Baby Birkenstocks

Check these out. Sophie’s lil' Birkenstocks! They are actually just print on her socks by “Jazzy Toes” from Friven & Co. It was a box set with "sneakers", "mary-janes".... Cute or what!

And we go camping.....!!!

Since Papa is away, I decided to have some fun with the kids and we decided to camp right here in our own home! Emma and Cate were so please and really it was just a matter of moving their mattresses to the floor, drape a few sheets from the light.... I had to sleep right in between them and with the gap between their 2 mattresses plus the fact that the length was too short for me to lie with my legs straight, I was pretty uncomfortable. Sophie couldn't join us cos I was too worried that one of them were going to squash her. :(

The girls also said their nightly prayers which I managed to record.

Transcript of Cate's part: "And thank you for the dinner, and thank you for the lovely sweet dreams, and thank you it is camp day, and thank you for sweet dreams and thank you for dinner,.... cheh cheh's turn...."

Kids are so easy to please,....who needs expensive Wii and Nintendo games!

My 1st Post-Pregnancy Race

On Sunday, I did my very first post-pregnancy race – The Standard Chartered Half Marathon. I signed up shortly after having Sophie and thought that 4 months would be more than enough time to at least be ready enough to complete it. Well, I was very shocked to find the state of my fitness when I started running again about a month after delivery. Check out Virgin Run.

Training
For my own records, below is the simple beginner 10wk training program I downloaded from some site. Beneath that is the actual runs that I put in during the 10 weeks leading up to the race. I only ended up runnng 187km out of the planned 315km in the 10 weeks leading up to the race. Pretty pathetic huh? :( To my defence, every run that I put in has to be carefully planned and scheduled into my breastfeeding schedule. I know, I know, sounds like excuses, but it's true! .... ;)

When I got lazy, I took Master Shem's advice and skipped all my runs except for the weekly long ones. (Hee hee,... that's true right Shem? Or did I conveniently distort everything you said.... :P)

Race Day - Rise & Shine
I rose at 4am on race day - I had to express* before the race (ARGH!). We got to Raffles City in good time and found nearby parking by about 5:30am (good considering 50,000 participants!).

* To pump breastmilk out using a machine so that lil’ Soph will have some food while I am away from her.

Paul decided to run with me. I was a bit apprehensive about that cos:
1. I normally run on my own
2. I was worried that he would pressurise me to run faster
3. I was worried that he won’t pressurise me to run faster

The few times I had run with Paul, he would kind of wait for me in that he will be ahead of me, but not very far ahead so I could still see him. That is probably the worse arrangement. If he were so far ahead that I couldn’t see him, then there would be no problem at all,…. But if he is perpetually 50m ahead where I can see him, I perpetually feel like I have to speed up to catch him. Paul on the other hand, would “keep keeping” that distance ahead of me (in his act of waiting), and I end up having to play catch up for the entire 2+ hr run. Not fun! Screws up my pacing too. I never realised that this was what was causing my runs with Paul to be so difficult until like a week before race day.

Anyway on race day, Paul overheard me telling Mel “I am not sure I want Paul to run with me actually…” which led to a mini breakout discussion 5 min to the start of the race. Resolution was that Paul will run with me but not AHEAD of me. Looking back, that worked out beautifully. :)

The Race
The route was nice but there wasn’t very much noise / cheering going on throughout the race unlike some other races. The distance markings were TERRIBLE. Nearly put me off altogether. For those who know me, I need as much information as possible during any run, let alone a race. That is how I pace myself. The distance markers were so completely off that it just made it very demoralising. I don’t think I was the only one who felt it.

In summary, the race was a lot less painful than I expected. The longest run I did prior to the race was 18km and I was really worried that the 21km would be more painful than that. As it turned out, it was AS PAINFUL AS and not more, so that was good. Based on some table that a friend shared with me, my goal time was 2h19m - worked out from my post-pregnancy 5km timing. A more realistic goal based on my long runs leading up to the race where my pace was generally about 7min/km, my estimated timing would have been around 2h27m.

My chip time was 2:22:49. Mixed feelings about it since it is somewhere between my goal time and my expected time. I keep telling myself that I shouldn’t have walked-jogged the last 2km. I just didn’t have the energy despite chowing down 3 gels (40m, 1h15m, 1h50m). I carried 4 with me but by the 3rd one, I was feeling pretty “bao bao” – *burp!*

Having said all that, I am glad that I did the half marathon. Yay! Even more glad that Paul was with me all the way. xoxo

aaa Team Mates

Post-race - physically I am feeling quite fine. Probably more tired from waking at 4am than anything else! Calves ached a little but nothing compared to when I do Core Training with Anne Date! Makes me feel like I definitely shouldn't have walked/jogged the last 2km. Weak!

Kids' Dash (with the family!)

After the race, we waited for Emma and her cousins to come down with Nana, and Paul did the 800m kids’ dash with her.

Emma & Mummy enjoying the pre-Kids' Dash carnival



Stretching with Papa before the DASH!!!

Emma with her cousins after the race
(showing off the most important thing of the race - their medals!!!)

Nana says that next year she is going to attempt the 10km! Woot woot!

Elaine - Next step, a full? :P

The Wall of Fame

Since Emma and Cate started Art Boot Camp, I have started a little wall of paintings. It is on the wall directly facing my study window that looks out into the corridor so it is effectively the view from my desk. Only paintings on canvas and of a certain standard make it up on "The Wall". They don't actually do canvases all the time so when they do, they are well excited as they may get featured on my Wall. To be honest, all of them have made it up to the wall so far regardless of how good they are. ;) All the below are Emma's except for the cute little one in the middle which is by Cate.

Below is Emma’s latest still life of some stuffed toys. Featuring this cos am somewhat fascinated by the white bunny on the left. Check out how frightened his/her eyes are!

I guess if I had an invisible body, I would be petrified too. Not sure why Emma decided to leave the bunny’s body “blank”. I asked the teacher to make her paint in a shirt but they say they don’t like to interfere with the child’s creativity. Fair enough. I do find the floating head and hands somewhat annoying though….