31st Dec - TRAVELLING TO CHRISTCHURCH

Big day for traveling and just life I think –

I shipped the girls out to the respective means for transport to Wellington early the morning. When I started the epic journey to Christchurch to met up with louise and pick up Liam on the way from St Arnaud.

This was the day it hit me about being only ”again” at the time. When your “meant” to share your heart and your happiness with that wonderful person in your life, like that song “with you argue with in the morning and make love to at night “ So that was my mild Bridget Jones thoughts on the trip down to St Arnaud … but the good thing I have avoided this Christmas is the never ending questions from relations with my relationship status, huh ?

MENTAL NOTE – try dating - and don’t befriend every boy you met in the new year. Oh help is me greater one ….

I picked up Liam, went for a run and had lunch from Liam's family , which was nice. I cant believe out much Liam looks like his Dad …. Both had big ears and noses … hehehhee .

The drive to CCH was eventful; Liam was driving as my wrist was just about too expired from driving around from the last few days. We were having a great time traveling down and THEN
BRAKES
SPIN
Oh fuck ..
BRIDGE RAIL coming closer
Me, Liam and car ending up doing a 360 spin onto a sweeping corner onto a bridge ..
HEART BEAT – POUND POUND POUND
So that , was near death experience for the year , I so glad Liam was driving has if I was … I don’t know what would have happened if i was driving.

On to happier thoughts …
We had to get Liam’s dressing changed (Liam is having a few issues with holes in his body) , this was great ….. We were is Rangoria looking for a place to change his dressing, we were pointed to the local Mental & pregnancy hospital . We drove up to this run down hospital of sorts with a sign informing us that Nurse Mord would be a nurse of the day ( boy does this sound this a horror movie of what ???) .But as you guessed it - Liam isn’t mental or pregnant.

The night it self ? Well it was better than other years … poker , playstation games , drunken dancing fuelled by vodka …. With two of my best mates. PRICELESS.

29th Dec -DAY TWO Tour de Femme

Two day of the Tour de femme, which is hardish for the girls, Hill Climb time trial up Taraka hill which is just outside Mokutaka. Then a 58km circuit race of 7 loops . I decided to support crew all day. Has the locations were quite far apart and it’s a great day for photos…..

<---this is Lorisa coming up Taraka hill

<---the group going around the corner.

I was totally tired from this outing with sunburn too boot, summer is here.

28th Dec - DAY ONE – Tour de Femme - Nelson

I woke to a beautiful Nelson morning , the girls were nervous which was is warranted for the first day of racing the tour. I bundled the girls into the car down to the Brightwater Motel for their first stage of around 70kms. I left the girls waiting on the start line.

My own plans included to go over to the Abel Tasman National Park to do 21kms of the track . I got there around 10:30am and started off in around 20 degrees with a full pack of food - but I forget my ipod . The run took 3 hours has the track was littered with walkers - the scenery was beautiful , the greenish trees and bluish water.

<-- Fall River , Abel Tasman National Park, NZ

I was hour early before my water taxi , but I was lucky enough to talk an earlier driver into a seat.

I finished the day by visited my boss who was staying in Mapua holiday camp for a well-deserved beer.

27th Dec - TRAVELLING TO NELSON

Well we drove over from Picton in torrid rain to Nelson , which fulled the athletics with confidence for the up and coming race tomorrow. We got to Nelson in good time, mid morning so we headed off for a coffee in the city center . We settled on Robert Harris , which impressively that had wheat free food options , unimpressively we had to walk 500m to a public toilet where you had to paid 20cents to use … Then we made our way to the Richmond to the apartment , it was a newer complex near the Richmond shops. We unpacked and weather was still crap so I decided to go off to visit to the wearable art complex for the afternoon . Also at the wearable arts is the classic cars complex, took a few pictures of some the beautiful old cars .

<--- now that is style.

Actually wearable arts gallery was quite small and maybe not worth the entry fee, but there wear some unusual pieces…. A wedding dress made from rubber gloves .. or a dress made from children’s dolls ?

