What the blog?

You may have noticed that Trailing Grace has been very stop start, all over the place, and with no real direction.

Guess what?

So have I.

Aside from my training in preparation for the New York City marathon, the rest of my life has been like an erratic pinball bouncing around from one end of the machine to another - ting, bling, flash, shake, woooooo, yeah, ahr, no, boo. 

I couldn't ignore the decline in numbers and the interaction I had enjoyed with Project Grace 2010 taking a dive. It was disheartening. However on the upside, everytime I'd post a Facebook status about a personal acheivement in my marathon training - the response was overwhelming.

This got me thinking...

Trailing Grace was to be a central spot for people who know me to keep track of me - whether I'm hosting a cycling tour, preparing for a marathon, publishing a children's book, producing a song or having moments of enlightenment - you can always drop in for a virtual visit. But for those that don't know me - it's pretty boring.

You see, when you're a 'somebody', everybody wants to know EVERYTHING about you - what you ate for breakfast, who you met for lunch, where did you go, what did you talk about and what brand of toilet paper you use. On the other hand, when you're a 'nobody' - people don't care. And let's be honest - right now, in the big wide blogging world, I am a nobody. This will no doubt hinder me on my road to world blog domination ;-)

So how do I become a somebody?

I write about things that people want to read - call it marketing if you will [gasp!].

If the response to my Facebook post is anything to go by - people are interested, even inspired, by my journey to New York. So in light of that, a new blog - 9 Months To New York - was born.

9 Months To New York is specifically about my mental, physical and emotional journey to the New York City marathon. It's the blog that you subscribe to by email, you share on Facebook, tell all your friends, family and colleagues about, and wait for each post with bated breath. It's the blog that everybody tells everybody about and in a few years there'll be a movie about it and you'll get to say "I was following Grace waaaaaaaay before the rest of the world was"... and you'll be cool (which I already know), and everybody will want to know what your next hot tip is. 

So what will happen to Trailing Grace? 

Well, Trailing Grace was to be what it was always intended to be - a central spot for people who know me to keep track of me. So watch this space and see what else evolves in this bustling world of mine. 

Until next time, allow your pinball to settle before shooting it straight where you want it to go.

Grace xx

 

I'm baaaaaaaaack!

Well, what an incredible two and a half weeks I've had since my last post.

Firstly, the Tour Down Under was AMAZING. Hosting a group of wonderful cyclists and enthusiastic cycling fans from around the country, and indeed the globe, was one of the best experiences I've had in a very long time. Not to mention staying at the Hilton Hotel, cycling central, and having several close encounters with cycling legends - too many to name.

The days were long, nights were short and there was barely enough time to go to the toilet, much less to keep up with my daily blogging. The sacrifice was rewarded with great feedback from the guests and as a result, may have opened doors to continue working in Europe. More on that later ;-)

Pat and I returned home last Tuesday to face yet another full week that started with an information evening at my local gym. I have put together a 6-week pilot project to create a nurturing community for women where we support and inspire each other to achieve both fitness and life goals. If the project is deemed successful by the participants, it will be an ongoing part of membership privileges. I have already bonded with several women and am really excited about what that will bring.

Following the delivery of my info session, I caught up with some friends for a barbecue where discussions led to my entering the New York marathon. I declared that despite it being a lottery, I was determined to do it no matter what - even if it meant running the course the night before the event. My friend's husband told me that I needn't go to such extremes and that there were certain charities that get allocated a certain number of guaranteed places and that if I were to align myself with one of them, I'd be in it. Naturally, that go my brain ticking.

I then continued onto Australia Day celebrations the following day at my parent's house by the sea. I was surrounded by family and friends, having a wonderful time. It was the perfect restoration before getting back to my life. My REAL life.

Thursday morning the trainers went on, and so too did my iPhone video camera. Several uploads to YouTube later, I was ready to take the next step - find myself that charity. So without further ado - I'll let you watch the video, which says it all (email subscribers click here).

Until tomorrow, take another step towards realising your dream.

Grace xx

*NEWS*

There's a link between the Brisbane floods, the Tour Down Under and your's truly.

Way too tired to even type.

Just stay tuned and all will be revealed.

Until tomorrow, keep your head above water.

Grace xx

New York, New York

On December 3rd, 2010 (precisely one month after turning 40), I mustered up the courage to enter my dream event and partially declared it on Project Grace 2010 in a post titled 'It's Official'. The next day, I started my training.

Despite having taken the first step towards my dream goal, I was very reluctant to name the event for three reasons:

1. I was recovering from a rocky relationship of broken promises to myself, so I was very wary of avoiding old patterns and adding insult to injury.
   
   
2. Though I had registered for the event, my participation was determined on whether or not my name was drawn from a lottery.
   
   
3. I was just plain scared. 

Then after five and a half weeks of training six days a week, something magical happened this morning - I crossed over a threshold. I went from shuffling, to barely jogging into what I can honestly call running. Yes, I ran. By the end of my session, I had run the furthest distance in my set timeframe whilst remaining within my optimum aerobic heart rate zone. A huge milestone.

