God's Fave Run.

The Chubby Hubby and I are staying at Port fairy for a couple of weeks. Port fairy is in Victoria, one of the southern states of Australia. We have traveled overseas many times but this remains one of our all time favorite destinations. The Chubby Hubby loves anything to do with the sea and fishing, and I love all the trail runs here.

This small 10 km. run has got to be one of the prettiest anywhere. The above photo shows the beginning of the run and goes along the boardwalk at Port Fairy for about 1km. On many of the days the wharf is full of yachts and large fishing vessels.
 

 

The run then winds it's way past the boardwalk and along a quiet coastal road until it meets a seawall which was built in the 18th century when Port fairy was a thriving port for ships going to Melbourne.

 

The causeway is quite long and wide enough to run at a good pace without going over the side. The water here is quite sheltered as the causeway separates the ocean from the Moyne River which runs into the sea here.

 

On the far upper left of this photo you can just see the causeway leading out into the sea, and this is where this run takes me.

 

Looking back along the causeway you can see it is very eroded by the waves splashing over and so Miss Clumsy here has to watch her step. You also often have to dodge waves splashing over.

 

The Chubby Hubby doing what he does best when I finally dragged him to the end. He was quite happy to tell any walkers how cruel I am to make him run.

 

Here's me quietly enjoying the wind and cold and ready to run back.

Thankyou for visiting my blog,

Cheers Karen and The Chubby Hubby.

 

Botanic Park Loop.

Last Sunday Twisted Sister Tracy and Moi competed in the Botanic Park Loop event here in Adelaide.
This event has three different distances to choose from; these being 5km., 10km., and the 25 km distance. These shorter distances are very popular with folk new to running whilst the 25km. is seen as a training run for the upcoming Adelaide Marathon.
The route is a 5km. loop around the parklands of Adelaide and it is a very pretty track. Tracy and I entered the 25 km. distance which meant of course 5 laps in total. I actually don't mind lap running and prefer it to an out and back long distance course.

 

 Dear friends John and Bette were the race organisers for this event and they did a brilliant job. The running course was well marked and there were plenty of race marshalls out on the track to offer support. All the competitors were cheerful and friendly and everyone was out just to have a good time.

This is Tracy and I at the 15 km. mark, still feeling great and maintaining at a steady pace of 6km. an hour. We are running with a lovely man called Euan, who at 75 is one of the veterans from our Running Club. Tracy and I have run with him a couple of times and he is a lovely man. He entertains us with all the gossip from the club. If Euan doesn't know it then it's not worth knowing. Who said that it's only girls who gossip ? He still runs marathons and embarrassingly still beats Tracy and I to the finish line.

At 21 km. our pace had started to slow and we're not smiling quite so much. I was experiencing some hamstring pain here. Tracy and I are both mainly trail runners and so we find it quite hard on the body to run on the roads. Trails runs are traditionally much longer distances but personally I find they don't cause any where near as much discomfort.

This is Tracy, Euan and I at the finish line, and yes he shot off with 50 metres to go and crossed the line before us. Most competitors chose to do the 5 or 10 km. distances and only 59 folk did the full 25 km.
Unfortunately my usual running buddies at the back of the pack did not compete and so that left me to carry the Tortoise flag all by myself.

My overall position for the 25 km was 59. I was the 15th female and first in my age group. Time, a less than brilliant 2:53:05. However this was a fun run to do and I would recommend it to all SARRC members. Do not be put off by running loops. 


Happy Running,
Cheers Karen.

Blooming Hexagons.

I am still consumed with my current Hexagon addiction. So far I have made a hexagon bag, a hexagon decorated pillow cover and a pin up board from the Blackbird Designs Ladies which is now only needing to be framed.

Of course once I saw Leeanne Beasley's Hexagon Quilt in her new Vignette Magazines I knew that this just had to be my next project.

So far I have made 28 hexagons and I love the portability of them. They are a great car project, when the Chubby Hubby is driving of course.

I am using a jelly roll from the Moda French General range with a few other scraps thrown in for good measure. I have decided not to embroider the little hexagons between the flowers instead using a coordinating plain brown fabric. Not much point having embroidered pretties in an all male household and with 3 four legged children.

I've started joining the flowers together into rows. I have decided to make this quilt just lap size to throw over a sofa. BUT, have big plans for a Queen size quilt next,  but using larger hexagons than these 1" ones.


Happy stitching,
Cheers Karen.

Barossa Half Marathon.

The most recent event that the Twisted Sisters and the Chubby Hubbies ran together was the Barossa half marathon which we ran in May.

This event is run through an iconic tourist area of South Australia where many of our world renowned vineyards are and wines are made.
 

Twisted Sisters Susi no Bum, Moi and Tracy all ready to go.

The Chubby Hubbies; Daryl, Simon and Mike with Sue. Mike of.course could not waste time posing for the photo. He was too busy getting all his technology ready for the run. You could be excused for thinking he was boarding the Starship Enterprise instead of running with all the stuff he takes with him.

 

The starting line.