26th Dec - TRAVELLING TO PICTION

Well we make the ferry successfully. I managed to find Lorisa’s house and also find Lisa at the ferry terminal. The most challenging moment for the ferry trip was when me and Lorisa stand in car park packing two cased bikes and numerous bags into my muddle of a car. Made for a tight fit. The ferry was very full of screaming children and tired parents so I decided to make it more pleasant trip with having a few wines.

http://www.dyslexiafoundation.org.nz/

70,ooo New Zealand children have dyslexia . Interesting that only formed when there was a uproar on Close -Up(TV show) about the state of Dyslexia in New Zealand School's.

i have struggled with this all my life and so has my mum and my flatmate .... so it effects 70,000 children ... and just imagination how many adults ?

The Goat run

Well this was my first 21km adventure run , it was on the 2nd Dec and was held in Tongorino National Park.

Me, Ed and Sam decided to make a weekend of it, so we left Wellington on the Friday afternoon. There was a wee problem - has i had the BIGGEST hangover(this is very rare, i think my last hangover was in London 2002 at "Church") from the Thursday night, I had far too many wines and what else was on offer that night . I couldnt barely drive let alone think about running 21 kms on a rocky trail ! Good news was that Sam did alot of the driving - hooray. Bad news was the car was playing up with this silly dashboard light kepted coming on - grrr

We staying in a really nice looking newly building motel which had spa bath in the unit PLUS an outdoor spa set up . We basically got there and went off rego for the event at the Powerhorn... then there were the people there were string beans , runner beans .... i think nobody was over 70 kgs - running is a thin person sport. I felt i made the weigh in, but i felt i was abit short on the experience front, has my only experience was a "mountain running race" was 10 kms and i had a personal coach running with me in Oct.

We had a lazy rest of Friday night . Sam was very organised and was packing and repacking , i just wasnt to sure what i needed, so i looked liked i was packing and repacking. Also enjoyed my faivourite TV show House. Then we went to sleep and the tap started to drip and then drip some more , and then it was a bit of a foundation . Me and Ed were able to sleep through wee issue, but poor Sam had afew issues.

"the day of" , we were up really early and its was really cold . We left Ed in the very warm motel room and ventured to the bus stop just down the road. It was 45 min journey to the ski field start. Lucky for me there was cafe that served REAL coffee. Also with another stike of luck , Sam let me borrow her iPOD to run with .

We were the last of the runners to go, "Wave 3" , i decided that i must be the slowest runner in the race and promptly hang at the back of the group. We were off in mass, down a hard road , my poor feet and knees didnt like that start. But once on the tramp track i was at home - just like running up the back of Karori. I soon realized that i was a bit better than my self seeded position, so i spend 2 hours passing people to get into a run group with people of similar ability - this is where the iPOD came in useful .

The track itself was interesting , we had river crossings, big rocks , small rocks , ice and snow . Also there was minium bush cover and it was a beating hot sun, it was good that i bought sun screen at the ski field shop .

My 21km effort was 3:57 in lenght - I was so happy to get under 4 hours and beat afew people i know from Wellington too. Sam did a great job and did the run in a time of 3:27. Post the event we bused back to the motel for a shower and spa .

We went the prizegiving and it was like normal sport prizegivings as it was very long and involved , i remember we had to sit on the floor and my arse just went numb. Sam won a prize thou so it was worth getting a numb arse thou. But the best was still to come .... we had dinner in town where i had the best steak with blue cheese sauce uummmmmmmmm.

I found my life goal document.....

TASK DATE COMPLETED (bold is '"to do")
· Getting over my fear of speaking 2005
· Being a play 1995
· Learn language
· Jump off a building 2003
· Jump out of plane
· Buy a house
· Get a degree 98/2002
· Get a masters
· Finished the C2C
· Run a off road marathon
· be a mum

Travel to:
Ireland (03)
Spain
Romance island
England (03) need to return !
France/Paris (03)
Topical island/forest
Scotland
Italy/Rome(03)
Cambodia
India
Canada
Argentina
Laos/China
Prague (that bridge)
South island..... more more more ONGOING

· Follow the Tour de France
· Ride a camel
· Write a book
· Learn to shot a gun
· Show an art exhibition of my own work 2006
· Work/raise funds a volunteer organisation (Oxfam)
· Finished the Tour De Femme 2004
· Learn to MTB 2005
· Finish a; spirit tri (98), track cycling race(05) , adventure race(ARROW 2005) , horse competition(96) , swimming comp(95), mtb bike race(05), off road running race(95), kayaking race ,
· Compete an overseas event
· Climb a mountain EVERY year

The year that was and the EXCITEMENT of the year to come....

in no order , of course ...

