Friday:
I went back to the doctor this morning for my blood test results. Most things were fine, like fasting blood sugar (it only goes high when I eat bad stuff!), cholesterol a little high like it has been forever, still working on that. The only thing of real note was my vitamin B12 which is very low. Which can cause tiredness, among other things. I’m tired all the time! I was first diagnosed with low vitamin B12 in June 2015, three years ago. I took daily tablets, and four months later my B12 levels were back up to normal. Somehow between then and now I stopped taking the tablets. You have to take them with meals so I’d have them sitting on the kitchen table. But I’d put them away when visitors were expected, then forget them once they were out of sight. I’d remember eventually, start again, then run out or put them away again... anyway I’ve bought some more tablets and I’ll try to take them consistently.
Jasmine was back at school today. But apparently she had such a bad nosebleed in maths that she sat in the office for 40 mins waiting for it to stop. They gave her a shirt to wear, her other one was covered in blood. They kept asking her if she wanted to go home but she’d already missed three days of school and she didn’t want to miss any more.
Aiden was very upset when he got home from school yesterday. He sat on my lap and cried for quite a while. He was waiting to cross the road at the traffic lights when a car lost control (maybe braking too late when the lights changed?), skidded, and nearly mounted the pavement where he was standing. Very scary.
Tim got home after midnight last night, trying to catch up on two days off work.
It’s been a challenging week. Yay for weekends!
Showing posts with label results. Show all posts
Showing posts with label results. Show all posts
Friday, May 25, 2018
Thursday, February 22, 2018
TAFE stuff and bad karma
Friday:
I'm feeling as busy as a one-legged man in a ass-kicking contest at the moment. I finally have all my TAFE subjects available, I've only got three units but one of those is actually three smaller 'integrated' units, plus there is work placement to organise for which I had to fill out forms and update my resume. So I have six things to juggle. I know everything always feels a bit crazy at the start of the term, and only getting the integrated units a couple of days ago makes me feel a week behind already but it will settle down soon.
Yesterday a student friend posted info about a library job going at a school - and it was the school so close to me I can literally hear the announcements over their loudspeaker every day! I got a bit excited, a within-school-hours job two minutes walk away, how perfect. I wasn't familiar with the computer system they use but I found an online tutorial for it that I was planning to do so I could say I knew it. But with further investigation it turned out you had to have teacher qualifications, not just librarian. Some school jobs are like that. Oh well.
I don't have to find my own work placement job, the TAFE does that, although I might have to go to interviews. It won't be until next term, autumn/winter, so I guess the two floaty summer dresses can be party dresses not for work! The other navy one will be good with a jacket and the trousers and long skirt will be fine. Still glad I got the dresses, that pink one is so pretty!
One of the integrated units is customer service. I plan to apply for RPL (recognition of prior learning, it means you don't actually have to do the subject) as I have many years of customer service experience. I'm not sure if I'll get it though. My Centrelink experience was nearly 20 years ago - I have a certificate thing from 1999! - and I don't really have any evidence for my customer service work for my more recent editing business. I was my own boss, no supervisor! Maybe I can contact one of my old customers.
My cataloguing teacher from last term sent me feedback for my third exam - 100%. So over the total of the three exams I made one mistake, giving me a final result of 99.6%. Not bad! Not all subjects give a mark, many are just satisfactory/not satisfactory, but I made over 90% in the ones that give a mark. Cataloguing is my best. And my favourite subject. Since not many people like it, I hope I'll be able to get into the field. I'm feeling a bit jealous of Lauren with the cataloguing internship. What if it leads to a job? Reminding myself that I've been sick with flu which would have interfered with the internship anyway doesn't really help.
Today was Jasmine's school's swimming carnival. She's had an ear infection after her flu so it wasn't really appropriate for her to go (and most of her friends weren't going, although it's compulsory). So we went shopping. Jasmine needed a couple of things, I needed a couple of things. Like the belt for the navy dress I bought on Tuesday. Now there was an instant karma moment. The belt was supposed to come with the dress, when I tried the dress on I had to go down a size but the smaller belt was too small. So I swapped it with the other belt on the larger size dress which I still had with me in the change room. (Not so good for the people who would in future try on the bigger dress with a tiny belt.) Then I bought the dress. While folding my dress, the saleslady put the belt to one side. Then forgot to put it in the bag and I didn't notice. She called when she saw it, as I was driving home (I have hands-free in the car). It was too late to go back. Definite karma for my sneaky belt swap! The saleslady put it away for me to pick up today. She was so apologetic, but I felt just as guilty!
