Couch to 5K is part of my 101 Things in 1001 Days challenge.

I have a confession to make.

Today I really did not want to go for a run. I was feeling dehydrated (thanks for the heatwave, Melbourne!), and the sudden explosion of pollen in the air had transformed me into a walking snot factory for the day. To say that I was feeling unmotivated is an understatement.

Thank God for new shoes, and my inability to resist them!

I had imagined that my new running shoes might transform my running experience into something angelic and cloud-like, perhaps increasing my stride threefold with their trampolinesque properties. I mean, they can’t charge a couple of hundred dollars for shoes that don’t possess superpowers, right?

Right!

So I threw on some lycra, laced up my new shoes, and blew my nose a few hundred times. Despite the heat, and despite the severe respiratory distress, I was determined to glide through the streets of Melbourne with the finesse of a seasoned runner. A seasoned runner, that is, with new shoes.

Maybe I should have bought the $300 shoes.

I mean, all things considered I did pretty well. To have run 25 minutes (again!) without walking, and while I was feeling less than physically fantastic, is a pretty huge sign that I am improving. Remember when all C25K asked of me was 60 second bursts of jogging? Those 60 second runs represented the absolute limit of my capabilities six weeks ago, so to be running for 25 minutes is nothing less than incredible. I think it’s important to look at the big picture occasionally, because it provides much-needed perspective.

Having said that, last week’s 25-minute run felt so much better than today’s. I felt more fatigued this time, lost a lot more sweat, and yet felt as though I was travelling so much slower. I still managed to cover 4km in that time, so I think I’m on track to achieve 5km in Week 9 without too much trouble.

While running this afternoon I thought back over some of the little lessons I’ve learned since beginning this thing. I know I wrote some of these down in the past, but here are some new tips that might help other runners at this stage of the program:

• My Couch to 5K iphone app continues to be a major motivator when I run. However, here’s a new tip! When you reach the end of Week 6, and you’re down to single running sessions, switch your phone to mute. Your music will continue to play, and the app will buzz in your hand when it is time to start and time to stop. Muting the phone prevents the audio prompt from telling you when you hit the halfway point, which is a major advantage in my case! There’s nothing worse than thinking that you’re on the home stretch, only to find out that you have another 12 minutes to go.
• Belly breathing is something that I have always done naturally, perhaps because of my background as a singer. It is the opposite of shallow breathing, and necessitates the use of your diaphragm. Last week I had some excrutiating stitches that I now attribute directly to my breathing. I think I was trying to improve my posture by keeping my belly in, and it resulted in spasms in my diaphragm. Google it, it’s apparently a common rookie mistake!
• Don’t forget: the first half is ALWAYS so much worse than the second half of any run. Get into a good rhythm, breathe, and remind yourself that the rhythm will come and the discomfort will lesson. And at the end of it all, you’ll be one session closer to Week 9!

Is anyone else out there still doing this thing? Tell me how you’re going!

• 101 in 1001 , C25K , Health & Fitness
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Just a quick update today…

My friend and I have spent all afternoon at my spiritual home today, and we’re just about to hit Chinatown for dinner with our boys. I thought today I’d just share a couple of photos of my pretty new things!

I have no current plans to wear the dress and the shoes together, although that would be a very Lily-Allenesque thing to do.

The dress is exactly what I was looking for, and happened to be the very first dress that I tried on today. Hooray!

Have a great night everyone – if anyone needs me I’ll be eating Peking duck in Chinatown!

• Life
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StreetSmart Australia has been a hot topic in the Melbourne blogging scene this week. My RSS reader has been flooded with that distinctive shade of green, and so I couldn’t help but want to learn more!

Here’s what they say about their initiative:

About StreetSmart

StreetSmart is a unique bridge between the community and small, grassroots agencies that assist people experiencing homelessness. We support critical services and emergency aid as well as projects that promote social inclusion, empowerment and sustainable change for people who are homeless. When money is raised from the public through our fundraising events, 100 per cent of donations are distributed in the form of grants. To date we have raised and distributed over $830,000 to 188 grassroots projects.

