Achievement unlocked!

At the end of last year I made it my goal to get to a level of fitness that meant I could run the distance between home and college (8km).  Parkrun helped me to get more comfortable with running five kms and helped me to run faster.  The loss of car parks at college provided the motivation for some in our community to up the exercise and start running or cycling to or from college.  But apparently not me.  I talked about running home but kept saying I wasn’t ready.  And it was too hot. 

I think one turning point was on Friday of research week when I went for a run with three guys (friends, neighbours and fellow third year students) and kept pace with them.  One (who was running slower than his usual speed for the sake of the rest of us) encouraged me to just bite the bullet and do the run home from college.  I told myself I would start running home during term two (only a week and a bit away).

Cue wet and windy weather this week. 

But I still did it.  Two neighbour–friends who would normally run home on Tuesday afternoons said they were happy to run in the rain so I went with them so they could show me the shortest route.  We wore rain jackets, I swapped my glasses for contacts (luckily I still had some in my old script) and jumped through the puddles and around fallen branches.  It was actually fun being in the rain but not caring about getting wet. 

It was probably a bit crazy to run my first 8km in that sort of weather but I’m so glad I’ve proved to myself that I can do it.  I’m also glad to know that running in the rain isn’t all that bad (so now I have no excuse on a rainy morning!).  I plan to run home from college every Tuesday and hope to eventually add another day, perhaps Thursday morning or Thursday afternoon, and still continue Saturday morning parkrun. 

Thankful Thursday

Here are some things that I’m thankful for this week:

Electric Fans
There have been a couple of times this week when I’ve gotten home from a run or the walk from the train station and I’ve turned on the fan and just stood in front of it to let it cool me down.  The humidity in this city really makes it hard to cool down.  So I’m thankful for electricity and fans. 

Bible study
This week the women’s Bible study in our community started.  Over the past two years I’ve loved this group.  It’s been a great way to get to know the other wives who live here and to love and support each other.  There’s a different dynamic to a Bible study group when it’s all women and it has been wonderful to hear from different people’s experiences and wrestle with the Bible together. 

Harmonies and forgiveness
I didn’t know that I was rostered on to play the piano at women’s chapel this morning.  I should have known, the roster was emailed to me last week.  I just hadn’t integrated it with my diary.  So when I was almost at my train stop for college I got a call from someone asking if I knew that I was on music this morning.  Cue speed-walking from the station to college.  I didn’t have time to practice with the singers (I found out later that my lovely husband had been around earlier when they were waiting for me and had helped them practice).  Thankfully the one song I played was familiar to me and we couldn’t find the music for the other song so we sung it acapella.  And it sounded great!  We even had some harmonies going on.  I’m thankful that it all turned out okay, the singers forgave me and the singing was fantastic.  I love music. 

What are you thankful for this week?

Thankful Thursday

This week has been… well actually I’m not sure how to describe it.  Perhaps I’ll just tell you what I’m thankful for and you’ll get a picture of what my week was like from that.

Showing off my knowledge of the Zoo
Well perhaps that’s not the best way of putting it, but I was in charge of the map and the route we took to tour the zoo so I did feel a bit like a tour guide.  On Saturday we took three friends from church to the Zoo with us.  In our college community a number of families, including us, pool some money together to buy five Zoo membership passes and this means that we can essentially treat friends to a free trip to the zoo.  One of the girls we took on Saturday is new to our church and new to Australia so it was lovely to show her some Australian animals in particular.  I’m thankful for this opportunity to bless our friends and the fun that we had together at the Zoo.  I’m also thankful that the rain stopped pretty early on in the day so we weren’t miserably huddled under  our umbrellas the whole time.

Learning more about the Holy Spirit
This week our college has been having their annual lecture series.  This year the lectures are being given by Michael Horton, on the topic of the Holy Spirit.  I’ve really appreciated learning more about the Holy Spirit.  He’s the member of the Trinity who is spoken about the least so it has been good to look deeper into who he is and what he does.  Though there are moments when the technical terms go over my head, I’ve been pleased at what I have understood and it has shown me that I really have learnt lots over my time at college so far.  Last year I certainly couldn’t have understood as much as I did of these lectures. 

Opportunities to exercise
I’ve fallen out of my regular exercise routine, since the mid year holidays.  I haven’t been very good at getting back into it after my fitness slid downhill over the break.  Interruptions from sickness, study and being away haven’t helped, but this week I seem to be getting back into it.  I exercise with one of the other wives in our community, I play netball and I do ballet.  I’m hoping these things can help get my fitness back up and give me some more energy. 

What are you thankful for this week?

Postponed Thankful Thursday

Again I have been lax in writing here on my blog, and particularly in keeping up with my weekly Thankful Thursday posts.  Right now I’m just thankful that I’ve finally finished my essay (which I got an extension for because of being sick the week it was due).  This may be a short post because I am also thankful to be going to bed very soon.

