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Ugh, an almost solid week of rain and the end of daylight savings means one thing, winter is coming. It’s

annoying but it is life.

Work will start slowing down which is fantastic, yet bad at the same time. All of Seattle will change as the trees start dropping leaves and disappearing entirely. The end if the year is busy with thanksgiving, then Heidi’s birthday and then Christmas shortly after. Struggle street

and yet not at the same time.  So much food, so much candy and baking too. I have much to do

this Christmas.

But it’s also a time i dislike not just because of the temperature. The fact I can’t go out and go for a run because it’s raining, or ride my bike because it’s raining (or too cold). It’s a crappy time if the year.  I guess it’s time to start running on the treadmill and sucking it up.

This post doesn’t have many special meaning just more of a whinge. At least it’s not pitch black out at 7am now. Thank god for small mercies.

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So I have been training a lot and I haven’t really said much on here what for, well in 7 days time I will be running a 10k (and what could be my last if Heidi gets her way). I will be running the “Beat the Blerch” race. What is this you say? Well it is a Running Series put on by the guy who writes the Oatmeal comic. But you really need to understand what it is first before you go any further. So first off read this:

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/running

Ok… back yet? Good. Now you understand what the “Blerch” is. So why would I try and “Beat the Blerch” Well because the races sound like lots of fun, they include all of the following:

Every participant gets a “I Beat The Blerch in 2015” tech shirt and medal.
There will be large quantities of cupcakes at every aid station, in addition to Nutella and magical grape beverages.
Race photos are FREE.
Ridiculously awesome goodie bag stuffed with Blerch surprises.
A portion of the proceeds go to charity.

But best of all is this last little bit:
There will be actual Blerchs in fat-suits chasing you throughout the race.

So some guy is going to chase me for 10K trying to catch me…. SOLD! Actually getting the free stuff and the cake sold me. So I am looking forward to a little bit of fun next weekend, being able to run around and enjoy myself shall be good. The training has gone well, a few of the runs were tough, but the 9k I did on Friday morning (since I had a late shift) worked well, I was on/under pace and that is good. My body was fighting a little so hopefully I can keep that in check this week.

Here is to at least one more 10k in my life!

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So I know I haven’t been talking on here much as of late, but I figured that I would at least fill you in. I have been working a lot as of late, and with a whole week of night shifts last week, I spend most of my time either at work or catching up on sleep. On Sunday Heidi and I decided to take a day out of our schedules and head out to Lake Chelan for the day. I had not been up there, and Heidi used to go out there every year for camping, so it was time to at least do it even for a day.

We decided to use up our last of the current stash of free days and grab a car from National again. I picked the car up after work late on Saturday night giving us a solid day on Sunday to be able to get out and back without rushing (and in fact we didn’t rush much at all). I was hoping to grab a new 2015 Mustang as I had seen them out and about all the time and they do look good (better than the previous years) but sadly it seems National at Seattle does not get them, and they mainly get Chevy Camaros, which is what we got. This decision would come back to haunt me later.

We hit up Leavenworth for breakfast (since we left home before 6am) on Sunday and it wasn’t bad. We just picked the first place that said it was open on yelp. Sunday morning before 8am in Leavenworth is pretty quiet, with no one out on the streets at all. We rolled out of town after filling up and hit the road out to Chelan. We stopped by the town of Chelan for a quick walk and a break before heading out to the State Park and some time by the lake itself.

Heidi wanted me to get in the water really badly and after I sat around reading for a while, and a walk throughout the park, I gave in. I gave into her demands and pushes and got in the water. The water was freezing cold but it was ok after a while. The whole area was rocks though and not sand, so it was nothing like some of the freshwater lakes I am used to back home (Lake McKenzie on Fraser Island for instance).

We left Chelan and started the long drive home taking time to stop at roadside fruit stands and just generally going slowly. At one point Heidi started her usual road song of “Apple Maggot Quarantine Area” trying at times to get me to join in. I wouldn’t and then she decided that she won’t stop until I did join in. Well, this was going to be a game of who gives in first, and Heidi was determined to not stop singing, and she didn’t for 35 miles. For 35 miles she kept on going. I did not give in, even throughout yelling and crying 😛

We finished off our day with dinner at Snoqualmie Casino for some Dim Sum and Snow Crab, something a little different. The food was good and the crab was plentiful. The dessert selection was amazing and I was in heaven with to much to choose from. I had pie and ice cream and shortcake and cookies and more! It was fantastic!

