The Easter Bunny

Easter morning.

After making breakfast, I hid some chocolate eggs (given by my officemates) for the kids to look for.  

It was still early enough so I decided to go for a run,   

My watch has ran out of battery so I just had to make sure that I had enough time to go around my Coolong loop and be back in time to wake everyone up for breakfast so we could catch the 10:30 am Easter mass.

I greeted everyone I met along the way.  

Jog ... jog ... jog ... "Happy Easter!"  ... (huff and puff) ... jog ... jog ... jog ...

I felt like the Easter Bunny hopping around from one spot to another.  

(An image of Snoopy running around comes to mind, actually.)

Keep on Going

It is getting cold outside but at least it wasn't raining today.

Off I went along Old Northern Road.  

As usual, I was happy to see familiar landmarks which serve as mini-milestones for me --  St. Gabriel's (the school for the deaf), the child care centre, Tafe, Cross Street.

Shall I turn back after the third mystery?  Nah!  Just keep on going, I told myself.

I finished the fourth mystery and I was near the spot I was last Monday.  Not bad.   If I turned back now that mean I'd have run at least 2.7 km.  

I wondered what time it was.  How long have I been running?  Don't look at your watch.  

When I was on the bus to work the other day, I had seen that it was only a short distance to the mall from my 2.7 km mark.  Just keep going.  The corner is not too far away.

I ran up to the corner of the road to the mall.  I made it!

Fifth mystery.  I went around the stop sign then turned around.  I finished the 5th mystery on my way back.

I knew that I had ran a decent distance.  I wondered how I was doing in terms of time.  But I resisted the temptation to check my watch.  I knew that getting a reading of how long I'd run would affect me.  My mind would tell my body that I'd been running for such a long time and decide for itself that it was time to rest.  No, don't check the time.   You can do this.

I saw the landmarks one by one again.  This time the last one came first -- the red flowers on the sidewalk, Cross St., Tafe.    Four stops till our street.  Keep on going.

I made it back without stopping.  

That was a good run.

I don't think I will go much farther next time.   I'm quite happy to get there and back.  It doesn't matter that Google maps says it takes 3 minutes to cover the 2.7 km by car.  I ran it in two rosaries.  So there!

Moving the Goal Post

Last Saturday, instead of doing the Coolong loops then dashing off to mass, I decided to head towards St. Bernadette's at the onset.  I figured that way, I wouldn't have to be in such a mad rush to get to church since I would already be in the vicinity.

I must say, that route is more difficult that my usual Coolong and Old Northern Road routes.  The roads were mostly uphill on that side of Old Northern Road towards the church.  Although I know that the return trip would entail a downhill run, that didn't stop the uphills from being TIRING.

On Monday morning, I managed to get myself out of bed without much ado and go for my run.  I decided it was early enough to run along Old Northern Road and back.    I told myself that I would go a little farther this time.   Instead of turning around after the third mystery, which is my normal half-way marker, I proceeded to finish the fourth mystery before turning back. 

A google maps check that evening showed that the extra mystery translated to about half a kilometer one way.  Not bad.  More or less, I have managed to run over 4.5 km that morning.

I hope to be able to sustain the morning runs as autumn turns into winter.  I must say that cold chilly winds are not as inviting as warm cozy beds.

  

Child's Play

Ardi sent me links to the exercises he does.  He said that it was important to exercise the larger muscle groups first.  So the sequence would be  :

Legs 

Chest (a) / Chest (b)

Back

Shoulder (a) / Shoulder (b) 

Arms 

(You can click on the body parts to see the links.)

We did the whole exercise "together" the other weekend.  He showed me how it was done then he let me do the moves.  He hit the timer button to monitor my rest time in between exercises.

Child's play ... NOT!

They were tough exercises and I was down for the count.  We had done it in the afternoon.  After I took a shower, I lay down and fell asleep until dinnertime.