Round the Bridges - May 2011

Kia ora everybody

Here's a (better late than never) photo recap of my first walking event of the year "The Whanganui Chronicle Round the Bridges Fun Run"

It took place on Sunday 8th May 2011 which was Mother's Day!  An awesome way to celebrate Mothers Day I thought!

Here is my photo recap:

Early set up - before the crowds arrived

Maemae, myself and Ngaire - all geared up and super excited!  Pom Pom Power!

That's me!  Raring to go!

Queuing up at the start line!

The TOIHA 10kmers!

Our city's amazing Mayor Annette Main (I love this woman!)

I am used to seeing the back of this guy - I trailed behind him in the last 10km I walked!

Getting really hot now, just about halfway!

Just coming up from crossing under the Cobham Bridge

About to walk over the Cobham Bridge

Hot and bothered!

A water stop - by our "Pencils"

Happy to have the finish line in my sights

Getting my certificate and crossing the finish line!

Neihana and I - celebrating!  He ended up being my walking companion!

The delicious cupcakes my kids brought me for Mother's Day - they presented these to me after the walk 

Watch out cupcake!  Here I come!!!

 It was a really great event and I thoroughly enjoyed myself!  I managed to do it in great time - 1 hour and 25 minutes!  Whoop whoop!!!

A week in the life of:

Hey everybody!

Here's another weekly summary of my exercising and weight losing adventures: 

Monday 16th May 2011 - Sunday 22 May 2011

Major achievements for the week:

Tracking! - It's so ingrained in me now, I'm now hesitant to call it an achievement!

1. Losing 1.4kg!
2. Joining a gym!

Monday 16th May 2011 - I met up with my WW friend Liz, and we did a really awesome walk at lunchtime.  We also managed to build into this walk a visit to the supermarket, where we both purchased healthy snacks!  Bonus!!!  I then went and massaged my mother in law's crook back.  Massaging is quite strenuous so I guess I should count that as activity too!

Tuesday 17th May 2011 - Today, I kinda overdid it!  I went to Zumba at lunchtime, followed by a brisk walk uptown.  Then again I went to Zumba at 5.45pm - my energy was so high I could not for the life of me get to sleep!

Wednesday 18th May 2011 - I had to take the day off work, because I was really tired and bluck!  When I told my boss about my sleeping issues, she said "Of course - it was a full moon last night!  Lots of people have trouble sleeping when it's full moon" - I'm like "?"  I had never heard of that before so I'm going to monitor myself over the next few months and see if there's anything in that!

Thursday 19th May 2011 - I walked to my lunchtime WW meeting and weighed in at 103.6kg!  Whoop Whoop!!!!  I also Zumba'd again that night. After Zumba my daughter and I went around and gave my mum in law another massage.

Friday 20th May 2011 - I had intended on waking up early and going for a gaunt around the 'burbs - but I actually slept it big time, so just had to rush on into work!  I then intended to go swimming with a mate after work, but instead went to an Indian restaurant for dinner with my man and our babies and inhaled quite a lot of food!  All good though - I managed to stay within the weekly points. We grabbed some chocolate and went around to the in-laws for Friday Fun Night

Saturday 21st May 2011 - Again, good intentions were wasted!  I intended to get up and walk to the local swimming pools and do a few laps, but instead I slept until 9.30am!  Ahahahaaaa I seriously crack myself up!  The rest of the day was spent enjoying a fantastic "Women's Lifestyle Expo" with a great friend.  We did heaps of walking around and both scored heaps of freebies including a really divine back, neck and shoulders massage!  Bliss!!!

Sunday 22nd May 2011 - I spent the afternoon rollerskating with my daughter and her cousins (60 minutes!) and then I went and joined up at our local swimming pool/gym!  I did some Aqua Sprinting (20 minutes) and then sat in the yummy steam room and hydrotherapy pool!  I'm stoked that I'm finally a member there, because now I will go to the gym and go swimming at least 3 times per week. I hate washing money so I'll make sure I get my memberships worth!


So I had a really great week, and I'm looking forward to many, many more!

A week in the life of...

Hey everybody!