I had my eyes checked today, it's been about three years I think since the last time. Only a small deterioration in one eye. I though my eyes were getting a bit worse but it's only that they are taking longer to adjust when I look from near to far, symptom of age and glasses won't help that. It wouldn't be worth getting new glasses but Ping works there and gets a staff discount and wanted to get me new ones as some of the shading has worn off these. So she'll organise new lenses, I'll keep the old frames which I love.
I bought a new very sparkly phone case. My old one was very discoloured and yucky. The new one is so glamorous!
It looks even better actually on the gold phone (I had to take it off to take the photo), and the glitter moves around like a snow dome. It sparkles whenever you move it!
I'm feeling as busy as a one-legged man in a ass-kicking contest at the moment. I finally have all my TAFE subjects available, I've only got three units but one of those is actually three smaller 'integrated' units, plus there is work placement to organise for which I had to fill out forms and update my resume. So I have six things to juggle. I know everything always feels a bit crazy at the start of the term, and only getting the integrated units a couple of days ago makes me feel a week behind already but it will settle down soon.
Yesterday a student friend posted info about a library job going at a school - and it was the school so close to me I can literally hear the announcements over their loudspeaker every day! I got a bit excited, a within-school-hours job two minutes walk away, how perfect. I wasn't familiar with the computer system they use but I found an online tutorial for it that I was planning to do so I could say I knew it. But with further investigation it turned out you had to have teacher qualifications, not just librarian. Some school jobs are like that. Oh well.
I don't have to find my own work placement job, the TAFE does that, although I might have to go to interviews. It won't be until next term, autumn/winter, so I guess the two floaty summer dresses can be party dresses not for work! The other navy one will be good with a jacket and the trousers and long skirt will be fine. Still glad I got the dresses, that pink one is so pretty!
One of the integrated units is customer service. I plan to apply for RPL (recognition of prior learning, it means you don't actually have to do the subject) as I have many years of customer service experience. I'm not sure if I'll get it though. My Centrelink experience was nearly 20 years ago - I have a certificate thing from 1999! - and I don't really have any evidence for my customer service work for my more recent editing business. I was my own boss, no supervisor! Maybe I can contact one of my old customers.
My cataloguing teacher from last term sent me feedback for my third exam - 100%. So over the total of the three exams I made one mistake, giving me a final result of 99.6%. Not bad! Not all subjects give a mark, many are just satisfactory/not satisfactory, but I made over 90% in the ones that give a mark. Cataloguing is my best. And my favourite subject. Since not many people like it, I hope I'll be able to get into the field. I'm feeling a bit jealous of Lauren with the cataloguing internship. What if it leads to a job? Reminding myself that I've been sick with flu which would have interfered with the internship anyway doesn't really help.
Today was Jasmine's school's swimming carnival. She's had an ear infection after her flu so it wasn't really appropriate for her to go (and most of her friends weren't going, although it's compulsory). So we went shopping. Jasmine needed a couple of things, I needed a couple of things. Like the belt for the navy dress I bought on Tuesday. Now there was an instant karma moment. The belt was supposed to come with the dress, when I tried the dress on I had to go down a size but the smaller belt was too small. So I swapped it with the other belt on the larger size dress which I still had with me in the change room. (Not so good for the people who would in future try on the bigger dress with a tiny belt.) Then I bought the dress. While folding my dress, the saleslady put the belt to one side. Then forgot to put it in the bag and I didn't notice. She called when she saw it, as I was driving home (I have hands-free in the car). It was too late to go back. Definite karma for my sneaky belt swap! The saleslady put it away for me to pick up today. She was so apologetic, but I felt just as guilty!
I had my eyes checked today, it's been about three years I think since the last time. Only a small deterioration in one eye. I though my eyes were getting a bit worse but it's only that they are taking longer to adjust when I look from near to far, symptom of age and glasses won't help that. It wouldn't be worth getting new glasses but Ping works there and gets a staff discount and wanted to get me new ones as some of the shading has worn off these. So she'll organise new lenses, I'll keep the old frames which I love.
I bought a new very sparkly phone case. My old one was very discoloured and yucky. The new one is so glamorous!
Wednesday, October 18, 2017
Internship
Thursday:
I got my results back from my cataloguing exam - 99%! One little mistake. But still pretty good! I know one other person got 99%, I don't think anyone got 100%.
While we were having a short break in the middle of the lesson, one of the head teachers came in and called me and the other girl who got 99% (Lauren) out into the corridor for a chat. The State Library had asked for some recommendations for an Internship there (unpaid, about 5 weeks long part-time) doing specifically what we were just tested on, so after consultation with the teacher of the class she chose the two of us. But there is only one position and two of us - and I don't know if they are also looking elsewhere or just at our TAFE - so I don't know if I'll get it.
It is my dream job so of course I want to go for it, it would be wonderful to get real-world experience in the work I actually want to do (not just returning books to shelves). And who knows where it could lead? There are a couple of potential issues though.
