Time to get my health and diet back in order. I'm the kind of guy that needs a goal to motivate myself and ensure I commit.

As such I've decided to run a marathon again. I was going to run the Wellington marathon again, but a date clash with Rally NZ has meant a later marathon - the 5 bridges marathon in the Hutt Valley on August 19th.

My goals are simple: lose 15kgs & run the marathon in under 3hrs 15mins (last marathon time was 3hrs 33mins). I think I'll need to lose that much weight to be able to run at pace to allow me to meet that time goal. I've got 5 months to train and I've already started a high protein diet to assist.

Let's see how I go!

/craig.

Instead of bushfires this summer, NSW & Sydney have had one of their wettest summers in many years.

I've been over here for almost 4 weeks (2 for work, 2 for play) now and the weather has been up and down. It certainly has been warmer than Wellington though!

Today I visited Warragamba Dam to see it's main flood gate open - something that hasn't been done for quite some time. Just a few years ago I think Warragamba dam was at between 30-40% capacity. It's now at something like 110%.

I also visited Yarramundi which is a popular spot along the Nepean River (from which water from Warragamba Dam flows). Last week this bridge was under water... today you can see the water is down but still a lot higher than normal - people were saying it was up around 4 metres than normal height.

As usual, pictures say more than words, so here you go!

Check out the flood weeds on top of this No Standing sign!!!

 

This is the view from Hawkesbury Heights lookout. You can see the Penrith Lakes scheme and I think that's some flooding in the pits closest to this spot (brown lakes).

/craig.

As I kick start 2012 I've been thinking of the changes I want to make in my life, I won't say they are New Year resolutions as some things I have already started weeks ago. These will hopefully contribute to a much better life like the changes I made 2 years ago. Here's what I am going to do more of and less of in 2012:

 

More - exercise. Running, swimming and if I ever repair or buy a new bike, cycling. I also want to cross train more with bootcamp style workouts and even maybe find a new sport to take up. I will do a marathon again in 2012, I wonder how fast I can do it?

Less - bad eating. Healthier meals and more importantly healthier snacks.

 

More - blog posting. I've hardly updated my blogs in the last 6 months of 2011 so I want to set aside more time to share my photography and what I've been up to, as well as a few opinion pieces here and there.

Less - drinking alcohol. To enable me to achieve more exercise and more blog posting I need to do less drinking. I've caught myself too many times coming up and deciding to drink beer and watch TV instead of participating in life. Less of that in 2012 that you very much! I am going to start it with a DRY JANUARY. No drinking alcohol at all in January will help in many ways.

 

More - reading. Over Christmas I've picked up the two latest Tom Clancy books and I am really enjoying just sitting and reading. For someone who finds it hard to sit still, reading is giving me the perfect opportunity to do just that.

Less - energy drinks. I've kicked my daily habit of drinking a can of Mother every morning and this will continue into 2012.

 

So more or less... BRING ON 2012!

Happy New Year

/craig.

Many people will know that I entered the V8 Supercars The Chosen One competition. The winner gets to cover V8 Supercars at Bathurst 2011 with media access!

The competition started when I was picked as one of the final 20 contestants and it went to vote-off. To vote you had to visit V8 Supercars / The Chosen One page on Facebook and vote/like the page to put me in the running.

AND I WON!!

But above and beyond my dream of covering Bathurst via social media channels - what I did win is knowing the power of the connections I have made with people via Facebook, Twitter & LinkedIn. What I learnt is what people will do to help out a family member or a friend (who could otherwise be a total stranger).

I had people 'retweet' my posts, tweet their own posts, convince other people to vote for me.

I had family and friends not even remotely interested in V8 Supercars like the page just to vote for me.

In some cases I had friends text message family and friends to get them to vote for me.

I've had admins of pages that I don't know, recommend me for the competition.

To all the people who have voted/commented/posted/tweeted.... your efforts have made me feel very humble. You all ROCK and I LOVE YOU ALL!

This post is to every single person who voted for me, THANK YOU!

For those that know me well, know that I am big fan of Punk Rock. Now, I'm no skater, punk or otherwise... I've just always enjoyed this genre along with some of my closest friends.

No Use For A Name is one of the best known bands in Punk Rock circles. So you can imagine how happy I was when I heard that they were touring NZ and visiting Wellington. The excitement was only added to when I found out that Lagwagon guitarist Chris Rest would be grinding his axe for No Use as well! Lagwagon being my favourite band.

It was a great concert at the San Fransisco Bath House, only added to by the fact that after many years in mosh pits I finally got to stage dive :-) My plan was to film them from my mobile... alas the videos were so dark and crap I'm not going to bother posting them. I will however post some photos of the night....

/craig.

 

Almost 3 weeks to the day after I finished my first marathon I realised I haven't posted anything here about my adventure!

With 3 weeks gone by, the pain has gone away with only a little memory of it left. I'm starting to let myself think about what my next big challenge should be?

When I entered the marathon 3 months ago I said to myself, "I would be happy to finish within 4 hours".

My training pace was up and down, along with some injuries, but one of my final long runs told me that I could go under 4 hours without much hassle. When I picked up my race kit for the run I grabbed two pace bands (wrist bands that have km & time markings based on proposed finishing time), one for 3hr 45min finish, the other a 3hr 30min finish.

