A Bit of This A Bit of That

A bit about running…

Published June 18, 2013 | By Gina

Part of my training is running. I have never been a big runner.

I remember a sports day in primary school, where I got drafted to run the 800 m (someone really wasn’t thinking clearly) and I told them it just wasn’t going to happen, they insisted and said that everyone must run, everyone must complete their race, even if they have to walk or crawl. I ran for about 50 m before I felt like my lungs wanted to explode from my chest, so then I walked, for 750 m and because the rules stated EVERYONE had to finish, they couldn’t pull me off the track, they had to watch and wait for me to finish, they couldn’t do any other races, they had to wait for me. They never asked me to run again!

Back to the present and the fact that I have to run. 3 km!

I bought myself a new pair of running shoes (the first new pair in over 15 years!) and I am running. Sometimes I walk, but I always complete the run. Yesterday morning we did the 3 km route and I ran 1 block, walked 1 block for most of it, the last 6 or so blocks I walked 1, ran 2.

I think I am getting better and I must admit, its not my legs that are the problem, its my lungs. I cannot breathe. Also my shins hurt with the impact of my feet on the road.

If anyone has any exercises or ideas on how to increase my lung capacity and how to avoid shin injury, I am all ears!

Posted in Me, Myself & I | Tagged get fit, running, training | 1 Comment

How do you ambulate?

Published June 13, 2013 | By Gina

{Ambulatation!}

The staff at work laugh at me all the time. I never, ever, ever walk slowly.

I don’t amble, I don’t stroll, I don’t meander. I don’t plod.

I stride, I march, I practically run!

Even if I have all the time in the world, I walk fast.

I have no patience for people that walk slowly in front of me. Especially when they take up the entire passage space. I always pass them and carry on. I look like I’m rushing somewhere but I’m really not. I just don’t see the point in walking slowly.

How do you move? Fast? Slow? Somewhere in the middle?

Posted in Me, Myself & I | Tagged Ambulate, Walking | Leave a comment

Project: Get Fit – June

Published June 6, 2013 | By Gina

*First published on the Virgin Active blog!

So, I have joined a fitness group outside of gym, we meet 2 or 3 times a week.

Last night we did a 3 km run in about 28 minutes. 8 minutes longer than the last 3 km. To be fair though, we ran as a group (so our pace was an average of the group) and we stopped four times in order to drop and do 25 ~~sit ups~~ PUSH-UPS, I meant push ups. Half way through we also did a piggyback carry for one block – I didn’t carry anyone as I was the only girl and the guys outweighed me by a fair chunk. That being said I was in high demand to be the piggyback-ee

This morning we met at 5:30. AM!! I will state here and now that I am NOT a morning person! I usually gym in the afternoons with the exception being a weekend, but then its not before 9:30.

This morning we did a 2 km run of which I managed 1 km.

Then we did chin ups, I managed 5! That’s 4 more than the first time I did chin ups. The difference this time was that my hands were facing me on the bar. I think that made it easier.

Then we did push ups with a medicine ball across the mat and then leopard crawled the ball back to the start.

We followed that with a little {Krav Maga} body conditioning. This is where I learned something new this morning. In Krav Maga, body conditioning is NOTHING like {Pilates}. It involves being punched (not so gently) in the abdomen. Ouch!

We followed that up with sparring. Sparring is easy. When you are not wearing protective headgear, body padding, groin protection and gloves. With all that extra weight and padding, sparring gets a little harder. My arms are now like jelly.

All in all I am super proud of myself. I feel like I’ve been run over by a bus but I also feel good, like I have accomplished something and I am really motivated for our next session!

Posted in Me, Myself & I | Tagged get fit | 1 Comment

How do you get to Carnegie Hall?

Published May 28, 2013 | By Gina

Practice! Practice! Practice!

Its an old joke but so true. How does one do the very best they can in something? They practice. Or rehearse.

Yesterday was the very first rehearsal for #StarlightExpressSA and I was so privileged to be there to witness it.

The entire cast and crew was there.

Bernard Jay, CEO of the Joburg Theatre and producer gave a welcome speech that left me teary and smiling. Bernard is definitely the father figure to the cast and crew, watching his face as he officially opened the rehearsals, you could see his pride and utter belief in the cast.

Where Bernard is the father, Janice Honeyman must be the mother figure. She gave the cast and crew her vision for this production and you could feel the excitement build, you could see the smiles and nods from the cast as they listened.

This is definitely a family. And when everyone introduced themselves, we, as the social media team were included in that family.

The very first read through of the script left me with goosebumps. The youngest cast members are 10 years old, they share the role of Control and will perform 4 performances each per week. They absolutely blew us all away and received a huge round of applause from the cast and crew after their first lines.

Having been witness to the talent and dedication at the first rehearsal I just know this production is going to blow your socks off when you see it.

For booking go to {http://joburgtheatre.com} or call 0861 670 670

For more info follow {#StarlightExpressSA} on twitter

Posted in Starlight Express | Tagged #StarlightExpressSA, Starlight Express | Leave a comment

Project: Get Fit – May

Published May 22, 2013 | By Gina

*First published on the Virgin Active blog!

I really need to update more.

I have been gyming more so thats a good thing. I have been doing lots of Pilates and Zumba and Killer Abs.

Pilates is good, my core is definitely stronger than its been in a long long time. I also like that its quite and calm, Ingred from Balfour Park is an awesome instructor.

Zumba is fun! Especially since I do it with my mommy on a Sunday morning. Its a great motivation to get out of bed knowing that I get to share some fun quality time with my mom. The cup of coffee together afterwards is also great

Killer Abs is, well, killer! Its definitely a help having someone standing over me pushing me to keep going. Those are the most hectic 25 minutes of gym ever. I never sweat quite as much as I do during a Killer Abs class.

