A Long Time Without

It's been a while. Again. Unfortunately it's the time of term where there are a lot of assignments, essays and spoken tests due. This workload is also added to by a new business venture my wife and I have entered, plus our desire to move to a new house. Everything has added up and unfortunately I have not been able to run as much as I would have liked. (read that as none) However, after this week I should be able to get back in to it. My running shoes have been lonely this last week, and I'm afraid they will be lonely for a week or so longer.

Things I notice: It's hard to find somewhere not cold in Wellington this time of the year.

Saturday

I don't have much to say today, except to say there was another run. 4kms. With my goal for the week of 15kms it means that I have to do a substantial(for me) run tomorrow. My brother, who intends to run through the desert with me, is in also in town and we are going to do some 'hill training' tomorrow in the Wellington Botanical gardens. It should be fun/painful.

Things I notice: The wind knows when you're running and I Tawhirimatea was/is quite upset with me. I started my run today by running into the wind. Uphill. I then ran along the flat. Into the wind. I then ran downhill back to where I started from. Into the wind. Tawhirimatea, if you are reading this, please accept my apologies. I will rejoin you on the morrow.

Hello Again

Hello, again. Yes, I still look the same. No, you don't. Your hair, it's different. Longer, more unkempt. Yes, that's it, you almost look homeless... No, wait, that's the economy... Today I went for another run, yesterday I also went for a run. Tomorrow I shall also run. Already this week I have failed to meet my goal, if my running was a government job I would probably get a raise. So, I've had to make a slight change to my goal of the week. 4 days, 16km. I think that's a healthy goal.

Things I notice: I should never try and pursue a career in stand up comedy.

Weekly Round Up

I should really put a number on these weekly round ups as I have no idea which week I'm up to. In the week just gone I ran:

Mon:    3 ks
Tues:    0 ks
Wed:    0 ks
Thurs:   4 ks
Fri:       0 ks
Sat:      4 ks
Sun:     0 ks

Another week to be not particularly proud of - 11 ks. As I only went for a run three days out of seven in the past week I failed in my goal. My goal for the week was to run 5kms further than last week, I ran 1.22 ks further. Not even close. However, if I had of dragged myself off for a run on just one of the days I didn't I most likely would have made my goal. Thus, I think the goal for this week should be 5 days running.

5 days. Cold is only fleeting, and, to quote General Lewis B. 'Chesty' Puller of the USMC, 'Pain is weakness leaving the body!'

Things I notice: If I don't go for a run, my body punishes me. I find that I have serious difficulty sleeping. Right now I've been up for a good 30 hours. Bit tired, but it got to five this morning and it became either sleep or go to class, not a hard choice. Hopefully one I won't have to make in the future.

So it's an early night for me tonight before I rise at sparrows fart and tear around my 4km run circuit in the icy chill of a windy Wellington winter.

Chilly Bin's Inside Out

Yes, yes it is now. There is no way, other than that, to describe today. The temperature in Wellington is apparently 14° I can, however, tell you that you would be hard pressed to get a drink of water from an ice cube in our house. After I got past the snow warning in the living room I carefully negotiated the black ice in the kitchen and I was off. Running. In the cold. It's true, exercise does warm you up and I found that I was a little happier when I got home from my run.

It's still cold here in Kelburn though.

Things I notice: A dog would be useful. There was a man on my run today and he was attached to reasonably large dog. I say reasonably as it was bigger than a poodle even though there was no way it was a Tibetan Mastiff(notice the capitals, those dogs really do inspire respect. Or is it fear? I'm not sure). The thing that I noticed was that there was no way that this guy was going to be able to run slowly. Whether he was just going for a short run or a marathon, if he took his dog he would have to race around the course.

So if anyone out there has a dog that needs exercising(yes, it could be a Tibetan Mastiff) I am offering to take your dog for a run. Here's my(very attractive) Facebook, send me a message, and I will run your dog.

Disclaimer:- You must be either in the Wellington(New Zealand) region or if you are somewhere else, say Moscow, be prepared to ship your dog to me in order for me to be able to conduct fitness exercises with said beastie.

A Habit

No running today so we'll just move straight onto:

Things I notice: My time management skills are not as well developed as my procrastination skills. I've been wanting to create a habit, I've been chasing after this habit for a long time. It's not a big change and there's no reason why it should be such a big challenge. I also very much believe that it would improve not only my fitness work, running distances, times etc, but would also improve my entire life, my 'mental health', my physical health and perhaps my time management skills as well.