This week I’m thankful for:

Help at Kid’s Club
J had to fill it at Kid’s Club last minute today because a couple of leaders were away, including the one who was due to do the talk.  With little preparation J did the talk on the relevant passage, brilliantly fielded some tricky questions from the kids about eternal life, and threw himself into the games.  I love watching him interact with children and seeing how much he enjoys it. 

Netball
On Tuesday we had our first game of netball and it was good fun.  I haven’t run like that in quite a while so even though we only played two 12 minute halves that was enough for me.  It was fun to do something as part of a team again and I’m looking forward to the opportunity to get to know the people in my team.  I’m thankful for the invitation to join the team, which came as a surprise for me. 

Baby cuddles
A friend who I studied with last year and who lives near our college community has just had a baby.  One of the wonderful ways our community supports those with newborns is to organise a meal roster.  Today it was our turn and when we dropped off the meal J and I both got to have a hold of the little 3 week old cutie.  I’m always amazed at how little babies start out. 

Now I’m off to bed.  What are you thankful for this week?

Thankful Thursday

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything and I’m sorry for this.  Last week was also a busy week and the weekend didn’t slow down at all.  Here are some things that I’m thankful for this week:

Helping friends as they marry
Some dear friends got married on the weekend.  She was my maid of honour and he was one of our groomsmen for our wedding.  I was thrilled to be one of her bridesmaids and to be able to help her as she prepared for marriage and on her wedding day.  I’m so thankful for our friendship and that she lets me love and support her.  It was a joy to see them so happy to get married.  I’ll write more on the wedding later, but for now, here is a picture (with two groomsmen missing, I’m not sure where they were). 

My popcorn machine
I got this for Christmas from my sister because I asked for it.  Last year I tried making popcorn in a paper bag in the microwave and it failed miserably (and I was quite upset, perhaps I shouldn’t have tried to make it for a special reason; a date night movie night at home).  I’ve used it a couple of times this week so I could eat a light snack when I got home and I always love how easy it is to use, and it actually works.  I know that some people disparage one-function or ‘specialty’ kitchen items but the heartache that it has prevented is totally worth it.  Thanks sis!

The chance to play netball again
Today I was approached by a third year at college who asked if I was interested in joining a college netball team that plays on the uni campus just near college.  I haven’t played in a few years but I love the camaraderie of team sports and the fact that it’s a fun way of doing some exercise.  I can’t promise to be very good but I’m looking forward to running around on the court again.

What are you thankful for this week?

The number one ladies running group

I went for a run on Saturday morning, ahh I am sore!  I think I ran further than I have for a long time.  I haven’t been doing the couch to 5k for a while because my knee started to hurt every time I ran, so I gave it a rest and never quite got up the motivation to start again for fear of injuring my knee. 

One of the student’s wives in our community here (I’ll just call her V) started up a ladies running group late last year.  It was around the time we were leaving for our trip back home so I didn’t get involved.  But now that we’re back I wanted to give running a go again. 

We got up to start at 6:30 (on a Saturday!) to beat the heat.  There were four of us and I certainly felt the most shabbily dressed!  I’ve been exercising in my old Green Team t-shirt and school basketball shorts.  My running shoes cost about $20 because they were bought in a hurry on a holiday for walks in national parks. 

The loop we ran was about 2.7 or 2.8 km (someone had an app on her phone that tracked the run for us).  We kept a steady pace the whole time, stopping only at the top of a hill for a little walk, and waiting for the traffic lights to change in our favour. 

I know I’ve said before that I liked running by myself but I may change my mind.  If I had run the route we did yesterday by myself I definitely would have stopped half-way up the hill.  But because I was with others and V encouraged us to keep a steady pace up the hill and not stop until the top, I kept going.  I kept up with the others, because I had to in a way. 

When we got back to our houses V gave us the option of of doing another lap or calling it a day.  I certainly wasn’t capable of doing another lap!  I was finished, but I felt good.  The others did another lap (despite some looking as tired as me!).  Perhaps I’ll be able to work up to a second lap eventually! 

I’m excited about this running group and the motivation it gives me to run.  I may need to invest in some good running shoes though…

 

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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. 

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. 

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?

Back to Ballet

Some people have hobbies when they're children and as they grow up this hobby grows with them, and in some way it might form a part of their identity.  For me it was ballet.  I'm not sure how much ballet was a part of my identity, but I started when I was only five years old, and stopped when I reached year 12 because I wanted to focus on school.  At its high point I was doing four or five hours of dancing every week. 

I haven't done ballet in six years now and some time last year I realised that I missed it.  I'm not sure what exactly it was that I missed.  I certainly didn't miss exams or concerts, painful toes from pointe shoes, or getting changed into a leotard.  I think part of it was that I missed my muscles feeling strong, that sense of posture that comes with ballet, and the friendships I shared with those in my class.