So what did i do this year ?
- finished my first 21km adventure run
- got a job i love
- started to learn to dance, swing
- finished my first 10 km mountain run race
- finished Kapaito MTB race
- bought the most wonderful loving cat from the SPCA
- sorted out my diet - i am wheat free and happy
- put some art into the affordable arts awards
- finished my first Multi sport race
- tried to climb MT Egmont
- finished 2 * 6hrs Adventure races
- went to the states for a holiday
- went on Charity Bike for 5 days to raise funds the Lower Hutt Hospice
- boys :had one relationship, one short term thing with somebody that just wasnt right , one long term crush
- Did the xterra race
- started studying PMI
- studyed boat skippers
- still going to toastmasters
- started re-branding thinkingorange

What i am doing next year ?
- finished re-branding thinkingorange
- get my PMI qualication
- starting going to PMI meetings - starts in Feb
- go to a web conference
- get better at dancing - bought DVD
- get ahead with with my career. try getting into the öutbound nagivation career training camp
- get my next toastmasters qualication
- get better at nagivation skills - booked into OPC on 13th Jan DONE
- go to China with Oxfam , Sept - started
- Do better at xterra , bet 4:43 , April - training started
- get my wrist fixed - the path has started - 13 Feb
- enter the telecom phone book design cover competition
- get my teeth fixed, after my wrist
- do the Charity bike again in March
- maybe do the Whangnui river trip, depending the wrist problems ?
- do more running races ; 21km winery run , 25km trail run or something like that ?
- plan more travel for the next afew years , post the career development ... $$$

old friends are the best

like the quote saying in one my older posts ...

Friends for a life time - i had four wonderful friends contact me today, just to talk, plan to get together, care and share mine and their lives ups and downs . Two from overseas and two other places in NZ.

Thanks for being the prefect friends. Love you guys x.

i bought hat

I have toying with the idea for awhile, feeling abit blab of the girlie front for a time. But with the regular "one of the boys" sentiments quiten down and they are being are replaced with strange out-of-blue offers. go me.

I bought a hat.

It looks bloody good: http://www.flickr.com/photos/clairemoava/307408680/
This particular hat was inspired by my faviourite movies "Love actually" .... ... Keira Knightley wearing; http://homepage.mac.com/mukaya/media/LATrailerKeira.jpg

And who can forget that prefect Love Actually moment "http://images.spice51.com/movies/love-actually-2003/pictures/high/love-actually-2003-16.jpg . I had to get that in, it's xmas.

go me.

missions/sports ideas for next year

13/14th Jan Adventure training day/ 42 Traverse MTB
21/22 Jan Hawkes bay trip
27th Jan 750m sea swim
28th Jan Tea dance
4th Feb Police tri
6th - 11 Feb Brothers Wedding
17/18th Feb Art Deco weekend, maybe ? or Around the bays 7km run in Wellington
24th/25th Feb http://www.kawekachallenge.org.nz/ or local Mt Lowry 12km run ?
3rd March Karapoti 50km MTB http://www.karapoti.co.nz/ - my wrist ? um...
4th March - Gut buster run 12km
18th March Martinborough Round the Vines - 21km http://www.roundthevines.org.nz/ , this post my birthday !!!! , move the party ?
1st April Full lenght tri 1500m Swim / 40km Cycle / 10km Run http://tri.scorching.co.nz/ 14th April Xterra 1km swim, 30km MTB,11km run; http://www.xterranz.com/
3rd May Crazyman 12km kayak, 18km run, 34km MTB; http://www.crazyman.co.nz/ (?)

a quote i have been trying to find for months

"They say it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them, but then an entire life to forget them."

and now i am trying think about that quote from the "Wah Wah" (2005) - good movie, the only draw back is its slow to start with . (But i do agree every family has there own tagline) .

Anyways .... The Dad is standing infront a crowd of colonialist and says .... "a rich man, is a man with 5 good friends" .. well that is what i think he said . ideas ?

