From Strength to Strength

A few weeks ago whilst out on the bay run with dotmef, I had a very bad fall. I was marvelling at what a beautiful morning it was in Sydney and how blessed we are when I should really have been paying attention to the roots and rocks beneath my feet. As a result, I tripped and fell. I took a very pointy rock in my already problematic left knee. That was the worst of my numerous injuries.


I hobbled around in pain for a few days, humiliated by my inability to walk quickly or negotiate stairs, but with time, I healed. I rested. I listened to my body. I saw doctors and learnt that it was not broken. They said the swelling was not normal, though, and that I need to see a specialist to have that looked at. Its not urgent for me, though. I saw my physio who cleared me of any ligament damage and said the residual pain was the result of bone bruising that could take a few months to settle. I was given the go ahead to start upping my kilometres once more.


So 48 hours later I was on the grass at centennial park, and I ran again the following Thursday and I ran AGAIN Saturday morning and my knee has never felt better! I'm very excited because this time next week I'll be in Jindabyne, having already completed 2 or 3 training runs and preparing to run up Australia's highest peak - Mount Kosciusko!


Conny is back here from Switzerland, so a group of us are going along with Sean William's Sweatsydney training camp to do some running as well as some catching up and chilling out. I cannot wait!


Check out our itinerary!


After an idyllic Sunday spent tandem biking around La Perouse and Little Bay, followed by my nephew's 2nd birthday party, I've just spent 2.5 hours in the kitchen preparing my food for the following week. On the menu are the following items:

• Hummus (my recipe)
• Salsa (my recipe)
• TONNES of crudites - snowpeas, capsicum, carrot, celery, cucumber
• A massive salad dressed in seeded mustard and lemon juice with lots of olives and cherry tomatoes
• 3 grilled fish fillets
• A huge batch of DELICIOUS spinach and chick pea soup
• 4  boiled eggs.

Om nom nom and bon appetit! :) Time to check in on my challengers! Xx

Yule and Yippee!

Boxing day is upon us and we're wrapping up from xmas 2009 - my best xmas yet!

Not because of gifts (though they were excellent and plentiful!), but because of the amount of joy happiness contained within one day.

I woke at 620am and quickly dressed. 30 short minutes later I embarked on an 8km run to my sister's house in Concord for xmas breakfast. It wasn't a great run, my body complained loudly, but I ran at my own lazy pace and enjoyed listening to a podcast, which I hadn't done in some time. It was the gift I wanted to give myself - the gift of a run listening to my body. I arrived at the same time as mum and Hayden, which was excellent and got all the presents inside. My sister laid on a delicious breakfast feast with all sorts of delicious xmas naughtiness, everything from traditional xmas slice and fruitcake to smoked chicken and cranberry sauce and mango lychee salad with gippsland yoghurt. I played with Angus, my nephew, for a long time, running around in the garden, hopping jumping squealing and skipping. Then at 10:30 it was time to come home.

I had a run sheet listing in detail all the things that needed to be prepared for our xmas party and Mum and Hayden were just exceptional at assisting in executing every preparatory step. Hayden had spent days in advance preparing the house and setting up, we had glazed the ham and made the stuffing and custard the night before, so on xmas day we just focused on preparing each dish in order at set times. It was all amazingly stress free.

Frank brought 4 dozen oysters and a kilo of the nicest prawns I've ever eaten, Claudia and Chandler brought white wines and a selection of hard cheeses, Lauren brought red wines and a selection of soft cheeses and Vanessa brought a smoked salmon and cream pastry for entree. Hayden and mum had prepared boccinci basil and kumato skewers, as well.

My menu of mains included all manner of roast vegetables in fresh rosemary and sea salt, steamed broccolini with toasted almonds, parmesan pear and rocket salad, blacked and ginger glazed ham and, of course, the turkey, which contained a mango and macadamia stuffing.

We were all completely stuffed but everything was so delicious! I served my famous and popular mango trifle for dessert. This was accompanied by duelling dessert wines - my lillypilly and Chandler's De Bortoli. No one had room for coffee, brandy snaps or even a shot of limoncello. My stomach screamed in agony and I knew I had pushed too far! So painful, moaning from being overstuffed - I had to change my dress!! I'm not proud to admit I crossed the line and ate far too much for my little tum to handle and committed in massive overindulgence. It felt really bad and I don't ever want to do it again! 

The cleanup was even easier. Everyone pitched in and 98% of the washing up was done and put away before our final guests left at 1130pm!

