The CR cheersquad is on the move...

Warning – one incredibly long update ahead.

Friday 1 July – off to GC!!!

Thanks to the end of the financial year, I only had about 3 hours sleep. Worked to midnight, then home to pack before meeting The Owl at the airport at 6am. When I arrived, the check-in queue stretched out the glass sliding doors (no doubt due to all the cancellations the day before thanks to the flooding on the GC). Anyway, 45mins later we had checked in, only to discover our flight had been delayed by 1 ½ hours...but we could hardly complain after the experiences of others like MPHaz in the last few days. Anyway, coffee & toast later I was feeling decidedly human again and after a chat with Allison who we bumped into at the airport and a read of my form guide (ie Official TdF guide), I had finalised my team for the Dream Team competition (otherwise known as Jen’s Boys – ok, not so inventive but it was early and I wasn’t functioning particularly well...) we were onto our flight and off to Brisbane.

Cirque met Owl and I at the airport which felt more like seeing an old friend after a prolonged absence rather than meeting someone for the first time. There was a short rain shower not long after we arrived but otherwise the weather was sensational for the whole weekend – warm t-shirt/singlet weather as opposed to Sydney’s cold-leather jacket-crappy weather; combined with the company, it made me a very happy gal.

After lunch, a long catch-up chat, pom-pom "fluffing" & lots of laughing, Skizzik (Mel) arrived and after a bit more laughing, Melski took Owl & I for a run along the Brisbane river while Cirque went to the gym. A relatively easy run (just under 5kms in 30mins) – that is, after our stomach muscles recovered from a comment made by Owl regarding a part of her anatomy... After picking up supplies, it was back to Cirque’s place for our gals night which started about 5.30pm. I confess to falling asleep on the floor in the lounge room sometime after midnight...Thankfully a cone of silence was erected around the house so no details can be recorded – suffice to say that ladybirds, Kinder Surprises, Mt Everest & "fluffing" will forever remind me of our gals night...

Saturday 2 July – Brisbane to GC...

I must confess to being more than a little rusty on Saturday morning. After a very slow start, Owl, Cirque & I set out for the GC. After checking into our very spacious apartment with sensational views over the baby-poo brown river and the beautiful ocean, we set out to walk to the Expo. Unfortunately we took the long way and it was very warm but we did have a few extra calories to burn off after last night. Eventually we made it and caught up with Bandanna, Vespa, Truckie and Karin. I think Vespa gets my award for quote of the weekend – in attempting to talk me into running the 10km, V said to me words to the effect of "...run the 10km; it’s only 30mins out of your day!" (maybe in my next life...) Cirque joined a queue in order to register Bellthorpe in the 10km and emerged an hour with her mission accomplished. By this stage, we were standing around chatting to Minersrun, Plu, Tesso, Clairie, JD, MPHaz and others but I was unfortunately fading quickly thanks to the effects of last night and my stoopid neck giving me the beginning of a migraine so Owl, Cirque & I left and headed to Australia Fair to pick up some drugs for me, supplies for us and an ice cream (you have to love a state where it is warm enough to eat ice cream during the day in winter!) We then caught the bus to the hotel and prompted spotted Plu in his CR gear heading back to his place (does that count as a non-race sighting ?). After a drink and nibblies on the balcony overlooking the ocean, we were collected by Cirque’s sister and Mr Cirque’s sister for dinner at the North Cliff SLSC where I met Hannah, Whale Boy and Elf for the first time and we were joined by Minersrun, Miss Skarmel, Larissa and a few others for dinner. Plu joined us a bit later for a drink. After a couple of glasses of wine, it was back to the hotel for another glass of wine and I caught the end of the Hell on Wheels while I did stretched.

Sunday 3 July – the big day had arrived...

My first thought when the alarm went off at 5am was "thank god I’m not doing the marathon; I would have had to get up an hour ago to eat". After breakfast, we all piled in the car to head up to the start.

After watching the start of the half, the full and the kids sprints, we headed just north of the start of the finish shute and set up camp in the sun to watch the day unfold. The weather was very ‘fresh’ to start with but I quickly discovered that pom-poms also make great arm-warmers!

