To See is to Believe

Yesterday morning, I decided to turn left towards Old Northern Road instead of right towards Coolong.  I ran along Old Northern Road passing places I normally see while on the bus to and from work.   When I got to my logical half-way mark (after the third Joyful Mystery), I turned back and headed home.

I looked across the road at the street sign.  

'Cook St.' I said to myself, 'I should ask Ardi to check how far that is from our place so I have an idea of how far I ran today.'

Later in the day, I mentioned to the kids that I didn't go my usual route and that I had ran all the way up to Cook St.  

Ardi was his usual teasing self.  "Where is that, Mom?  I don't know a Cook St.  The only Cook St. I know is in Sydney.  You ran to Sydney, Mom?"

"It is after Tafe but before Stockland," I said, trying to provide some sort of bearing on its location.  "Just check the map, Ardi.  I can show it to you."  But we never did get to check the map.

This morning, we went to mass at Our Lady of Lourdes.  So instead of turning left at Old Northern Road, we turned right towards Baulkham Hills.  As we were driving, I announced, "This is where I ran yesterday ... up to Cook St."

They were 'amazed.'   

I was looking for the street sign.

"I ran up to here,"  I added as we passed Cross St., still looking for the street sign saying Cook St.

As the car continued along the road, we reached Stockland and I still hadn't seen the street sign saying Cook St.

"Oh, I ran up to Cross St. not Cook St."  I admitted.  "Cook St. is farther down towards M2.  I see it on my way to office.  SORRY,  I didn't have my glasses.  I don't wear my glasses when I run."

Poppop couldn't resist but tease me.  "Oh, you ran up to Cross, huh?  Kerrs pala."

"Oh that is SO MEAN. Dad"

Everyone in the car laughed.  

If you check out the map below, Kerrs Road is the first corner after Church Street, very near the starting point marked "A."

Based on this google map snapshot, my (2 minute by car) route is about 1.9 km one way.  Not too bad for a newbie runner like me.

Twenty Minute Work Out

This comes from the Australian Healthy Food Guide.  I borrowed it from the library because it had an article on the best and worst takeaway.

For the record, according to them the best takeaway are the following:
1.  Salad bar sandwich or wrap -- choose salads, lean meat and avocado spread, instead of butter, on wholegrain bread
2.  Japanese sushi rolls -- choose rolls with salmon, fresh tuna, vegies, tofu and avocado.  Skip the fired chicken, beef and tempura prawns.
3.  Fresh rice paper rolls --- fresh vermicelli noodles, salads, fresh hers and prawn are the mainstay ingredients.  All good.
4.  Subway salads or low fat 6-inch subs -- get extra salad, lean meats and take the multigrain or honey oat bread options.  Avoid the creamy dressings.
5.  McDonalds tick approved seared chicken wraps -- double up on the salad in your wrap if you can.

At the petrol station, steer clear of pies, sausage rolls, chocolate bars, sweet muffins and cakes; check out the tubs of yoghurt, cheese and cracker packs and fresh fruit.  (BORING!)

And do you know what else was mentioned in the article?  KFC's Original recipe fillet burger was decreed as the best but sadly, it was the "best of a bad bunch."  Chicken pieces could be a better choice but only if the skin and the fried coating was taken out.  (What good is that?)

Anyway, going back to the 20 minute workout.

WARM-UP

The purpose of a warm-up is to increase the heart rate slightly but not to the level experienced during the work-out.  Try a simple walk or jog on the spot for 5 minutes to get the muscles loosened up.

THE WORK-OUT

Perform one set of 10-15 repetitions of each exercise before moving on to the next one.
After completing all five exercises once, repeat the circuit again twice, totalling three circuits.
If you do this at least five times a week, you will see results.

a.  Mountain Climbers
Begin in a push-up position (arms lined up with the chest, legs extended out)
Make sure to keep your head in line with your body and your stomach muscles contracted throughout the entire range of motion.
Start the movement by bringing your right knee to your chest and then back to starting position.
Then alternate to your left leg and continue this movement.
Repeat 10 - 15 times for each leg.
[Increases core strength and endurance.]

b.  Hip Bridges
Lie on your back with your arms straight out by your side with your palms down on the floor.
Bend your knees but keep your heels on the floor; hip-width apart.
Lift your hips up to form a straight line from the shoulders to your knees.
Your legs should be almost vertical from the foot to the knee.
Hold this position for 10 seconds. Squeeze your butt muscles and then lower yourself to the ground.
Repeat 10 - 15 times.
[Lower back, hamstrings and buttocks.]

c.  Crunches
Lie flat on your back with your knees bent.
Place your hands behind your head with elbows pointing outwards to support your neck.
Keep your neck in a straight line with your spine.
Flex your waist and contract your stomach muscles to raise the upper part of your torso from the floor (exhale).
Lower yourself until the back of your shoulders touch the floor (inhale).
Do 3 sets of 15 crunches (with a 15-second rest between sets).
[Abdominals.]

d.  Lunge Jumps
Stand in a lunge position, with your right foot forward (left knee bent and close to the ground) and your hands on your hips.
Jump up and switch the position of your feet in mid-air, landing in a lunge position, with your left foot forward (right knee bent and close to the ground).
Keep your hands on your hips for balance and support.
Repeat 10 - 15 times.
[Effectively firms, shapes, tones and increases muscular endurance of the legs.]

e.  Close Grip Push-Ups
Get into a standard push-up position on your knees (feet above the ground, ankles crossed; palms on the floor, fingers forward).
Move your hands closer to each other so that they are only about 6-8 inches apart.
Slowly lower yourself until you are about to touch the ground, then push back up to the starting position.
Repeat 10 - 15 times.
[Chest, triceps and shoulders.]