Firstly it is in the city, so with nearly three hours travel time a day plus the hours I'd be working there, when would I get my TAFE work done? We're about to hit the last five weeks of semester so I have a stack of assignments to do and exams to study for as well as weekly tasks. The quality of my work might suffer. Not to mention time for exercise, grocery shopping, talking to the kids and husband, sleeping, gardening etc. But I know lots of people deal with that, and it's short term so I'm prepared to give it a try.
The second issue is more of a worry. I have RSI - repetitive strain injury - from computer use. I manage it by moderating my time at desk-work but it still flares up if I'm not careful. I can just about cope with my TAFE work. Or, say, cataloguing part-time for the state library. But both at once? I'm quite scared I will end up in a lot of pain by the end of the semester. And the pain doesn't go away as soon as I stop. I would have to be super-careful, cutting out blogging and forums and anything non-essential, and doing lots of stretching.
But I'm going to go for it.
If you are one of those who think everything happens for a reason, then maybe I didn't get that other job because this one was around the corner.
I got my results back from my cataloguing exam - 99%! One little mistake. But still pretty good! I know one other person got 99%, I don't think anyone got 100%.
While we were having a short break in the middle of the lesson, one of the head teachers came in and called me and the other girl who got 99% (Lauren) out into the corridor for a chat. The State Library had asked for some recommendations for an Internship there (unpaid, about 5 weeks long part-time) doing specifically what we were just tested on, so after consultation with the teacher of the class she chose the two of us. But there is only one position and two of us - and I don't know if they are also looking elsewhere or just at our TAFE - so I don't know if I'll get it.
It is my dream job so of course I want to go for it, it would be wonderful to get real-world experience in the work I actually want to do (not just returning books to shelves). And who knows where it could lead? There are a couple of potential issues though.
Firstly it is in the city, so with nearly three hours travel time a day plus the hours I'd be working there, when would I get my TAFE work done? We're about to hit the last five weeks of semester so I have a stack of assignments to do and exams to study for as well as weekly tasks. The quality of my work might suffer. Not to mention time for exercise, grocery shopping, talking to the kids and husband, sleeping, gardening etc. But I know lots of people deal with that, and it's short term so I'm prepared to give it a try.
The second issue is more of a worry. I have RSI - repetitive strain injury - from computer use. I manage it by moderating my time at desk-work but it still flares up if I'm not careful. I can just about cope with my TAFE work. Or, say, cataloguing part-time for the state library. But both at once? I'm quite scared I will end up in a lot of pain by the end of the semester. And the pain doesn't go away as soon as I stop. I would have to be super-careful, cutting out blogging and forums and anything non-essential, and doing lots of stretching.
But I'm going to go for it.
If you are one of those who think everything happens for a reason, then maybe I didn't get that other job because this one was around the corner.
Wednesday, March 29, 2017
Full marks
Thursday:
I got another exam result, full marks which will count for 40% of the total for that subject. So that was exciting. I have one more exam on Monday, and I've handed in three assignments but don't have the results back. Four people in that class got full marks and it was the people you'd expect - the ones who studied! I was amazed to learn some students don't even do their homework let alone revision... I thought that as adults everyone was there to get the most out of it but I guess they are doing that in their own non-swotty way. Its all pass/fail in the end - but I want to work in this field so I want to learn as much as possible and master the subjects so I know what I'm doing when I get a job.
I am loving the website I am designing so much I could burst. I am writing snarky little bits of text for it and using all my own photos instead of taking them from creative commons websites. I still have to ask plenty of questions in class - I've never even used photoshop before to shrink a picture. But I ask, and I write down the steps.
There is one subject that is NOT a joy - "Industry Knowledge" where we learn about the legislation that relates to libraries, annual reports, budgets, staff hierarchies and career paths, all that stuff. The career path stuff was ok but the rest is both boring and difficult!
The pool is about a quarter full of water we've had so much rain. Not great as we'll have to pump it out so they can surface it. But that is still weeks away. The permanent fence has to be up first. We've had so much trouble with that. Getting a couple of companies to come out and give quotes; one never called back, one wouldn't do what we needed, one wouldn't lower his high price, back and forth. Finally nailed things down for the pool fence today but got someone coming out about raising the side fences tomorrow. Crossing fingers he will ask a reasonable price. The other drama is the heat pump - the one we paid a 50% deposit on was sold from the warehouse to someone else before it could be delivered to us! Apologies and all that but now it will be 2-3 weeks before they get more in stock. Meanwhile we have pipes full of electrical cables still lying on top of the ground everywhere. One day we'll look back on this whole process and laugh... or just keep telling everyone "If you want a pool, move to a house that already has one!"
