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Message from the Universe

9/8/2014

8 Comments

 
I have registered for another running race!! Pretty pumped to report I will now be taking part in the Beijing Half Marathon on Sunday 19th October! I know, I know, you were getting ready for another: 'I didn't do any running but here's what I did instead' blog post, well, that is just not on the agenda for today. I feel like I may finally have gotten my running mojo back this morning, and possibly all down to this new motivation of having another race on the horizon in the not too distant future (as the grasslands race just seems so far away still! So, hard to really focus on any proper training). I think there's nothing more motivating than having an event to plan and work towards, so I'm so glad that I have signed up for this race, and it's in an easily accessible city (from here to Beijing is an hour's flight I think) so Coach/Husband can come with this time (the last two races he has stayed behind), which will be awesome.

And the reason this random registration came about? (As, it wasn't on my mind even a couple of days ago...) Well, a new friend mentioned she will be running the Beijing marathon on 19th October, with her uncle, who she usually cheers on while he runs it. We got chatting about running for a while after that, and training etc, and I asked does she still run in the colder months here (key question for me apparently), to which she answered, to my dismay, NO, it is too cold. Boo.... BUT, she said she does yoga instead, and this then led to a discussion of where she goes for early morning yoga sessions. The result of this little tangent is that I will now be joining her on some early morning yoga classes, woohoo! But, I digress... Back to the subject at hand: the Beijing marathon.

So, later that day, as I'm scrolling aimlessly through the sometimes addictive time-waste that is the newsfeed of Facebook, I noticed a post from another friend putting it out there about it being the last chance to sign up for the Beijing marathon, and to get in by today. I had seen no mention of said race before, so, this mild coincidence I took as my cue from the universe that I am meant to be running in the Beijing half marathon! Haha, why, you may ask? I know, it's only a small coincidence, but hey I'll take it. I read some work by Deepak Chopra lately along the lines of: whenever you notice a coincidence, it is the universe trying to tell you something or pointing you in the direction you are supposed to go in. Therefore, I feel the universe was telling me not only about this race (thanks Universe!) but that I should sign up before it is too late. So, to cut a long ramble short: I have signed up for the half marathon, and Husband and I can go for a fun little weekend away in Beijing as well.

Having this race to look forward to has already improved my running, I'm sure of it, and I was up and out there early and determined today. However, for this particular race, I think I'm going to adopt a very casual training plan this time, and not worry about time, speed, pace, PRs/PBs etc. I just want to run it purely on how I feel (Garmin-free) and take in the Beijing sights along the way. I'll keep you posted with my rough training 'plan' as I go. Today I ran approximately 12kms through one of my usual routes through a park. Legs felt strong and I felt great.

As promised, here's a shot of Husband and our new e-bike! Ahhhh, felt awesome to be flying along (at 30kms/hr) with freedom and the wind blowing through our hair yesterday....


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8 Comments

What Wonderful Wednesdays Feel Like, and Bloggers' Block

6/3/2014

7 Comments

 
Wonderful Wednesdays begin with… a session at the track. Nope, I’m not kidding. Just got back from my final speedy session pre-race on Saturday, and wow, have I turned it around with my attitude towards the track! Was keen as to get out there this morning, and when I got there ran the following: 1.6km warm-up, 9.66km at threshold pace, 1.6km cool down. Had to slow down slightly around 7kms in as the security guard had come to find me and was waving me down with a package that had arrived in the mail for us, how’s that for service?! So, I ran half of my workout holding a small envelope, but anyhoo, a great run nonetheless.

Let me tell you about these friends I’ve made down at the track. They are definitely the silent type, and mostly they like to quietly cheer me on as I pass them, while they sit at the edge of the track in the long grass. One is a redhead and one has black hair, and they are pretty damn cute. Since I don’t take my camera with me when I go for a run, this is a photo I’ve stolen from google images, but you get the idea:

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Just call me the Cat Whisperer. (Do you ever wonder if animals that have an affinity with you are maybe past souls/people you have known?) Shhh, don’t tell Puppy. She can be such a jealous bitch when we show love to other dogs, so I’m sure she’d be the same with cute, little cats.