That elusive habit could really be broken down into two sections, but to attack both parts at the same time would probably be the most effective way to go about it. If one thing happened then the other would fit in very nicely with it. The habit that, so far, has proven to be the most difficult for me to establish, even just to get a toe-hold has been near impossible, is to run in the (relatively) early morning.

I generally don't have classes before 10 in the a.m so it shouldn't really be that hard to get up at (gasp) eight and go for a run, back in time for a steaming hot coffee and breakfast before going merrily to classes. You couldn't even consider eight a.m an early morning, so why is it that I cannot drag my sorry backside from beneath the covers?

I've thought about this, and thought about this. I have come to the conclusion that there are two main reasons for this: 1- I don't pay enough attention to my body's 'language' e.g., my eyes drooping, my muscles screaming 'rest', that strange taste that pops up whenever one is 'super-tired'. 2 - My procrastination skills have been cultivated as a positive for far too long e.g., Just one more article, Just one more level, or even 'I'll make a cup of tea after this sentence, then I'll go to bed'.

I could have used the excuse that 'it's just so toasty under these covers' but that just wouldn't fly what so ever. Once you start running you get sweaty, so you must be warm. Another thing to note, which I believe I've noticed before, is that there is always an excuse not to.

In conclusion, Ladies, Gentlemen, and Other's do not develope your procrastination skills. You will eventually figure out that they serve no real purpose in your life, in fact, if you are a christian you could very well say they were sent by the Devil in order to consign you to the very bowels of hell by actions you just 'never got round to'.

The Morning.

I did something this morning that I've been meaning to do for a while. It is, however, something I really did not enjoy and that is not good news. With the way that my busy-ness scale is going to go in the next month(from kinda busy to really escessively busy) I have decided that in order to be able to keep myself running I should be going in the mornings. Well, I really don't like that idea.

I woke up to my alarm at 8am, not that early, just an hour before I usually get up. It took me half an hour to get out of bed and even then it felt as if my legs were made of wood. I then farted around for 10 - 15 minutes before slipping into something more comfortable and going for a run. In the rain. And the wind. And did I mention the cold? So, small note to self - GET UP!! With your alarm, and then you'll get it over and done with earlier.

Things I notice: There are lines in the mist. That gentle rain that floats serenely to the ground has actually got very clearly delineated lines or layers. What does it mean? The world is an onion? Many layers? Or perhaps that there's a bit of rain with your wind today...

No Run

Another day, another excuse. I seem to be having a bad run of no run's. Today my excuse is my test tomorrow. I am learning the Chinese language - 汉语. It is a very challenging language for me to learn, it has the normal difficulties of new words and a different grammar structure. But it also has a multitude of strange and exotic sounds that I have to wrap my mouth, and my ears, around. There is also the writing system, lots of lines and squares - 我是新西兰人.

My eyes don't know what to look for. So tonight instead of challenging my body I have been challenging my mind, and I swear I'm even more tired than if I had of been for an extra long run. I shall keep muddling along with this and in the morning, yes the morning, I shall challenge my body anew.

Things I notice: My brain hurts.

A little longer today. Look out for the novel coming tomorrow...

The Fading Light

Today I went for a run in the fading light. I'm not speaking metaphorically here, the light was actually fading. A dull grey as I left, it had turned to black when I got back. I didn't run for that long either, but it was still a run. I got back and dinner was ready to be eaten as well, a most pleasant surprise. Short and sweet today, but expect more tomorrow...

Things I notice: Looking out over Wellington the street lights had just been turned on and with the faded grey I happened to notice just how beautiful Wellington is. When you get the right weather.

Weekly Round Up

This week was shockingly short on mileage. Mostly this was due to the adverse weather, the first week of our true winter here. Here we go:

Monday       3.78 km
Tuesday       0 km
Wednesday  Nil
Thursday      None
Friday          4 km
Saturday      2 km
Sunday        0 km
         Total        9.78 km

Okay, now for the list of excuses - Tuesday, cold and wet. Wednesday, business planning. Thursday, Study. Sunday, Temple. Yes, temple. Not my temple.

My wife had 'made a friend' while she was waiting for a bus early in the week and this friend invited us to have lunch with her and some others on Sunday. We thought long and hard about buying a bottle of wine to take with us - we decided not to, although we could have done with a bottle after the main event. On Sunday morning we were duly up, showered and ready to go at about half nine in the morning, our first hint that this wasn't exactly our thing: A half nine a.m. starting time. We were then told that a friend of her's was coming to pick us up from Uni, which is right next door. This friend turned out to be a somewhat tattooed Maori gentleman, and he was indeed a gentleman, nice manners and a navy blue blazer with shiny golden buttons. On a side note his four wheel drive vehicle was festooned with tino-rangatiratanga flags. He then drove us to Newlands, a suburb in Wellington, where we were welcomed into a 'holy house' for a ground blessing ceremony.