I got another exam result, full marks which will count for 40% of the total for that subject. So that was exciting. I have one more exam on Monday, and I've handed in three assignments but don't have the results back. Four people in that class got full marks and it was the people you'd expect - the ones who studied! I was amazed to learn some students don't even do their homework let alone revision... I thought that as adults everyone was there to get the most out of it but I guess they are doing that in their own non-swotty way. Its all pass/fail in the end - but I want to work in this field so I want to learn as much as possible and master the subjects so I know what I'm doing when I get a job.
I am loving the website I am designing so much I could burst. I am writing snarky little bits of text for it and using all my own photos instead of taking them from creative commons websites. I still have to ask plenty of questions in class - I've never even used photoshop before to shrink a picture. But I ask, and I write down the steps.
There is one subject that is NOT a joy - "Industry Knowledge" where we learn about the legislation that relates to libraries, annual reports, budgets, staff hierarchies and career paths, all that stuff. The career path stuff was ok but the rest is both boring and difficult!
The pool is about a quarter full of water we've had so much rain. Not great as we'll have to pump it out so they can surface it. But that is still weeks away. The permanent fence has to be up first. We've had so much trouble with that. Getting a couple of companies to come out and give quotes; one never called back, one wouldn't do what we needed, one wouldn't lower his high price, back and forth. Finally nailed things down for the pool fence today but got someone coming out about raising the side fences tomorrow. Crossing fingers he will ask a reasonable price. The other drama is the heat pump - the one we paid a 50% deposit on was sold from the warehouse to someone else before it could be delivered to us! Apologies and all that but now it will be 2-3 weeks before they get more in stock. Meanwhile we have pipes full of electrical cables still lying on top of the ground everywhere. One day we'll look back on this whole process and laugh... or just keep telling everyone "If you want a pool, move to a house that already has one!"
Friday, May 20, 2016
Results and referrals
Friday:
I saw my GP Dr Miller again today. The results for the glucose tolerance test are in, down to 8.9 mmol/L after being 10.8 last year (11.0 is diabetes). Still in the pre-diabetic zone but much better. My blood sugar diet and losing a bit of weight seem to be helping.
She has referred me to a gynaecologist about the fibroids but they can't see me until late July.
We also discussed my mood and she has referred me to a psychologist(?) who will see me in about three weeks. She seemed to think I have a tendency towards depression, exacerbated by recent major life events i.e. the deaths of both my parents and then the move to another state where I have no friends. I lean more towards the hormonal explanation and I feel a bit of a fraud in a way because I'm not really that depressed. I know what depressed is like. And I'm a lot better with anti-menopause tablets. But I am very willing to go and talk to someone about it. Can't hurt.
She also told me off for not using my CPAP.
I like this doctor, it's a shame she's only at the clinic until the end of July.
Ate well again today. I don't know how to number this anymore. It's supposed to be an eight week diet. I did eight weeks back in Jan/Feb but by the end I wasn't really sticking to it at all. I started again seven and a half weeks ago - two days left of this eight week cycle. But I had nearly a week off with the carb loading so I haven't really done eight weeks... oh bugger it whatever. I'll just keep going.
I saw my GP Dr Miller again today. The results for the glucose tolerance test are in, down to 8.9 mmol/L after being 10.8 last year (11.0 is diabetes). Still in the pre-diabetic zone but much better. My blood sugar diet and losing a bit of weight seem to be helping.
She has referred me to a gynaecologist about the fibroids but they can't see me until late July.
We also discussed my mood and she has referred me to a psychologist(?) who will see me in about three weeks. She seemed to think I have a tendency towards depression, exacerbated by recent major life events i.e. the deaths of both my parents and then the move to another state where I have no friends. I lean more towards the hormonal explanation and I feel a bit of a fraud in a way because I'm not really that depressed. I know what depressed is like. And I'm a lot better with anti-menopause tablets. But I am very willing to go and talk to someone about it. Can't hurt.
She also told me off for not using my CPAP.
I like this doctor, it's a shame she's only at the clinic until the end of July.
Ate well again today. I don't know how to number this anymore. It's supposed to be an eight week diet. I did eight weeks back in Jan/Feb but by the end I wasn't really sticking to it at all. I started again seven and a half weeks ago - two days left of this eight week cycle. But I had nearly a week off with the carb loading so I haven't really done eight weeks... oh bugger it whatever. I'll just keep going.
Sunday, June 28, 2015
Health issues - the results
Monday:
I saw my doctor and the sleep clinic today and got a lot of results back, good and bad. I'm going to list them all here, mainly for my own records.
