Fun Runs : If symptoms persist see your Doctor.

1

What better way to shake out the excess of Christmas Day ; run 8.4 km. through water and soft sand.!
Yes, the Adelaide two Jetty fun run takes place on Boxing Day morning and is guaranteed to provide a near death experience and a close encounter with the Pewk Fairy.
The race is organised by the South Australian Masters Athletics in memory of all the turkeys who make the ultimate sacrifice on Christmas Day.
 

104 brave souls crawled to the starting line for a 0930 start and most of us seriously not well.

Twisted Sisters Cathy, Tracey, Susi No Bum and Moi.

I don't drink alcohol and so I wasn't suffering a hangover like many. I don't have any weird religious convictions about alcohol , I just never really liked the taste. My friends fondly call me the Diet Fanta Queen. However I had eaten what felt like a 2 kg. slab of my Mother in Laws Christmas Pudding ( to refuse would be to cause World War Three ) and it had set like cement in my innards.

 

Tha sand was very soft and powdery thus making running very hard. In places we had to leave the beach and run on the Esplanade because the tide was so high. Many people sitting on the beach or having coffee in the cafes clapped and gave words of encouragement or sympathy as we ran past them. Some suggested the need for psychiatric help !!!

Race marshalls along the route gave much needed encouragement. Onlookers were quite amused by the spectacle of Mass Suffering.

Twisted Sister Tracey had a massive hangover and was hilarious. In this photo here she actually couldn't work out why she couldn't get her cup to her mouth. 

Susi No Bum, Cathy and Chubby Hubby Mike ran at a slow steady pace with the occasional walk when feeling ill . I plodded along at a slow pace behind them  whilst Tracey somehow made it to the finish line. We all finished under 50 minutes after a courageous battle.  

Thank God for the finish.

All participants had a great run and we all saluted each others pain and insanity.

Chubby Hubby Mike chatting up a Garmain.

Glenelg Jetty At Dawn.

Thanks for dropping by,

Cheers Karen. 

My christmas Quilts.

I have finally found time to hang up the Christmas quilts I have made.

Unfortunately these were made about 3 years ago so I no longer have a record of whose designs they are.

Thanks for dropping by,
Cheers Karen. 

A Day on the Green, if you please.

Lawn Bowls in Australia is generally regarded as a sport for the older person. On any morning you will see the Grey Army arriving at the bowling Greens kitted out in their white uniforms and ready for a day of tense competition.

The ladies arrive fiercely clutching their plates of scones to their ample bosoms, each lady believing of course that their scones are the best. To criticize said scones would at the very least invite a " Jihad ". To make a bad scone is to commit social suicide.

I once implied my Mother in Laws scones were a wee bit stodgy and only just lived to tell the tale.

The men at the bowls dutifully eat only their wives scones, difficult digestion aided by a healthy serving of beer. To decline would result in a painful demise. If those scones sit a tad heavy they do not complain but merely apply more Haemorrhoid Cream !!!

Anyway, before I digress too far; this year my work's Christmas Party was held at the Adelaide lawn Bowls Club. Yes the Adelaide Bowls Club usually accustomed to the upper crust, bravely opened it's greens and bar to a hundred or so Orthopaedic surgeons, nurses and physiotherapists.

Security was tight; the bouncer at the gate with his Zimmer frame was a fearsome sight.

All is calm on the Greens before the games begin.

 Carefully selected teams of four had been formed ; your skills at a knee replacement, giving a well aimed injection or bed pan ensuring your place in a team.
My team " The Up Chuckers " consisted of four RN's, all of us well known for our skills with a vomit bowl !! Humble apologies if you are eating whilst you read this.

" The Up Chuckers " : DF Helen, Moi,Mel and Ali.

 Notice our decorated Disposable Vomit Bowls. These were actually quite useful on the green for holding our cameras, nibbles and drinks.

 

The Pink Lady Team. The man on the far right in the pink wig is one of our surgeons.

The Where's Wally Team. The two end players also being our surgeons.

After a quick lesson from the senior Green keeper on how to play and respect the greens the games began. Competition was fierce, rules were stretched and teams sabotaged. I really enjoyed the game but it was quite tricky playing with a ball that was weighted only on one side. I did occasionally show a glimmer of talent but mainly balls were flying everywhere.

 

The Up Chuckers and Patterson's Plasterers  get down to business.

 

The Physiotherapy team were clearly the best on the day but were so serious and skilled that they were disqualified. The ultimate winners, a team of night nurses in Antlers were declared the best cheaters and won all the prizes.

I have managed to finish a couple of Christmas Ornies this week.

 

Chilly's Gift by Stitchy Kitty.

 

Let it Snow by Barbara Ana Designs.Sorry it's a bit blurry.

  

And I have finished my 5th block Of SOHRH.

The Twisted Sisters are still out training as best we can with all the Xmas mayhem. I ran the 10km. Christmas Classic with DF Cathy, Bette, Lil and Chubby Hubby Daryl. I had run a fairly tough 20 km. trail run the day before and had a mega case of " BOT ROT ".  Daryl had to peel me out the car at the start line as I was so stiff and sore I could hardly move. Despite this I ran well,came 3rd. in my age group and the 26th female overall.

That's me in the white shirt with Cathy and Bette.

The Trail from hell I ran the day before.

 

And best of all today, in the mail I received some running gloves from Stefano, the Black Knight. Thankyou so much Stefano. These will be absolutely fantastic out on the cold  trails and for night running.

