The Diffuse Bees do Relay for Life.

Its taken a while to get this BLOG posted and catch up on sleep and housework that we should have done on the weekend that we did the Relay 4 Life to raise money for the Local Cancer society. The idea is that you raise funds by getting sponsorship, but we ran a sweepstake, and then walked around the showgrounds track for 24hours.

Me and Olwyn - both had Diffuse Large B cell Lymphoma. The red sashes were for survivors.

 We put the tent and gazebo up on Friday night the all assembled at about 11am on the Saturday. The survivors lap started at 12.00 and while the mayor droned on at the opening, a drone flew overhead taking pictures which distracted every-one! Me Olwyn and Stef walked the survivors lap and then the rest of the team joined in.

Robyn, Dawn, Anna and Norma

 We were recording the laps for the sweepstake, but got a bit distracted by having an interview filmed in the second hour. then we received the prize for the best dressed team and tent and soon we realised our lap rate was very low,so we put it in the hands (or is it feet?) of our fast walkers and were soon averaging 10 laps an hour. We just had to make sure we had some of the team on the track at all times.

Penny, Stef and Anna

 Even Duncan donned a stripey shirt and a set of wings! (no photo though!). We were Diffuse Bees after the type of lymphoma Olwyn and I had (Diffuse Large B Cell) and so we had a "B" banquet for dinner that night, starting with Bharghee mix, Brie, Bluevein, biscuits, and blinis with beetroot relish and cream cheese followed by burgers with beef of beetroot patties with bean or beetroot salad. Dessert was berries from Anna's bountiful garden, brownie, beaten cream and boysenberry yoghurt.

Robyn and Dawn on Night patrol

 I went home soon after that as at 9pm there is a commemorative service for those who have died from cancer. I am not quite ready for that. Plus I needed some sleep. Up at 4 and back on the track by 4.30am. The night walkers had made good progress in the lap count. Most of us had individual goals. I did 50laps (20km) but Dawn, Penny and Anna were going for a marathon of 106 laps. Regrettably Dawn got blisters in the early hours of the morning, but the other two completed.
I was on cooking the bacon and eggs as the organisers decided to only have a healthy option breakfast of fruit and cereal. Let me tell you that if you've been walking since 4.30am THAT does not fit the bill.
We were struggling to keep fresh people on the track by 10am, but Duncan was back and put into service while the rest of us began the pack-up. It was decided that we would walk the last lap together - I have to say I swore quite a bit when they suggested this! Then got out and did it - and proud of it!!

The Ladies of the CWI decided to knit the track since they are all getting a bit old to walk it.   It didn't quite stretch all the way.

We raised close to $3000 for the local Cancer society and we sincerely hope our efforts will inspire others to do the next Relay for Life so that we can have a rest.
226 laps has really worn us out.

Footnote: Dawn and Anna are now training for the Rotorua Marathon.

A day at the cricket

After much discussion I dug my toes in about going to a World Cup game unless NZ was playing. So last weekend we left after Saturdaylunch for Napier. We stayed at The Nautilus on the waterfront as our friends Fred and Leigh were away in Twizel watching their granddaughter race. We settled on a Thai place for dinner which was just a walk away from the motel. Next morning Duncan went for a run - which proved his undoing as he suffered a really sore knee while I made the filled rolls and packed up the cushions and water. Finally we took our place in the stand and took a selfie.

 You can see we are in our jerseys here and although the wind blew all day, later in the day is got so very hot. It was great to be at a ground again, and just to see the running and the distances involved. The wickets that glow when hit were much better in real life too!

 Here we are - there must have been a wicket! The Afghani's batted first and it was great to see our bowlers in action in the flesh. Many people had the orange Catch a million teeshirts on, but Duncan finds Tui beer so foul he couldn't bring himself to buy one. The man next to us had one on, but I really don't think he was too serious as he took off his leg (artificial)  and used it to store his beer in. He was rubbish at the Mexican wave as well.

 This man in front had the most amazing hair - I wanted to run my fingers through it! It was like a very soft bristle brush.

 The Blackcaps set a very aggressive field - here we have 3 slips and two gullys. We tucked into our rolls and enjoyed a cider while all about us ate hotdogs and pale chips.

But once McCullum was out and the sun really started to beat down on us it was not so pleasant. I queued for an icecream - $5.50 for a magnum. However we stayed right to the bitter end, and saw the win before walking back to our motel. We went Indonesian that night, with Ristoffle - sort of like Indonesian tapas with about a dozen little dishes. We drove home early on Monday morning, so a nice little break away.