Last night I did a baseline fitness test, I need to keep training to improve on my times but these are my results from last night:

3km run – 20m16s
Pull ups – 1
Sit ups (1 minute) – 28
Push ups (1 minute) – 13
400m sprint – 1m57s

Any advice on what to do to better those stats would be greatly appreciated!

Here are my stats as of 13 May 2013:

Weight: 51 kg (down 1.2 kg from last measurements)
Body fat: 27.9 % (down 0.6 %)
Blood Pressure: 94/57 mmHg
Heart Rate: 100 bpm (ummm, I must have been excited about something!)
Tummy: 78cm (down 2 cm)
Thigh: 55.5 cm (down 0.5 cm)
Arm: 27 cm (down 1 cm)

Posted in Me, Myself & I | Tagged get fit | 1 Comment

Proud (geek) parent moment

Published May 21, 2013 | By Gina

On our first date, Paul and I discussed a variety of topics. We both knew the relationship would probably work when we discovered that we are both pretty big SciFi geeks.

Our kids are well on their way to being little SciFi geeks too.

Its not uncommon to hear the strains of The Imperial March echoing through the house (they have it on the iPad) while two young {padawans} battle it out with light sabers (they create their own sound effects too) in the play room.

Aaron cannot wait for the new Star Trek movie to come out and loves The Avengers, he has an Iron Man figurine that goes with him everywhere.

Faith will often clutch a towel around her neck and run, fist in the air, shouting Superman, around the house. She also shows you that Superman can shoot out his eyes, she leans her head forward and squints.

These are the moments that make my geek mama heart proud.

Posted in Aaron, Faith, Family | Tagged Aaron, Faith, geek, SciFi | 3 Comments

Scary smart

Published May 9, 2013 | By Gina

Faith that is.

On Monday Aaron stayed home from school (he had a viral infection and was spiking nasty temps).

Faith informed us that the next day she was going to be sick so she could stay home too.

I laughed it off thinking she would forget about it.

But on Tuesday morning she woke up, coughed and told me she was too sick to go to school!

She is 2 years and 5 months old!

Needless to say, she was actually coughing and icky so I let her stay home with her brother.

I think I’m going to have to watch this child really closely. Sneaky little thing!

Posted in Aaron, Faith | Tagged Aaron, Faith, sick, Smart | 3 Comments

Starlight Star Bright! #StarlightExpressSA

Published May 8, 2013 | By Gina

*I am not being paid to blog/tweet/talk about #StarlightExpressSA

Along with an awesome social media team, I have been invited to follow the journey of the South African production of the Andrew Lloyd Webber classic rock musical, {Starlight Express}!

Andrew, Wenchy, Jodene, Shelly, Me and Chevè – Photo by Mariola Biela

And by follow the journey, I mean, skate lessons, rehearsals, costume fittings, set building, dress rehearsals, interviews with cast & crew and finally, opening night.

The most notable thing about the South African production is that, essentially, for the first time since Starlight made its debut in 1984, with the exception of the songs and music, the production is entirely new. New costumes, new choreography, new, all South African cast, new life!

Yesterday I was privileged to watch the cast in full costume for the first time, skating with lights, smoke machine and music.

Produced by {Joburg Theatre} CEO Bernard Jay and directed by acclaimed director, Janice Honeyman, the local production should be a site to behold!

To come along on the journey with me and the others on Twitter follow:

I will leave you with some of my impressions from yesterday!

At rest

‘Poppa’

Lights

Consult

Panorama – Rehearsal Stage

Posted in Joburg Theatre, Starlight Express | Tagged #StarlightExpressSA, Joburg Theatre, Starlight Express | 4 Comments

I Pledge!

Published May 8, 2013 | By Gina

I have taken the {#ladybloggers} {pledge}!

I PLEDGE TO:

1. DISCLOSE WHEN I HAVE BEEN SENT A PRODUCT FOR FREE TO REVIEW.

2. DISCLOSE WHEN I HAVE BEEN PAID TO WRITE A SPONSORED POST.

3. DISCLOSE WHEN I HAVE COPIED A PRESS RELEASE.

4. ALWAYS BE HONEST.

Posted in Me, Myself & I | Tagged honesty, ladybloggers, Pledge | 1 Comment

Your favourite things – Faith

Published April 26, 2013 | By Gina

TV programme:  Superman. Anything Superman, cartoon, live action doesnt matter as long as the Man of Steel is in it.
iPhone App:  You love taking pictures with my iPhone. ’Say cheese’ is your catch phrase.
Meal:  You eat pretty much anything we eat although you are not too keen on pizza, you prefer spaghetti and meatballs.
Fruit:  Bananas and apples and grapes.
Vegetable:  Carrots.
Breakfast:  Coco Pops.
Drink:  Cream Soda.
Toy:  Lego, lightsabers and your dolly.
You love:  Your brother, animals, school, and cuddling with mom.

Something that happened yesterday:

I wasn’t home most of yesterday so I will tell you something that happened this morning. You were brushing your teeth and you turned on the tap to rinse and couldnt turn it off. You came running into the dining room calling for Aaron to help you. Once he had you smiled at him and said ‘Hank you Aaaaron’.

Posted in Faith | Tagged Faith | 3 Comments

I PLEDGE TO:

1. DISCLOSE WHEN I HAVE BEEN SENT A PRODUCT FOR FREE TO REVIEW.

2. DISCLOSE WHEN I HAVE BEEN PAID TO WRITE A SPONSORED POST.

3. DISCLOSE WHEN I HAVE COPIED A PRESS RELEASE.

4. ALWAYS BE HONEST.

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