Merry Christmas to all my Bloggy Friends. I hope your stockings are filled with health and happiness.

Cheers, Karen.

Madame Bernina runs the ultra marathon

Yes you have read correctly. Moi and the Grand Dame of the sewing room decided to do an ultra marathon together  this week.

Now there is no love lost between us, but I felt an epic journey together would help us bond.

 

I have been practicing for a week , executing many deep lunges and squats into the unfinished projects Pile of Death and felt ready to tackle this event.

Equipment was assembled and I solemnly promised to Madame Bernina not to utter one single profanity .A quick pre race prayer by Moi to seek some divine intervention, and we were ready.

The drink stations were well stocked.

 Extra nutrition was available.

The first 10 km. went well at a slow and steady warm up pace. Two Ornies for my sister's pink basket were completed.

During the next 10 km. we ran together, but maintained a respectful silence as we put a Xmas cushion together. However it wasn't long before Madame Bernina started complaining about an injury. Apparently an incorrectly inserted bobbin was affecting her stride and causing her cotton to tangle. She's always banging on about something being sore or niggling.

At 30 km. Madame Bernina was clearly trying to sabotage my event. Usually at this point in a race I've settled down, am pacing well and have zoned out into my own happy little world. However I was trying here to attach the binding to my quilt " Meg's Garden " by Kellie Wulfsohn of Dont Look Now. which DF Amanda from Sea Breeze Quilts kindly machine quilted for me.

I must point out here that I am a runner first and a logical quilter next, and so it was here that I hit a big  fat road block.

PASS THE POWER AIDE PLEASE !!

I've spent many months hand stitching every single little flower onto this quilt using tiny little button hole stitches and with Amanda's lovely quilting it looks 3 dimensional and spectacular. And I wasn't going to let Madame spoil my fun here. A quick whisper of the word Janome in her ear and all was well again. Amazing what a threat will do.

From 40 km. on it became clear that a regular training regime needs to be established if we are to continue competing together. The borders were put on my hexagon pillow so I can now quilt it  BY HAND !!

A  Christmas Tree  by Hatched and Patched was also completed at this point .

Madame Bernina and I finally limped home together after a gruelling event.

She threw herself into her sewing cabinet loudly declaring she did not like competing with LOOSERS !!

My Medal came via the Postman who delivered me a wonderful new stash pile.

Thanks for dropping by,

please leave a comment as I value your visits.

CHEERS,  KAREN.

 

Warning, Warning.

Yes, hit the panic button. The Twisted Sister's  and the Chubby Hubby's have been asked to organize the South Australian Trail Runners trail run for December.

Given our reputation for having absolutely no directional skills, the pressure is on and we want to prove all our doubters wrong.

Three of the Twisted Sister's live in the Adelaide Hills and as we do most of our training in this area, we have decided to plan the trail run along the Tom Robert's Horse trail, over Mt. Gawler and through the Mt. Crawford pine forests.

 

The scenery around here is spectacular and the trails are quite steep and challenging. We have been out on the trail the last 2 weekends, exploring, marking coordinates and planning a 20 km. run with 2 different loops of 10 km. each.

 

Chubby Hubby Mike planning the trail.

We have decided on 2 loops; one loop for those runners only wanting to do a shorter distance, with an additional second loop for those wanting a 20 km. run. We will be mostly on fire trails which means if it is a high fire risk day runners can leave the area easily. Also as the runners will only be on  a loop run they will never be far from help. Snakes are also more visible on the fire trails. 

 

Planning the trail run. You can see the trail go all up the hill.

Some of the scrub the run we will pass through.

 

 

 

Moi, Chubby Hubby Daryl, Babette and Chubby Hubby Mike.

 

Chubby Hubby Mike and Susi No Bum will cover the trail the day before the event to place plenty of markers. Our reputation is at stake here. 

Thanks for visiting,

I would love you to say Hi and leave a comment. 

Cheers Karen.

Gear up for Girls.

I'm finally back on line after 10 days without the Internet. The process of changing servers was only meant to take 4 days but ended up taking 6 weeks to complete. Australian tele communications work in strange and mysterious ways. Anyway I have lots of your blog news to catch up on and I will post daily for the next 3 days to catch up. I will even be doing a stitching post to show that I do sew occassionally.

On Sunday November 28 Adelaide held it's annual Gear up for Girl's bike race, aiming to encourage ladies of all ages and fitness levels to have a girl's day out and raise money for Women's heart health.

3 distances were offered ;
a flat 15 km. around the River Torrens in Adelaide,
an undulating 35 km. down to Glenelg and Henley Beach and back up Linear Park to Adelaide,
a hilly 50 km. up to the top of Mt. Lofty  and back down into Adelaide.

Now those of you who visit my blog regularly will know that bike riding and Moi does not always go well. I have left blood trails that would excite CSI.
But as I am always up for a challenge DF. Lil, Bette and I entered the 35 km. race.

Moi, Lil and Bette at the start line.

DH Daryl and John, our support team.

 

The morning was lovely and cool and perfect for riding although a strong head wind was a challenge at times. The police escorts kindly helped us negotiate the traffic which I found a bit scarey.

All 3 of us had a brilliant morning and we completed the 35 km. in 2 hours.I stayed on the bike the whole way, with no blood spills and only one close encounter with a bush ! 

Bette, Lil and Moi after the race.

 

We have a few more of these bike races in Adelaide over the coming weeks, leading up to the Tour Down Under here in January. I will certainly enter another one as it was such a buzz.

 

Bette and I are now considering a mini triathlon.