Firstly I saw the technician at the sleep clinic. I'd had the borrowed CPAP brain for two weeks to get some more readings on how I'm sleeping. The result is that my tiredness doesn't seem to have anything to do with my sleep apnoea. The machine is working well, I'm using it correctly, I'm having a sleep apnoea "event" on average 0.1 times per hour (that is about once every second night), which is negligible. They have now increased the air pressure to eliminate even that occasional event, but it's not really going to make any difference. So, that was not the problem.
Then I saw my GP (general practitioner, my family doctor) to get the results of my glucose tolerance (diabetes) test and all the other blood readings. That was interesting and a bit scary.
Four years ago, when I was first flagged as having pre-diabetes / glucose intolerance, my blood glucose was 10.0 mmol/L. Normal is 7.7, diabetes is 11.0. So it wasn't good. I worked on it. Two years ago it was down to 8.2, nearly normal. Great work Natalie. Today it was up to 10.8 mmol/L. That is not good at all. It's 0.2 from a diagnosis of diabetes. Doubly bad, with my father recently dying of (probably) diabetes complications. I have gained weight back over the past couple of years, I was down to 78 kg for a while, I desperately need to lose it again, and more. This morning I was at my highest for a long time: 84.8 kg. That is a couple of kilograms (5 pounds) in less than two weeks. I was hoping the weight gain was partly a monthly fluctuation, but apparently not.
Obviously it's time, way past time, to get really really serious about my health.
That wasn't the only result. The next most important was my level of B12, which are very low. It seems I'm not absorbing B12 from food. And guess what, low levels of B12 make you very tired. We may well have a solution to my constant fatigue. I'm now on Vitamin B12 supplements for 2 or 3 months, then will be retested. If I still can't absorb the vitamin from the tablets, as is quite likely, I will need regular injections of it. This was completely unexpected news! Lucky I'm not scared of needles. In a way I am excited about this result, because it means I might finally get a resolution to my constant tiredness. An injection every month or so in return for normal levels of energy? Bring it on! Or maybe the pills will help, which is even better.
My cholesterol is too high. I've always had high cholesterol, but last test it was down to almost normal. This time is was up again, to 6.2. Should be 3.5--5.5. Probably tied to my obesity, and another reason to lose weight.
My blood platelets are up a little bit. High enough for my doctor to point it out, but not high enough to worry, she said. They can go up due to an infection, so if I had a cold or something (and I have had a sore throat) that can cause the reading. When I got home I looked it up and the other thing that causes increased blood platelets is cancer. Ah, the internet, so comforting. I'm trying not to worry about that at this stage. I was only a little above normal. But another thing to keep an eye on.
And finally my Vitamin D levels are low. I was put on tablets for this before, but stopped taking them (without consulting my doctor) when I started walking regularly and was getting plenty of sunlight. That fizzed out a while ago. So now I'm back on the pills.
I'll be tracking food, counting calories and carbohydrates. And exercising every day.
I saw my doctor and the sleep clinic today and got a lot of results back, good and bad. I'm going to list them all here, mainly for my own records.
Firstly I saw the technician at the sleep clinic. I'd had the borrowed CPAP brain for two weeks to get some more readings on how I'm sleeping. The result is that my tiredness doesn't seem to have anything to do with my sleep apnoea. The machine is working well, I'm using it correctly, I'm having a sleep apnoea "event" on average 0.1 times per hour (that is about once every second night), which is negligible. They have now increased the air pressure to eliminate even that occasional event, but it's not really going to make any difference. So, that was not the problem.
Then I saw my GP (general practitioner, my family doctor) to get the results of my glucose tolerance (diabetes) test and all the other blood readings. That was interesting and a bit scary.
Four years ago, when I was first flagged as having pre-diabetes / glucose intolerance, my blood glucose was 10.0 mmol/L. Normal is 7.7, diabetes is 11.0. So it wasn't good. I worked on it. Two years ago it was down to 8.2, nearly normal. Great work Natalie. Today it was up to 10.8 mmol/L. That is not good at all. It's 0.2 from a diagnosis of diabetes. Doubly bad, with my father recently dying of (probably) diabetes complications. I have gained weight back over the past couple of years, I was down to 78 kg for a while, I desperately need to lose it again, and more. This morning I was at my highest for a long time: 84.8 kg. That is a couple of kilograms (5 pounds) in less than two weeks. I was hoping the weight gain was partly a monthly fluctuation, but apparently not.
Obviously it's time, way past time, to get really really serious about my health.
That wasn't the only result. The next most important was my level of B12, which are very low. It seems I'm not absorbing B12 from food. And guess what, low levels of B12 make you very tired. We may well have a solution to my constant fatigue. I'm now on Vitamin B12 supplements for 2 or 3 months, then will be retested. If I still can't absorb the vitamin from the tablets, as is quite likely, I will need regular injections of it. This was completely unexpected news! Lucky I'm not scared of needles. In a way I am excited about this result, because it means I might finally get a resolution to my constant tiredness. An injection every month or so in return for normal levels of energy? Bring it on! Or maybe the pills will help, which is even better.