When I returned home I knew that no matter what, I had to run my dream event.

No. Matter. What.

Not only that, I had to tell the world - for how else would the cosmos conspire to align all the planets for me? So here is my public declaration, made on this day 11/01/11...

I am running the New York Marathon on 6th November 2011 (3 days after my 41st birthday).

Above is the inspirational poster I made over a month ago. I have placed it all around my house, and even have a landscape version my desktop. It's time to share it with the world.

Until tomorrow, be brave and declare your goals and dreams - even if you don't quite know how it'll all happen.

Grace xx 

Eat Pray Love and the genesis of Trailing Grace

When was the last time you wrote an email or blog post and just as you were about to send it, you browser said "Aw Snap"?

AW SNAP MY AR$E! - I AM FURIOUS! (can you tell with all my caps and exclamation marks?).

My eyes are popping out of my head, so I'm just going to type it again in dot points:

• Last night I worked around the clock building the foundations of a social media skyscraper, and retired to bed after 7am this morning
• When I roused, I promptly went for my run and just as I'd finished I filmed this YouTube video below, which explains 1. how Eat Pray Love was the genesis of Trailing Grace and 2. why I'm wearing an ugly grey sweat tank top
• I then spent most of the day weaving my social media tapestry and, just like all new handycrafts, I made more mistakes than taking steps forward
• Grrrrrrrrr
• I am in the midst of a steep learning curve, of which patience is one thing I'd better learn before anything else (if only I weren't so impatient about learning patience, then I wouldn't be so irritable)

It's after midnight and I'm absolutely certain that I heard my bed beckoning me. I have taken the last sip of my celebratory Champagne (the one that I traded for organic orange juice on New Year's Eve) and my shoulders are relaxed and eyelids feel like lead. So without further ado, I bid you adieu.

Until tomorrow, when you need to muster up some patience - start with a deep breath (and imagine bashing the crap out of the thing that pi$$ed you off. In my case it was Google Chrome - NOT HAPPY JAN!)

Grace xx

A new year, a new decade, a new blog...

Project Grace 2010 was a sacred journey for me. My daily blogging practice had become an integral part of my day; an important ritual that had me feeling complete and worthy - something I had long strived for. My original plan was to end the project on November 3rd, my 40th birthday, however it seemed premature to conclude it then. Yesterday marked the end of 2010 and somehow, it felt sacrilegious to extend the project further. Therefore on this New Year's Day, 01/01/2011, I declared Project Grace 2010 complete.

What followed was a hollow emptiness. I felt the need to continue with my daily blogging by creating something that did not have a 'use by date'. Alas, Trailing Grace was born.

So where did Trailing Grace come from? I virtually hear you ask. Well, the seed was planted on September 30th when I was watching the 'Eat Pray Love' episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show (I loved the book and was interested in learning about the movie, especially as I was in Bali at the time of filming in 2009). Oprah was having a D&M (deep and meaningful conversation) with Julia Roberts and author Liz Gilbert that became particularly interesting when they talked about being true to yourself and finding your life's purpose (my perpetual quest).

Oprah came out with the words "we are all born into this world trailing grace" and my mouth dropped. It was one of those 'Twilight Zone' moments complete with the 'de de de de, de de de de' theme running in my head. I felt that the universe had sent a message that was meant for me and only me, much like the time I read the Celestine Prophesy. The words resonated, speaking to me like no other. It's that metaphorical jigsaw puzzle piece that one stumbles on whilst vacuuming on top of the pelmet boxes - so totally unexpected, so totally thrilling. "Thank you Oprah" I whispered in my mind and before the show had finished, I had compulsively registered the domain name trailinggrace.com.

Once registered, I questioned my sanity for I had no idea (or vision) of what it would become. All I knew is that I loved the name, it came from the mouth of one of my greatest inspirations (next to Gandhi) and it made me chuckle (I'm a dog in the Chinese horoscope and Trailing Grace was like an 'in' joke between me and the universe - let's just say it has something to do with me chasing my tail). For three months, I let the domain name just sit there completely untouched and without a clue about what I would do with it... that is, until today.

So... at this late hour, please excuse the emptiness of the website and the crudeness of the social media pages (Blogger, WordPress, Xanga, TumblR, Twitter, YouTube, Vimeo, MySpace, Picassa, FlickR, Facebook, and Posterous). As you can see, I have been busy - though some may argue that 'fanatical' is a more apt term. Whilst it may appear that I am positioning myself for world domination, I can assure you that it's only global propagation that I am interested in. Well, at this stage at least ;-)

Tomorrow I will commence the daunting task of weaving this all into one beautiful tapestry, which will somehow be the fabric of the official Trailing Grace website - how very exciting.

Until tomorrow, know that the sadness of an ending is consoled by the excitement of a new beginning - and not all impulsive purchases are bad.

Grace xx

PS. I could have interpreted the broad availability of 'Trailing Grace' to mean that it's a crap name. However I like to think that it really was a gift for me, and only me - sent by the universe and delivered by Oprah. I love a good story and that one suits me just fine.