from somewhere in my imagination

Memories of Chips & Gravy

With my rail line out of action I am driving to and from work at the moment. The 40+ minutes in the car is far less productive than the 20 minutes on the train but it leaves me plenty of time for thinking, dreaming and remembering.

I remember when a pint of Coopers Sparkling Ale was $2.05 in first year uni.

I remember drinking them with my friends and sharing cardboard trays of chips and gravy.

I remember turning up slightly pissy to a lecture or three. I remember the cold of the sand in the early morning when we arrived at surf carnivals, the relief of the hot shower afterwards when the day was stormy, how the sea felt warmer than the air and the way my age group were like my brothers and sisters.

I remember how hot it was on our wedding day and the feeling of sweat running down my legs under my heavy dress and the lump in my throat as I choked back happy tears when I walked down the aisle.

I remember playing marbles on the oval everyday at school during lunch and recess for two weeks every year when the ‘marble craze’ hit. I was hopeless at marbles; I always lost my entire to stash to my challengers.

I remember when they turned on the lights at 3am, played ‘New York, New York and sent us home from the local nightclub. I spent many fun nights there with my girlfriends; it was also the place where Steven and I kissed for the first time.

I remember my Nana taking us to the zoo each year when she came to visit from Darwin, I still think of her every time we visit.

I remember how I cried and cried and cried when I finished reading Bridge to Terabithia. I remember the same tears at the end of year four when my best friend Sally left for another school then two years later when Suzy did the same. Each time I lay on my bed under the window and let the tears and loud sobs flow until I felt cleansed.

I remember the sensation of Charlotte being born like it was yesterday and can’t quite believe that we have been parents for more than 10 years.

Time slips by so quickly, reflecting makes me happy and it makes me sad but most of all it reminds me to hold tight to the precious moments and memories. To forgive and be kind because life is too short not to make the most of every single day we are gifted.

I Ran a Marathon

Before I took my hiatus from blogging last year I was on the countdown to the Melbourne Marathon.  Last week I started my 8-week preseason training for the Gold Coast marathon in July, I decided it was about time I wrote about Melbourne.

We drove to Melbourne on the Thursday before the marathon.  Initially it hadn’t occurred to Steven that I might want them all there waiting for me at the finish line.  It was the only race I ran all year where all five of them saw me cross the finish line.  Running 42.195km is a pretty momentous kind of thing, having them all there was pretty important to me.

Friday morning we headed to Brighton so I could have a massage.  I was a bit hesitant booking with a male masseuse at Endota but I was very thankful that I did because he had a lot of sports massage experience. 

The weather on the Friday was my idea of nightmare conditions, wintery with a howling wind.  After my massage we had some brunch and drove the course.  The Beaconsfield parade section just kept going and going and going, and that was in the car.  I might have hyperventilated a little.  We spent the afternoon at the Melbourne museum, we love museums and this one didn’t disappoint.

Saturday was spent riding Puffing Billy, having lunch at a Yarra Valley winery and finishing the day with an hour at the Healesville Sanctuary.  One of the best benefits to being zoo members is the reciprocal rights you get at zoos in other states.  It was broccoli and chicken for dinner followed by stretching and bed.  It took forever for me to get to sleep with a mix of nerves and excitement.

Sunday morning, Steven dropped me off, I had enough time for a last nervous wee in port-a-loos with no running water and some dynamic stretching before it was time.  Just writing this is giving me a surge of adrenaline.  Steve Monaghetti was our starter, we stood to attention for the national anthem, I was amazed to be standing next to a bloke who was wearing no shoes (Steven counted 3 that he saw during the race), the atmosphere was friendly and the weather was perfect.

It felt so good to start and finally be running the race I had spent 9 months preparing for.  There were times when I didn’t know if my body would make it to that point and plenty of times when I wasn’t sure if my head could do it.  However, my body honestly felt as well prepared as it possibly could be.

The first 10km passed quickly, Steven and the kids were waiting near the circuit around Albert Park Lake and it was a little boost to see them.  I had worked out that if I wanted to see the front runners I would have to be on Beaconsfield parade before they passed the intersection on their way east, I knew that it would be a pretty closely run thing whether I got to see them or not.  It was very nearly an ugly cry moment when I saw them, I had just made it.

I passed through the halfway mark in great time, if I had only been doing a half that day I am confident that I would have had a sub 1:35 in me, it was a PB on my Adelaide half time by nearly 5 minutes.