My cholesterol is too high. I've always had high cholesterol, but last test it was down to almost normal. This time is was up again, to 6.2. Should be 3.5--5.5. Probably tied to my obesity, and another reason to lose weight.
My blood platelets are up a little bit. High enough for my doctor to point it out, but not high enough to worry, she said. They can go up due to an infection, so if I had a cold or something (and I have had a sore throat) that can cause the reading. When I got home I looked it up and the other thing that causes increased blood platelets is cancer. Ah, the internet, so comforting. I'm trying not to worry about that at this stage. I was only a little above normal. But another thing to keep an eye on.
And finally my Vitamin D levels are low. I was put on tablets for this before, but stopped taking them (without consulting my doctor) when I started walking regularly and was getting plenty of sunlight. That fizzed out a while ago. So now I'm back on the pills.
I'll be tracking food, counting calories and carbohydrates. And exercising every day.
Saturday, April 13, 2013
My first 5k -- done!
Saturday:
We had so much to do today I didn't think we would be able to fit it all in, but somehow we did. First was Jasmine's violin performance in a String Festival (she was in non-competitive under 10yo). Luckily for us they split her category into two groups so by 10:30 she had her medal and Tim could rush the kids off to their swimming lesson and then Jas to a party while I made my way to the race area. Luckily it was literally a block away. The 10K or maybe the half marathon was in progress, tomorrow is the marathon and ultra-marathon.
I changed and put on sunscreen, had my banana and string cheese and half my bottle of water, and sat down to play with my iPhone for half an hour. Then I checked in my backpack and got in the long line for the porta-loos. I was feeling a bit discouraged as I looked around me. In front of me in the queue was a woman with two young children (maybe 5 and 7) and also a toddler in a stroller, and I knew they were going to beat me in the race. Everyone was going to beat me. I could run a whole 15 seconds at a time, who was I kidding?
But I made my way to the starting line anyway and placed myself near the back of the large pack -- apparently there were 705 finishers today. We couldn't hear any of the announcements from back there so the starting gun came as a bit of a surprise but we all started shuffling forwards. We couldn't run yet, it was too crowded. After 100 metres or so I passed the starting line and the pack started to thin out.
I decided to put on my Zombie app, week 2 day 1, during the race. As I anticipated, I couldn't hear all of the voice-over at first due to the crowd but later it helped me get going. I was up to 30 second intervals today. For the first 10 minutes I watched a pink-haired lady in front of me, she stayed at a walk. Because I have short legs (I'm only 5 foot tall, 152 cm) I walk slower than most other people (I'm probably also just a slow walker). So this lady strode ahead and I would jog a little to keep up, then walk to recover and she would get ahead again, then jog to catch up again. At some point I passed her and then I never saw her again and had to use other people as markers.
Those first 10 minutes were the worst of the whole race. Whether it was because I wasn't warmed up properly (I did a little stretching and walking, but not much) or just the hard surface of the road when I usually run on grass, my legs were killing me. Quite bad pains up my shins. In particular, every step on my left foot sent pain shooting the front of my leg. And this was only the first 10 minutes! I still had 4 kilometers to go! But actually after that the pain eased up and it wasn't too bad at all.
After the 10 min warm up the zombie intervals began so I did those. 30 seconds of running each time, which I found managable. I found that I did 40 steps (on each foot, I always counted each right foot-fall) in 30 seconds. I was also listening to the soundtrack to Jekyll and Hyde, but couldn't hear it all that well.
When I was a couple of blocks away from the finish line on the first of two laps, the real runners started passing me on their second lap. After six or eight men had zoomed past me, a group of spectators started cheering me and yelling "go girl!" and "doing great" and similar and I smiled and sped up and then realised that they were cheering the first girl to lap me on her way to the finish line. She looked about 14.
I did my last zombie interval just before I finished lap one, and then I was on my own with the timing but I kept trying to do the same thing ... running 40 steps (about 30 seconds) and then walking to recover. The only water station was at this point so I had a few mouthfulls and set off on lap two. I felt in pretty good shape. I started trying to pass people. My stats show that although I was slightly faster on my first lap (not by much), I was comparatively faster on my second lap in relation to others -- so I slowed down a little bit but not as much as other people. We were all either walking a bit and running a bit, or just walking. I would set my sights on someone ahead of me, run to catch up, walk and fall back, run and pass then, walk and drop behind again, run and pass them for good.
