Kien's keyboard recital

All the hard work and hours of practice he has put in - I'm so proud of him. This is his first year learning to play the keyboard. Although its been hard at times when he just does not want to practice and I think its a total waste of money to pay for these lessons - I know that he will be thankful for the perseverance. It's important to me to teach him commitment, and today was a very proud mummy moment for me watching him up on the stage and pushing through his nervousness. He told me he was scared; that he has stage fright. I told him its okay to be scared, that he can do it. He did it.

Here's a link to the video on youtube in the event you can't see it through whichever method you have received this post :)

Stadium to the sea

The 26.2-mile/42.16-km "Stadium to the Sea" route began at Dodger Stadium and ended at Ocean and California avenues in Santa Monica. But before that we had to actually get there. So Lynette and I (and Jef for moral support) got up at 3:30am to get dressed, psyched and coffee'ed. We needed to leave the house by 4:30am to drive to the finish line, park the car, and catch a shuttle to take us all the way back to downtown LA so we could run all the way back to the beach.

We arrived in Santa Monica within half an hour, and then the looooooooooooong wait in the really loooooooooooong queue to get onto the buses which seemed to take forever to move. I was absolutely busting to empty my bladder, and there was one port-a-loo (yes, count them, 1!) close to the buses with a queue that didn't look like it was moving in a hurry. As soon as I got in the loo queue the shuttle line started moving really fast, and Lynette was at the front of the line and waiting for me. I was still lined up waiting for the loo, and then in a blink there were no more people waiting for the shuttle, and we were seriously worried we were going to miss the last bus. But when you've had as much coffee as I had that morning, well, when you gotta go you just gotta go! So Lynette ran off trying to hold a shuttle for me, and after I was finally able to do my business we got on the bus and were on our way to the start line.

The sun had finally decided to wake up, and by now some horrible mangled rendition of Star Spangled Banner was blaring from the load speakers indicating the gun was about to go off. We were lined up for the loos, again, and there was a countdown and then the gun and horns and lots of cheering and music and it all seems like such a blur as the adrenaline kicks into high gear.

At the starting line of the 32nd annual Los Angeles Marathon.

The first half felt pretty good. I paced well and didn't go too hard. I was texting and sending pictures to Jef of the landmarks along the route.

Entering Chinatown.

The mass of people climbing up the hill up ahead.

Taiko drummers at the top of 1st Ave hill. It really helped to hear the cadence.

At mile 6 making our way around Echo Park lake.

Running through Silver Lake for mile 8.

The long strip of Sunset Blvd seeing Griffith Observatory and Hollywood sign in the distance.

The transition from Sunset Blvd to Hollywood Blvd.

Mile 12, home of the Academy Awards.

We were back on Sunset Blvd for mile 13 - yay, half way point. I think I looked at Strava and saw I did the first 21km in 2 hours 18/19 minutes or something like that.

Then it was into West Hollywood and through Beverly Hills. Just after mile 16 checkpoint was where Jef and Kien were waiting. A quick kiss from them both gave me a boost to keep moving.

Mile 19 on Santa Monica Blvd. I think I was still feeling okay at this point. By now I had sucked down 4 GU gels and numerous cups of Gatoraid that was handed out at every mile point.

I'm pretty sure it was after this that I hit the wall. Only 8km left. I kept telling myself how easy 8km was as my legs screamed at me. This was the furthest distance I had ever run, and the cramps were setting in. That smiling selfie was also the last photo I sent to Jef, as from that point on it was so very tough. I could not suck down any more GU gels - the thought of having another one made me want to throw up. I tried to talk myself into having one with caffeine, but I was over it. I just couldn't. The course profile write up had said this was one of the toughest points - a continuous 2 mile hill climb. It seemed never ending. I knew I had dropped my pace quite substantially, and was a tad worried I wouldn't make my goal time. After passing mile 25 mark all I told myself was that the finish line was less than 12 minutes away and to go go go to stop the pain sooner.

The finish line was in sight, but it looked so far away. I remember throwing my head back and pumping my arms harder just to propel my aching body forward along this stretch. It will be over soon, I told myself. And then...

When I crossed that finish line it was totally surreal. I told myself I could stop running now, but I was in disbelief at the same time, so in my state of confusion I was wobbling about not knowing if I was walking, running, or collapsing and dying. Stopping moving hurt so much. A volunteer lady came over and said she could stay with me if I needed help. I walked with her for a few meters and then decided I wasn't going to die after all. I thanked her and told her I was okay. She congratulated me and I went and got my medal.

Jef texted me my result. I made it.

It rained and we laughed

All week I was hoping for sunshine, or at least no rain for the previous Saturday (not last weekend). Birthday party preparations for the last 3 weeks with the other mother who was also helping me organise our boys' shared occasion together. We were expecting the sun to be out and all the kids to be running around out the back. But no, the weather forecast all week told us it was going to rain, and no matter how much hoping and wishing and praying we did it was no use. No matter, the party had to go ahead, so we texted all the parents on Thursday night to tell them to bring swimming gear.