I can’t begin to describe the day, nor can I list all the CRs that I met for the first time. It was a very long day for me - 6.5hours of cheering and (as it turns out) not enough to eat or drink during that time. I also seem to have picked up a cheerleading-related injury to my left wrist but it was certainly worth it. To see the smiles & reactions on the faces of competitors (and not just CRs) made the trip worthwhile. Highlights included the smiles and enjoyment on the faces of Truckie and Blue Dog in particular (who were much more low key when they passed the cheersquad during the SMH Half) and seeing Tesso fly past with a graze on her shoulder. I remember looking at my watch and realising she was going to smash 3.30! The highlight of the day however (and the weekend for that matter) was the cheersquad escorting LL to the finish. When the police officer arrived to tell us about a 50 yo woman (!) with a similar shirt as ours appeared to be struggling, the cheersquad (which consisted by that stage of about 15 people) just moved as one to pick up our bags and to walk down to meet her. When we arrived she sounded very emotional and tired but continued to run strongly to the finish. We walked with her until she picked up the pace, at which time I had to start jogging! I must confess to feeling a little emotional at this point in time at the thought of this amazing community I am a part of.

After making sure that she was OK, Plu, Cato (with a "c"), Owl & I walked to the Main Beach SLSC for post-event drinks where I met many other CRs for the first time and had a few interesting chats with people which started me thinking, and later in the evening committing to certain running related plans with The Owl (all for one...). I also scored myself a rather cute husband and a child ;-) At about 7.30pm a couple of us including Tesso, the Owl, JD, Truckie, Karin, V, Kelvin, Bandanna and a few others ended up in the Cavill Ave Mall for dinner where the great all-you-can-eat-ribs competition between Truckie, Kelvin, V, Karin and Bandanna was won by Kelvin (for the record, Kelvin ate 3 ½ plates of ribs. Bandanna and Truckie only (!) managed 3 plates each...)

Everybody was pretty stuffed by this point in time so the Owl & I headed back to our apartment for a post-mortem & clean up...both of us were very sad that this amazing weekend was coming to an end.

Monday 4 July – another early start...

Another early start – our alarms went off at 4.40am so that we would be ready for our shuttle bus to the airport which was picking us up at 5.25am. By 6am, we were sitting at the GC airport, drinking coffee, reading newspapers and not really saying much thanks to sheer exhaustion. However I did manage to say the word "suxty" (instead of sixty) – the combined effect of exhaustion and spending 3 days with the Owl I think :-D

In all, an incredibly funny, relaxing and inspiring weekend. Photos to follow shortly. It was great to place faces to names and get to know a few other CRs a lot more. So what did I commit to over the weekend (as inevitably happens to any CR when in a room with lots of other CRs):

* the next Striders 10km at Lane Cove next month (which was in the 'plan' anyway but I know V will remind of that one - I’m actually scared shiteless at the prospect of this...I think I've read too many horror stories about the Lane Cove course on blogs...)

* Owl and I have agreed to run a marathon together in 2007 – OMG, am I really putting this out there...

As for today, not long after I arrived home this morning a package was delivered for me – my C2S t-shirt that I ordered when I entered – woohoo! I’m really looking forward to running C2S with the Owl and Wobbly Man (who has very kindly agreed to pace Owl & I). I was due to see Satan at 4pm this afternoon but my cheerleading-related injury to my wrist is bloody sore. I can’t grip anything with my left hand so needless to say, I didn’t particularly want to be lifting heavy weights over my head. So today is now a rest day – but at least this injury doesn’t stop me from running ;-)

So week in review...
Monday: weights (lower body)
Tuesday: run (25mins)
Wednesday: spin (45mins) + Satan
Thursday: spin (45mins)
Friday: run (30mins)
Saturday: rest
Sunday: cheerleading duties

And the week ahead...
Monday: rest
Tuesday: run (30mins)
Wednesday: spin (30mins) + Satan
Thursday: run (30mins)
Friday: spin (30mins)
Saturday: Satan
Sunday: run (40mins)
I’m in serious sleep deprivation mode at the moment after our GC weekend but I can catch up on my sleep in 3 weeks time – the TdF has started !!! Woohoo !!