A WINTRY WEEKEND

14th and 15th August 2010

As icy winds rattle the windows and the ran splatters onto the window panes my bones are chilled and painful. Our weekend has produced some truly horrible weather conditions that surely only the brave or foolish would be out in. Well we were one of them on Saturday as Jarrett had a pointscore Cross Country race out at Stromlo. From the car it actually appeared that the south side of Canberra had fared much better in the weather stakes but we were deceived, although the sun was shinning it had no warmth in it at all. I had my thermal singlet on, three jumpers and a coat, a beanie and a scarf as well as a blanket wrapped around me and I was still freezing!

Jarrett ran in the three kilometre race, they were doing two laps of the 1.5km loop, as it is only a week out from Nationals Jarrett was told by his coach to cruise. Well if what he did was cruising then I would hate to see him go hard. He ran the 3km in 9:35 that is averaging 3:11 per kilometre. He came second but won his age group, he was not even exhausted at the end and said it was like an easy training session. I think he now has a really fantastic chance of winning the ACT Junior Distance Runner of the Year.

Even though I was so rugged up and had found some shelter I was in so much pain that we had to change some plans we had to go to the runners shop and come directly home so that I could try to get some relief from my pain. Heat packs, panadol and warm cups of tea helped warm my body again but the cold weather had already taken its toll and my right knee was unable to bend again until much later in the evening.

I received a lovely telephone call from Anna, who is Tess my Starlight Wish Granter's sister, she is going over to Greece and she wanted to let me know that she was taking a copy of my book with her to give to a cousin. She also told me that she was hoping to take a photograph with my book at one of the famous Greek monuments while she is there. She is also taking photographs with her of my book launch so that she can share my story with all the people she meets whilst over there. That put a little sunshine back in my day, I know I have said this so many times before but the more people that my story reaches hopefully the more awareness I can raise and also maybe just inspire others a little.

I watched the new Alice in Wonderland DVD again with the rest of the family and they enjoyed it. Then played some Upwords and did my tangram teasers, my right hand was playing up again and I found it difficult to grip things again, it was most likely from the cold. My pain continued during the night but I actually think I only woke about six times to ask to be turned and to have painful knees, hips and feet massaged.

Today was a mild morning as it had rained overnight, we headed out to running training at the AIS, as we drove towards the Gungahlin Drive extension we had to be diverted as there had been a bridge collapse, it looked devastating and will be an enormous clean up job. The icy winds began to increase and then the rain began to fall right at the end of running training. We decided to go to the Runners Shop today, I needed new joggers, my shoe size has gone down another size, I was lucky they had a huge sale on, I got some Asics which I find fit my feet perfectly. Jarrett used one of his gift vouchers from awards and bought a pair of running gloves which he has been after for a while. We then went on to DFO for a stroll, it was lovely and warm there and we found a couple of bargains whilst we were there.

When we came home though I started feeling dizzy and nauseous, I had to lie down for a while to try to help it but found lying down made me more dizzy so I just sat quietly and the dizziness went away. We then watched a DVD that Dad had bought himself, Hercules - The Legendary Journey's. Mum and Dad said it used to be on television when they were younger and they used to enjoy watching it, do you know what, it was actually really good.

I can hardly wait until we head off for Brisbane as the weather here is absolutely horrific and is going to continue to be that way for most of the week. On the day we arrive in Brisbane it is supposed to be 26 degrees with an 80% chance of rain but on Jarrett's race day it is forecast to be 21 degrees and sunny.

I have school tomorrow morning and afternoon and then again on Wednesday morning, I have finished all my assignments and homework, even though at times it is quite demanding for me to try to complete it to the best of my ability.

'Even if you can't just snap your fingers and make a dream come true, you can travel in the direction of your dream every single day'