Wellington Starter tri 19th Nov

Well , i decided to do the Wellington Starter tri at scorching bay, it was a easy 600m swim , cycle 24km and run 5km , all on a flat course. I was decidedly nervous about racing as my wrist is still a problem nearly two months on and i have only done one sea swim . ( not to mention the new wet suit i just bought )

I the day started with me picking up Sam at 7am, it was funny see the remains on the Saturday night life with mildly sobering guys walking home . We one of the first arrive, the bonus with this that we got a very good park . I had to have three goes at the actual park has i decided to reverse into the park

I think my next milestone was getting into the wet suit ... this is very "fitting" item of clothing. It seems to attracted a lot of man handling to get the suit on correctly . So my advice to "single" tri guys is to get good at putting on wet suits and you don't where your hands could be required .

One of the highlights for this event was the ramdon visit of pod of Killer Whales aka Orcas ; http://www.flickr.com/photos/clairemoava/304806490/ and has my flirk comment say's "Ocra is also a brand of wet suit in NZ, so there also alot of ocras on beach " , but the competitors were not the same size of course .

So tri are executed in the following order swim , cycle and run . So first up was the swim . This is the discipline i am at least practised at and i have only swam in the sea afew times in my recent history . I decided to just take my time as i know i can swim until the cows come home. In the turn home one of the girls kick the rope around the bouy and its all over for me with my limited eye sight i started to panic when i could not see the buoy or Sam ... So my swim time wasnt the best . I got to transition and had afew moments LOL .

The best leg . the cycle ; http://www.flickr.com/photos/clairemoava/304806488/. I loved the open road with my beautiful bike and even a bit of sun struggling though the weather beaten clouds . It wasn't my best time for 24 km , but it was middle of the road and left of the white. I did enjoy cycling past the priest and waving , she was was surprised but i got a big smile..

Homeward bound - the run to the finish . I found this a bit boring has we were running over part of the cycling course and we did this loop twice too . . But there was an interestedly funny marshell on the turn around which kept me entertained .

My times were ... i was happy with them but i pretty down the food chain in the order:

Total: 01:30:59
Swim: 00:14:17
Cycle: 00:49:12
Run: 0:27:30

I am thinking i need to :

• get some swim swimming lessons (mr_ginger is taking me on Sunday)
• swim once a week, at least
• getting more running in (take 2 mins off that time)
• cycling is ok , just getting back on road bike wil see 5 mins off that time .

I am wanting to do the xterra event in April, to bet my time from last year . 1 km swim , 30 km MTB and 11km run. So i need to do another before then huh ? . There is local one on 1st April , but maybe another before then ?.

Toughen Up Mentally

got this an email today ....

Following are 5 tips to “Toughen Up” Mentally ...

Listen to the Experts - read books or listen to stories from those who have overcome obstacles and setbacks. These people are just like you - if they can do it why can’t you?
Dont think "What If" ? – spend your time and energy focusing on moving forward. Do not dwell on the past and what went wrong, learn from it and move on. If it helps, keep a journal and write down your progress and goals.
Patience, pacing and persistence - understand that success will come with hard work and that it will take time. Learn from others and their mistakes.
Get comfortable with the unfamiliar – try doing something every week that is different from your normal routine. Take a different route to work, try a different gym, or kayak in a different boat. You will better prepare yourself for the unknown and you will be able to handle diverse environments with greater calm and confidence.
Expect the unexpected – you cannot control what nature does and what others do. But you can control your response to them.

Well i read this and thought this is me.

Lets talk about something hard - death

Last Friday i friend died of cancer , he was 31 years old , had a beauitful wife and wonderful life infront of them to create.

He took his last breath on 3rd Nov 2006.

This made me think and really think .......
- why are so many people getting cancer - is it popluation control ? we go to the moon , but cant cure cancer ?
- at least he knew what what love was (remember folks i am pisces :http://www.psychicguild.com/horoscopes_zodiac.php?sign=Pisces)
- must get a mole map
- a widow at 29 ?
- dont miss opoortunity to tell somebody love/care has dont know if you will have another chance .
- my poor uncle who died on boxing day 1999 with lung cancer, 2nd time around
- my cousin , his daughter is dying on "women" cancer now
- and a my mild danger bent(with logic) , UMBUG . Quote: Dad "died doing what you love doing" . So true dad - love you.