The middle three kilometres were all pretty managable; the leg pain was much reduced and I was pacing myself well. But that last kilometre was a real struggle. I was out of energy. My legs were tired. Each running interval was harder than the one before. I was dehydrated and overheated. I saw a woman point out the corner to the finish line sprint up ahead so I sailed past them ... only to find she was wrong and I had another block before the correct corner. Finally the finish line was ahead. I walked until I thought it was close enough for a final sprint and ran. Saw my husband and little son cheering me on. Crossed the line and slowed to a walk. My husband yelled at me to go on and I realised the actual finish line was about a metre further on. Lurched over it. Yay!
After collecting my backpack and having a drink of freshly-squeezed juice (man that was good!) we went to a nearby Chinese restaurant for a quick lunch -- I was still all hot and sweaty but we didn't have time for anything else -- then went to pick up Jasmine from her party. Got home at about 2.15 pm after a day that felt like it went for about a week, scoffed some birthday cake, had a hot bath and collapsed into bed for an hour. Killer headache and aching legs.
But I did it. My first 5K. My dream time would have been 45 mins, the only thing I had to go by was walking/jogging around the lake about a year ago in 52 mins. I hadn't done very much training.
My official time was 49:38, and I am happy with that. I got under 50 minutes, at least.
The winner took 15:58, the first female 18:53.
I was 682nd of 705 finishers (not last! yay! but as I tell the kids, even the person who came last did really well for finishing at all. The slowest walker is lapping the person sitting on the couch), 89th of 92 in my gender/age group.
So will I do it again? Dunno. I guess so. Not anytime real soon. I am still keen on running away from zombies, and I like doing races. I don't consider myself a runner. Some people say you are a runner if you do any running whatsoever, I disagree. I'm not a chef just because I cook my family dinner, I'm not a writer because I scribble a shopping list (or even this blog). I think it can make words almost meaningless if you broaden the application so far. But I guess I am in training.
We had so much to do today I didn't think we would be able to fit it all in, but somehow we did. First was Jasmine's violin performance in a String Festival (she was in non-competitive under 10yo). Luckily for us they split her category into two groups so by 10:30 she had her medal and Tim could rush the kids off to their swimming lesson and then Jas to a party while I made my way to the race area. Luckily it was literally a block away. The 10K or maybe the half marathon was in progress, tomorrow is the marathon and ultra-marathon.
I changed and put on sunscreen, had my banana and string cheese and half my bottle of water, and sat down to play with my iPhone for half an hour. Then I checked in my backpack and got in the long line for the porta-loos. I was feeling a bit discouraged as I looked around me. In front of me in the queue was a woman with two young children (maybe 5 and 7) and also a toddler in a stroller, and I knew they were going to beat me in the race. Everyone was going to beat me. I could run a whole 15 seconds at a time, who was I kidding?
But I made my way to the starting line anyway and placed myself near the back of the large pack -- apparently there were 705 finishers today. We couldn't hear any of the announcements from back there so the starting gun came as a bit of a surprise but we all started shuffling forwards. We couldn't run yet, it was too crowded. After 100 metres or so I passed the starting line and the pack started to thin out.
I decided to put on my Zombie app, week 2 day 1, during the race. As I anticipated, I couldn't hear all of the voice-over at first due to the crowd but later it helped me get going. I was up to 30 second intervals today. For the first 10 minutes I watched a pink-haired lady in front of me, she stayed at a walk. Because I have short legs (I'm only 5 foot tall, 152 cm) I walk slower than most other people (I'm probably also just a slow walker). So this lady strode ahead and I would jog a little to keep up, then walk to recover and she would get ahead again, then jog to catch up again. At some point I passed her and then I never saw her again and had to use other people as markers.
Those first 10 minutes were the worst of the whole race. Whether it was because I wasn't warmed up properly (I did a little stretching and walking, but not much) or just the hard surface of the road when I usually run on grass, my legs were killing me. Quite bad pains up my shins. In particular, every step on my left foot sent pain shooting the front of my leg. And this was only the first 10 minutes! I still had 4 kilometers to go! But actually after that the pain eased up and it wasn't too bad at all.
After the 10 min warm up the zombie intervals began so I did those. 30 seconds of running each time, which I found managable. I found that I did 40 steps (on each foot, I always counted each right foot-fall) in 30 seconds. I was also listening to the soundtrack to Jekyll and Hyde, but couldn't hear it all that well.
When I was a couple of blocks away from the finish line on the first of two laps, the real runners started passing me on their second lap. After six or eight men had zoomed past me, a group of spectators started cheering me and yelling "go girl!" and "doing great" and similar and I smiled and sped up and then realised that they were cheering the first girl to lap me on her way to the finish line. She looked about 14.
