Weekend warriors go alpine

Hi friends and family,


We have just come back from a weekend adventure where we rode on bikes from Wangaratta to Bright.  It was about 85km each way (if you include riding from the bike store) meaning we completed a 170km round trip.  We were scouting out our fundraising run challenge of 84k.


It was a wonderful opportunity to see where we would be running, but more importantly, it was one more opportunity for Maria and I to make our lives adventurous.  We go to gym so that we can do these sorts of things... Several years ago, we would never have even contemplated such a trip.  


And on Saturday night we had an early anniversary dinner.  On April 10, after the run we will not be able to enjoy such a special dinner.  So we went to 'Simone's of Bright' - it was a really special meal!  Fantastic atmosphere and excellent food.  Even more special after a day on our steal horses.


This is the last fortnight before our challenge on April 10/11.   PLEASE DONATE the kids of Gergerung and their education will benefit directly from it... We are close to the target, but not there yet.  


Have a wonderful passover and easter everyone!  Remember to keep smiling.


Salam, Mountain Katts.

Trail running... Love the Adventure... Watch the Video

Hi friends,
This is an excellent video about trail running. 
Enjoy, Mountain Katts.

Magnificent southern Lombok

FUNDRAISING RUN IS LOOMING LARGE... April 10/11.


We thought it time to show off a little more of Lombok's natural beauty!  The following photographs are from southern Lombok around Kuta (NOT Kuta, Bali).


What an amazing world to explore... Hopefully we will explore it together!  Fitness is about application and exploration of ourselves in the beautiful world around us.  For us this 84km challenge represents another fantastic adventure.


On this line of thought JK found an interesting blog posting from a great fitness blog, Nerd Fitness.  It is about one man's personal fitness and body transformation.  It is worth a read.


Our training is going well, although our bodies got a little fatigued at the end of last week (we have been pushing ourselves VERY hard).  Having said this with a little tinkering of our training program we will get there no problemo!  We will give more details in a future postings of our training program...  This weekend will be fun with the Mountain Katts riding the rail trail that we will be running on Saturday and then riding back on Sunday after staying the night in Bright.  So we will be doing a little 168k riding exercise program over the weekend. 


We are preparing for a challenge that we would have not considered completing just a few short years ago...Now the idea of a life full of pushing our physical and intellectual boundaries make these photographs even more special.   


Please donate... We are so close to our fundraising target, but not there yet! 


Also, where are your comments and feedback???  We are feeling lonely here... Don't make me invoke Lleyton Hewitt again.


Salam, Mountain Katts - Going Loco For Lombok.
(The Mountain Katts are powered along by the support of Smart Records System taking care of all your filing and document management needs.)

Climbing to our dreams

It is fantastic to change your life through fitness.  People say you look better and you definitely feel better... Although, JK is now having trouble with shaving (he has not had to worry about a chiseled jaw for a long time... he he he).


Here's an example of one our latest adventures when we tried out some rock climbing last week


Our run is fast approaching - 10 April 2010.  We are working hard and hope that if you have not  yet given that you will soon make a donation...


Cheers, Mountain Katts.

The Mountain Katts are powered along by the support of Smart Records System taking care of all your filing and document management needs.

Great Alice Fun...

Fun was had by all last night @ the Mountain Katts Fundraising Film Night.  Thanks to all those who attended. A big thanks also goes to those who bought tickets but couldn't attend. We appreciate your support.  These efforts have raised over $260! Great work team.  We are closing in on our target (which we are  hoping to exceed!!!).


We thought we would put a few happy snaps up... 


Enjoy, M+J

The Mountain Katts are powered along by the support of Smart Records System (http://www.smartrecordsgroup.com.au/) taking care of all your filing and document management needs.

Movie Night - Don't Miss Out

Please purchase tickets for our fundraising film night.  


Get back to me by COB today (j.kingsleyATunimelb.edu.au).


Alice in Wonderland in 3D @ the Elsternwick Classic on Sunday 14 March @ 6.30pm.


There is still a lot of room on the thermometer to fill!  And it will be a fun night...

The Mountain Katts are powered along by the support of  Smart Records System  taking care of all your filing and document management needs.

Fear of failure, or the challenge of success

“Fail and prepare to succeed”

Dave MacLeod, 9 out of 10 climbers make the same mistakes (2010).

Our 84km fundraising for Lombok’s school kids is looming large on April 10.  And as we prepare for this run a constant fear emerging from both of us – the fear of failure.  But what is failure?  And how can we overcome it?

The reality is that both of these questions are redundant, but this doesn’t mean that you do not feel it.  We will complete the 84km… maybe it will be in one day or maybe it will take us two days.  But, the reality is that this is an experiment.  We are trying something new and testing our boundaries.  So failure would be better defined as learning and without pushing ourselves to the edge we will never know what we can accomplish.

“Who dares wins” ("Qui audet adipiscitur") – without the challenge you do not have success.  People to often cling to what they know and do not challenge themselves… This was us about 5 years ago.  Doing all that was safe and expected.  But we decided to change, to open ourselves to seeing new things and challenging ourselves.  We have calculated the risks and then acted.  We did this was with our careers, in our writing and on this challenge.  And we have grown as individuals and as a couple…

The only way that we will fail is if we don’t work together as a team.  We learned this on a run a few weeks ago.  For the first 8k’s (of 22k’s) we had a non-stop arguing session and then settled into a questionable ‘peace’.  When you are under physical strain for a lengthy period this just doesn’t help, and consequently, we had a terrible run!  It was slow and painful (not just emotionally, but our attitude affected our running style and led to us hurting ourselves).  This lack of cohesion was a serious lesson… Together united (literally).

These running lessons are actually life lessons.  Challenging ourselves brings so many revelations.

Remember to purchase your film tickets by contacting MP (mariaplattAThotmail.com) or JK (j.kingsleyATunimelb.edu.au)… There are plenty of tickets still available, but time is running out!

AND please donate!

Cheers, M+J.

The Mountain Katts are powered along by the support of Smart Records System (http://www.smartrecordsgroup.com.au/) taking care of all your filing and document management needs.