

Also an hilarious purchase - a 1920s (of course!) bathing suit. I was amazed all over again at how anyone got into these things - I always knew wool was heavy, but until I picked it up I hadn't really thought of just how much drag in the water these things would cause. I should wear it in the pool - it would add a lot of extra resistance! I'd be muscled up before I knew it.

Makes me appreciate Annette Kellerman all over again - she pioneered this style (form fitting with built in shorts and skirt - it might be heavy, but it still beats what the Victorians were kitted out in.

I'm alllliiiive!

Almost two months - phew, I'm on the ball, eh?

It's been hectic. Life getting in the way, all that sort of stuff. I chopped off my hair in the Louise Brooks Dutch Doll bob, btw - can't believe I hesitated over it. But aside from that, work and family 'stuff'...almost all of it good. Just time consuming.

I've kept an oar in with the exercise, although the weight crept up a bit (and I've started knocking that off). It's been hard having the running curtailed, but I'm doing 5kms and last weekend managed 7km...pain free, which is the important thing. Lots of squats and lunges to hopefully to something about getting that VMO in working order.

I've been on a bit of a vintage 1920s dress buying binge - sort of goes with the hairdo, I suppose!

Summer Arrives with a Roar

Summer has arrived - and it is not shod with soft feet and breezes. I know it's early to proclaim, and the predictions are that it will be back to more seasonal temps tomorrow but for today it was a roast. I went for a run at 8.00am, and that was almost too late in terms of temps. Had a champagne breakfast to celebrate a birthday in the family, then came back to go to the beach with Bec and the nephews and niece. With a warm eddy lurking offshore, it was the only thing to do. So that first plunge of the season wasn't nearly as bracing as you'd expect!

It's been a real struggle lately. I had another health blow - woke up last Monday morning with everything in my stomach wanting out - now! Both exits, no waiting. Still don't know what it was - no one else came down with food poisoning that was at the lunch on Sunday. The roiling stomach of the rest of the week suggests a virus. I'd hoped to be back on my feet by Thursday and set the alarm for a run and had all my gear laid out, but as soon as the alarm went I knew I wasn't going anywhere.

On the plus side, I've been able to buy a Ferdinand Preiss figure. Not bronze and ivory, of course (I haven't come into a substantial inheritance of late), but one of the other spelter and ivorine figures the firm turned out. More inspiration for my Deco dream apartment of 'one day'.

Ice Cold Gin

Well I didn't see my dream Deco cocktail cabinet...but I did pick up a very nice vintage silver cocktail shaker, c. 1930s. Got it for a song, too - the antique place was closing down. Also had a lot of fun in Norman Lindsey's studio and gallery admiring his exhuberant, buxom nudes, and then wallowed happily in the surroundings of the Carringdon, having high tea.

I've been a lacklustre slug lately, barely able to keep up with work, let alone do anything else. But picked myself up this morning and ran 5kms on hills, so evidently I haven't lost all fitness. Knees okay thus far.

I think it helped that I slept like a log. Got out the old 1930 Savoy Cocktail book and did myself a couple of White Lady cocktails - it certainly did the trick.

Summer is coming on and I do need to get out of the doldrums!

Whaddaweek!

Hectic all the way...but, now it's Friday, I'm feeling much more on top of things. There was an iota less self-loathing when I completed the workout this morning. Unfortunately work committments have resulted in only getting in two sessions so far.

Tues: 5km.
I think I was correct in that this is pretty much the utmost I can manage at the moment. There wasn't any pain at the end, but there was 'pre-pain', if you know what I mean. I was worried I might be sore the next day, but so far they've held up. I'll go for another run on the weekend.

Fri: Gym
Tried for cycle class and managed to miss it, so did 30 mins on the bike and then lower body exercises with an emphasis on the Quads and VMO in particular. Then a long stretching session, as I felt amazingly stiff. I felt more human at the conclusion of it all.

Staying with a mate this weekend - the owner of the dress trasher of a couple of weeks ago. He went missing the other night, and she and her husband spent six hours looking for him when they found he was gone. Looks like he got down into the creeks. He was certainly being a doggy-dog!

We're hoping to get up to the Blue Mountains and have a wander around the antique shops. I, of course, have no money, but if I do see my dream Art Deco cocktail cabinet I will not be held responsible for my actions...

When I do get around to getting my own flat it's going to be a bit of an 'eclectic' mix. And by eclectic, I mean dog's breakfast. I love Art Deco, but I'm afraid that those beautiful, clean lines and lack of clutter are antithetical to my nature. I'm a hoarder and love my clutter. High Victorian would probably suit me more. While I love the styalised decorative motifs of both, I suspect in many ways I lean more to the organic shapes of Art Nouveau rather than the geometricism of Deco.

So I'm hoping to have a few Deco pieces that I hope will not sit too ill-at-ease with pieces reflecting what my boss in London (one of the UK's most innovative and cutting edge young architecural project managers) called my 'love of overblown Victoriana'.

It Lives!

Well, I'm alive. And a lot has happened in my life since I last posted...just not much of it running or exercise related! It's all good stuff, too. I'm happy with developments at work, and I'm finally motivated to get a little personal project forward to the next stage. But will write more of that if/when it comes to fruition.

The Red Dress episode had a sequel! Stayed with a friend that weekend, and she had invited some old cronies of ours over for dinner that Friday. Had a wonderful time, and mixed up lots of Singpore Slings. Unfortunately, we decided to break out the lovely classic martini glasses to have them in. These are virtually self-spill (you can see where this is headed...). After dinner, the dogs had to be let in. And her border collie - who just wuv wuv wuvs me - had to demostrate his boundless affection by being in my lap. Dog, cocktail and dress all came together in a tragic clash, and I was left to admire the effect of cherry brandy on red velvet. I'll spare you the gory cleaning details. Friend was horrified, but I wouldn't have a bar of it - you can't have a dog like that around spillable drinks and not expect tragic consequences, so I accepted full responsibility.

Anyway, I did - finally - get out the door yesterday afternoon for a very gentle 2.5 kms along the beach while the tide was low and the cant minimal. I could have done a bit more, but was not feeling up to speed and wanted to see how the knees would be today. They're (touch wood) fine at the moment. So I'll try another run up to 5km tomorrow. Came back and did my physio exercises and upper body stuff.

I'm feeling the loss of fitness, but psychologically not too bad. And I didn't put on scads of weight, although I feel bloated...in fact, a bit has come off (a very little bit). I have had a couple of episodes of too much grog. But the situation is all 'salvageable'!