I have seen the light.

I could not find the real photo of my bike so this was the closest I could find. Except mine is grey, red and white and not this specific model. Nevermind I will post a shot when I pick it up.

Re-routing my professional life

For the last 18 years I have defined myself as a nurse. I lived, ate and breathed nursing. If I wasn't working as a nurse I was studying to further extend myself in my professional career as a nurse. Of course during the times that my children where little and still quite dependant on me I put my nursing career on hold, but never scratched it from my mind. After all, in my eyes there is no better profession in this world to belong too. I love caring for people and sharing in there most challenging times and trying to minimise the impact that their illness played in their life. There is no greater priviledge than to be able to look after someone when they cannot do it themselves. I feel blessed to be able to hold their hands and sometimes just being there with them is all they need, even in silence. They know they are not alone.

During my years as a Registered Nurse there were times when the profession became all too consuming, physically and emotionally. To care for someone and their family placed a huge strain on me emotionally. I took my responsibility to care for them very seriously and would only ever do my job 100%. I couldn't bare the thought of not making my patients feel as though each and every single one of them were Number 1. Hard work to do that. One of me ,and sometimes 8 of them in any given shift. When shifts ran well, they were so rewarding, you could continue on with your shift for hours. But when things went bad, as they do, as hospitals aren't always a place where people get better and go home - they went really bad. I wore the emotional side of my job too heavily.

Physically, I started off well. However after I had my twins some 14 yrs ago my back became an issue. It never really left me from the moment it reared its ugly head, it came in waves. However the last flair up left me quite crippled and I left my job due to sickness, but with the hopes that I would return some day. And that is what I did about a year later in a more sedentary position. I thought having gotten fitter I would be able to return to work, but this was not to be. Being on my feet and driving to and from work for close to an hour each way made my back flair up again. So I resigned and pondered on what was to be of my life. What was I going to do? Who was I going to be if I could not be a nurse? This was all I knew and I wasn't good at anything else, or so I thought.

During my time of getting fit and healthy I had people constantly telling me how I had inspired them to do get out there and take the bull by the horns. Even though I was just trying to live my life to the best of my ability I had touched people in a way I never thought possible. Quite a humbling experience I must say. I had never thought of myself as inspiring. But if people were telling me this, I needed to listen and take action. I needed to realise that I could still care for people just in a different concept. Rather than care for people in an illness setting I could focus on people before they get ill and help them to reach for all that they can be. I want to help people reclaim what they think they have lost, THEIR LIFE. I want to be a PERSONAL TRAINER.

I have already started making the necessary calls to start my Certificate III and IV through TAFE, and should I be accepted I start in June. I am very excited about joining this group of people who take their health and the health of others seriously. I look forward to seeing my clients achieve beyond what they ever thought imaginable. I look forward to seeing them feel the way I do, UNBELIEVEABLE.

I can run.

I set a new PR for myself. Finally I feel all my hard work with regards to my running is finally paying off. I am so glad my best friend pushed me or I would have not achieved it on my own I don't think. I ran my 3km in 15min 6 secs and was astounded by my pace. I not once looked at my watch, I just wanted to see how it felt to run at a certain pace without feeling the pinch of the minutes ticking by.

Just prior to starting off my best friend Susan had said to me "when you start, set yourself a pace that you will be able to keep for the whole distance". Mmmmmm, must remember- when one feels rested try to not get too excited and take off at a Gazelle's pace. Susan was not going to let this pace slide into that of a sloth, she is very good at keeping pace - and that is what she did for the whole 3km. I am now glad she did - because it means I can do it. Something I thought I could never do - I now know I can.

I know this new found confidence in my running ability will push me to strive further and harder for a faster 2.5km in my next Triathlon. Rather than doing a 14.01min for it, I am hoping to do 12 mins if not a bit faster. We are now heading into our colder months so the Tri season is coming to an end, this means my next Tri will be in October. I have another 7 months of training to help get me ready. My next Triathlon should produce results that should make my eyes water. With tears of joy of course.

Gabriella Cilmi - On A Mission

I love the lyrics. It is such a go get em song :)

Age is no barrier.

Yesterday I went bike riding with my mum who is 63 years old. Mum hasn't ridden a bike in around 40 years and to see her enjoying herself was absolutely priceless. I must admit, when mum told me she wanted to come riding with me I was a tad scared. I had visions of mum going into some crazy wobbles on the bike and landing face first in the lake, or worse still breaking an arm. That blue wrist strap you see in the photo is hiding mum's latest scar. About 3 months ago she fell over in the bathroom and broke her wrist. I didn't want that happening again. And it didn't.

My mum is one resilient and talented young lady. She got on that bike like she had never been off it. Obviously tackling some small hills were a bit of a challenge but she still did it. What a woman. The only thing I needed to help with was setting the bikes gears onto a setting that was manageable for mum. So off we set for one loop of the lakes which is a 5km distance.

I remember starting off back when I first got my bike and thought that 5km hurt bad, but not my mum, she smiled the whole way. Her laughs could be heard I am sure from the other side of the lake's system. She pedalled really easily and you could see her mind wonder back to the days when she was younger and would ride with her brother. Mum often recalls those memories with such affection but also with a yearning to get back what she once had. And why couldn't she. Every Tuesday is now our day where we go and have fun bike riding.

I look forward to watching mum enjoy herself every week. And set new challenges for herself on a weekly basis. I love her lots and love seeing her happy.

Beach bootcamp. Booya!!!!!

I had an absolute ball at boot camp today. There is nothing like getting flogged silly at the seaside. As you can tell by the photos the weather was overcast, this was definately in our favour. Had it of been sunny the sand would have been scorching hot and we would have been fried to a crisp. Being cloudy meant that the workout didn't feel too hard. As I started to feel too hot, I could actually cool down by running through the water.

We ran up and down sand dunes, commando crawled on the sand - without the use of our legs. Totally hard, but well worth the sores I got on my elbows. We also played frisbee and touch footy. All in all it was about 2 hours of good old fashioned hard work mixed with fun. Kelly, Barry and I finished off with having a swim in the cool ocean. I even body surfed - I haven't done that in years. I loved it.

My finishers certificate.