The event was very well organised with plenty of drink stations and course markings.It was a flat straight out and back run and made for some very fast times. The musical entertainment at the start and finish line was also a nice touch. Many members  of the trail running group including us took part and we all found it quite challenging. Because we are used to the different surfaces encountered in a trail run most of us found the pounding on the pavement for 21 km. quite harsh on the body.

Running through the vineyards was quite spectacular.

 

Moi at the 17 km. mark.

 

Chubby Hubby Daryl.

 

My only negative comment with the event would be the diappointment with the Barossa Council in not making the event a higher profile. Well over 900 runners took part and yet they made us run on some quite obscure bike paths and back roads. It would have been good if we could have started or finished in one of the small towns in the area and run on some of the roads where the tourists go.

 

Mike looking good.

Whilst I enjoyed the run, this is not an event I would do again. I found the pounding on the roads quite harsh on my back and have decided I am better suited to the trail events. All of the Twisted Sisters and Chubby Hubbies found it quite boring just running up a bike path.

Despite this we all ran a good time, me finishing in 2:16. I was quite pleased with this as I had only run the Great Ocean Road 1/2 two weeks before.

Here's me crossing the finish line with very little style evident. My back was killing me.

 Thanks for visiting my blog

Happy Running

Cheers Karen.

Touch and Die.

Dear Husband, Dear Son, Dear Four Legged Children, this is my new Hexagon Pillow which has taken me at least 6 months to make . I made it all by hand except the final construction.

It is NOT to be used for pillow fights or putting your smelly heads on. No dribbling is to be allowed near it and definitely no scratching it and turning circles on it until you find the right spot on it to sleep.

Anyone caught transgressing these rules will DIE !!!  ( insert evil chuckle here !! )


Happy Stitching,
Cheers Karen.

Great Ocean Road Marathon Festival.

 There are some runs which will stay in my memory as one of the best. And for me the Great Ocean Road Half Marathon is one I will always remember as one of my best running experiences.The scenery along the run was truly spectacular and made every step an absolute thrill.
This run followed the Great Ocean Road along the south western Victorian coastline from Kennet's River and finishing in the main street of Apollo Bay. The run was not for a beginner as it was quite hilly for most of the course  plus it had some quite long challenging climbs.

 Dear friends Ros, Ava, Erica, Melissa, Brian, Moi and the Chubby Hubby all drove over to Victoria together for a long weekend to compete in this event.We stayed in a luxury apartment right above the finishing line with spectacular views, and have already booked it for next year to run again.
These are some of the photos I took along the way, although I did cheat and take some the day before.

 The run was really well organised and supported and the local residents lined the roads to encourage us and watch the mass suffering.
The finish line was very exciting and people lined the last 200 metres to form a tunnel of support.
My finishing time was 2hrs 18mins which I was very pleased with given the nature of the run. The Chubby Hubby ran in 2:50 and he was very happy with this given that this was his first road run. The rest of our friends all finished around the same time as me.
My only disappointment was that I did not attempt the full marathon as when I crossed the finish line I still felt that I had plenty of running left in me. So hopefully next year I will run the full distance.

Happy running,
Cheers Karen.

Just Stitching

Although I seem to be having Big Trouble with my sewing Mojo these days, I am still getting small amounts done.

Madame Bernina and I are not on speaking terms right now but are soon to have some relationship counselling. A dear friend has offered to give me a couple of lessons on stippling. She is a beautiful quilter, and has so much knowledge to give. I'm hoping that if I can master the stippling technique I will be able to attempt to stipple a few of my smaller projects. Who knows, one day I may stipple a large quilt and save myself a fortune at the quilters.

Am I the only one starting to baulk at the price of quilting supplies here in Australia ? I look on internet sites in the USA and almost feel suicidal at the low prices the girls pay there. Nearly up to 2/3 cheaper for the exact same products !

I do not believe that it costs that much to fly things over the Pacific to us. It strikes me that someone somewhere is making a huge profit out of us Aussies. I have always tried hard to support my local quilt shops, but one by one they are closing, so what's the point ?

I ordered some lovely fabrics from Fishkin Fabrics in Canada last week. They arrived 7 days after I placed my order, beautifully packaged, beautiful quality, cheap as chips and with a free fat 1/4 included.

Anyway back to the stitching. The above cross stitch is   " Harriet  "  a Wool Whimsy by Heart in Hand. She is the first in a set of six.

This next little sucker is my 5th block in Shores of Hawk Run Hollow. Now if I ever attempt another BAP like this I expect you all to warn me peoples. It's taking forever, is almost big enough to be a bloody bed spread but I am actually liking what it looks like. When I go to meet my maker I'm hoping I will have good light up in heaven because I'm still going to be working on it when I get there !

Still far to much work to go as you can see.

Today is a very cold day here in Adelaide. I've been for my daily training run, the fire is on, my doggies are asleep, so I'm thinking a Jane Austen DVD and some stitching.

And perhaps some chocolate to keep my nutrition up !!

My photos are a bit crappy. But, it's my birthday in July and I'm dropping mega hints to the Chubby Hubby about a new wizz bang idiot tolerant camera.

Happy stitching,

Yours in Chocolate

Karen.