I started the marathon at the front of the bunch, I didn't want to get caught up in a crowd. I made sure I kept a slow, comfortable pace. As that was the advice the majority of people - go slow at the start. Everything felt good and there was no huffing and puffing coming from me (but there were from some others that I doubt finished). As I checked my pace against my 3hr 30min wristband I noticed I was running a tad faster, but I felt really good with the pace so I stuck to it.

I stayed on pace to the 21km turnaround point which I did at 1hr 40mins into the run. I almost couldn't believe how comfortable I felt...

There was a climb back over a hill that was near the half-way point and I started to feel a little pain in the legs. Then, at around the 25km mark I started to hit what I believe most people refer to as "the wall". Leg pain set in and I all of a sudden was having a very hard time running. All I could do was slow my pace down and push on.

Trying to think back to the last 10-15kms I can remember the feeling of pain, but not the pain itself. I remember wanting the race to be over, but also wanting not to stop. Thankfully I didn't.

I didn't look at my wristbands after the 30k mark because I knew all I could do was run within the pace my body would let me. But when I got to the final stretch (up a bloody ramp too) I saw that my time meant finishing close to 3hr 35mins. On that last little bit of the run, I just gritted my teeth and pushed hard so I could finish in under 3hrs 35mins.

My final finishing time? 3 hours 33 minutes 53 seconds.

Now I sit here and wonder that if I had started even slower, would I have not hit 'the wall' until later, and possibly gotten a faster overall time? 

To finish up the story, let me tell you that I had problems walking for the next day / day and a half, but looking back on it all I would definitely do it again.

Now to post some photos... yep, that's what pain can look like.

/craig.

A couple of weeks ago I came across a bunch of receipes all using Cadbury Creme eggs. Leading into Easter I had planned to make the Creme Egg Pancakes, unfortunately I never got the chance.

However, this morning I did! and boy I was glad. These chocolate pancakes were delicious... and with the goo melted and drizzled down the middle of the pancakes, yum! Only thing missing was a scoop of chocolate icecream.

For those who want to try this receipe, here it is: http://www.goodtoknow.co.uk/recipes/315080/Cadbury-Creme-Egg-chocolate-pancakes

/craig.

For those who have followed my various social networks over the last few weeks know full well that I have only recently moved to New Zealand from Australia for work. For the first four weeks of my stay I had the privledge of staying at the CityLife Wellington Hotel and I want to give this hotel both a review (because I stayed their so long!) and a thank you (for their great service).

The hotel is located in downtown Wellington, on the well known shopping strip of Lambton Quay. Not only handy for those who love to shop, but handy for just about anyone staying in Wellington - it's close to the government end of town, whilst also close to the entertainment end of town. Let's face it, Wellington city isn't that big anyway - you can walk across the entire city in 20 mins.

I'm not sure about the different combination of rooms within CityLife Wellington, but I had the opportunity to stay in a fully serviced, 1 bedroom apartment - room 111 for those playing along at home. Whilst the room had no view (ok, a small view out the back of the hotel into a courtyard of sorts), it was well laid out - with a generous sized seperate bedroom with it's own TV and nice firm bed, then a hallway that led to a bathroom on the left and then a fairly large living/dining/kitchen room at the end. The living area had a good sized couch, a single-seater, dining table and well appointed kitchen - not to mention the 32 inch flat screen TV and DVD player. Maybe these photos will help visualise the kind of rooms CityLife Wellington can provide.

On top of the nice room, what made the hotel even more appealing was it's service to it's customers. I was welcomed from day 1, the staff was always friendly & polite. My room was serviced every day with care and a personal touch (for example, the staff must have figured out I didn't use the cover on the bed so when they made the bed they left it off, plus I used two Milo satchels every night so they would always ensure two would replace them). If I ever didn't want my room serviced I simply left the do not disturb sign on my door and by the end of the day I would have a little parcel outside of my door with fresh towels, soap and of course my two satchels of Milo! And although I am not a wine/champagne drinker the bottle on my last week of my stay was greatly appreciated.

I also appreciated the hotel's gym facilities. All the equipment (1x bike, 2 walking machines, 1 elliptic trainer, 1 rowing machine, 2 weights machines, + another bench and hand-weights) was new or close to new and towels and a drining fountain were provided.

To really top it all off, the final thing I will say about CityLife is their great Social Media engagement. When I learnt I would be staying at CityLife Wellington, I quickly followed @HeritageHotels (who own/manage CityLife) on Twitter and I had some wonderful discussions with them during my few weeks stay.

So THANK YOU to CityLife Wellington Hotel and Heritage Hotels. Alas my time with you has come to a close as I moved into my own rented apartment.

For everyone else, I suggest that given the opportunity, CityLife is a damn fine establishment to stay at in Wellington - as I am sure any Heritage Hotel is.

/craig.

 

Today I entered my next big challenge. In the last 15 months I have conqured 5 sprint triathlons, 1 Olympic distance triathlon and a move to another country (ok, I can't really say conqured after just over a week here, but I will!). It's time for a new challenge.

Today, 29th March 2011 I entered the Wellington Harbour City Marathon run on the 19th June. This gives me just under 12 weeks to train and prepare myself for the 42.195 kilometre run.

My goal, other than to finish alive and in one piece, is to certainly finish within 4 hours and hopefully closer to 3.5 hours.

Let's see how I go!

/craig.