Category:

Another ARD Today

9/25/2014

Yes, still sick, annoyingly enough, so have taken today off completely - off from yoga dates/training/work - the lot. Boo.... Is all I can say, but apparently rest will cure this cold. It surely is only a cold, but apparently two rest days earlier in the week did not cure it. Yesterday, in a futile (and probably very stupid) effort to feel better / sweat it out / get back into training, I went for an early morning run before work, then did a quick weight/strength workout in between lessons in the morning, and then taught all afternoon until 6:30pm. Hmm, cue: not very well today (despite keeping up my water/veggies/garlic/chilli regime). Possibly my own fault?? I really did think I was getting better yesterday, oh well...

One thing I noticed on my run, and I have seen this often here in China, was people running in their 'civvies' or usual, everyday clothes, and not specifically any 'running' gear. (Did you see this too, when you were in China, Amy??) For example: jeans and a shirt, or jeans and a jumper. I have seen people running in leather jackets. I have also seen people running in wedge sandals instead of trainers. Hmm, this seems to go against the grain of everything that every sports' clothing/shoes company wants us to think - surely to take part in a sport, you have to buy the right equipment and clothing first, yes? China has served as a reminder that really, all you need to run is: YOU. You need nothing else: just the will and spirit and desire to get out there and run (although the pragmatist in me is adding: oh and a sportsbra for women, even if you've got small girls like me - protect those important Coopers ligaments, Ladies!). It is extremely motivating when you buy new running items, however. Nothing puts a spring in your step, like breaking in new running shoes, for example. But for times when you may feel unprepared (i.e. your usual running clothes are in the wash, or your trainers are wet/lost/broken), there is always a way to run. Sure, you may not run at your usual pace or time, but you can still run (or jog, or walk). Unless you're ill or injured. Then I think: back to listening to your body and getting some REST (note to self: take your own advice).

Hoping this cold pisses off today, as tomorrow we are being judges for an English public speaking contest. Not sure if we have to give a detailed verdict or if it's simply a case of holding up a score card, Olympic-gymnastics-judging-style. I'm hoping it's the latter. In the meantime, while resting, I'm going to give this healing ginger tea recipe a go: http://higherperspective.com/2014/09/flu-ginger-tea.html?utm_source=MAM

Aaand, for something completely unrelated to both running and sickness, here is us and some fellow English teachers with the man-of-the-moment up here in Inner Mongolia - the very famous (or infamous, depending on which country's history you are reading) Genghis Khan:

Have a great weekend everyone! I will most likely be 'off' running for the next few days (and therefore blogging too - or all you'll get is me whinging re: how frustrated I am). See you when I see you!

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ARDs

9/23/2014

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What is an ARD, I hear you ask? An Accidental, or Annoying, Rest Day. Why, accidental? Because you maybe got ill or injured by accident. Why annoying?? Because you REALLY wanted to get some morning kilometres in and instead you stayed in bed with a rotten cold. Yep, story of my life these past couple of days. SO annoying! Felt itching to get out and run, but my body and head told me otherwise this morning and for the first time in a very long time, I slept through my early alarm, and decided to stay put in bed when I did wake up. Yesterday, I just didn't get out of bed either - saw the early time, and just thought 'no, that's not happening today'. Boo to colds and illnesses. They have a tendency to f&*k my training plans up quite royally. Oh well, I suppose I am doing to right thing, and 'listening to my body' etc etc by not training, but to have two unplanned and unwanted rest days bang in the middle of my week, irks me somewhat.

I am contemplating getting a low-effort strength workout in a little bit later today, or even going for a cycle in the now a lot cooler weather, so then I guess it's only one extra ARD so far this week. But I've cancelled three different fitness dates so far! So, that's no good. I'm blaming said weather and it's change, together with a 'hugely busy' (lol) schedule all of a sudden, for my current cold. To combat said cold I'm eating spicy veggie soup filled with all kinds of healing goodies by the bucketful, and water, water, water, of course.

The Beijing half marathon is only three and a half weeks away now! I need to keep this in mind and keep training. I.e. piss off, Cold. Thank you.