Things got tough on the second half of Beaconsfield parade.  I knew that the 25-35km would be tough mentally but turning the corner off Beaconsfield parade and heading back in to town gave me a boost and I powered on until I got to the section through the botanic gardens where we came together with some of the slower half runners.  This section of the course was narrower than the rest and for this short section that I had to weave my way through slower runners, and often walkers in groups. 

After I had cleared the half marathoners I hit the uphill section in the botanic gardens, getting through this part and back out on to the main road was tough.  In my head I was likening it to childbirth, reminding myself that it would be over soon and I would never have to do it again (if I didn’t want to).

Somehow I completely missed the 38km mark, I had seen it from the other side of the road before the botanic gardens section but as I came up the hill to Fed Square I knew I was closer than 3km, I hit the 39km mark and I went for it.  Somehow I managed to run the last 2 and a bit kilometres in about 10 minutes.  Just before I turned to head down, around and in to the MCG someone called my name and waved.  Someone I hadn’t actually met yet but had started to form a friendship with on Instagram of all places.  Having Chantel call out to me gave me the biggest surge of adrenaline, the feeling of it flushing through my muscles was unreal and just what I needed to get me through that last little bit.

I always thought that I would ugly cry coming in to the G.  But, I didn’t.  Not when I saw Steven and the kids and not when I crossed the finish line.  I’d done it.  In 3:33:18 I had done it, nearly 30 minutes faster than the time I had set my hopes on nine months earlier I had done it.

I was handed my finishers medal and grabbed some drinks and fruit and stumbled back outside to try and find my family.  I wasn’t capable of going very far.  When you give birth the pain pretty much stops instantly.  When you run a marathon the opposite happens.  I was shivering and crying on and off and my body was cramping and eventually they found me, two phone calls from borrowed phones and messages left, about an hour after I finished they found me.

We slowly made our way back to the car and back to where we were staying.  I was thankful for the very large spa bath before I passed out on the couch.

We celebrated with an awesome dinner at St Katherine’s.  Within 48 hours I was contemplating my next marathon.  By the time I had finished my self-enforced 6 week rest from running I had set my sights on the Gold Coast.

Yes, I am a little bit crazy.

If you are keen to know a bit more about my marathon training programs I'm more than happy to share.

Tatum xx

Zucchini with Pesto & Tomatoes

Zucchini has somehow become one of the most consumed vegetables in our house.  I have become completely enamoured with its raw power and it has grown on the whole family.

On Sunday night, to accompany our steak for dinner, I created the most amazing raw salad with zucchini as the main ingredient.  I was hoping to have some left for my lunch on Monday but between the six of us we devoured the lot.  I’m going to use the word salad loosely here too because a big bowl of this on its own would absolutely cure any pasta craving you might have with a whole lot of vitamins, protein and essential fats with a huge decrease in the simple carbohydrate department.

If you don’t have one of these veggie noodling gadgets it is simple enough to create ribbons using a peeler or show off your knife skills and simply julienne the zucchinis.  I bashed up the pesto in my mortar and pestle but feel free to use a food processor instead.

Zucchini with Pesto & Tomatoes – Serves 6 as a side or a few hungry people on its own

Ingredients

4 largish zucchinis

2 punnets cherry tomatoes

1 bunch asparagus (feel free to omit or switch for a different green vegetable because Australian asparagus is right at the end of the season and the imported stuff is starting to creep into stores unfortunately)

Pesto

1 bunch of basil, leaves picked to give  1 ½ - 2 cups

½ cup macadamia nuts

¼ cup EVOO

50g parmesan cheese cut into rough chunks

Juice of ½ - 1 lemon

1 large clove garlic

Freshly ground black pepper

Method

Put all the pesto ingredients into the mortar and pestle and bash it all about until you have a consistency you are happy with.  I kept it pretty chunky for this salad.

Wash your zucchinis and turn them into noodles or ribbons, pile into a large bowl.

Wash the cherry tomatoes and throw them in, you can cut them in half if you want to.  I couldn’t be bothered.

Pile the pesto in on top

Quickly blanche your asparagus, or other green vegetable, and throw it in on top.  The heat from the asparagus will help to loosen the pesto.

Stir everything together and dig in.

So...have you tried raw zucchini before?  Are you game to give it a go?

Tatum xx