We dropped the car back late at night after a fun filled day out and about in the PNW. The weather was good (albeit super hot out at Chelan) and I can’t wait to enjoy more. We have decided to head out to Spokane for a weekend in September and putting together a possible trip out to Nebraska/Iowa. I have a trip to LAX planned for September too, so with all of that I am excited!.

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So some of you have seen that I have a conditional job approval, the job is something that I don’t really want to do long term, but till something better comes along, it will fill the hole and hey, it pays. The job requires me working out doors with some good upper body strength (which should give people some idea as to what I am doing) and sadly, that is something I haven’t paid much attention to for a while. All I have been doing the last year or more has been running or bike, one or the other, all cardio all the time! I had to do a physical abilities test for the job (hence conditional approval) and while I smashed through a lot of the cardio part of it with ease, the strength testing was not that great.

The funny part of the story is that the Physical Therapist (PT) giving me the test said that I need to focus on my upper body training for the next few weeks before the job starts, so that the first few days are not going to be a problem. What he didn’t know is that for a good 6 months or more, Heidi has been telling me the same thing. Right then I was thinking “probably should have listened to my wife (she wasn’t my wife at the time but you know how that goes) and done what she said”. The PT thought that was a good laugh and kept going with the test. Telling me what I need to focus on over the next couple of weeks.

So I wake up this morning, after a night of helping to build IKEA furniture (and video games) and my body was fighting me big time. Just after the test yesterday my body was aching, telling me I had done bad things. Sucks to be my body though because it is time to start doing some weights. I pushed it through for about 45 minutes (wanted to do an hour but that wasn’t going to happen first day out). I guess I will have to keep pushing through it, because I tell you what, it may hurt, but it has to be done!

Here is to a new lot of muscles!

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This is not the post I was going to write this week, it was going to be full of Avgeek Porn, but that didn’t happen (haven’t finished the photos yet) and then I was going to write something else about the visa process (that can wait too).  Since the reason I am behind in my photos is because I skipped going for a run yesterday morning, I should at least talk about that.

Right now, Thursday morning, my body despises me.  It hates my guts!  Why? Well because I decided to sleep in yesterday morning (only an extra 30 mins) instead of going for a run.  What I decided to do was keep that run for when I got home.  Yeah, not a good idea.  In the past I might have gone to the gym in the morning and then maybe a short run in the afternoon.  Everytime I did that, I only lasted about 2-3km before my legs where just crap.  A day at work with my legs stuck under a desk, or having to be cramped in a bus for an hour to get home (yep, yesterday took an hour and a quarter to get home thanks to traffic and rain & delays), never leaves my legs in good shape.  So running in the afternoon never happens properly.  Except yesterday I pushed through it and ran the full 5kms (in the rain as well).

This was the dumbest idea I have had in a while, and right now my legs hate my guts.  My shins are tight and feel like someone has been jumping up and down on them.  My calves feel like someone has been stabbing needles into them, and all of this because I decided to get some extra sleep.  Since I run at least 3 days a week and Friday morning is always a run day before the weekly weigh in, I have no choice really but to run tomorrow.  I hope to god that my legs are better by then or I will just be making it worse.  Well the main thing is that I did run and I got out there, but I seriously am not doing that again… my legs just can’t handle the afternoon run.  I don’t know why but a morning run is always more refreshing to me.

Eh… maybe I should just stop whining?

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2015 will certainly be a different year than 2014.  For first I am married now so I guess this year will see me trying to be a better husband as well as a better husband.  The hardest part of my life this year will be uncertainty.  I want to know what is happening with my life but I am so far away from everything it isn’t funny.  Life is pretty much in a holding pattern so I want to make sure whatever goals I set for myself this year are attainable.

One of the biggest things I try to do every year is set some fitness goals.  Since Heidi is going to have her own goals (and hopefully she will post them here as well), my goals might be fairly similar.  Like for instance I know that Heidi wants to run a 5k this year, something she wants to do to push herself.  So I figure I should at least do one myself right?  I think my fitness goals for 2015 should be:

* 2 x 5k runs
* 1 x 10k run

I also want to continue getting my weight back down.  It is too high in my opinion so will do whatever it takes to get that back down.   I know people will say that I don’t need it etc, but I do and I want to fit back into my Hong Kong Suit and prove Heidi wrong after a comment she made about it before the wedding.

As for Travel Goals, well that is a different thing this year.  Ideally Heidi & I want to go to Australia.  That is all we really care about, that is all we really want to do.  Nothing else matters, everything else is not required, everything else is just icing on the cake (i do like cake and i do like icing).

I want to work towards changing my job this year as well, finding something that will make me happy.  I don’t want to be in this job forever and I don’t want to be stuck in the same job for the rest of my life, so finding something this year will be one of my goals.  Now to just work out what I want to do… any ideas?