So I do these weekly summaries of my life just really to keep myself accountable and to remind myself of the things I do (and don't do!) Here's my summary of the week:

Monday 9 May 2011 - Sunday 15 May 2011

Biggest achievements of the week:

1. Not inhaling all of the free food at a conference I went to!
2. Ensuring that I exercised every day, even though I was away from home!

Monday 9 May 2011 - I had to get up really ridiculously early (5am) so that I could get to a Ministerial meeting in Wellington at 9ish - I knew that I probably wouldn't be able to fit any of my normal exercise in, so I made sure that I parked the car far enough away from the venue so that I could score a couple of incidental activity points (Much to the dismay of my co-travellers) 

This is me, dressed and ready for my Ministerial meeting in Wellington

Yes - that is the actual time I left the house!

Stopping in Otaki for coffee...

Yumbo!  Kaitaia Fire Tabasco Sauce on chips!  Yus!

Random TVNZ crew interviewing people on the street

The Beehive

Styley public sculpture

Funky Bike, Dude!

Ahhh yeah!

Love this architecture!  Pity it's a court house!

Love this building too - Te Puni Kokiri - Lambton Quay

Love, love, love!

Another beautiful building 

I made it back in time to get back to WI (even though I was really late and the chicky had already started to pack everything up) I gained 500grams - but whatevs! I didn't let that get me down at all, because I knew that I feel better than I have felt for so long!

Tuesday 10 May 2011 - I was flying up to Auckland that night and knew I couldn't get to my regular 5.45pm Zumba class, so I went and checked out a lunch time session right next to my work - and I am so stoked to say that it was AWESOME!!! Really high impact and I got an amazing workout.

An amazing view of Mt Taranaki from the plane

Me and Nika on our laptops!!!

Wednesday 11 May 2011 - I stayed out at Henderson so that I could catch up with one of my besties, and the conference that I was going to was right in the city, so I caught the train into town and walked from the train station to Sky City and earned 3 activity points! I also repeated this on my way back to my friends place. Incidental exercise rocks!!

As mentioned earlier I did really well and didn't eat everything in sight! And what's even cooler is that I didn't even want to! Whoop whoop!

The ceiling at Britomart, Central City Auckland where all trains lead to!

My old workplace!

A beautiful remnant of early 1900's Auckland

Skycity in the mist

A very cool presentation!

Water, water, everywhere and lots of drops to drink!

A perfect combination pudding.  Creme Brulee with gingerbread, chocolate brownie and berry coulis

Daikoku

BNZ on Queens Street 

Thursday 12 May 2011 - I had the morning to myself so I went on a fast paced 5km walk around West Auckland. Later that day I visited another Maori Health provider and got some fabulous ideas for our organisation. I'm just mentioning this because a few months ago I wouldn't have had the confidence to go and meet with a new group of people all by myself! This weight loss journey I am on has definitely had more benefits than I could have ever imagined!


Te Whanau o Waipareira - awesome!

Friday 13 May 2011 - I got up super early and went for a 5km walk around my neighbourhood before work.

Saturday 14th May 2011 - I went and had the most divine pedicure (My poor feet really deserved it!) Then we checked out the Market and then took the kids to the pool for a birthday party. That birthday party turned into the L.O.N.G.E.S.T party ever and I left it at about 6.30pm with the grumpiest children ever!!! Needless to say I did not exercise and I completely overate at the party!

Sunday 15th May 2011 - my official rest day - luckily because I felt like absolute crap! I put it down to the fact that I ate really badly the day before and didn't do any exercise.

It's true that if you eat junk you just feel gross for it! I wouldn't have noticed this before because I was in a constant state of "Bluck-ness" always running on 70%. The last few weeks I definately noticed that I feel much more fitter, happier and have a general sense of wellbeing so having a BBBD (big bad binge day) really affected me - and I'm glad because it made me realise that it's just not worth it!

I am really enjoying this journey that I am on and the lessons that I'm learning about my body, my mind, my spirit and my family - it's all interconnected and if one part of it is out, the rest of it is affected.

So here's to another week of resetting, staying on the wagon and continuously striving to be my most awesome me!