How many rest days do you take, roughly, per week? Are your rest days planned or do you take them as and when you need them? (Mine is usually on a Saturday).

Any miracle cold cures?? (Lots of garlic, veggies and water is usually my aim, but would love to hear of any others.)

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Food for Healing, Health and Happiness

6/26/2014

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Aaaaand: the rain is back. I suppose one day’s reprieve is better than nothing? It is raining hard this morning – I believe the technical term is ‘bucketing down’ or ‘pissing down’. That’s ok with me, seeing as I cancelled what would have been an easy paced 9.66km run this morning, as I am still resting my achey/sore legs (both of them feel very sore and tight up the back of my legs/hamstrings now, so the rest will continue, as frustrating as it is). So, it’s quite nice sitting here and sipping my coffee watching/hearing the rainy-season-esque downpour (it is reminding me of my time in a small Amazonian jungle village in Bolivia, where I visited during rainy season and subsequently got trapped there when I realised no planes could fly back out from their grassy ‘airport’/runway if it was pouring with rain. Which it was. Every day. It’s quite a nice, relaxing, lulling sound though).

This means the things and errands we had planned for today (which involved cycling to and from) may now be postponed due to the weather. (Yes, we could always take a taxi, but that’s no fun.)

I don’t often mention it or write about it on here, but I am a qualified nutritionist (before English-teaching-Lou!) however I’ve been travelling and doing other things with my life lately, so this has taken a back-seat (and I hope I haven’t forgotten everything that I studied so hard for!). Next year, I am aiming to go back to uni (in Australia) and complete a masters or post-graduate degree that will give me the extra credentials and expertise so that I’ll then be able to work as an accredited dietician. Anyhoo, I digress, the point I was trying to get at, is that I love all things nutrition related and about how we can thrive and live our lives to the fullest and happiest, and cure any ailments, just by good nutrition and being aware of what we eat. I mentioned yesterday that I’d be eating lots of healthy, healing foods, so I thought I’d expand a bit more on exactly what those would be.

The first thing that comes to mind, when thinking about healing your body, would be protein, and making sure you’re getting enough good quality sources of this. Such as: lean-meat and fish (if you are not vegetarian), eggs, tofu, yoghurt, nuts, seeds, pulses. A protein powder/drink can also be useful. Protein helps to heal and repair the body and build new, lean muscle.

However it’s not just protein that you’d need to ensure your getting enough of. Key vitamins/minerals to up your intake of would be: vitamin C (and antioxidants, to help with inflammation), vitamin A (acts as an antioxidant also, for inflammation healing, and also needed for new cells/tissue) , zinc (needed to repair and grow new muscle), along with a regular supply of B vitamins (for tissue regeneration and repair as well as daily general well-being, energy etc), enough calcium (from more ‘natural’, bioavailable sources if possible, i.e. dark green veg, almonds, eggs, tinned fish rather than bovine sources of calcium for their young, ie. Milk), an adequate intake of carbohydrate (even if not training), and enough ‘good’ fats too (for reducing/eliminating inflammation).

So, to up your vitamin C, people often think ‘oranges/citrus fruit’, but there is an abundance of vit C (and antioxidants) in potatoes (mainly the skin, so keep it on if possible), strawberries, kiwifruit, broccoli, capsicums, cabbage, and many other fruit and veg. So, aiming for a variety of different coloured fruit and veg will help increase your vit C intake (and usually your B vitamin intake too).

For making sure you’re getting enough vitamin A, initially look for orange coloured veg, such as sweet potato and carrots, but also be aware that there’s vit A in eggs, fish, dairy products (aim for eating less of these though), and dark green leafy veg.

Zinc is often thought to go hand in hand with your protein intake, i.e. if you’re getting enough protein then you’re probably getting enough zinc, but if you’re unsure, then aim to add in some: nuts, beans, seafood (i.e. oysters and crab), lean meat, dairy foods (but keep these to a minimum). A zinc supplement can be useful too (although it’s best to aim to get your vitamins and minerals naturally through bioavailable food sources rather than a capsule, but an extra supplement at times, such as when you are aiming to heal and injury or prevent an illness, can be a very good thing).

