7.5km

I know I keep saying it, but It's so good to be back running on a wednesday night. I started out with the slow group again - the first couple of ks were just shocking since my legs are sooo sore from the speedwork and PT yesterday. Once I warmed up a bit, I felt heaps better and was soon zooming along. Next week I am definitely going to try and keep up with the next group up - I don't know if it's just psychological, but I actually feel like I ran better - little bit quicker and breathing easier - which surprised me since my legs felt so heavy. Bit of a brief 'zen' running moment actually! Will be interesting to see how I go with the 10km at BRRC on sunday. Sub 55 maybe ;) (uh-oh, that's tempting fate, isnt it? LOL) Perhaps the benefits of Bootcamp, nasty speedwork and chasing BRB'ers through southbank is starting to pay off already ;)

Had a brief chat with John who I think I may cajole into giving me a few training sessions on bikes - I want to pick his brains about triathlons, transitions and the many things that I'm going to have to learn before I attempt one next year. I've always been quite good at swimming but the ride is going to be the worst part for sure - I actually swore I'd never get back on a mountain bike a couple of years ago, after attempting a 40km bike ride up the side of a Volcano in Ecuador at 4,500m above sea level - weighing 126kgs and with both altitude sickness and jetlag, it was bloody torture. I also forgot to put sunscreen on the tops of my hands and they blistered raw. Not to mention I seriously couldn't walk straight for about two days afterwards. *L* ah well! Can't foresee any volcanoes on the tri courses, so it would have to be easier than that!

Tomorrow I think I'll aim for easy 5-10km and bit of an upper body weights session. My legs are going to take a few days to get back to normal I think! Must dig out some metallica for my mp3 player - full on weights sessions require rock god music, I've decided ;)

zoooooooommmmmmmmmmmmmm

Holy hell - I did the most intense speedwork session I've ever done ever tonight. I didn't know I could move that fast! It seems my trainer has reached new heights of evilness in his running club and we spent an hour absolutely busting a gut. We did a combination of fartlek, intervals and an all out, hell for leather km sprint or three. I don't think I have ever worked so hard. I don't think I'm going to be able to move tomorrow (and I have a PT session in the morning! argh!) If any of you brissie people are game, they're doing free sessions this week for the running club launch - see http://www.zenergy.biz - you go into the draw for a $200 voucher at InTraining.

As for me, I think anything that evil has to work, so I think I'll go back. Want to get my times down some more...

And now, my bed is calling....

B-R-Bloodyhellhowfastdoyourun!

Yesterday I went to the Brisbane Running Buddies (BRB) and did about 10km. The mornings are definitely geting warmer, that's for sure! My legs felt like concrete after friday's effort and I found myself walking a fair bit. They're all soooooo fast!

Clairie ran with me for a bit which was really nice of her. I hate holding people up. The run did make me reassess my 'three weeks of pain' theory - I think it's going to be more like three months of pain. Oh well! Feeling a bit more positive about my running now, so I'll just keep on keeping on at what I'm doing. Looking forward to this coming week:

M - PT running group (mixture of speedwork/long runs I'm told)
T - PT session
W - Run Group 10km?
T -
F -
S - BRB 10km? (depending on how long I can keep up!)
S - West End BRRC 10km

Still have to work out how to intersperse that with weights/gym sessions, but I'll work those out as I go along.

hilights

Fark, I don't even want to talk about the final bootcamp this morning. I'm putting it behind me. Needless to say, I don't think I actually improved on anything and I can remember doing much better in previous bootcamps.

So, this morning I actually went out and decided to indulge in my favourite form of retail therapy (except perhaps for clothes shopping!) - went to the hairdresser. Normally, me being in a bad mood is not a good time to go since I usually end up getting something dramatic done. This time however, I was quite restrained and had a trim and some hilights:



It was hugely expensive, but I feel better :P

I'm also enjoying making blog banners for people - fascinating to try and match them to their online personality ;) at least, no one is saying anything if they hate them, yet!

Slightly Calmer (Karma?)

Ended up making it back to run club tonight which was really nice though I absolutely flew there from work. The people at the lights certainly copped an eyeful as I stripped and changed into running gear enroute *L* Really good to go for a run, catch up with people and generally channel my left over blahness from this morning into more constructive purposes. I decided enroute that next week I'm going to attempt to run with the next faster group. If it takes me three weeks of total pain to keep up before it becomes bearable, so be it.

