Katie update

I've definitely settled back into life in Canberra. And man, what a difference a bit of sun and warm weather makes! I"m so much happier now than I was a year, even 6 months ago. Partly because I have some really great friends now and partly because I know the place a bit better and have more stuff to do (see the great friends part).

The training with the Bilbys has been totally awesome. Last night we had our second swimming session; that is some hard work! But I'm loving it. On Tuesday night we have track training - I did 6 repeats of 600m with 200m recovery. It has been SO long since I've done track workouts (like 15 years!!) and I loved it too! It was hard work and painful, but so flipping great. I can't help but play scenes from all my favorite runinng movies in my head when I'm doing running sessions (Prefontaine, The Four-Minute Mile, Chariots of Fire, Without Limits). There are some cool people doing the training too - tonight is a dinner for all the novices; I'm looking forward to meeting people outside of a workout session.

This past weekend I was about dead on Sunday from the amount of sport I did. Saturday morning: an hour soccer match. No pretty goal this week like I had last week, but not too shabby. Saturday arvo: a 2 hour cycle session with the Bilbys where I learned new skills - how to ride RIGHT next to someoen and RIGHT on their wheel, how to brake quickly, and how to sit on a bike seat for 2 hours (ouch!). I had planned to go to a show on Saturday night, a local acoustic band, but was in bed by 9 pm after a good Vietnamese dinner with my housemate. Sunday morning: 6K run with the Bilbys. We did the bridge to bridge run, basically running around Lake Burley-Griffin - over one bridge and back across the other. Sunday arvo: lunch at my friend R's farm, Fleetwind, wher ei Picked olives in May last year. Sunday night: indoor soccer - an hour of getting my arse kicked. There were no girl subs (this is 4 a side) so my friend F and I had to play the whole game. I was so exhausted already that I made some really stupid decisions. After taking a ball at close range square in the nose I then decided to put myself in the way of two foncoming blokes at full-speed. Needless to say I got RUN OVER. I went into goals after that and it was all I could do to stand up, holding onto the goal. BUT - I had a shut out, and it wasn't for lack of trying on their part - I think the opposing guys were getting quite frustrated with me. In fact, I have a bruise the size and shape of the ball on my inner thigh from one of the shots. I got a free kick for blocking that one (there's a power rule in indoor that guys can't shoot on girls with full strength. The bruise is still fully visible 5 days later - I'd say it was full strength. In any event, I was dead after all that and slept SO well on Sunday night.

This weekend I'm headed up to Sydney with my friend F, I'm super stoked for a road trip and a night out in Sydney with people that live there. I get to spend Sunday on Manly beach, which I'm also looking forward to.