Good sources of B vitamins: cereals, beans, nuts, meat, fish, vegetables etc (found in many different foods, so aim for a varied and interesting diet).

Eating enough in general, and not reducing your carbohydrate intake is important for healing too. If you eat too few kilojoules or not enough carbohydrate sources, then your body will naturally start to burn your own protein for fuel instead, thus slowing the healing process. Good sources of carbohydrate foods to choose would be starchy, whole-grains if possible, and aiming for a variety of these and not just one type.

‘Good’ fat choices could be olive oils, peanut butter (or other nut butters), flax seeds, oily fish (salmon, sardines, tuna etc), and avocado.

So, these would be the main foods and items to focus on, but don’t underestimate the power of herbs and spices! I mentioned previously re: Husband’s turmeric habit, and turmeric is an amazing panacea that can assist with a number of ailments and issues. I really need to take his advice about this and incorporate it into my daily diet, along with more garlic, especially when aiming to heal quickly. (One of turmeric’s benefits is that it has anti-inflammatory properties).

I think I have most of this covered, as my daily diet anyway consists of a large variety of different coloured veg, a good amount of carbohydrate (from rice, bread, other grains in soups/porridge, potatoes), plenty of tofu, nuts, seeds and eggs, and a fair bit of olive oil and peanut butter. I have also added in some protein powder drinks too (courtesy of my recent prize of a giant tub of protein powder), and I have a zinc supplement (in theory anyway – for some reason I forget to actually go and find the bottle and take a pill out to take it! They’re around here somewhere…) so I will be adding that in too. Oh yeah, and GREEN TEA, loads of it (we drink it by the bucketload here), I will be continuing with that, for its anti-oxidant properties and for making me feel awesome. I will also eliminate any beers or wine and my usual ice-cream addiction for the next week (yep, you read that correctly!), as this will help no end too, I’m sure.

So, in theory: good nutrition + lots of rest/sleep + positive thinking = I will be fixed and have ‘new’ legs again in no time, yes?? That’s the plan anyway.

Here are a few links to articles re: healing and nutrition if you fancy reading more (theirs may well be more technical than my ramblings on here too):

http://www.ironman.com/triathlon-news/articles/2013/01/nutrition-for-injury.aspx#axzz35nHbndUz

http://www.livestrong.com/article/303683-foods-that-help-heal-muscle/

http://www.bicycling.com/training-nutrition/nutrition-weight-loss/foods-heal

http://www.fitbie.com/slideshow/5-kinds-foods-heal

http://www.eatingwell.com/nutrition_health/nutrition_news_information/foods_to_soothe_sore_muscles

Oh, Ginger too! Fresh ginger is great for pain relief and reducing inflammation too. (How could I forget ginger?! Another of Husband's daily habits - hmmm, I really SHOULD follow his example more, it seems...)

Are you a fan of protein powders?? (This has been the first one I've really given a go, and so far, so good. It's not my favourite thing to drink though.)

Enjoy your day people! Wow, it's the weekend (pretty much) already, again! How the hell did that happen?!

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Fankle Pain

6/25/2014

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The rain has stopped! Hurrah!! However, looks like the humidity is returning in full force, so I’m sure there’s yet more rain in our not-too-distant future.

The morning I went for a slow, recovery paced run, 11km, on a regular route down by the riverside. The niggling calf ache/pain (I guess it's really my upper ankle, or 'fankle' - fat ankle - as its painful and slightly swollen/has a bruised feeling) was still there, and it felt like it got better and then worse, then better, then worse again throughout the very slow run (20 minutes slower than usual). In fact, my legs felt tight and achey all over, and by the end of the run my right hip had started to ache and feel strange too. What’s going on? It feels like I have just run a hard race or a marathon yesterday or something. Perhaps, this is a delayed reaction to my 50km trail race (back on 7th June), and I didn’t get away with such an awesome, quick recovery after all? Hmm… Not good. But, I think I will do the sensible thing, and cancel my runs for the next two to three days, so the rest of this week, and rest my legs (albeit for the usual walking and cycling as transport, and maybe some yoga too) and see how they are feeling on Monday’s planned 9.66km easy paced run. I am still thinking about the 16km run I should be doing over the weekend though, hmmm. If I can, I may also get back to the hotel’s swimming pool for some active recovery pool running/jogging.