Bootcamp this morning really, really annoyed me, but at the same time, it only makes me more bloody determined to get better and faster. What doesnt kill you makes you stronger (faster). I know I'm never going to be really, really good at running (can't change biology) but I know I can improve on where I'm at now. And, if you never try, you never know.

Got an email from previously mentioned running boy saying he's seeing someone else. I have a sneaky little intuition about that ;) Really is none of my business however so I'll shut up now save to say I wish him well. Plenty more fish in the sea as they say. Sick of fishing anyway so it's probably all for the best.

Really, really shitty: 6:01

Don't you just hate it when you just miss a goal time? I felt like chucking the biggest girly tantrum this morning, when I half killed myself around the assault course, only to cross the line in 6:01. 6.01 !!!
*Hannah jumps up and down and stamp feet repeatedly in disgust*

(don't mind me, I'll just have the tantrum here instead ;)

Now all I can think is, what if I'd just pushed a little bit harder in that sprint? What if I'd done those push ups a bit faster? I almost, almost burst into tears right there and then.

My mood wasn't really helped by the continuous run we did afterwards either, where the other people in my group kicked my butt - even the girl who declared she wasn't very good at running. Dammit, Dammit, Dammit! I came away feeling very, very unmotivated about the fitness test on friday, generally feeling fat, unfit and crap at the whole shebang.

I know it's all in my head and everything, but I do have a bit of a competitive streak (I think I get it from my father - he was a racing driver) and it really shits me that I've done almost a year of work learning to run and I'm still slow as all hell and I can't even keep up with people who never run. *sighs*

Anyway. A huge overreaction no doubt but there you are. I need to stew on it for a bit and I'm sure I'll be right.

Dammit!

Bootcamp

So, I rocked up this morning feeling reasonable - the inside of my thighs was a little sore (in a good way) from doing (what is still, for me) many kms in the space of two days. Although, I think that if I hadn't sprinted the last 1.5km yesterday I wouldn't be sore today - I've been thinking more about my form lately, and when I sprint I run really differently - I drive with my legs a lot more and my stride gets longer. I don't know if that's something I should actually be doing during slow runs too... it just feels more natural to do it when I want to go quicker!

Bootcamp this morning involved assault course again. 6.17, dammit! By the time I got to the last sprint, I realised I really was a bit fatigued from the last couple of days. Tomorrow I think I'll have a rest day and try and blitz it on wednesday. I'm also going to try and make it back to run club that evening, so it should be a full on day!

After the assault course, we did hill runs. They actually made people vomit today from the effort. Thankfully, not me. The hill runs were in the landscaped gardens just behind the park - probably only 40m or so actual distance, but pretty steep. They were however graduated with two 5m flat sections equally spaced - so it was like running three stages. Not that we got to rest between each part of the hill - they made us sprint each section flat out, then do ten squat jumps on each flat...

Oh my gods - if you ever wanted to strengthen (read KILL) your thigh muscles, that's the way to do it. It was brutal and everyone just fell over onto the grass at the top of each set. Didn't even have the strength to remain standing. We did that and variations of it for about 30 minutes. By the end of it though, I'm delighted to say endurance won out and I beat the quick blokes on the very last set. *snorks* not that it's much of a victory - I spent most of the session trailing behind them with legs like concrete! It was one of those exercises that absolutely kills but really works (I don't think I'll be able to walk tomorrow!) as such, I'm thinking I may encorporate it somehow into my training. That sort of strength work has to benefit running, surely.

River Run 10km 56:50ish?

Well, river run was fun. (do I get extra points for lame rhymes? LOL) not my quickest 10km, but reasonable considering that tomorrow will make four days straight of running. Plus, I weigh 3kgs more than I did when I ran my PB (*grumbles at self*) I'm so completely over dieting. Healthy eating, fine. Significant daily reduction in calories, nah. If It means I have to bloody weigh more, so be it. I feel like if I eat the way I used to to (pre-running) where I hardly ate carbs for literally months, I'd fall over. Need energy to run, hence need carbs. My friend Em, who is currently doing the whole losing weight thing and has taken up running learnt that the hard way recently - she passed out after reducing her carbs and running hard... poor thing! Only her pride was dented though, which is the main thing ;)

Anyway, It's all just a case of everything in moderation, no doubt. But I'm not going to completely obsess over it any more. As I continue increasing my training, perhaps it'll just come off naturally. If it doesnt, I don't care!

