"Bittersweet memories, that is all I'm taking with me!"




Aaaannnd, that's it for Shanxi province. Next up will be our final province, the very large, very beautiful Inner Mongolia, where I managed to get 5 awesome runs in. More on that in the next post.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone! I'll leave you with this, courtesy of my recent Whitney education/indoctrination:

"Learning to love yourself, is the greatest, looovve, of all!"
,

This will be my last blog post for a week. Don’t miss me too much! Haha… The reason being, is that tomorrow morning I leave for my ‘quick trip’ back to Oz. Hmm, when first working it out and booking flights etc, it seemed a quick 3 day visit back to the land of Oz, to run the Goldy half marathon and see my bestie. Turns out there is THREE days of travelling, one and a half ish either side of my actual time in Australia, courtesy of us not living in bigger city or a transport hub. So, tomorrow morning I will make my way up to Hangzhou (the capital city of Zhejiang province) and stay the night there before checking into my flight on Friday morning. I arrive into Australia early on SATURDAY morning though, due to a long (cheap) flight. Oops… (The return journey is equally a mission, but I prefer not to think about that right now…)

So, today is the day for packing, organizing, and then stressing about how much STUFF we have accumulated when attempting to do some more of the bigger packing, for our impending leaving of this school when I return from the Gold Coast.

This morning I completed my penultimate training run: an easy paced 6.4km run, in the STINKING heat and humidity! It was a particularly sweaty affair, but no leg pain dramas or otherwise. Phew…




Kristina over at Blog About Running (http://www.blogaboutrunning.com/7-things-about-me-you-might-not-know/) gave me a shout out for this Very Inspiring Blogger Award/Game (thanks Kristina!), so I’ll be passing that on to THESE fellow (and awesome) bloggers. You’re up! Kim (http://day-with-kt.com/), Amy (http://runwritehike.com/),  Karen (http://moreclutterfromkaren.blogspot.com/), and Kristen (http://www.glitteranddust.com/)!

Enjoy. So, the ‘rules’ are to share seven things with your readers that they don’t know about you, and then pass it on and nominate other bloggers who can then share their seven things.

Hmm, so for those of you who know me in the flesh, these may not be that surprising or new information, but hey-ho, here are my seven things you may or may not know about me:

1. When I was about 11 or 12, I won first place in the Kent Championship Fencing competition (under 14 female category), held, not surprisingly, in Kent, UK. En garde!
   
   
2. I think I am very dichotomous in the way that I love to be SUPER healthy and into fitness one day, and then would gladly be heavily into all kinds of partying and debauchery the next day. It’s good to have balance I guess?
   
   
3. I can speak French (but I am quite rusty).
   
   
4. When I was younger my ‘hilarious’ (ironic) running joke was to tell people of my plan to migrate to America and find a rich husband to settle down with. Hmmm, yeah, I know, missed my stand-up comedy calling with that one. However, I did start a 4 year degree reading American Literature at Sussex Uni in Brighton, UK, where the 3rd year was to be spent in the states, so this gave a lot of weight to my ironic ‘joke’. (In the end, I quit this course two years early and went back to work/live in London for a bit while I figured out what I want to ‘do’ with my life. Still figuring it out today, haha…)
   
   
5. I would love to go back to Peru (and other parts of South America) and have a few ayuhuasca experiences (again, with the figuring out life malarkey…)
   
   
6. I am very clumsy. No glass, cup or plate is safe in my hands. Husband has a special, affectionate term for me in this sense. Now, I hope you don’t take offense at this, and he says it in a completely loving, jokey tone, but he calls me Edward-Penis-Hands sometimes, as I, ahem, f*&k everything I touch.
   
   
7. In about 5 to 10 years time, I hope to be living in an Earthship home, off the grid, and self-sustainable, growing veggies, making wine, writing trashy novels etc… I would love this be in Australia or Bali, or both, ideally.
   