 

Apparently blogging and writing posts on here are a lot like running for me: if I don’t do it bright and early in the morning, then there’s a good chance I won’t get it done at all, or it becomes a struggle making time for it later in the day, as things crop up and get in the way. For a couple who have just over ten hours of solid “work” per week (it’s in quote marks as it doesn’t really ever feel like work) our day can get surprisingly busy (yes, this always shocks me too). Yesterday was one of those days.

It started out all well and calm enough, and yes, although I was dog-tired, I still dragged myself out of bed early-ish (about half 5 I think) and nursed a couple of green teas for a while before heading out (in the already hot, humid day) for a 12km easy paced run. As soon as I got back from this is was rush, rush, rush, as I was trying to get showered, ready and leave it just long enough so as to hit that magical refueling period of time (refueling nutrition nirvana?? From 30 minutes to an hour after working out) yet still make it to school breakfast on time, or at least before they close for the day (there is a daily cooked breakfast as well as a school lunch here. Like I’ve said before: good gig). I made it (just), then shoveled down a breakfast of champions: vegetable noodles with added chilli and chives, boiled eggs, steamed bread, and some hot soy milk. However, this ‘rush, rush rush’ pace was then set in place for the whole day. Or so it seemed.

A ‘quick’ trip to some shops turned into a longer trip than first anticipated as apparently I had to wait for them to even open (at the, what seems, crazy late time of 10am!) so I killed time by mooching around in Starbucks with a strong, brewed black coffee, rather than cycle home again until nearer the time; it is now too hot for multiple, sweaty bike rides – we’re definitely back to multiple-cold-showers-a-day weather here.

From said (annoyingly longer than planned) shopping trip, the day then escalated into a busy day of organizing various things (offficial things to do with our apartment back in Oz, upcoming travel plans and reservations, and getting yet further red-stamped certificates for Puppy for our upcoming July China tour – and hence, an unforeseen afternoon trip to the vet’s yesterday too) before we had four back-to-back classes where we gave each student (about 44 in each class) their one-on-one final English oral exam. All of these exams took place in the hot, outdoor corridors, adjacent to their classrooms. Phew….

So, to now cut myself off from rambling about this any further: the day got away from me and therefore a new blog post just didn’t eventuate.

Not least because of something (which maybe simply by rambling on and having the written form of verbal diarrhea on here this morning, I have overcome anyway before ever getting to the point and writing about it?) which can only be described as ‘bloggers’ block’. I.e. Not having the foggiest of what to write. No inspiration. No original (or otherwise) thought for the day. Nada. Zilch. Zero. Hmm. Maybe some more sleep was all that was needed (finally got some awesome, quality sleep last night – I think due to having a total technology ban on myself from early in the evening – took myself off to a cool, dark room, and boom: loads of sleep ensued = success).

But, seriously. Anyone else experience this? Writers/bloggers’ block?

Sure, I could probably have dashed out a few sentences of how I went for a run / my legs feel great / I’m tired / It’s only two days until I leave for Beijing / yada yada yada…But to be honest, apart from the weirdly busy day that got away from me, I also just didn’t know where to even start with the blog post. So, umm, I didn’t. I left it. I procrastinated. I did other things. Then I went to bed extremely early with neither internet nor even an air conditioner turned on (I clearly wanted NO electrical lights or sounds at all hey. The only sound was a gentle whirring of the ceiling fan. Ahh, bliss…).

Aaaand, low and behold: you leave it long enough and your blank post turns into this: a sizeable chunk of a blog post (who cares that it’s been quite nonsensical for the most part?!) Ok, ok, sorry – I will reign in the weirdness now. The point is that I was drawing a massive blank in terms of writing, and more to the point, was aware of maybe boring you guys with what I had to write about (my run / the weather / our job etc). Surely, it would have been like every other post I’ve put out there thus far, and surely you guys reading it would be bored of that by now?? Hence you’ve got this weird ramble from me instead, oops… (Maybe I should have kept things simple after all, and short and sweet. Something like: Ran today. Tired. Busy. Started exams with students. Not much else to report. Oh: excited for Thursday….)