I am so lucky to have very single day , very moment - thats why i make the most of it .

Guy Fawkes Night

It was Guy Fawkes last night.

I am amazed/impressed how something so simply has fireworks can bring a community together. The local council put on a beautiful display, unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me to take some shots, that was a bit of oversight. The colors were intense contrasting behind a black sky.

I cant recall anybody who doesn't like Guy Fawkes. ( good on you , Guy, your helping beyond your grave and crime !)

Labour weekend

well its Monday afternoon and i am watching a movie called "Station Agent". its a moody looking day outside, really the kind of day you would want just stay inside with a blanket and warm drink. i already watched one movie called "Shall we Dance" , post the "Statin Agent" i think i will watch " Team American: world police" .... can you tell i have a wide range of tastes ?

Mum and her boyfriend, Monty came down from Te Kuiti this weekend and we did the family thing with the dinners and going to the movies. Also meet the Monty's daughter and her boyfriend last night. I think funnist thing that happened was mum put red wine in the fridge and the best outcome is me coming to terms with the idea of monty and the new family that comes along with that. I still i am struggling with xmas, i just think i want to stay in Wellington ? Does that me alonly person ?

The other thing , the best thing done this weekend was the two events i did . I did my first ever running event , 10 km , of course it was hard - mountain running. On Saturday , it was great, D , S and from the blue B all did the race. It was amazing , enjoyable day . Then on Sunday i did the race i thought i would better at ... MTB race ... i sucked , was it that i was there by myself ? was it my wrist , by bike ? i am pretty disappointed with that.

Strange dream

this is weird one ... i remember the strangest part of this dream from the last night , I was in a toliet with a young girl, maybe 5 or 6 years old, holding her hair has she was throwing up into the toliet. She had straight brown shoulder lenght hair and was wearing a flowerly blue and white dress with pintucks in the front of the dress. She was really sick ,very pale and small. Her bones were sticking out of small arms . My guess was she had cancer has she had that grey look around her. Then we walked out of this toliet i had my arm around her, we were surrounded by something like what we would find up at Mt Vic . A leaf littered floor and beautiful trees stretching tall to the sky just letting in a whisper of light has i looked up . The path was facing downwards .....

Strange huh , it was so clear , i just dont understand.

Maraka Beach

one thing many things i did this weekend.

i actually did a 1:53 run up the Hutt valley on Saturday morning , this is the longish i have ever run . HOORAY . It was pretty crap weather , but i did it .When i helped out at the PNP crit all afternoon in Seaview . Then off to help D with his first tri prep, i am off racing because of this silly wristproblem. Hehehe - then the dinner .... that was messy . Up at H's house , L cooked a lovely roast pork and the conversation vary from sport to what bra i should wear. Lot of wine , port , whisky was drunk .

I had a great sunday morning went a watch D doing his first tri with his friends. It was pretty stormy weather, so they all did really well . Then i had a great meal at some cafe in the around in the Hutt. So in totally i spend over a day in the Hutt.

the beach - Me and G decided it was a good idea to go out to Maraka beach - a great solution for my want-to-be-hangover from the night before. The beach has a settlement which is a wee village around 10 mins drive from my house , there is even a cafe of sorts. The beach was CRAZY with wind , the sand was everywhere , i could hardly stand up.

i just slept 10 hours

i know ..OMG ...

Oil and Water

I think that me and writing is like oil and water . I have dylexic( why is this word so hard to spelling ?) which just makes letters slide across the page. Writing is a great way to express one self for all time sake . So to me it feels like oil and water .

But I like what happens when you add another element , say, fire ? So the oil fuels the fire and water spreads ?

the fire is around 5 billion other blogs, growing a rate of 10 fold over every 3 months . oil is the dylexic as its hard to see though . Water is the writing . And what creates the fire ? Do I have selfrightous bend ? ummm? is it that i need to express my thoughts to every Tom, Dick and Harry ?

So have I sold my soul to the devil ? To join the world wide non-effort to rely on the internet as the social crutch ? Has all this technology kill our social skills ?