   

So, that’s all from me for now. The next time I write here will be after the Gold Coast half and when I get back into town next Wednesday. Wishing you all a wonderful rest of your week and weekend ahead, and I can’t wait to tell you how it all went (successfully I hope!)

 

Tell me something I may not know about you!

This post has nothing to do with running. But, since I mentioned our 2nd 2nd wedding anniversary the other day, and subsequently shared a couple of pictures from it, I would like to share with you today some photos from a very memorable, wonderful, amazing FIRST wedding, that we had some 5 months prior to our SECOND also amazing and wonderful (Bali) wedding. We had this first one in New Zealand, specifically so that my father could be a very special part of it, as fate cruelly predicted that he wouldn't be around for the wedding in Bali in May 2012. So, here are a couple of snaps from that beautiful day, one that I feel so blessed to have had. I treasure the memories from this day and think about the day and the people who were there (especially my father) often.

Yes, two years ago yesterday, this was us in Bali, with our friends and family, getting married for the second time in 5 months:

We had a lovely day – the school had given us the day off for it, so we spent a relaxing, chilled morning together (after I got back from my 34km long run that is! Yep, you heard right – 34km! My longest training run EVER. I was aiming for 35km, but I was sick of back-tracking and doubling back by then, so I thought hey, am sure I’ll get that one km in at some point later in the day, by walking puppy or something…) before we went out for a long, relaxed later lunch/early dinner, reminiscing about our 2 years of marriage and all the places we’ve visited since getting together.

 

Great day, just a shame we didn’t organise to have today off too! Starting to feel a bit tired and achey-ish today. Although other than a bit of tiredness, I’m surprised how good my legs feel, despite the massive run. Crazy really, as when I think back to my first marathon, it was probably around the 35km mark that everything started to go wrong and my legs were spent. What a difference a few years makes. Feel happy with my progress, and it encourages me to keep going – we never know what we’re really capable of until we ‘just fucken DO IT’ hey!

Welcome back! It’s been a while hey. Have well and truly been on a bit of a running/blogging hiatus of late. Here’s what happened: I took an impromptu trip back home to Australia in early January (probably just after my last entry I suppose) to buy an apartment (yay!) and didn’t take my laptop, thinking ‘I’ll write when I get back’, and well, that just never happened hey. If it weren’t for the lovely, caring, and inquisitive Kristina and Annie, then this would probably not be getting written now. So, thanks you two! Here it is as promised…

 

SO, lots to catch up on then. Here are some nutshell points from the last couple of months:

 

-          In Australia I did as many runs (in between house viewing appointments and bank trips) as I could in the early morning sunshine and under those blue, blue skies. LOVE RUNNING IN AUSTRALIA. Namely beautiful Newcastle, which has a lot more hills than I remember.

-          I missed my husband and puppy (who had to stay here in China due to no puppy-sitter being available) A LOT.

-          I got to catch up with my two besties a lot during my quick trip. LOVE THESE TWO:

-          Teaching, teaching, teaching, as usual.

-          Husband and I got interviewed by another journalist, this time from a newspaper from the province, not just our city, who is writing a book about ‘foreigners’ in China and has chosen 15 lucky ‘laoweis’ to be in it. Watch this space for a copy. J

-          I turned THIRTY. (So, really must update my ‘about me’ section hey, still living in the past of 29…)

-          Eating, eating, eating, Chinese food, Chinese food, Chinese food…

-          We accepted a job teaching at a university for next year (term starts in late August) in Inner Mongolia!!!!

 

We are VERY excited about moving to Inner Mongolia!!! I am now picturing me (and Puppy) running through endless grasslands, with those blue, blue skies, and (we’re hoping) fresh air. Mongolian hospitality is famed as being awesome too, and the food (we think) will feature lots of hotpots, strong booze, and yoghurt at most meals. Combine that with loads of happy 18-25 students of ours (instant group of friends yes?), and an exciting, colourful (the traditional clothes look amazing up there) culture and outdoors, back-to-nature lifestyle = one happy husband and wife teaching team.