All Australians can contribute to the cause by visiting the Restaurant Locator and dining out at a partipating eatery. When the bill arrives you are given the opportunity to add $2 to your bill. StreetSmart is not a big charity, but supports many frugal, hyperlocal programs that really only need a few thousand dollars to operate.

Click on the image below to select your region, and see a list of restaurants who are participating in this great initiative:

Claire of Melbourne Gastronome has written a list of the participating Melbourne restaurants that she has previously reviewed, if you’re in the area and looking for some guidance. There are some truly great restaurants who are involved in this!

StreetSmart begins on November 9, and runs right up until the start of their Christmas campaign. So for the next 6 weeks you can eat out as often as you like, knowing that your contributions are changing lives!

And if you think that $2 can’t make a difference, watch this video to see how it can all add up. I was especially impressed to learn that they were instrumental in the success of the Choir of Hard Knocks, which Aussies may remember from a couple of years ago.

• Australia , Life , Melbourne
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I found this strange piece of guerilla art on Bridge Road this morning. It seems to be made of tulle, and ribbon, and was sewn around the tree with fishing line.

Has anybody spotted anything similar in Melbourne? I’ve narrowed the culprits down to overexcited Year 12 graduates, environmental activists, or aliens. It definitely wasn’t there yesterday!

It reminded me of Carol Hummel’s tree cosy project, which I came across a couple of months ago.

• Art , Melbourne
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If I could summarise my weekend with a single image, this would be it!

Thumbs up:
+ My 3-day working week. The Mondayitis is there, but it’s easier to handle when it’s actually Wednesday!
+ Pretty packages in the mail, thanks to my Etsy habit
+ Putting an extra-specially exciting package in the mail for ma petite cousine!
+ Sashimi, with plenty of soy sauce and wasabi
+ A certain boy, who has been sort of incredible to have around lately
+ Home-made coffee in my favourite travel mug, prepared by aforementioned boy
+ Two trips to Brisbane in the next 6 weeks!
+ Time spent on the couch, with good company and The Office & 30 Rock
+ My four-legged shadow, and his generosity in the cuddle department
+ Discovering lots of new and interesting bloggers out there, thanks to NaBloPoMo!
+ Running in the rain last night

Thumbs down:
- All my favourite clothes are a size too big. I shouldn’t complain, but I’m sick of looking frumpy!
- Blisters! I need new running shoes – even my blisters have blisters.
- The useless doctor I saw on Monday, and having to wait a week to see my normal doctor
- Exhaustipation, caused by chronic perfectionism
- Somebody really needs to bath the woofer, or he’s going to develop an allergy to dogs.

On the other hand, it makes him very cranky.

Overall, the thumbs up:down ratio is quite healthy. 

Life is pretty good over here, I hope yours is too!

• Life
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I know I haven’t been delivering blogging gold so far this month, but my plan is to get a couple of big things off my desk so that I can devote a little more brainspace to this thing!

In the meantime, I thought I’d share with you some stunning photography from Burçin Esin, whose deviantart portfolio I discovered as a result of a lovely post by That Unreliable Girl.

Enjoy!

As The Smoke Clears

Freeze The Sun

Sunday Morning

Beyond The Grass IV

Under The Moon III

I could easily have chosen another twenty shots, but I’ll leave them for you to discover!

• Art
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I can’t let myself get away with just posting a quiz on a NaBloPoMo day!  So here – enjoy a photo I made last month for my 100 Snapshots challenge.

• Art , Photo Posts
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It’s only Day 2 of NaBloPoMo, that wonderful event which rewards quantity over quality, and it’s already time for a cop-out post! I thought I’d borrow this meme from Nailpolish Psychosis.