The people from Bouncy Fun arrived at lunchtime on Saturday to put up the bouncy castle, and we hoped it would fit out the front. He said it wouldn't fit, and I was like, "please make it fit!". And guess what?

Our friends Anna and Joe came over early from Waiheke to help out with preparations. I talked them with balloons and house decorations while I decorated the cupcakes. The roses were supposed to be bright red, but I just couldn't get it red enough so I settled on bright pink instead. The night before I had spent the better part of my Friday evening making little eatable bees. 2 hours later I had completed 20 of them. It was my first time so I didn't have a system, but if I ever decide to make bees again I'll be so much faster.

When the kids started arriving I was wondering how we were going to survive 3 hours of kids being cooped up in our little house. But it was fairly obvious from the get go that they are at the age where they can pretty much entertain themselves. Some of them immediately got into their togs and bounced in the castle and got completely soaked. Jef opened up the spa pool and everyone was more than happy to get wet...except the 2 birthday boys. But that's okay, everyone had their own little group to play with and they were all happy, which made me happy. Jef was the bouncer at the gate to make sure we didn't have any escapees and everyone was safe.

We had a face painter organised to come over. Most of the kids got theirs painted.

Kien's teacher, Amandine, popped in to say hello. The kids were so excited to see her.

After the kids refuelled with party food we hung the piñata up for them to bash down. It was so funny when they were all chanting "SMASH IT, SMASH IT".

The triceratops piñata was so cute. Pity it had to be destroyed.

The kids all overdosed on lollies and piled into Kien's room to chill out, and that's how the parents found them when they came to pick their child up 3 hours after drop off. Before long the only 2 kids left were the two (pre)birthday boys.

I feel completely satisfied that we were able to pull it off and everyone enjoyed themselves (well I hope they did!). Naotaka's mum said she was very happy. It was his first birthday party ever where he's been able to have his friends celebrate with him. Like Kien, Naotaka's actual birthday is during the school holidays. I've promised Kien for almost 2 years now I'd organise a birthday party for him. Tick, I've delivered.

I went for a run

I decided to run the Auckland half marathon 3 days prior to the actual event. I hadn't realised the marathon was happening so soon until I was going for my lunchtime run on Wednesday and saw all the road closure signs. I started looking on TradeMe for a cheap entry ticket for the event, and on Thursday afternoon I had lost all the auctions. I bumped into an old colleague whom I did a huge project with when I used to travel back and forth to India pre-Kien (he just happened to have a meeting in the city that day). He would often decide at the last minute to do marathons and would buy his tickets off TradeMe for next to nothing. I told him I was doing exactly that this year and was on the hunt for an entry. That night he messaged me on Facebook as he knew someone who was giving away a ticket. By Friday morning I had scored myself a free entry, and by lunchtime I had walked to the Viaduct Event Centre with my running buddy (who wasn't doing the event) and collected my race pack.

From that point on I was nervous. I didn't know how how I was going to be/feel on the run. But I just decided to treat the event as training. Queenstown was what I had registered and trained for over winter, so this run was just a lead up.

On Sunday morning my alarm went off at 5am, I got my race bib on, did some blister management/prevention and grabbed my gels and bananas for later. Then it was time to get my groove on and walk to the ferry. The queue was massive, but moved pretty quickly, and before long I was heading off across the harbour to Devonport.

The run wasn't too bad actually. I made sure I was pacing well over the first 13.5km to the bridge and held myself back so I didn't bolt and burn out, and before I knew it we were on the motorway heading toward Smales Farm and beyond.

Its a special thing to run over the bridge, and I savoured every moment of it. I would have stopped for a selfie, but it just seemed like too much of an effort :-). There was also one last climb up Curran St before a straight 5km to the finish line, and I wanted to get down to Westhaven and run a familiar route. So after I consumed my last gel at the 16.5km mark I picked up my pace homeward bound. As I was running down Westhaven Drive I got a text from Jef saying they were close to Swashbucklers waiting for me.

Kien and Jef were waving and I was waving and it was awesome. It felt so good to see them.

Then it was down the straight and around the tank farm where I spotted the 2hr pacer on the other side. I knew he was a couple of minutes in front and I wanted to catch him, but I was tired and didn't want to blow myself out. As I was heading down Halsey St I checked my Strava and I had already hit 2 hours, so at that point I just wanted to get to the finish line as quickly as possible. Rounding the corner and running down the straight it felt pretty amazing. I could see the clock ticking, and I knew Jef and Kien were at the finish line waiting for me.

My personal best half marathon - 2 hours and 2 point something minutes. I hoped for sub 2 hours, but I knew realistically I was going to be between 2 and 2:05. So all things considered I was within my estimation, and I'm happy with that.