I will also be eating lots of healthy, healing foods, and will be aiming to get more sleep than I’ve been getting recently.

I hope my legs are back to normal by next Saturday!! How annoying. It’s got me worried that maybe I have reached my peak during my training and that when I come to run the actual race, I won’t be able to repeat and emulate the successes I have had when training. Hmm, maybe running an ultra 50km trail race just one month before this half marathon wasn’t a great training idea, in hindsight…

Have you got any secrets/tips for a speedy recovery?

How many days would you take off from running if you’re feeling sore?

Aaaand, a few shots of the beautiful Gold Coast, in the hope that this mental motivation helps my legs return to 'normal' in time for next week (and ideally in time for Sunday so I can get my final long-ish run in):

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The Illusion of Time

6/11/2014

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I woke up this morning and one of my first thoughts was 'oh my gosh, it was a week ago today that I was off to Beijing!' I can't believe it's been a week since I left for my trail race adventure weekend already. It made me kind of sad thinking about how seemingly fast it came and went hey. I know, I know: time is an illusion and there is no 'past' or 'future' as we like to talk/write about, there is only life in the 'now' and here in the present: we have, as humans, constructed these illusionary hours, days, weeks etc. However, it seems to me that when there is something you're really looking forward to and are excited about that this illusionary concept of time simply speeds right up and suddenly that event/holiday/night you've been dreaming about and looking forward to has suddenly been and gone, leaving you feeling a little bereft, or something like that. It got me thinking, 'oh no! Soon my Gold Coast half and quick trip back to Oz will be been and gone, as will our month long caravan tour around China!'

All the more reason to stop and be mindful, and smell those proverbial roses as often as you can. Enjoy every moment of your day. Look forward to your events and plans coming up, sure, but be happy and present NOW.

So, further to this enjoying the moment and smelling the roses ramble so far, here is what we're going to do today, and I'll be enjoying every moment of it: there is a hotel not far from us that has this awesome underground spa area where you can have as many saunas, steams, dips in the Jacuzzi as you wish, before donning some excellent pyjamas of sorts and being led through to a buffet lunch. After this you are then led through to a large room filled with many easyboy/recliners, each with a couple of towels laid out (for blankets or for massages) and a personal TV screen. They sit you down in this pretty dark room, and people bring you tea and plates of fruit while you kick back and relax or sleep if you want. Then you can either start all over again and go back to the steam room/jacuzzi, or simply head back to the buffet a little bit later for dinner, or chill and watch a movie or get on the wifi there. We've got some vouchers that give us '12 hours of rest' there so we thought, why not today?? We are kind of on holiday now after all (exams are finished for us, so no more teaching/classes).

No so much active recovery today then, as it will be traditional restful recovery, haha.

Do you find that time speeds up when you are excited about something? Does it feel like recent months/years have gone by too quickly for you?

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Gonna Miss These Guys

5/30/2014

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Said our goodbyes to the happiest, loveliest, funniest bunch of kids yesterday. They are our last class on a Friday afternoon, and just the best, happiest students we've had the pleasure of teaching. After other, more challenging classes throughout the week, they never fail to make us smile and forget any troubles. We will miss them a lot! Word must have got around that we will be leaving soon and thus not teaching them anymore after today, as there were shouts of 'no! You can't leave us!' as soon as I entered the room, and mock crying as we said our goodbyes. One girl gave us the loveliest, beautiful handwritten card/letter telling us how much she likes us and how much she will miss us. I am so touched:

No running or working out today: official rest day. Phew. Apparently I needed it - slept in til the grand old time of SEVEN o'clock this morning! This is something of a rarity hey. Maybe all the 4am and 4:30am starts have finally caught up with me.

Any rest days out there for you today?

Do you sleep in at the weekend? (I try to but fail apparently.)

Enjoy your weekend!

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Long Run Fuel, and Jee, Em!

5/24/2014

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Today is my official rest day of the working(out) week, and I've been following that pretty much to the letter. It is hot, hot, hot here (like a Balinese, super humid, sweaty kind of heat) today, so after a few quick trips out into the oppressive heat, I'm relishing being back in the beautiful air conditioned apartment, ice-cream soon to be in hand.