*ahem* Oops, slight sideways deviation there. Where was I? Oh yes. Race report ;)

I got there at about 5.45am and saw Clairie and tribe. The wind had finally died down (thought we may get blown into the river yesterday!) and headed to the start line. Zest Health Clubs was trying to get everyone doing an aerobic warm up, but we were packed in like sardines so there was no chance of that! Soon enough we were off.

Tried very hard not to get caught up in the usual 2km dash at the start, and settled into a rhythym. By 7km or so, I took great delight in passing a lot of those same people, who were now walking. I think I could've pushed myself harder during the run, but I guess I was also thinking about tomorrow's assault course and that it'd be wise to leave a little in the tank. And, having already run 10km the day before probably affected me too.

We ran past the last of the BRRC'ers on the run too - it was the championship 7/14kms today, but it's not like my points were going to do me much good anyway, so I was happy enough to do the 10km race instead. Saw Karisma, Schultzy, Run67 and a few others and waved as we went by.

Crossed the line, got my breath back and looked for a certain boy who had come to watch but had gone missing. Then I grabbed a huge mango smoothy from Boost (loving their mobile kiosks - boost rocks) and sat to await my impending fortune via random draws, which alas wasn't to be! Oh well, one day!

Finally made it to Brisbane Running Buddies this morning - it's only taken me about three months to finally get there! Today left from the Regatta, only none of the slow runners turned up (there was a party) and I found myself feeling very grateful that most of the people who were there, were either hung over or in recovery so weren't going at their usual full tilt! We did 10km and I think it was probably an ideal way to break myself in gently. Felt really good today - as the weeks go on, I may try to keep up with some of the slower quick people - it's the only way I'm going to get faster, no doubt!

I also got an email from my PT who has started running groups for their clients, prolly on a monday. Knowing him, they'll be brutal. I get a free pass to the first one because I did bootcamp, so I think I'll go along to them regularly if they suit my level of (in)ability *L* Hopefully I'll start being able to make it to wednesday nights again since the semester is almost over (the tutes shorten to an hour and so I'll finish bang on six - will attempt to bolt to the club in record time! may resort to wearing running gear under work clothes!)

So, all things being equal I'll soon have three runs a week with other people sorted out. I've pretty much decided not to do the Toowoomba marathon - I'm going to carry on doing what I'm doing for a bit, work on my speed and carry on increasing my distances gradually. No use building a house on dodgy foundations and I'd hate to blow all the hard work it's taken to get me here :) So, I'm going to shoot for Canberra, I think. Which is really not that far away anyway.

Oh, and thankyou all so much for your advice on Toowoomba (and dodgy hat congratulations too!) - It's so nice to have all this support and the benefit of your experience *hugs* What would we do without our blogs? *grins*

River Run 10k tomorrow, Bootcamp assault course, monday. Sub Six *rah-rah-rah!*

Graduation

Me. My Mother and Dodgy Hat ;)

6:15 assault course

I did the assault course this morning in 6:15... so close to sub-six minutes, it's killing me! LOL! On the positive side of things, I felt like I went much slower today because I had PT on monday night and my muscles are still really fatigued from the weights.... I felt like I worked wayyy harder on mondays effort yet I still managed to go faster, WOOHOO!

One of the guys measured the course on his garmin on the weekend, and says all up, the distance of it is 1.1km, so bearing in mind that it contains (in order): 10 push ups, 20 step ups, 5 push ups (again) 5 chin ups, a small obstacle to clamber over, ten sit ups, a short balance beam, 5 second hold chin up, 5 ab crunches followed by a flat out sprint, then ten chin ups and a short dash to the line I'd love to know how quickly I can run a normal km! *grins* I so have to go back to speedwork after this too - use it or lose it, no doubt ;)

After the assault course, we did another little obstacle course comprised of running up and down hills with a backpack or truck tire on a rope, more push ups, burpees (god, I hate those more than life itself - whoever invented that exercise needs shooting!) etc etc etc. I can't believe how much the fast, intense stuff kills me... I guess that while all this long slow running has been great for getting my distances and endurance up, speed work is speed work and requires greater amounts of pain. I'm hanging out for the continuous run which I think I may be doing on friday. I'm hoping it's my chance to get my own back on those fast bloody men ;) Won't be that far - there's only an hour or so to use on the run as it is. Overall, I'm starting to think I'm destined to prefer longer runs - they seem much more civilised somehow!

