Let the challenges begin...

So I have been having a lot of fun recently in the Tribesport community http://tribesports.com/users/abigailh. and have completed a number of challenges. This has been great because although I feel I am making progress with the pilates sessions, walking (up to 13km now) and the physio on my ankle, I am still depressed about not being able to get back to running yet until both my ankle sprain is better as well as the disk injury in my lower back.

But last week saw the completion of a couple of challenges at least that seemed much easier when I signed up for them than while I was actually doing them :p

100 crunches a day for seven days
25 squats a day for seven days
Hold a 2 minute wall squat every day for seven days (thought it would be a doddle, was a killer!)
20 push ups 7 times over two weeks (nearly did me in on day one!)

With that I felt very pleased with myself, and while I concentrated on increasing my walking effort to 13km, I was so pleased I forgot to take any more challenges as I waited for a number of books to arrive (yes, even reading is a challenge - well, not literally ;)

So tomorrow begins round number two of challenges including holding the plank pose for 30 seconds, more crunches, push ups, sit ups and balances... I'm going to nail standing on 1 leg for 60 seconds with my eyes closed if it's the last thing I do :) Assuming of course I don't fall over while doing it and injure another part of my anatomy!

Meanwhile, it's off to bed to read more about Lisa Tamati. She's already my hero and she hasn't even started running seriously yet, let alone across Death Valley.

Relay for Life - Take 2

Last Saturday night, well, Sunday morning, my JP and I headed over to Croydon athletics track at 2.30am to participate in the Relay for Life. We were invited to keep my bro and sis-in-law company because, strangely, the team didn't have anyone to fill the 3-5.30am shift on the relay.

The relay went for 18 hours - from 6pm Sat to 10am Sun - and when we agreed to participate we thought it would be a doddle. But it wasn't. Alright, it wasn't like running a marathon but walking around and around and around a track in the middle of the night after only 2.5 hours sleep was harder than it looked. Simply because of lack of energy. Even a hot chocolate at the 4am mark didn't make that much difference to how I felt.

It's not like I went home with muscle strain but it was hard on my feet and calves. And when I thought at 5am that since we've started running now I would be able to handle a few or half dozen laps running, it turned out I lasted only two laps before my body protested. I guess since it's not natural to be up at that time of night isn't going to readily agree to running. Although the boys from the East Ringwood Footy Club didn't seem to have a problem as they sprinted past lap after lap. Then again they were about 20 years younger than me!

Surprisingly it was actually quite nice being up at that time of night. If only my body agreed. But it was a great experience and one that I would participate in again. Being part, even a tiny part, of a $92,000 fund raising effort felt pretty special.