Today, however, I feel a bit like I've been hit by a truck. All I'm capable of is sitting here in my dressing gown. I have loads of admin and research to do though, and its not often that I get the opportunity to spend a day either on my bottom nor at home. Building up my business is consuming about 65 hours of my week, all of which are spent without net access. Next week, however, is looking particularly quiet, so I'm hoping to finalise details and prizes for the Debzillah 12 week challenge! But more on that later :)

Here, have a few photos.

 

  

 

Time to watch a movie and finish reading Born to Run :)

Merry Christmas Tigers! Xx

Taking Stock

Just because I still can't run doesnt mean that life isn't wonderful! It definitely is. Just have a look at the weather we've been blessed with the last 2 days. 

I, in particular, have been blessed as I've been able to enjoy that weather fully. Yesterday I walked with Conny from The Spit to Manly and today I walked myself into Haberfield to check out Primavera - part of Crave Sydney. 

Yesterday's walk was long, hard, magnificent, spectacular and limitlessly rewarding - 11km in under 3 hours. It was also the last time I will see Conny until her return from Switzerland in January 2010. But today was pretty special in its own right.

I became familiar with my 'hood. I walked streets, tracks and paths that I didn't know and hadn't explored. I felt like an adventurer and it was awesome. I had set off after my team meeting at Personal Best and I discovered a new universe in my very own backyard. I enjoyed every moment of it, all on my own.

Had I only remembered to wear sunscreen whilst out walking in the middle of the day, I wouldn't have come home, fallen asleep and woken up reincarnated as a lobster. Oops.

In news of things foodie, Hayden and I have started a weekly trip to The Big Brekky. Its close to home, listed amongst the top ten cafes in Sydney, and for good reason. We're lovin' it. Hehehe. 

And looking further back, Wednesday evening we attended the Merivale Ash St Long Table Dinner - a 120 person communal dining experience as part of Good Food Month. It was INCREDIBLE. The best value meal we've ever had - $50 a head and the food was exceptional, bountiful and the wine flowed as if it were water.

Looking forward, tomorrow we'll be walking to check out Summer Hill Global Village and preparing for the week to come. I'm also hoping to go swimming with Trogdor.

Next Saturday we'll be off to Byron Bay and - GOOD NEWS! - my lovely physio says I'll be in shape to run the 10km!! I'll be slow, I'm sure, but I'll BE RUNNING!!! I'm so excited I could EXPLODE. Seriously. Put your rain coat on - there's real danger here.

Now that I'm onto the topic of running - which we all know I HATE discussing ehehehehe - listening to The Runner's Round Table podcast about barefoot running on Thursday afternoon whilst I walked from Wynyard to Leichhardt has me DESPERATELY hanging to get into the Vibram Five Fingers store in Waverly. As far as my xmas list goes, they are no. 1! I must find out my size. The podcast did inspire me to splurge and indulge myself in a copy of Born to Run, which should arrive in my hot little hands next week.

Now, as I'm so bummed about not having been able to participate in the World Wide Festival of Races last weekend, I am determined to actively participate in this years Sydney Summer Twilight Series and encourage you to join me! I'm thinking that Sunday Brunch runs will take place on the alternating weekends throughout summer and start at 8am to avoid heat stroke, with distances between 8 and 15km.

Llinos and I will be racing in the first annual Run4Fun at Homebush on November 8th - please have a look at participating, the best thing about running is the community. Be part of something bigger! There's no donation plate here...

Before I wrap it up, I have to give myself a bit of a plug. My domain has been registered and is currently under construction and a business is being built. The hard yards truly have begun.

A massive THANK YOU to all the people who have joined my Facebook group and fan pages! I'm completely ecstatic and overwhelmed by the support on there, but a business doesn't run on online fans alone. I need CLIENTS and I need to fill the group session I'm teaching, which are detailed on the fan page. Please come along to a class, refer me to a friend, or book in a PT trial session! The first one is free, how good is that?!

I should probably keep it shorter next time, huh?

<3

A Big Week

What a week it has been! I finished the last of my Personal Training exams with a 95% result in Business. I should have my Professional Practice completed and ready to hand in by next Friday, as well. Otherwise, Monday.