It turns out that we had been invited to a Taoist Temple's blessing of a new temple ground ceremony. Neither my wife or myself are particularly religious and she watched the ceremony with a rather noticeable grimace on her face. We then told the religious folk that we had a friends birthday lunch to go to and refused the offer of vegetarian sushi before walking back into Wellington. Pretty thankful that it was a nice day on Sunday. The walk back in town was the most fun I had had all week. I also think it's not too bad that I missed Sunday's run as we walked for around two hours to get back to town.

Things I notice: Today it comes from my wife and myself - Seeing a Taoist religious ceremony taking place in what is essentially someones back yard felt rather 'cultish'. Now, this may or may not be fair to Taoism but it certainly did have that feeling for both my wife and I.

Oh, and last of all... The goal for last week is apparently well above my abilities, so this week my goal is to run 5km's further than last week.

A Lovely Day

It's horrible, atrocious and most definitely disgusting. It happens to me every single time. I guess it's kind of the reason for doing it, but at the same time it's kind of the reason for hating it. It starts off low, a sort of gently persistent thunk-a-thunk-a-thunk, and builds itself up. At the end, or more specifically just before the end, it has become a cacophony. A mad mixture of pounding and raggedy breathing, the raspiness of a dry throat with a lick of spittle running across a parched lip. The uncomfortable burning in the top of each thigh that burns brighter with every step, the horizon created by the top of the hill. Just further than you know you can run to.

It is most definitely a horrid and sadistic thing.

Then there's the flip side, when that unreachable horizon is met or that burst of speed just before the final point; there's that slight, but noticeable, feeling of elation. Though this is quickly followed by the realisation that that dry, raspy breathing is coming from deep inside. The tiredness now holding tight to burning thighs. The complete and near overwhelming desire to just stop. Just stop. Never again.

And then the next day, it is again.

Things I notice: I hate running. 9 times out of 10 this is the track that my mind finds at the end of a run, this is one of the major reasons I have for actually going out there (reasonably) regularly. To counteract the entire premise that 'if it's not fun, it's not worth doing'. While I still believe that this applies in a lot of cases, it is by no means the guiding yardstick to life.

Weak Withering mid-Winter Sun

It was in the middle of the afternoon when I managed to best my procrastination skills and set off into the withering yellow sunlight. The weakness of the midwinter sun did nothing to warm me up and it was only through sheer effort of will that I managed to pretend I was comfortable at the beginning of my run, this did change slightly as I got further into the run. I became warmer yet less comfortable. I also managed to time it so that I ran past a school as the students were let out for the day. Not a highschool, but a school you send  your sproggets to when they become too annoying. There was a slight challenge in dodging little children while keeping my pace up. It could, perhaps, be turned into a rather irritatingly addictive flash game.

I ran a short route that I have used regularly, I am not allowed anymore to just run to the shops and back so I used a short route that I have done a number of times before, it took me past the shops, past a school and across a big concrete bridge before turning around and going back over a big concrete bridge, past a school and past some shops, all the way home. The reason I'm not allowed to run just to the shops and back is that I won't improve my fitness levels by running the same routes again and again so this pushes me to run further. Anyway, I'm tired now and I believe that I managed to run this route faster than I have in the past. So I guess it was worth getting tired for.

Things I notice: Children are incredibly annoying when underfoot. Most especially those that are bundled up against the cold, although it doesn't matter so much if you knock those ones over. On a side note, I was extremely jealous of their bundles - warm down jackets and little mittens.

Pathetic

It's been three days since I put my running shoes on. This is the second most pathetic week since I began although I must admit it is incredibly difficult to want to run when it is 10° and raining. However, today is a lot more beautiful. We are currently at 13° here in Wellington, so I think it shouldn't be that hard. I shall be able to tell you more upon my return... Tally Ho!

Things I notice: To come...

Lack of time

There's unfortunately not enough minutes in a day. Today, I regret to say, I won't be able to find the time to fit in a run. I must, I must cook dinner for friends. Now don't be thinking of this as piking out, think of it more as a business meeting. With food and friends. If only we had the business up and running then it could pay. There is also a considerable amount of university work for me to be getting through. I shall ensure that this does not stop me from pounding the pavement into submission tomorrow. I may even attempt the 10kms again tomorrow...

Things I notice: Sometimes it's much too easy to find a reason not to.