I Love...

...that feeling of complete happiness and satisfaction that comes from achieving the long run you've set out to do. Yeess!! Completed my long run this morning, and even went a little bit further (almost 31km!), due to a deceptive breakwall running parallel to the river that I assumed would lead back onto the path someway up, as it was a fairly long stretch of wall, but alas, no I had to make this (maybe 1km total?) backtrack. Didn't bother me though, as it was all part of this awesome long run, one on which I felt pretty damn good. I didn't push the pace or run too fast, but just ran at a comfortable pace, even stopping for a toilet break and to get things in and out of camelback etc... The first 10km or so were spent in quiet, peaceful solitude: the day was yet to break for half of this time, and it was just me, in the dark with my thoughts. Then it gradually got lighter and a few other walkers/runners/cyclists became apparent, as I jogged along, still thinking and musing. After about an hour I realised that there is now some music on my phone (courtesy of Josh - thanks Josh, been loving the tracks!) so the for the majority of my run I was running along to an eclectic mix of: At The Drive In, The Killers, Michael Jackson, Black Eyed Peas, Kelis, Kings of Leon, Foo Fighters, Guns n Roses, Maroon 5, Basement Jaxx, and Lily Allen, to name a few. The phone/music option also allowed me the distraction of fiddling with said phone to choose new songs, so I'm sure that helped things in the long run (pun definitely intended).

Here's the 'before' shot (you can't tell from this angle, but the camelback was loaded with the requisite fuel, consisting of a couple of sweet bread rolls filled with red bean paste, some hawthorn dried fruit/jelly sweets, and a large sugary ice tea):

And the 'after' shot (so you know there's no fibbery involved - yes, that is a new word I coined this morning, thank you very much...):

D'oh! If only I'd gone an extra 8 metres! Haha... Oh well, close enough. I was only intending to do around 28 at most initially, but 30 just seemed like a much nicer, rounder number. Umm, not sure what's going on with my Garmin, but I'm pretty sure the calories reading is way off. I was happy with this time of 3 hours and 11 minutes, but happier still that my legs were still feeling pretty good at the end, and had I had more kilometres to do, I'm sure I could have continued, no problem. This has given me a lot of confidence for those 42km legs of the 3-day event coming up in a fortnight! Hoping I can re-enact this performance then.

In keeping with today's title, here's a list of other things (people not included! That goes without saying, and YOU know who you are xxxx)  that I absolutely LOVE, in no particular order:

Staying in and reading a page-turner of a (usually trashy) novel.
Watching (often really 'bad') chick flicks or rom coms.
Snacking while watching said chick flicks.
Or drinking good wine while watching said chick flicks.
Dancing with my friends (preferably on a table at Echo Beach's pub), badly or not so badly sometimes, usually the former I suppose...
My BODY. Yep, I said it. I love it. Enough of people not liking their bodies or wishing it would change. I LOVE MY BODY.
My brain too... I realise this is really just an extension on the point above, but hey-ho... Yes, it may seem a bit weird (crazy?) at times, but it's really quite intelligent; just ask it.
Travelling to new cities or places and spending lots of time (and sometimes lots of money too) all in the aid of running a race and getting a new t-shirt/medal.
Hiking, and mountains in general.
Avocado and vegemite on seedy toast.
Tea, tea, tea.
Flying and travelling in general.

Now, I'm off to do some fun jobs like the dreaded laundry (definitely not on my beloved list) and possibly put my feet/legs up for a bit. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!

What would be on YOUR list of things you absolutely love??