 

For those who are unfamiliar with where Inner Mongolia is, it is right up the top of China, just next door to Mongolia, but it is a part of China. Most of the people there are Mongolian, but the national language is Chinese.

 

Bring it on!

 

Oh, and in other exciting news (well to me anyhow) – I have registered to run in the Gold Coast Half Marathon in July! So, another exciting trip to Australia (for both of us this time) is on the cards, and in the next few months leading up to this I’m planning to train my arse off and get under that 1:34 time from my last half. Would LOVE a time of 1:30, so I’ll see if I can make it happen. I’ve got another training plan, so I’ll be putting that into action in the next few minutes when I head out into the (getting warmer) morning air. This training plan is much longer than my last 12 weeks one, so I’ve missed the first few weeks of it already (it is an 18 week plan).

 

Lastly, is this the face of the happiest dog in China?? Quite possibly. Here’s our beautiful puppy on her first trip to a further away park (we finally installed a puppy-basket on Husband’s bike), where you can imagine you’re in Bali or somewhere a lot more tropical than our city, on a good, sunny, clear day, which amazingly it has been all weekend.

Happy Monday and Happy Running everyone! xxx

The smog seems much better today, and is even clearing enough for us to see some blue patches of sky. However, I still had another wet-face-masked-assassin run early this morning, just in case. At one point, so cheered was I that I could now see across the river again that I took my mask off for a few breaths. I don't know if it was just in my head, but to me the air had a funny taste (?) so the mask was re-donned tout de suite.

It was great to get out there this morning and tune out and run on auto-pilot. Did one of my usual routes which takes me through a big park nearby and down to the river where I run alongside for a bit then cross it and loop back in the direction that I came. It is about 12km and takes me between 55 mins to an hour. This morning's run was an hour. Cold and dark (for half of it) but it was just what I needed. I'd gone to bed grumpy/frustrated so knew if I didn't get out of bed and run it off this morning then the bad mood may have continued today too. Interestingly enough, whenever my thoughts would stray to some of the less good/troubling thoughts that are on my mind, my running pace would slow quite significantly. Then, when thinking of happier things, or tuning out altogether, my pace picked up again and I found my 'zone'. So, it is really true hey: what we think about creates and shapes our reality: negative thoughts = negative result, so, positive thoughts = positive result! Run with happy thoughts people. :)




It is so fricken cold this morning. Sat here in no less than four layers, procrastinating and putting off the inevitable undressing for a dribble of a shower (water pressure sucks in our apartment). Would much rather be HERE right now (yep, that is another I-miss-being-on-holiday-in-Bali shot. this was taken just near Tanah Lot at a large hotel/golf course with the beautiful, amazing Annie):

Well, well, well. Another Monday is upon us. Unbelievable how fast these weekends go! (And we're not even drinking at the moment, so no partying/hangover to blame for the super speedy weekend.)

It has been a fairly productive weekend. These things happened:

We doubled up two to a bicycle Bali-motorbike-style to go on a covert mission:

It was HOT and SUNNY on Saturday; we rode past our usual puppy-walking park:

There was even BLUE SKY:

We ate delicious lunches out (the usual egg-plant, dumplings, tofu, cauliflower, and other vegetable shizzle awesomeness):

We went to purchase carpet/a rug for our getting-colder-apartment floor:

We stopped for kafei (coffee):

Puppy inspected the new rug. Shortly after this she decided (contrary to what we'd told her) that it was in fact grass and to be treated accordingly (pissed on):

For some reason she is being extra cuddly and loving lately, so here are another couple of our beautiful puppy Bear, just 'because':

Hmm, exciting times yes? Haha. Lots of exploring by bicycle anyhow, and legs didn't feel tired after Saturday's run, so all good. Today was a non running day - I did some strength cross-training instead. Feel pumped for tomorrow morning's run, and for the rest of the week. :)