COOL DOWN

Don't forget to stretch afterwards to prevent your muscles from getting sore.

  

Running With An Umbrella

Running with an umbrella?  So not cool.

But what is one to do when one wants to catch the mass yet does not want to catch a cold?

Happy Feast Day!

Rain, The Great Motivator

It is First Saturday today.  I put on a decent shirt and jogging pants then wore my new running shoes.  I brisk walked  to church to catch the 8:00 AM mass.  (The brisk walking was driven more by necessity than by the desire to get exercise.  I was running late  because I decided to start a load of laundry before leaving.)

The weather was nice and cool although it was somewhat cloudy.

After the mass, I was excited to start running.  I left the church compound and headed for the main road.  By the time I got to the sidewalk, it started to drizzle!

That set me off.  I needed to run home because I didn't have an umbrella on me.  All I had were my house keys and my rosary bracelet.

Let me tell you, I got home in record time.

The Price of Inexperience

Today marks my one month of running. 

All this running has taken its toll on my beloved Merrell shoes.  

I never imagined that I could wear out this pair like this.  (Sadness.)

So I told myself, I have to get running shoes.

Rina recommended getting a pair of Asics.  She said her pair has lasted her twenty years.  (Yes, we are that old and I know I should have decided to exercise sooner.) Poppop recommended going to one of the shoe stores that have this gadget that checks your foot pattern.

Off to the mall I went last weekend.  First stop was the shoe store with the foot pattern gadget. I browsed around for a while then marched myself out of the store. All the shoes were way over my budget.   

I went to a sports shop that had a decent selection of rubber shoes.  I looked around  the racks labelled women's running.  If it weren't for the signs, I could have been on the women's walking aisle and not even realise it.  

Honestly, after a while all the shoes looked the same.  Maybe one day my shoe shopping will be more design and comfort based rather than price-based; but at the moment, reality and economics dictate differently.

So there I was trying shoes out in the aisles.  I dislike tight shoes.  As with tight clothes, I feel like I can't breathe when I'm in them.  I like to have room to move.  I need the room to grow.  I am a size 8 1/2 but for some brands I seemed more comfortable in size 9.  (I told you I don't like tight shoes.)

I also tend to avoid sales ladies that like to hover around you when you need space and are never around when you need them.

I didn't find a suitable pair in that second store but I can tell you that I did try on more shoes in that forty-five minutes than I have in the past two years.  

Why is that? 

Let me see.  Yes, now I know why. It's because my current pair came from Z.  And before that, I think my rubber shoes came from an officemate who had given them to me when she passed on Don Bosco uniforms for the boys.  (In between somewhere we took up badminton and I managed to get myself a decent pair of Nikes without much ado because they were pink and they were on sale.  I still have those but they are not suitable for running since they are court shoes, and they are not suitable in rainy weather now that they are pretty worn out.)

I sent Poppop a text message saying that I would be on my way home soon albeit empty-handed.  However I passed a sports shop right before I left the mall and they had Asics shoes on sale within my price range.

Having tried on so many other pairs of shoes in the other store and being pressed for time, I opted to give the shoes on sale a try in size 9.   I asked the guy for shoes a half size larger than the ones I had tried on because the size 9 ones weren't as wide as I wanted them, and I had read somewhere that feet tend to swell when you run.  When the guy said there were none, I settled for the size 9 ones.

I should have known I was in trouble by just looking at the shoes.  They seemed bigger than life.  They certainly were bigger than my current pair.   What really got me worried was when I put them side by side with Poppop's shoes, they were almost the same size!

Yes, in my quest to have comfortably wide shoes, I had forgotten that shoes should not be too long.  Surely my feet have stopped growing.  No matter how many years I waited, I would not have been able to grow into the pair I just bought.

If one's shoes are too big, you end up like Ronald McDonald and are liable to trip over yourself.  True enough, when I tried them out for a run, I worried that I would fall.  

Oh, dear!  How stupid was I to buy a pair of running shoes that didn't fit properly?

I wondered if I would be able to get this pair exchanged.  

I tried to research whether the sport shop had a Return and Exchange policy.  I couldn't find any on their website so I tried other shoe stores.  Sadly all the ones I checked indicated that their policy requires that the shoes be unused and unworn.

Oh, my, if they didn't allow me to swap these shoes, I would have worn the most expensive pair of shoes I have ever purchased for a whole of thirty minutes.

On Thursday, when shops close at a later time than the rest of the week, I went out after dinner to get my shoes returned and exchanged.   All the way there, I was praying that they would take the shoes back without any problem.  I didn't want to pretend that I hadn't worn the shoes because I HAD worn them, but I did want to get a pair of shoes that I COULD use.  

Think positive.  Think positive.

When I arrived at the store, there were several customers.  I had to call the attention of a saleslady on a ladder who was fixing some shirts at the far end of the store.  The transaction was quite straightforward.  I told her that I thought the shoes were too big.  She handed me a pair in 8 1/2 to try on.  (My first instincts were that they were TIGHT and if I didn't know any better, I would get one a half size bigger.)  But I stuck to my guns.  I went for the 8 1/2.  She rung up the exchange.  I walked out of the store with a new pair of shoes.

On the way home, I said prayers of thanksgiving.   Thanks that the store's exchange policy was that the items be in good working order and in a state which could be re-sold.   Thanks that I now had a pair of shoes that with a little luck (and a lot of shoe lace loosening) would enable me to run.   Thanks that the price of inexperience was not equivalent to the cost of a new waffle maker.