I did my last zombie interval just before I finished lap one, and then I was on my own with the timing but I kept trying to do the same thing ... running 40 steps (about 30 seconds) and then walking to recover. The only water station was at this point so I had a few mouthfulls and set off on lap two. I felt in pretty good shape. I started trying to pass people. My stats show that although I was slightly faster on my first lap (not by much), I was comparatively faster on my second lap in relation to others -- so I slowed down a little bit but not as much as other people. We were all either walking a bit and running a bit, or just walking. I would set my sights on someone ahead of me, run to catch up, walk and fall back, run and pass then, walk and drop behind again, run and pass them for good.
The middle three kilometres were all pretty managable; the leg pain was much reduced and I was pacing myself well. But that last kilometre was a real struggle. I was out of energy. My legs were tired. Each running interval was harder than the one before. I was dehydrated and overheated. I saw a woman point out the corner to the finish line sprint up ahead so I sailed past them ... only to find she was wrong and I had another block before the correct corner. Finally the finish line was ahead. I walked until I thought it was close enough for a final sprint and ran. Saw my husband and little son cheering me on. Crossed the line and slowed to a walk. My husband yelled at me to go on and I realised the actual finish line was about a metre further on. Lurched over it. Yay!
After collecting my backpack and having a drink of freshly-squeezed juice (man that was good!) we went to a nearby Chinese restaurant for a quick lunch -- I was still all hot and sweaty but we didn't have time for anything else -- then went to pick up Jasmine from her party. Got home at about 2.15 pm after a day that felt like it went for about a week, scoffed some birthday cake, had a hot bath and collapsed into bed for an hour. Killer headache and aching legs.
But I did it. My first 5K. My dream time would have been 45 mins, the only thing I had to go by was walking/jogging around the lake about a year ago in 52 mins. I hadn't done very much training.
My official time was 49:38, and I am happy with that. I got under 50 minutes, at least.
The winner took 15:58, the first female 18:53.
I was 682nd of 705 finishers (not last! yay! but as I tell the kids, even the person who came last did really well for finishing at all. The slowest walker is lapping the person sitting on the couch), 89th of 92 in my gender/age group.
So will I do it again? Dunno. I guess so. Not anytime real soon. I am still keen on running away from zombies, and I like doing races. I don't consider myself a runner. Some people say you are a runner if you do any running whatsoever, I disagree. I'm not a chef just because I cook my family dinner, I'm not a writer because I scribble a shopping list (or even this blog). I think it can make words almost meaningless if you broaden the application so far. But I guess I am in training.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Verti-cool results
Monday:
Race results just came in. My time was 10:36 (so my guess of 11 min was pretty close). This was not a particularly good time. I came 230th of 236 people who finished the race; 140th of 145 women. When you take out the serious runners, I came 124th out of 129 walk/joggers. The average time was 6:11.
I didn't come last!
Interestingly, the winning time was 3:16 this year (4:15 for fastest female), but last year it was 2:47 (3:26 female). I am assuming that they added the run at the start this year, that would account for the longer time. I certainly wasn't expecting that run. For me, at my fitness level, I know it added way more to my time than the actual run itself which probably took me a bit over a minute.
Time to start working towards the 5K.
Race results just came in. My time was 10:36 (so my guess of 11 min was pretty close). This was not a particularly good time. I came 230th of 236 people who finished the race; 140th of 145 women. When you take out the serious runners, I came 124th out of 129 walk/joggers. The average time was 6:11.
I didn't come last!
Interestingly, the winning time was 3:16 this year (4:15 for fastest female), but last year it was 2:47 (3:26 female). I am assuming that they added the run at the start this year, that would account for the longer time. I certainly wasn't expecting that run. For me, at my fitness level, I know it added way more to my time than the actual run itself which probably took me a bit over a minute.
Time to start working towards the 5K.
Monday, November 5, 2012
Official results
I just thought to check the Fun Run website to see if there were any results, and indeed they were up.
My official time was 36:20. I was 249th out of the 673 people doing the 3.4 km race. In the first half of all the people doing that distance! I am pretty chuffed about that. In my category (female "masters" ie over 40) I came 20th out of 86. 20th!! After three weeks training! How can I possibly give up running now?
Ok, so a lot of the people behind me probably just walked it. And some of them might have been very old (I didn't notice see any particularly elderly people, but I didn't see much of the people behind me. Eating my dust!). I don't care. I did great!
I feel much prouder right now, after seeing those official results, than I did immediately after the race when I mainly felt tired and confused.
When I got home yesterday I ate a lot. Then a couple of hours later had lunch. Then had a nap. And felt exhausted all evening and went to bed early. I spent less than an hour exercising, but I guess there was a lot of tension and emotion involved as well.
I bought myself a new Pandora charm to celebrate.
Feeling a little bit like a champion.
photo by Rosa Say
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