Feel free to answer these yourself, but you can only use one word…

Where is your cell phone? Desk
Your hair? Ponytail
Your mother? Worried
Your father? Old
Your favorite food? Japanese
Your dream last night? Swimming
Your favorite drink? Pinot
Your dream/goal? Peaceful
What room are you in? Study
Your hobby? Art
Your Fear? Loss
Where do you want to be in 6 years? Melbourne
Where were you last night? Home
Something that you aren’t? Tall
Muffins? Raspberry.
Wish list item? Diamonds
Where did you grow up? Queensland
Last thing you did? Yawned
What are you wearing? Jeans
Your TV? Flat
Your pets? Sleepy
Your friends? Funny
Your life? Fulfilling
Your mood? Satisfied
Missing someone? CuzMcB!
Vehicle? Shiny
Something you’re not wearing? Jewellery
Your favorite store? Shoes
Your favorite color? Red
When was the last time you laughed? Moments
Last time you cried? Unsure
Your best friend? Bald
One place that I go to over and over? Park
Person who emails me regularly? Mum
Favorite place to eat? Chapel

• Stuff
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Last time I wrote about Couch to 5k was about a week ago, and I had just completed Week 5 with a bang. That post was written after my first 20-min run which, despite my concerns, was not a fatal experience.

And then I had to go and jinx myself with the final sentence:

“My greatest hope is that my body remains injury-free, and continues to adapt to this foreign sensation!”

Well… way to go, me! I’m sure you can guess what happened next.

Last Monday I began Week 6 feeling fantastic. I was looking forward to a much easier session than the one before it, with three runs (5, 8 and 5 minutes) and two 3-minute walks in between them. It should have been an easy 25 minutes, but a few minutes in I was feeling terrible. I suddenly felt lethargic, my legs felt like lead and I had to concentrate really hard on putting one foot in front of the other.

I finished the session, but by the time I got home I was miserable. My neck felt a little out, and I was dripping with sweat for the first time since beginning the program. I couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me, but rather than let it psych me out I decided to put it behind me and just get a good night’s rest.

The next morning I couldn’t turn my head to the left. Like Zoolander, I had ceased to be an ambi-turner.

In hindsight, I’m pretty sure that I came down with some sort of bug last week. I felt a bit “off” for a few days, slept really hard every night, and woke up each morning not feeling refreshed. My theory is that I held my body differently during my run to compensate for the sudden fatigue, which led to some sort of pinched nerve in my neck. I kept it in check with anti-inflammatories and a wheat pack for about 5 days until it was mostly back to normal.

The hardest part was accepting that I would have to take some time off running. Obviously it would have been pretty stupid to compound the problem by pushing through it, so I decided to take a week off.

Today I re-started Week 6. Once again, I found this particular session pretty difficult, but that can almost definitely be attributed to the fact that I took a break. It was nowhere near as hard as it was a week ago, which sort of confirms my theory that I was fighting off some sort of bug last week.

I guess the most interesting part of this experience was the way I coped with not running. It’s become such a big part of my life now, even though I’m still a beginner, that it was noticeably absent from my routine last week. There was a small degree of anxiety over how well I would pick it up again this week, but mostly I just missed hitting the streets and feeling healthy. I really look forward to the stage where I can run for 20 minutes without any apprehension, just for that feeling, a few times a week. That’s freedom right there – using your own body to cover a stack of ground, and feeling even better on the other side of it.

My medium-term goal is to reach that place. In the short-term I still have a month of C25K to finish, but if all goes well I can wrap this baby up by the end of November!

(That wasn’t an invitation, jinx gods.)

• 101 in 1001 , C25K , Health & Fitness
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It’s that time of year again, where I attempt to entertain you every day for the month of November!

Here’s a little blurb about NaBloPoMo, from the FAQ:

The whole thing started off as a goof based on National Novel Writing Month, the challenge of which is to try to write an entire novel during the month November. Not everyone can commit to an endeavor of such magnitude, though, and so National Blog Posting Month was born. However, after doing a November NaBlo for a couple of years in a row it seemed that a lot of people had found their momentum and wanted to keep going into December and beyond. So now NaBloPoMo is something you can drop into any month of the year, though November is still the biggest month, and is the only month when members donate prizes that are then given out randomly to other members who posted every day in November.

I wasn’t sure if my heart was in NaBloPoMo this year, but I know I’ll be cranky if I have to watch everyone else doing it! The satisfaction of finishing those 30 days is too great to pass up, and besides – I always discover the most interesting blogs in November as I scour the web for inspiration.