So that is enough pondering the future for one night.  I am looking forward to a new 2015, one that brings in some challenges and some surprises.

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It was 5 years ago today that I showed up early in the morning to a small non descript building in Brisbane. Down by the river, in a suburb full of rich residents & lots of up & coming restaurants. But that building and the people who worked there were the ones who changed my life.

5 years ago today I looked like this

image

O how much has changed since then. Look at me now:

image

Although I can’t say that I am 100% happy with the way I am today, I can say that I am happy the way I am overall. My life has changed a lot since that morning. I remember doing a 2km time trial to see my fitness level. A 2km walk took almost 30 minutes.  Now I can run 5km in less than that. A 2km run on average takes me 10-11 minutes!

I have many people to thank and they all know who they are and I have said it many times before. But this time of year truly makes me thankful for everything people have done for me in my life.

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For my birthday week I wanted to go for a ride on my bike before breakfast out. Originally we had planned to ride around Alki on West Seattle for something totally different and then head to IHOP afterwards for my free breakfast (yes I’m cheap & I had never been before so it seemed a good idea). However when the voucher for IHOP came in, it had to be for a specific location. That was going to be a problem as the two of them were ages apart… Woops!

To fix that Heidi & I decided to try out riding on the I90 trail. The I90 runs from downtown Seattle and runs the entire length of the USA. The I90 trail runs from Bellevue (well Factoria) across Lake Washington to Seattle. Along the way it crosses a couple of bridges, an Island & then best of all, across a floating bridge then through a tunnel. How awesome is that! The full trail is 10 miles, one way… Maybe not! So we decide to go for just part of it from Mercer Island’s trail head across the floating bridge and then through the tunnel & back again.

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The ride went well for me now that my bike is fixed (after my embarrassing ride on the Interurban) and I flew across that bridge. Even though I was freaking out for part of it when on the floating bridge, thinking I was going to fall into the lake or get hit by a car, I still loved it. Heidi on the other hand didn’t have as good of a time.

image

Heidi’s bike had a bad day. It looks like somehow her back tire got buckled & it was making her slower than she wanted. I gave her half a tunnel head start on the way back and managed to beat her out (although it was by maybe an inch). The weather though & the scenery made it enjoyable none the less.

I want to go back & try the whole trail now, probably bus back though to make it easier on the return. Either way it was a great way to start the day… And how did it end?

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On Sunday Heidi took me for my first Hike in the PNW. Something that she really enjoys to do, and something I rarely do but can and will do (or more like should do), hiking is something we talked about, but never got around to doing until now. Wanting to avoid the crowds, since it’s July and it’s blue outside, we headed to a trail that was recommended to us by Heidi’s dad. Otter Falls was the destination but the guide book didn’t tell us of the fact that we were not looking for the “Otter Falls” trail but the “Snoqualmie Lake” trail.

Either way, we had a good time, but rather than bore you with details of “We Walked through trees without too much of a problem” (ok we did get lost a bit at the start) here are the pictures instead:

From Life in Seattle 2014
From Life in Seattle 2014
From Life in Seattle 2014
From Life in Seattle 2014
From Life in Seattle 2014
From Life in Seattle 2014
From Life in Seattle 2014

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How is it that after running for over 3 years now and not falling over at all, after endless kilometres that I wake up this morning and when I am about 3/4 way through my run (about 1.5km from home) I stack it? I am a clumsy person, I am covered in scars and burns and cuts and abrasions, but till now, I had not stacked it at all. I managed to this morning fall flat on my face but I got up within 1 second and kept going as though everything was fine (dripping blood down my leg though). I tripped on a small piece of pavement that I ran over last week without a problem, so what the hell is wrong with me!

When I was training for Kokoda, I fell over countless times while trekking up and down Mt Cootha. There was not a session that went by where I was not flat on my ass at least once, and it was as though the training was not complete till I had stacked it somehow. Many a time on Kokoda itself I was expecting to go head first down a mountain. I think one of my problems is my lack of balance, I can’t even stand up straight without almost falling over sometimes, so how can I expect to be able to run without a problem?

I don’t know how badly this fall this morning is going to effect my running (my knee is currently strapped up to ensure that the chunk missing doesn’t go all over my jeans today at work) but hopefully I can keep going. Guess who is going to be doing weights in the gym tonight…

THIS GUY!!!!!

*** Funnily enough, I was wearing my Kokoda shirt this morning during my run. So maybe it was just a Kokoda fall come back to haunt me? ***