CANBERRA FREEZES AND JARRETT RUNS AT ASC CROSS COUNTRY

19th to 25th May 2012

With a maximum temperature of just nine degrees that is like 4.5 degrees, I am so grateful to be indoors in the warmth with hot water bottles, a snugly blanket and the heating on.  Today is a reminder that Winter is just around the corner and I am sure that snow will be falling on the mountains at present creating a glistening, white cap on the top. 

Fortunately the weekend was much more pleasant and on Saturday I was outdoors enjoying a clear Autumn day and watching Jarrett and Nalani both run in The Half Marathon Eve 5km Fun Run, it was an all ages event.  The venue for the event was the delightful Lennox Gardens, the race went through the gardens and along the edge of Lake Burley Griffin.  There were many competitors in the event and Kermit the Frog even made an appearance (one of the runners had dressed in a costume).  "On your marks, get set" and the gun went off.  Jarrett had a flying start and Nalani took off quickly also, as we watched them run along the path near the Lake. Then they disappeared into the distance, that is what happens in Cross Country races, you often lose sight of the runners and only see the start and the finish.  We waited anxiously at the finish line in the distance we could see the top three runners coming in and Jarrett was one of them, he was in third place, just behind two older men.  It was a close finish and I was so excited to see Jarrett finish strongly to secure the third place in a time of 16:26, a six second personal best from the year before.  He was the first junior runner in and beat a well know female runner Lisa Corrigan.  We then waited for Nalani, she came flying in, in 40th place and was the fourth junior female, she also got a personal best time over a minute faster than her last 5km race. Jarrett was presented with a bronze medal and a special tee-shirt for the race and he let me wear his medal while he warmed down.

On Sunday morning after another eighty minute run, Jarrett was working on his school Biology assignment which was on cancer, he had chosen to do it on paediatric cancer and he asked me if he could do an interview with me, I agreed and while Nalani filmed, Jarrett asked me some question about my Medulloblastoma and the treatment I had.  I was going to throw shot put at High Noon on Sunday afternoon but I found I was very shaky and could not hold the shot put properly and I was weak in my legs so I had to miss throwing.  It is very upsetting and frustrating to have this occurring especially when I have something that I would love to do.

This week at school has been busy again, with exams coming up the teachers are making sure that we have covered every topic we need to for the exams.  In Maths we are learning about Congruent Triangles, it is a complicated process and there are four ways of testing whether a triangle is congruent.  In Sports Science we are continuing our work on the body systems and nutrition, I really enjoy this, to remember things I practise by naming my muscles and bones and I also have charts on my wardrobe doors.  In English we are working on a persuasive essay about Choice and Sacrifice in relation to The Truman Show, we learnt how to write a good thesis statement. 

Apart from school I have had physiotherapy, Kaitlyn massaged my arms, spine and feet and used heat to assist my pain.  Each week I look forward to my physiotherapy appointment because it does provide some relief for me along with my medication.  I also had a special visit from Stuart this week who came from Sydney just to see me, it was lovely to catch up with him and he gave me a lovely book to read, Anne of Green Gables. 

Then on Thursday, Jarrett was running in the ASC Cross Country, some people from other States may call it Zone Cross Country, it is how you qualify to go to ACT Cross Country to hopefully be selected to represent the ACT at National Cross Country later in the year.  Rain was forecast for the day but fortunately it held off until Jarrett had finished his race.  He had to run 6km and it was held at Weston Park, the course is a very difficult one with lots of undulations, rocks and slippery Autumn leaves on the ground.  He was not only competing against his own age group but also against boys from the next age group up, they decided to combine it, the age group up normally run 8km, so they were lucky.  At the start he was pushed by another runner, but recovered well to be in the lead group of boys, as the race progressed the group broke and Jarrett was in the top four, I was so excited for him and he was running well.  To qualify for ACT's he had to come in the top twenty and I could see he would easily do that.  He finished the race strongly to come second in his age group which was fantastic, he ran it in a time of 20:05 which was great, he is just awesome.  Now he will run at ACT's which are on his 17th Birthday on the 4th of June, I hope that he will do extremely well and qualify for Nationals, that would be the best Birthday present ever.  

I am not very well today, I have a cough and sore throat and with the miserable weather I am feeling quite melancholy.  Keeping warm, having plenty of fluids and rest will hopefully help me to feel much better for the weekend and be ready for another busy week next week, not only do I have School but I also have an appointment with my paediatrician and physiotherapy. 

In Footy Tipping although I got four right last week, Nana is still ahead, Pop and I are trying to think of ways to slow her down.  Pop even suggested her losing points if her team, the Cowboys win, but I guess that is not very fair.  My Tigers are doing well, it is almost like back in 2005 when they came from the bottom of the ladder to win the Grand Final.  They were second last but have now moved up into eighth place with some incredible wins. 

I found this quote by Buddha and I thought is was a lovely way to end this entry:

'Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.'