A Wedding in the Family

The happy couple

Son Peter and his lovely wife Jo at little sister's wedding

Last weekend we celebrated the marriage of our eldest daughter and her lovely man in Sydney. It was a very small ceremony set by the beach at Watsons Bay - just a few close friends and direct family - less than two dozen of us and a perfect day.

Mr B and I drove to Sydney in his new Alfa on Anzac Day and stayed with our youngest daughter. Next morning she joined me for a short run. That's the very first time we have ever run together as Em has only recently taken up running so that was a very special time and lots of fun.

On Sunday after all the excitement had died down Mr B and I drove out to the beach and managed to fit in an awesome swim before heading off for a family barbeque at the new bride's apartment. The weather for the entire weekend was stunning  It was really special family time.

Proud parents of the bride and groom

Cutting the cute cake!

Proud dad

Little sister Em and her partner

On Monday it was back to speedygeese training where we ran relay team diagonals on the lawns in front of Parliament House. Next day I worked late and was unable to go to SG training at Dickson but managed to run on Wednesday off road with Teddy for 11km after work,
On Thursday  I went to a new session which speedychief is holding at the Uni of Canberra's oval. The aim of this was to run with the triathlon group, the Bilbys, and to share their lights. However Miranda and I arrived at the same time and when we finally found our SG friends they were running in the dark. No Bilbys turned up and our SG group eventually ran around the perimeter of the lit up soccer field which was being used for training at the same time. We ran a warm up and then ran 3 fast laps followed by 1 slow lap and did this 3 times. It was difficult as I was conscious all the time of avoiding the soccer ball and watching the rough ground underneath. I think there may be a change of venue next week.

Friday was Body Balance and a rest from running before a long run next day.

On Saturday I incorporated the Ginninderra Parkrun with a longer run. I ran 5km from home to the start, ran the 5km Parkrun catching up with lots of friends before and afterwards and then ran the rest of the lake with CJ (a great opportunity for a chat) before heading home.

Total distance: 20km

Time taken for 5km Parkrun: 27:57 (7seconds outside my PB - grrr)

Age percentage: 70.42%

It was a great day for a run although at 8am it was still cool and there was a bit of head wind at one stage which was annoying. I do hope to improve that time eventually. 

This morning, Sunday, I just took Teddy for another trail run on the hills on North Lyneham ridge - only 8km this time but Teddy is no longer a lovely clean dog after rolling happily on his back on the dusty trails! Later Mr B and I went for a little drive out to the country for a delightful lunch in the sunshine. I really am enjoying this pleasant Autumn weather.

In the past couple of weeks I have been following a program called "plankaday". This starts with anything from Level 1 (15seconds) to Level 4 (60seconds) and progresses by 15seconds per plank each week. In Week 1 Monday I started at Level 4 and did one plank of 60secs. On Tuesday this increased to 2 x 60secs, Wednesday was 3 x 60secs, Thursday 4 x 60secs then Friday reduced to 3 x 60secs, Saturday 2 x 60secs and Sunday back to 1 x 60secs. In Week 2 the same program except the time was increased by 15secs to 75seconds per plank. 

Tomorrow I start Week 3 which is 90seconds per plank (1minute 30seconds). I imagine by Day 4 (Thursday) that will feel quite tough. The break in between each plank can be anything up to 5 minutes although so far the most rest between has been 1 minute. We shall see. One thing is certain though; it is helping me feel my abs!