3 more gold coin donations!

So I am starting a workout jar, and for every 100 calories I burn, I put in a gold coin donation (basically what ever I have in my purse). When I fill the jar, I will use the money from it to treat myself by doing something for me.

Examples: A massage, going to the movies, facial, manicure or pedicure, a class of some description (ie. cupcake, cooking, candle making, soap making etc.). Maybe even a night away or two? Who knows how much I will save?!

So far I already have $10 in my jar from today and yesterday!

I am really looking forward to earning money and spoiling myself after my hard work! I am open to suggestions as to what spoils I can give myself!

We are Spartans!!!

So last Saturday I competed in the Spartan Race down in Wonthaggi with my husband, sister, best friend, and brother-in-law.

We were all so nervous about competing. We had no idea what was coming and how we would cope.

It was a 7km obstacle course in the heat, over things, under things, through things and even swimming in muddy dams! You had one chance at each obstacle and if you missed it or couldn't complete it, well.... 30 burpees for you it was!

We said our anxious goodbyes to the boys, because they were due to start 20 minutes after us, and made our way to our Spartan fate! Walking towards the start line we came across our first obstacle... a mud pit already?! Ewww!!! So shoes, already muddy... its not so bad is it? I can totally deal with this!

So we stood at the starting line, stressing about the race ahead. Already I look down to see my heart rate sitting around 120bpm! Oh god... We wait, and with 10 seconds left we count down.

TEN... NINE... EIGHT... SEVEN... SIX... FIVE... FOUR... THREE... TWO... ONE... GOOOOOOO!!!

I started off strong, I jogged all the way to the first obstacle up and down hills (which I didnt actually train for because there aren't many hills near my house). The first obstacle was a crawl under barbed wire, followed immediately by a knee-high wade through a muddy creek. Walking through the muddy water was difficult because you couldn't see where the little pot holes were under the water so you'd fall into them and then slip or get your foot stuck! Yuck-o! So many times we all came so close to losing our shoes in the mud!

The other obstacles included climbing over giant hay bales, carrying 10 kilo bags for a long walk, jumping over walls, balancing beams, 8 ft wall climb, wading through more muddy water then hauling yourself up a mud hill by ropes, rope climbs and more! At the end, the spear throw, monkey bars and lastly the Spartan WARRIORS!!! They were 3 or 4 beefy men with giant cu-tips ready to boof you or spear tackle you!

(This is me jumping the fire pit)

I got through more than halfway without missing any obstacles, and I feel I can be forgiven for the first one being the 8ft wall climb. 30 burpees for me! It was just downhill for the last kilometre or so. I got through the super long barbed wire crawl up and down a hill and was exhausted. The five of us stood up from crawl and were COVERED in fine dirt, we looked like we'd rolled in cocoa! The final obstacles were a slanted wall rope climb on slippery rubber surface which I couldn't do because it wasn't grippy enough (which I cried at because I was just so tired and hot and thirsty, and wanted so badly to get to the top and climb the cargo net). Then cargo net climbs, giant rope climb, spear throw and then finally monkey bars. I missed them all! So sad, but
fantastic for calorie burning!

Receiving that medal at the end of it all was the best feeling. I had the biggest smile on my face and the sense of pride that took over was almost enough to bring me to tears again! We all looked so muddy, cut and bruised, but very very happy.

It was so much fun, I never imagined I would enjoy myself so much! It was incredibly tough, I was tired at the end but felt hungry for more! I burnt over 1600 calories in total! I was so proud of myself for finishing it, and I can't wait for True Grit coming up in May! Adelaide, here we come!

Taking a beautiful cold shower to get off the mud

Amee and I taking a shower

Bin full of filthy shoes, socks and clothes

 

Camping gone horribly wrong!

Laura's little baby Getz was full to the brim as we set off on our adventure south beachward bound!

With our naughty box of cheezels and 2 slices of Michelle Bridge's banana bread (care of mum) we headed with peak hour traffic towards our destination.

So it was someone's brilliant idea to go camping on the weekend for Spartan Race in Wonthaggi!
Girls were just not meant to put up tents!

My sister and I thought we were very clever arriving early to pitch our 2 tents in the daylight before the others all arrived... little did we know that mother nature was planning a cyclone in Kilcunda that afternoon!

It took us 2 hours to peg in the base because the wind just kept blowing it up and undoing all our good work. Our tent was like a giant sail! So we were finally getting the cover over and the wind blew it right over, causing the pegs to splinter and snap at one end... "Laura? Why is our tent leaning to one side?". Shit...

So we were tired and frustrated, so we chucked a sook and sat down grumpily while a group of middle-aged men with beer in hand swiftly took over and performed tent surgery and not only fixed it, but finished putting our leaning tent of Kilcunda up!

Here are the boys all putting our tents up, and the Chris and Mark pumping up the air mattress. Stay tuned for my blog about our Spartan Race!
 
 

 

 Plus, mine and Chris' self-inflating electric air mattress had a hole somewhere (nowhere to be found even though we covered it in duct tape!) and we had to get up every 2 hours to inflate it; after waking up to our bums practically on the ground laying in the hammock-like position! It wasn't a great weekend for sleep to be had!