Tomorrow, I'm going to attempt to squish in a run in the morning, then I've got my graduation ceremony for my MA. I actually finished months ago but it takes ages to process. I may post pictures of me in dodgy hat. We'll see ;) Friday is bootcamp again, Saturday BRB (locked in, baby!) and Sunday is the 10km River Run which is on at the same time as the West End Run :( Waaaa. Maybe there's time to do both - will check the times.

Next week I think I may be able to go back to wednesday night runs. Depends on work I guess! Oh, and because enquiring minds want to know *grins* the boy did call me so we'll see how things go ;)

42 (the answer to life, the universe and everything?)

Soooo... I was browsing through CoolRunning tonight reading lots of race reports from Blackmores, Glasshouse etc... and I happen accross a little thread about the upcoming Toowoomba Half and Full Marathons.... I'm not crazy enough to attempt the hilly half, but by all accounts the October one is flatter.... and then I start wondering to myself....

Would it be crazy to enter in the full marathon... not to run the entire thing of course, but just to run what I can and walk what I can't.... it'd really be just like a practice then, wouldn't it?

Oh dear. I'm getting dangerous!

I think the deciding factors in this will be:

a. whether there are lots of hills
b. whether are other slow, slow, slow runners too
c. whether I should really just get ahold of myself and wait til GC/Canberra next year!

6:23 assault course

Bootcamp this morning was nasty. It's like doing a solid hour of constant speedwork. I've taken both varieties of my inhaler twice, but the cardio work was so intense that I'm feeling my asthma kick in for the first time in over a year. I did however manage to take 30 seconds off my assault course time, getting it down to 6:23. Sooooo close to getting it under 6 minutes! They set us off in waves depending on fitness, and being the only girl in the last (supposedly fittest!?) wave is a bit difficult - the boys leave me for dead, pretty much. I find it a bit irritating that at the end of the day, no matter how hard I train, men at a similar fitness level are always going to be quicker! It seems a bit unfair, somehow ;) Oh well, c'est la vie!

After the assault course, we split up into smaller groups and spent an hour doing hill runs, burpees, jumping squats, sets of 30 second sprints, lateral jumps (over a rope ladder) and step ups. Oh, and reverse lunges. My lungs were burning like hell!
I think that the intensity of it is probably going to be good for my speed with running - I guess I'll find out on sunday at the river run! I'd like to get under 55 for 10km by the end of the year, too. I meant to do the womens 10km this sunday, but I ended up working the whole weekend :( Sometimes being self employed can suck :( I really shouldn't complain however, since the work is more than welcome. I've been so slack with reading blogs too... must fix that ;) I hope everyone had fun at the Glasshouse. Next year, I may actually do one of the runs ;) I've decided it's my new ambition in life to run every distance there is, at least once! (including 100 miles!)

I am still stuck in the middle of a big fight with myself to eat well and train every day. Bootcamp completely throws my running out (though I think I'll be reaping the benefits of it soon) I'm still pining for my wednesday night long run and I think it's a major reason why my weight has crept up a bit *again*. Next week is mid semester break and so I'll be able to sneak one in then... then it'll only be a few more weeks and I can go back to it. Next week is D Day for the bloody Brisbane Running Buddies, too - it'll be a regatta week I think, so slow pokes like me can go ;) If I don't make it this saturday I'm going to scream!

Right, time to read some blogs and leave some comments for all you lovely people :)

Bootcamp and 5km

Leg felt better this morning (thanks to anti-inflammatories!) and bootcamp went well - did the assault course in 6:56. Previously, my best recorded time (in september last year, before I started running) was 7:41 (and that was after three weeks of working on it!) my goal is to do it in under 6 minutes by the end of the course :)

After that, we did a strength circuit (push ups, chin ups, squats, hovers and the like). Then we all stretched. I felt so pumped after it that I did an extra 5km run after it, too. I bumped into another of the trainers on the run too, so if they dob me into the bootcamp trainers I suspect my bootcamp is about to get a whole lot harder ;) The biggest thing I notice about coming back to it is how much more quickly I recover... better stamina and endurance no doubt. I also felt really good on the run afterwards. I think it's the benefits of increasing my distances starting to show itself.

Tomorrow I'm going to try and do a long run in the morning. I've found where they've been hiding the showers at uni, so I can probably park there and run around the area. It's something I've been meaning to do for ages. Either that, or I'll run at southbank and then drive over. Might bump into some Pat Carrollers, you never know!

All in all, feeling good!

Want to Skydive?

