Great Lake Relay 2011

Last Saturday was the Great Lake Relay at Lake Taupo. It was an amazing experience to say the least.  When training began 6 weeks earlier I couldn't even run around the track at Church College.  Infact I only made it half way.  200 metres.  And then I died.  Literally.  But I had a goal and the fact that we trained as a team made it easier to stick to it and push myself.  Don't get me wrong, I hated it every single training run. But then when I finished I'd think "hey that wasn't so bad" and the next night I'd be out there again.
So race day came and I felt really ready.  My leg of the race was only 6.1 kms and was classed as easy.  It was a great feeling starting off and even passing a few people.  The first half of the run was cruisey as it was mainly downhill - I even managed a conversation with a man running beside me.  (yeah, I didn't know he was there and was singing really loud to my i-pod).  Then the hills started.  One of them was 900 metres long.  Yeah, that wasn't fun.  But I kept going and then finally I saw the van again and Jonathan gave me a drink and told me I only had 1.5kms to go.  I was like "yes - I'm nearly done"  But I kept running and running and no finish line came into sight.  I started to think I must be running really, really slowly for it to be taking so long.  At last I saw the changeover station which gave me a boost of energy and I was able to pass a few people.  I tagged Jonathan for the next leg and pretty much collapsed in the ditch on the side of the road.  haha.  I was wasted.

Yep, that's me in the ditch :)

Then the team told me  that the leg had been mis-measured and I had infact run 7.3 kms.  Holy Moly.  That probably doesn't seem like much, especially to people like Paul who ran 14 kms at 2am but for me that was a big deal.  The most I had ever run was 5.5 kms.  So yeah, I was pretty happy with that.  And I even managed to do it in less time than I was alotted for my 6.1 kms.
All in all it was a great day.  It was awesome to be part of such a great team of people.  Running over the finish line together was pretty cool.  We'd made a hair brained goal at a family feed a few months before and actually accomplished it!  It took us 15 hours and 26 seconds to run 156 kms. We came 109th.  Bring on next year!


THE RUNS
Back Row L-R:  Wally, Nigel, Jonathan, Paul, Rene, Sach
Front Row L-R:  Nakita, Kelly, Me, Sam, Kara, Asher



Valentines Day

Valentines Day was on Monday and I celebrated by getting up at 5:30 to cook breakfast for 12 teenagers...how romantic :)  But seriously, I had promised my Seminary class breakfast if they all passed off their scripture mastery and they all did! 

Don't you love my cake stand?  Jonathan got it for me for Christmas.

We had planned to go on a family picnic but were helping in the kitchen at Brother Cammocks funeral so postponed until Tuesday night.  Usually I would cook up scrumptuous picnic treats but now that I am an early morning seminary teacher and suffer from chronic fatigue syndrome :) I let the Colonel do the cooking.  No one seemed to mind.

Elle for some reason decided she officially hated KFC so had fish n chips instead

Back to Reality

How did the summer holidays go by so fast?  It seems like just yesterday I was picking up the kids from their last day of school.  I swear when I was a kid that the Summer Holidays lasted FOREVER.  Didn't they? 
So after 6 weeks of lazy sleep ins and late night movie watching its back to reality.
And unfortunatly for me - reality this year means waking up at 6am.  Yes, apart from the chronic fatigue Seminary seems to be going well.  I would have to say its the busiest calling I've ever had.  Being Relief Society President was a constant mind busy calling - but this is a constant TIME busy calling.  I seriously think that by the time I've planned and taught my lesson I'm spending about 3 hours a day!  But I'm totally enjoying it.
Jonathan has started at Sacred Heart Girls College and all is going well.  We went to the school Powhiri last week and there was a nice spirit there.  I'm so happy that Elle will be able to go there next year.
And the kids are into week 2 of school already.
10 days until the Lake Taupo Run.  I must say I'm suprised I'm still in it.  Its been a real test of endurance for me.  Like I said, I'm not a natural runner but I've kept going and things have gradually gotten easier.  Not easy by a long stretch, just easier.