I've just been planning what I'm going to take on my long run of the week tomorrow morning, and I found these awesome looking tubes/squeezie packs of what I THINK is some kind of fruit jelly in the local shop. Check them out:

So, if all goes well with them tomorrow, these could be my very-non-technical substitute for Gu or some other fancy gels. We'll see! So, these two small packs together with some water and a sports drink will form my 'fuel' during tomorrow's 32km run. Runners, what do you think? Is this on the money? Too much, not enough, or about ok fuel for said distance? I still feel my fuel and eating/drinking while running is somewhat lacking (and I'd prefer not to until I finish a run, but I know with a 50km trail race, or even a long training run, this will not be possible.)

Speaking of fuel, or, FOOD, here's a question for you: What is your take on GM (genetically modified or engineered) foods? Do you live in an area where they are banned? Do you read/see much about them in the news? I'm curious to know, especially as today marks the date for a massive international march/protest against infamous chemical company Monsanto (and their recent foray into pushing GM foods in a bid to 'save the world', hmmm...).

For those having a long weekend (everyone in America and Australia I think, you lucky buggers, haha), have a wonderful weekend!

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Bump N' Grind, and Stair Running Like Rocky

5/10/2014

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Now, I'm not one to usually quote R Kelly (ok, pretty much NEVER quote this guy, but hey-ho..) but the theme of my mornings this weekend, where on both mornings I've told myself that I WILL get up for my long run as scheduled, has been the beginning of his classic, back-in-the-day 'Bump N' Grind', although with the words reversed. Something more like this: "My mind's telling me YES, but my body, my body's telling me NO". Yes, on both occasions I have chosen rest and laying in bed, instead of going for that 35km run. Oops... You know what they say? Listen to your body, right? So, I did. Feels good. I'm sure I'll get more kilometres in next week, but it seems my body needed and loved this week of cross-training, yoga, speedwork, plus a couple of easy runs.

After copious coffees this morning, and perhaps after reading this article online (http://www.runnersworldonline.com.au/stair-running-can/) I decided to go for a stair running workout, and now, 30 reps of our 7 storey building later, I'm feeling a lot like this guy (although no styling red sweatband for me):

I remembered to count this morning. So, one rep UP is 119 stairs, so that makes 30 x 119 = 3570 steps going one way, so, up and down = 7140 steps total . GREAT substitute for a run methinks. This is what the article had to say about stair running and the benefits it brings:

"If you borrow one element (besides running) from Rocky Balboa’s training regimen, make it stair-climbing. The plyometric motion strengthens the same muscles as lunges and squats, and taxes your lungs and heart as you power to the top. “Stairs force you to work against gravity, and this helps build two essential needs for runners: strength and power,” says Anne Moore, an exercise physiologist and running coach. You need both, whether you’re kicking to the finish of a 5K or trying to maintain pace during the later kilometres of a marathon. Moore adds that stair-climbing “forces you to utilise muscle stabilisers, like the gluteus medius, that get neglected during regular runs,” because you’re balancing on and activating one leg, briefly, as the other moves to the next step. Strengthen these areas and you’ll reduce your risk of injury.

Finally, stairs are much steeper than most hills: Indoor stairs have a roughly 65 per cent grade, while Sydney’s Heartbreak Hill is less than 10 per cent. That’s why climbing them accelerates your heart rate so rapidly and makes you breathe faster to take in more oxygen. This, in turn, improves your VO2 max – the maximum amount of oxygen you can utilise during intense exercise. “This teaches your body to use that oxygen and convert it to energy quicker,” says Moore. A greater VO2 max means you can run harder and for longer durations. A study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that short bouts of stair-climbing five days a week for eight weeks improved VO2 max by 17 per cent among young women.

Weave these stair workouts into your weekly training and watch your performance reach new heights."

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Rest Day = Workday?

5/3/2014

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Today is SUNDAY yet we will be at work. Just seems so wrong. Oh well. Lucky it’s work we enjoy and doesn’t feel like work, so all good really. We have three lessons on for today, and I’m doing ‘body language’ with my students this week, so lots of acting and charades for my classes today. Should be fun.