Took a rest day today because oooooooowwwww I needed it. When I woke up this morning, I had pain going down the back of my right leg from just underneath my glute, through the back of my knee and through my calf. Like one long line. Sooo painful and every time I lift my leg it's tight and hurts. Moan, moan, moan, whinge, whinge, whinge, moan, moan, moan *laughs* there. That's better!

Tomorrow is the assault course which I really want to thrash the living daylights out of. But with this leg, I dunno. We shall see I guess! The rest of me feels ready to rock!

On a completely different note, anyone want to come tandem skydiving with me? I picked up a leaflet for it the other day and discovered it's quite a bit cheaper than I had thought - plus, if there's a few people you get a group discount!

I see.... *claps hand to third eye* clouuuddddsss... lots and lots of... clooouuuddddsssss... and wait - there are many small people falling from the sky... they're telling me they call themselves.... CoolRunners....

*Laughs* Okay, Anyone interested?

bootcamp = pain

Having just read clairie's blog, it seems our 25km yesterday was long and we actually did 26.2kms according to the garmin. *grins* even better! Means my average pace was 6:22 which is also a little more encouraging :)

Woke up at 4.30am this morning and took me a few minutes to remember why I was waking up at that time on a monday! Then I remembered it was bootcamp and braced myself for getting out of bed. Thankfully, the anti-inflammatories I took yesterday did the trick and I felt surprisingly good. My calves were really tight and sore though, so I spent some time stretching and then hopped into the car.

Got to bootcamp at 5.30am to sign on. Always fascinating to see the different sorts of people that come - a whole myriad, from the terminally unfit to the machines. As usual, I was somewhere in the middle. I felt quite optimistic at that point, thinking I'd be able to do the whole thing despite yesterday's long run.

We started off doing chin ups, which I'm never very good at - I managed 2 which is awful. It doesn't help that my gym doesn't appear to have a chin up bar anywhere to practice on. I'll have to start using the stretching cage soon instead! Then, while everyone else was being tested, the rest of us did little shuttle runs up the hill to stay warm. It was then that I realised that even though my hips and thighs feel reasonably okay, the fatigue was going to get me. instantly felt like I weighed 126kgs again and got out of breath pretty easily. Plus, the insides of my knees joints are a not-good type of sore from the repetitive pounding.

I decided then not to do the cardio test because I didn't want to risk buggering my knee joints. I could feel the strain on them and I'd rather go back fresh on wednesday. It did irritate me a bit not to do it (felt like a slacker) and they had a new version of it (so I don't hold the female record for it anymore, boohoo!). It now involves running 150m circuit of hard sprint, then dropping for 5 push ups and going again. They do 4 sets of 2 minutes each, with 30 seconds recovery between. I did however get to watch a formulate a bit of a cunning plan for it - pretty much everyone just went absolutely flat out from the start and then faded really quickly - I think the key to stuff like that is like doing speedwork at track, where you find the quickest pace you can maintain for a period time and stick at it.

We did ab crunches (I got 10 - again pathetic because my legs felt so heavy) squat hold (1:12 - crap for me again, last time i did 6 minutes!) and push ups (50 which was a bit better but still not usual amount for me - and these were on my knees!)

Wednesday I have the first crack at the good old assault course. I hope I get some energy back by then!

25km *muahahahahahaha*

Well, I did it! 25km! Took me 2:47, but I did it ;)

Woke up at 5am after dreaming I was locked in a kitchen pantry with a deranged psychopath trying to get in and kill me! somehow I had a phone in there with me, but 000 couldn't help me because I didn't know the address of the house I was in. Amazing what pre-race anxiety will do to you. Despite nasty dreams, I slept well and got to the West End in plenty of time. Saw Clairie who was also doing the 25km and then they announced that because of the riverfire festival, part of the usual course was going to be shut off and we would be doing the 25km in EIGHT shorter loops of just over 3kms which brought many spontaneous shrieks from those of us who had been planning to do the longer run. At that point I almost thought 'bugger it' and opted for the 15kms, but decided to just start and see how I went. Plus, I knew that if I didn't go for the 25km after all my hoo-haa about it, you guys would give me heaps ;) *grins*

So out I went. I managed to buy some GU's to run with (went with chocolate flavour) and felt pretty good. Tesso was volunteering for the morning and cheered me on through most of my many, many, many loops *L* I started out really, really, REALLY slowly (even for me!) and walked through the drink stop every 3km. It averages out to 6:40 pace, which is actually quicker than it felt! At the half way point, I suddenly felt really hungry (had opted for huge dinner, no breaky) and so had my GU which definitely perked me up. Am now a convert to those things - although, not so keen on chocolate - will go for orange next time!

