The Hard Slog Continues

Well I apologies for a lack of postings in the last month, life has been extremely busy.

The month of February is always busy for me because of my charity event I run. I have been holding the 24 Hour Mega Swim for the last 12 years at the Fitzroy pool. It was initially only supposed to be a one off event in 2001, but 12 years later is still going and has numerous spin offs around Australia. It has become my life and I love it!

Money raised from the swim and others like it go towards the "Go For Gold Scholarships" run by MS Australia, giving people with MS scholarships for a chance to follow a dream,boy have there been some dreams and goals attained! It is my way of giving back to those who may not have been as fortunate enough as me. I am happy to say that this years swim at the Fitzroy pool had a record number of swimmers (just over 600) and has raised a record amount of money (currently sitting at $290,400.00), with the donation lines open until the end of March. So I am hoping that this amount will rise.



Jarred and myself get ready to race in Echuca

 In between getting ready for the Mega Swim I have also put in some good training and I  had my first Trike race for the year, just a week ago in Echuca.  The course was very flat but boy was it windy!  It was a great race with a new Trike rider Jarred and we worked together to get through the wind with me taking line honours by the width of a tyre!  We did however have a spectacular finish with the crashing of wheels on the line.  No damage to us physically but both trikes suffered some wheel damage.

 It has been a hard slog, but I am starting to see the benefits come through. I've lost 11 kgs (24 pounds to those still using imperial measurements) and my power to weight ratio has improved. I am also looking forward to getting my new trike, which hopefully will be next week. That should put me 18-20 kgs lighter than at World Championships last year, so watch out world!

It certainly hasn't been all smooth sailing with a few niggling aches and pains (I blame that on age!) but I am getting through the other side. The weight loss has been hard but it is all about deciding what you want and what you have to do to get there!  It has been all about making the right decisions in regards to food choice and yes...forgoing that lovely glass of wine or that decadent piece of cake!  All that has mattered to me is changing my behaviour to attain the goals that I have set for myself.  It didn't start off easy but it is now.  They say that if you do something for a week religiously it becomes habit.  I have learnt that I am not missing anything, but I would have if I didn't change things.

I think that I have finally learned...albeit after 50 years...that the time has come to "stop putting it off", if you want to do something you have to do it now!  And you know, once I got that through my thick scull it hasn't been that hard at all!