 

So, tell me (if you’ve stuck with me this far!) do you ever get writers’ (bloggers’) block??

 

Do you procrastinate with things much? (I am a huge procrastinator – very much a list maker and tea-break-er).


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7 Comments

That Awesome Moment When...

5/31/2014

12 Comments

 
...you realise what was once your long run, is now your shortish/medium run. I tell ya: running a couple of 30kms+ runs recently makes a Sunday 17km run seem like a breeze.

I hope this is a good omen for Saturday's trail race! I feel like I have put in enough training (hopefully), so that's all I can do. I read somewhere the other day re: the importance of being mentally ready as well as physically. So, if you have trained as much as you wanted to and feel physically ready, the only thing that may let you down come race day may be your mental readiness. Apparently, it's a case of mind over matter. If you've trained your body enough, all you have to be is 100% mentally ready and you know you will succeed. So, hmm, the big question is do I feel ready for it? Are we ever really 100% ready? I think we're all as ready as we'll ever be and in every race: the time is NOW.

Come at me 50km trail race! I am ready.

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Unbelievably it's somehow gotten to JUNE already. Have a Super Sunday and 1st of June everyone!

Doing any special/fun today? (Think we're off to go to a long lazy lunch now.)

12 Comments

Upcoming Caravan Tour

5/4/2014

2 Comments

 
This morning’s run was an easy paced 11-12 km run. My usual route through town to the river, then alongside the river and back through a couple of parks to home, stopping off to buy breads and tea eggs en route. The last kilometre or so were spent with Puppy – came back to grab her for her ‘walk’. Attempted a run or jog with her, but she is too easily distracted and jolts me unexpectedly to a stop by pretty much every tree. (There are a lot of trees in this town.)

 

Lately we’ve been thinking, talking about and planning our ‘amazing caravan around China adventure’, so I’d thought I’d share a little more re: the places we are aiming to visit.

We are hiring a caravan (plus a car and driver to tow it and us) for 28 days and during this time we are aiming to visit 6 new provinces, and many many beautiful places. The first stop being Mount Lushan, in Jiangxi province, some 535kms from here, closely followed by the amazing Poyang Lake (a HUGE freshwater lake, the biggest in China I think).

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We want to visit some ancient villages, known as Hui Villages, and thus head to Anhui province to see and hike up and down yet more beautiful mountainous areas. So far: Huangshan and Jiuhuashan are on our list here:

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From there, we will head over to Henan province and check out the very famous Shaolin Temple, Longmen Caves, and White Horse temple:

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Then it’s on to Xian in Shaanxi province, to check out the thousands of terracotta warriors:

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We then hope to drive up and into Shanxi province to visit the ancient walled town of Pingyao, and then check out some cave locations at Lijiashan and the Yungang Caves:

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From here it’s up into our new province – Inner Mongolia – where we’ll be spending the next year teaching in a university, but before we arrive at our destination we want to visit the town of Hohhot and Xilinhot and then the majestic, vast grasslands and beautiful scenery and people at Hulunbeier:

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To say we’re a little bit excited would be a huge understatement. Can. Not. Wait. Not sure how much access to internet we’ll have while we’re travelling and on the road, so if you don’t hear from me much in July and August, you’ll know why.

 

If anyone is reading this has been to China and can recommend other places that are worth a visit or that you loved, please get in touch! Would love to hear your experiences and what you thought of some great places to see.
2 Comments

So close I can almost taste it!

11/24/2013

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Woohoo! 6 days to go people. Pretty pumped. Anyhoo...

Today's run (the last speed workout of the program and last time at the track, yay!) was as follows: 2km warm up, 8 x 100m intervals with full recovery in between, then 2km cool down. Felt good. Not much more to say about this.

Have a marvellous Monday everyone!

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    A 30-something's running and travelling experience around the world.

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