It was really at the half way point that I felt like I was actually going to be able to do the whole distance. During the run a couple of different people ran with me which helped soooo much so all up I think I probably only did 3 out of the 8 loops on my own. Schultzy came and did the final couple with me which really, really helped. By that point my legs were sooo tired and I could feel giant blisters of doom growing on the soles of my feet - think I need new socks.

Got through to the end of the run and Clairie, Tess, Runner B and a few other lovely people had waited for me to cross the line! Felt soooo good to be able to stop! Lots of hugs and cheers and stuff and they saved a random prize for me! It wasn't until I got to the swimming pool to take a quick recovery dip that I realised my newly dyed elderberry hair had stained my white cap an interesting vivid purple!!! LOL!!! no one had said anything to me when I finished, bless them ;) LOL! *mental note to self: must buy black hat*

After my swim, got home, fell onto my bed and dozed for a couple of hours. Took a couple of anti-inflammatories and put some cream on my chafed bits. I put body glide on practically my whole body, but you can never predict where is going to rub - this time, it was the line where my fuel belt went accross my back - it's sooo sore!!!

But all up, feeling really good. Am wayyyy more tired than I was after noosa and it's weird to think four more kms can do that to you. Doesn't matter though - I have a new 'magic number' of 25! Thankyou so much to all those who've texted, posted comments, emailed and cheered me on... you were all there this morning in my brain as I almost went the easy road and didn't! I hope I can do the same for you one day :)

Now, only have to get through bootcamp tomorrow! Now that should make an interesting post! *grins*

30km, here I come!

Brisbane Drinking Club + 5km

Went to the gym yesterday and ran 5km on the tready. My hatred of the bloody things is growing exponentially with distance covered in the fresh air! I sweat about three times as much on a treadmill, too - I think because there's no airflow. Anyway, I 'did my time' felt great afterwards and went to meet my next client and all was well.

And then, I got a great phonecall. A few weeks ago, I submitted some of my artwork to a fairly queensland based art award - they selected my work to go through to the final round! Winning would be fabulous for many reasons (and being slightly mercenary, I'm also thinking it would enable me to pay off the majority of my credit card!) but even if I only get this far, to get to the final stages out of hundreds and hundreds of entrants is fantastic :) I won't know til October what the end result is and will keep you all posted, of course!

Last night was Brisbane Drinking Club night out - heaps of fun as usual. Lovely to catch up with so many CRs and meet new faces to familiar names! I can't wait to see all the photos Tess took - I made a suggestion that we need a 'CR uncut' section in the photo gallery *LOL* Much red wine and beer was consumed, except for me cos I don't drink often and I'd also taken a truck load of antihistamine (I get awful hayfever and it's back for the summer!) which doesn't mix well with alchohol. Also met quite a cute boy (who is not yet converted to the evils of CR) and hit on him, so we shall see if he calls me ;)

After drinks, we went and had pizza. Dinner conversation was fascinating and involved such topics as circumcision (Clairie!) The pizza was good though! It's been soooo long since I ate pizza. I love mozerella :) After pizza, we went to another pub for a few drinks. Tankgirl cartwheeled practically the whole way there *L* I don't know how she did it after pizza! Decided that not only do I want to work towards doing a marathon, but eventually (in a few years time I think!) I want to do one of those immensely long glasshouse runs. 100 miles? again with the whole bad influence thing LOL - I'm so easy to egg on!

By midnight, most of the CRs were piking out (early morning runs, yeah, yeah LOL!) and it was just Cieran, Tara, Me and Rob. We went for 'just one more drink' which turned into another and another *grins* We went to the Chill Bar - I'd never been before, but it's a fantastic little place that makes cocktails - the bar changes colour and the top of it has a strip of actual ice to put your drinks on so they stay cool. There's a members only room behind the bar which is chilled, where you can wear giant fur coats and drink vodka at the proper temperature. It's an insane amount of money to join of course, so we just pressed our noses against the window and had a look at everything. Funny what people will spend huge amounts of money on!

After that, we went to another pub (can't remember what the name of it was) and had one more before heading off. I got in at about 3am *L* So we kept the CR Brisbane End up to scratch I think! Beat that, Sydney! LOL. Tonight I'm going to watch the fireworks on the river with Sam and Tracey (club running mates) and then tomorrow is the big day! Argh! Sooo nervous!