Friday 18 October 2013

The day the sun turned red

I just thought I’d share some photos of what the sky looked like yesterday. 
Everything had an almost sepia haze.  It felt like something was wrong with the world.  There have been some serious fires happening here and the smoke haze turned the sun red. 
 
I took these pictures at college yesterday afternoon. 

It looks like a sunset sky, but this was 4:30 in the afternoon.

Look at that bank of smoke!  It was starting to clear a bit by this time.

That little light grey dot in the sky is the sun, believe it or not.  It was red a little earlier until even more smoke blew over it. 

 
This is what the sun looked like:

Image from: http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/national/hundreds-left-homeless-as-the-gravest-bushfire-emergency-in-a-decade-strikes-nsw-this-is-as-bad-as-it-gets-says-barry-o8217farrell/story-fnii5s40-1226741636446

I am praying for those affected by the bush fires, the emergency services, and praying it would be contained soon. 

Monday 14 October 2013

I’m not a runner…

I hate running, it is probably my least favourite form of exercise.  It’s monotonous, it hurts, it’s not very social, and I have no stamina.  I’d much prefer to exercise with other people by playing a team sport, being in a ballet class, or even an exercise class.  I can almost trick myself into thinking it’s fun if I’m doing it with other people. 

Image from: http://www.exerciseforpink.com/

But I’ve started running.

I’ve heard of the Couch to 5k (C25k) a few times since last year but never had any desire to find out more.  A couple of months ago a neighbour, Bible study group member and friend, Liz, told me that she and a friend had started the C25k.  I don’t know what it was, but just by talking to her about their running she inspired me to give it a try. 

So I downloaded an app on my phone (there are so many out there, I downloaded the one pictured here because it was free) and I went for my first run. 

Down the bottom of our street there is a walking/cycling track that runs along a river.  This is where I ran.  During the first week you run for 60 seconds then walk for 90 seconds for eight sets.  Parts of it was a struggle, there were moments when I thought “I’ll just walk the next one”, but I got through it without giving up. 

Later on when I got home I had trouble flexing my feet and had some pain in my shins for the next few days.  This scared me off running.  I didn’t want to hurt myself again. 

Last weekend I was talking to my mum about running as she recently did the City to Bay.  I told her about the C25k and we decided to do it together, though separated in different cities.  So we tell each other when we’ve completed a day’s run to encourage and motivate each other.  We’ve now both completed week one, and I did the first run of week two this afternoon.  I now run around the park (on the grass) at the end of the street and I haven’t had any problems with my shins. 

I still have no love for running, but this program and doing it with mum have motivated me to keep going.  I even don’t mind doing it by myself, I can run at my own pace and I can do it whenever works for me (though I admit that sometimes scheduled running might be a better motivation).  I’m not sure what will come from this, but I’m exercising and that’s good enough for me. 

Wednesday 2 October 2013

Reasons to Exercise

I'm not very good at exercising, I just can't often seem to motivate myself to do it.  I'm much better if I'm with other people.  So doing ballet with other students at college is great, and I also exercise with a neighbour on Sunday mornings.  But I'm hopeless when it comes to doing something by myself.  But I goaded myself and actually did something this afternoon.  So I thought I'd write down a list of some of the things I can motivate myself with.

Here they are, my reasons to exercise:

     1. Have more energy

     2. Concentrate better in class

     3. Feel better about your body

     4. Boost your metabolism and immune system

     5. Tone your muscles and increase your strength

     6. Muscles burn more energy than fat

     7. You'll be less tempted to eat sweet things because you don't want to undo the work you've done

     8. You won't feel as guilty if you do eat something sweet

     9. Have clearer skin

     10. Be less stressed, anxious or down

     11. Life is just better when you exercise regularly

I'm going to put this list up somewhere that I'll see it often and use it as motivation.  What are your reasons to exercise?