Tuesday morning my gorgeous friend Pinky took me out for breakfast. We went to il Vizio in Leichhardt and it was FANTASTIC. I ordered the fresh fruit salad with muesli and yoghurt which was massive and the hot chocolate I had with it was the most luxurious I've seen outside a chocolate cafe! Pinky enjoyed the il Vizio breakfast of bacon, eggs and turkish with grilled tomato. She took photos, too. Now why didn't I think of that?

Thursday night Hayden took me out for the fondue chinoise at Suissotel restaurant JPB, as it was blogged on Grab Your Fork and the 2 for 1 special is ending. It truly does represent amazing value and was immensely enjoyable. Mustard fruits are indeed an oddity to be experienced!

Dinner preceeded the show "Meow to the World: Crisis is Born" which we saw at the Opera House Studios. Hilariously funny and beautiful, energetic and charismatic, Meow Meow was fantastic. The only problem was that the show started at 930pm - when I'm normally going to sleep. It was an uphill battle keeping my eyes open.

The food adventure continued yesterday, when I met my legendary mates of FIA fame, Lauren Albon and James Raftos, for lunch at Corelli's, Newtown. We had intended to meet at Macro Cafe, but found to great dismay that it had closed!! We all enjoyed the fish of the day - grilled Barramundi with mango salsa. It was an absolute delight.

Last night I performed an energetic jazz/exotic routine to Suck My Kiss by RHCP at the "Nothing to Wear" designer markets in Newtown. My preparation for this was pretty last minute, but it came together in the end. If only there had been more people there for me to infect with my bounciness! Thanks though, to my fine friends that did attend.

Pre-performance I have a sugar-hit ritual. Courtesy of Hayden, last night this was a triple chocolate mousse cake on a cheesecake base. Pinky got me a soy mocha to go with it. After the show, Cecil, Mark, Conny, Llinos, Hayden and I headed to Saray for the finest Pides Sydney has to offer :).

This afternoon, Hayden and I will be joined by Matt and Tammy for 2 for 1 mains at the Red Oak boutique brewery. This is a lead up to 2 events - the first being a performance by the Tigerlillies at the Opera House Studios yet again; the second a visit to Baskin Robbins for their two NEW flavours of sugar free ice cream!!

OM NOM NOM NOM NOM!!

Don't worry, I did an aerobic power training session yesterday morning and did the bay run after work this morning. I work for my food safari!

After tomorrow's 15km run with my running group (2 weeks to city2surf guys!), I'll be heading in to Balmain with Avanti and Swah for treats of the Adriano Zumbo variety...

Watch this space ;)

Xx Deb

Full of Freebies!

The problem with me and blogging is that I have so many things to rant about and such little time and by the time I have time to blog about these things the cumulative list is so extensive I know that there's no point blogging about all of it because no one wants to read mountains of endless text based ranting. I guess its a moot point because this blog only has one follower anyway.

In the past week I passed both my nutrition and resistance training exams for my cert IV. A pretty good feeling.

I have started working at Personal Best Training Studios in Leichhardt. I think my boss is pretty awesome and I like that he has a lot of faith in me.

Thursday night we dined at Chophouse, for their amazing $18 roast deal. Yesterday was impromptu visiting of Cove for strawberry cheesecake and Zumbo's patisserie for an as yet unnamed cake purchase and delicious macaroons.

Today, after completing a 10km run between Clovelly and North Bondi, Hayden and I went to the Good Food and Wine show where we ate ourselves stupid and have come home painfully stuffed. FOR FREE. I was even gifted free bananas by the lovely lady at the eco banana stand.

Hot damn there were some tasty treats. We saw Matt Moran make tempura prawns, a chicken thing and a raspberry tart. He's a funny dude. I saw Manu at the Campbell's Real Stock stand, but he didnt even look up :( I wanted to say hi! I didn't see Chocolate Suze or her mum, but I did score a subscription to BBC's Good Food with a copy of a Gordon Ramsay cook book, courtesy of Hayden.

And with his bonus, my lovely boyfriend has ordered me a new camera. Another Lumix, but this time 12MP and with 3 years warranty in case we face similar mechanical failure. This means that soon my blog posts and adventures will be accompanied by photos, awesome and maybe even a dash of win!

Now if only our internet hadn't been shaped...

Upcoming performances: Fashion Pop Up Store, July 24th, Newtown
Hellfire Club, August 21, The GAF, Darlinghurst.

I guess for posterity I should mention on my blog that I wont the title of Miss Amateur Pole Dance 2009. It came with a trophy and $1000 prize money. That paid for my car insurance. W00t.

Madlove to kittens,

Xx Debzillah