Apart from that, today is my rest day of the week, after meeting every exercise goal and plan that I had for last week. Feels great to complete everything and tick it off (I am old fashioned I guess – use a proper pen and paper system and write what I plan to do in my diary).

After yesterday’s awesome long run, I spent the day eating, sleeping, watching a long documentary with Husband, before going out to eat and drink some more. We went to one of our favourite restaurant and had a few beers to start. Some men from another table came over to toast us and have a drink with us, urging us to ‘gambei’ (down in one) our drinks. It is impolite not to, so, when in China and all that… Anyway, later we headed back over to their table to return the ‘favour’, and sat there for a bit of a chat (half in English, half in Chinese, so probably a fair bit of confusion all round). They had already eaten (a feast it looked like, judging from the many empty plates on their table), so we ordered some food that we asked to be placed back on our original table, and we’d go back when it was ready. One of the dudes we were with had had a skinful it seemed, very blurry, but very happy and chilled, no drunken aggression or anything, so they started to head off. The other one came up to me and was trying to say something about money for the food, or I thought maybe he was trying to tell me that the food had arrived back at our table. No, he was trying to tell us that he had paid for our meal! We tried to say no and that there was no need etc, but he firmly insisted, saying we are friends and it is already done, no arguments. Sooo kind and lovely and generous. And still amazing to me. I don’t think that would ever happen in Australia or England – strangers randomly paying for a couple’s meal and lots of drinks, and a couple who they had only met very briefly too. But, seems this is the norm here, as often we’ve been out with Chinese friends and they have beaten us to the bill or insist on paying, and we’ve seen others at restaurants insisting too - almost violently in some cases we’ve seen, as other patrons have been physically struggling over who gets up first to pay the bill.

This town we live in is so friendly and loving. We are really going to miss this place.

Here are a couple of pictures from one of our other favourite restaurants over here, where the day before yesterday Husband was taken in to the kitchen to be shown by the amazing Chef how to make his favourite dish that we routinely order (a sizzling egg-plant dish – ‘qieze’). He filmed the genius at work before we got straight into the delicious feast he’d whipped up (the egg-plant dish, sizzling tofu (doufu), egg and tomato, and green beans - some of our favourites over here). We were there with our good friend and her daughter Lu-Lu, who will both soon be heading to Australia! (Yunbo, her husband, is already there, and they will go over later to join him and get Lu-Lu enrolled in an Australian school).

Ok, it’s off to work I go soon. So, happy Sundays everyone! Have a Funday-Sunday.

Does anyone else work on the weekends?? Hope yours is a good day all the same.

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Blasts From The Past, and My Hot Date

4/19/2014

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Yesterday’s run was an AWESOME run! Smashed it! Or, felt like I did anyway. It was as follows: 1.6kms easy, 4.8kms threshold pace, 1.6kms easy, 4.8kms threshold, 6.2kms easy. I stopped running 500m early, as I wanted to buy a drink and some breads on the way home and happened to be coming up to the amazing-crusty-bread stall, and then walked about 1km home from there. Altogether it took 1:27, and my legs felt great. My fastest 5kms from this run was 21:17 and my fastest 10kms was 43:42.

I was pretty nervous about running threshold pace for those two distances (threshold pace being between 4:07 – 4:18 for me and the time I’m aiming for in the big race) but it went fine, and no dramas at all. So, now I’m thinking, what if I do something similar to this on the day of the race? Just do a third extra of what I did this morning plus an extra kilometerish at threshold pace? I.e. 1.6kms easy, 4.8kms threshold, 1.6kms easy, 4.8kms threshold, 1.6kms easy, 6.7kms threshold. So, perhaps I will don Garmin on race day after all.

This run left me feeling pretty confident and kind of on top of the world, and it just goes to show, that you CAN do hard things! Or things that you find the idea of quite daunting at first. I think most things, before you try them for the first time, can seem daunting and a lot harder than they actually turn out to be. Case in point (recent examples):

-          Speaking loudly/teaching/aiming to keep control of 50 kids at a time = pretty daunting before we began this job here. Now = piece of cake (haha, although ‘control’ isn’t a word I’d use in this case).

-          Giving a speech to hundreds or thousands of people = super daunting and ‘scary’ before. After having done it = not so bad, and I can do it.

-         Running/climbing/crawling up and down the Great Wall of China = extremely daunting at first look. After the race = exhilarated and ecstatic at having done it.

-         Speaking Chinese = very hard and a challenge. Now = very hard and a challenge. (Haha, ok, this one will be a work in progress…)

I was inspired the other day (thanks Kristina!) to rifle through all my old photos (ones on the computer anyway) for a good ole’ nostalgia session. Didn’t think I had any digital ones from 2003 but surprised myself and found some (shockingly bad) photos from my days at University down in Brighton, England. Here’s a not too bad one from then, this is me with my old housemate Matt and lovely friend Sarah:

Is it weird that I can pinpoint which year (and probably which month too) by my hair at the time? Other than the hair occasionally changing colour, I don’t think I’ve changed too much? What do you think? This is me in 2004 in Hastings, England. Arrghh – used to love this skirt way too much. Haha, must have loved the way it made my legs glow luminously white or something:

Fast forward to 2007 to Australian life where I was going through a platinum/bleached blond coupled with a spray tan look. Winning yes? Haha. This was when I had a mobile spray tanning business, so, hazard of the job?

Aaaand, then I chose to dye my hair super dark brown for a change in late 2008. Hmm, interesting thing, when you dye your hair: complete strangers think it’s acceptable to weigh in on if they preferred your hair blond or brown. The same thing happened when I changed it to red back when I was 17/18 – complete strangers telling me that they preferred it before. Creepy much? Oh, and pretty sure boyfriend at the time told me instantly it was horrible and he also preferred the blond hair I had before the change. Thanks for that!

And another one of my dark hair, complete with my favourite lady! (Also sporting dark hair, Annie! Remember this?)
LOVE Australia Day!

Then, this is where I’m in between brown and blond, attempting to dye it back to ‘normal’ (much prefer having lighter hair, so it seems those strangers were right!). This was my very first full marathon! In 2009 in the Hunter Valley Australia:

Another one from that marathon weekend. I went with my friend Ruth, who was running her first half marathon, and I was pretty pumped – can you tell?

This is one from a triathlon I took part in, in Newcastle, Australia in I think 2007 maybe? Or late 2006? Hard to tell as I can’t see my hair colour, lol… I only did the run portion while my excellent friend Joe did both the swim and the hardcore cycle section (which was up and down some very steep hills). I think I ran the 4km stretch along the harbour and back in 17 minutes, which isn’t too bad considering I wasn’t really a ‘runner’ back then (yet). I look just a little bit nervous, haha.

Me and my favourite again. Both of us back to blond again (mine still with a hint of brown though, so this must have been mid 2009? Or August 2009 to be precise - was this your birthday drinks Annie?):

Here is Husband and I! Back when we had not long gotten together. This is early 2010, in Newcastle, Australia. I love this photo so much. We used it as postcards for details for our wedding when we got married in 2012. Look at his beautiful blue eyes!

Speaking of Husband, he is away this weekend visiting a friend about an hour’s train ride away from here. I suggested he may want a ‘manly’ weekend away to catch up with his friend (who used to live and work here, but now we don’t get to see him so often). This has given me a whole weekend to myself to: catch up on some writing (yep, the trashy ‘novel’ is getting one-step closer to being finished), rest and SLEEP (hopefully), see a friend and her daughter for jiaozi (dumplings) and pijiu (beer), watch chick-flicks while drinking white wine and eating dark chocolate (yes, I realize how clichéd this sounds), and do whatever else I fancy. Oh, and I might have had a hot date with this little beauty:

Ok, no running today – it is a day of rest, lol. Long run done and dusted yesterday, and NO achey legs this morning, awesome. Oh, and I think it’s Easter today? So, enjoy that if you are celebrating. Am guessing lots of lovely long weekends for you folks back in Australia and England? Enjoy!

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Another ARD Today

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The Illusion of Time

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Bump N' Grind, and Stair Running Like Rocky

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