And now that I’ve created an elaborate graphic to mark the occasion, I guess I’m locked in! Feel free to use the image above on your own blog if you’re participating this year, or throw this one in your sidebar:

(Please save the images to your own server.)

I’ve also decided to donate a couple of prizes to the prize pool. Pending Eden’s approval, I’ll be donating an Aussie-themed food/confectionary pack (to an overseas participant), and an 8×12″ print from my photography portfolio at Scarlet Arts.

So – who’s with me? I’d like to set up a folder in my RSS reader of other bloggers participating in the NaBloPoMo madness. Leave me a comment if you’ve signed up!

• Blogging , Website news
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Last year, on this day, two things happened:

#1: I stopped at a convenience store on my way home from work to pick up some lollies for the trick-or-treaters that were bound to stop by that night. I was the only customer in the store, and when I went to the counter to pay I heard a loud “thud” against the door behind me.

I turned around to find a group of policemen handcuffing some guy as they held him against the door. Another policeman had his foot on top of a rifle laying 2 metres away from all the action.

Who holds up a store with a rifle?

#2: Crowds of kids visited our house that night to trick-or-treat. Halloween in Australia is a relatively new phenomenon, but you can’t blame kids for wanting to dress up and ride the sugarcoaster for a night. I had great fun watching the kids come through, and guarding my kickass pumpkin against the strong wind.

This pumpkin was one of my 101 Things, and although it took me a few days to carve I loved the result. This year I didn’t get myself organised in time to carve a pumpkin, but Tim tells me that we will be marking the occasion with a private viewing of Drag Me to Hell.

I think I’ve had my last good night’s sleep for a while…

• Life
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I think most of us can agree that Bonnie Tyler’s Total Eclipse of the Heart is one of the easiest songs to parody. I’ve written about this once before, upon discovering literal videos for the first time:

And now Jeannie of koufukuron has turned it into a flow chart!

(Click the image to open fullsize in a new window)

Jeannie also inspired the Hey Jude flow chart by Love All This:

The nerd in me loves this, so tell me if you spot any others!

• Art , Cool stuff , Funny Stuff
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Helloooooo Friday!

I’d like to give my thanks to a special group of horses who will spend this weekend running around in circles for our financial gain. I love that this occasion is responsible for my four-day weekend; there’s really nothing more Aussie than taking the day off work to gamble!

I won’t be hitting the racecourse this weekend, but I did participate fully in our Melbourne Cup themed day at work. I signed up for the sweeps, enjoyed my complimentary lunch, and – at the last minute – decorated a hat from items I found in my office. My creation was made from a straw hat I found on top of a bookshelf, a feather quill pen, and about 40 company lanyards. With these materials I put together a humble homage to the Australian cork hat, the beauty of which cannot be adequately explained with mere words. Or pictures. Trust me.

And I came in 2nd place! I even managed to talk the 1st place-getter into swapping prizes with me, so it was kind of like winning the competition without having to go to all that effort.

It’s pretty good being me today.

Fake tan levels have been extremely high on Melbourne trams this week, so I feel certain that plenty of people will be heading out to the track this weekend. If you’re one of them, make sure you plan ahead and pack the essentials. Don’t leave home without your form guide, oversized sunglasses and several copies of the Official Spring Racing Carnival Tramp Bingo Scorecard, care of Agony Uncle Adrian Fernand’s I Do Believe I Came With a Hat.

Use this scorecard (PDF available at the original source) to track the tramps, and determine which of your friends is will be first to make five-in-a-row. Categories include:

• Novelty Nineties neckwear
• Visible control underwear
• Champagne with a straw
• Shirt collar worn outside lapels

.
… and plenty of other tramp-like traits. (It’s nice to see that male fashions feature just as heavily on this scorechart as the ladies!)

Have a fantastic weekend, whatever you’re doing!

• Cool stuff , External Sites , Melbourne
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So simple, it may just work!

With thanks to Katie of Get Shouty, who discovered it at Me Against Them.

• Art , Cool stuff
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UNITED in what appears to be profound grief, more than a dozen chimpanzees stood in silence from their enclosure as the body of one of their own was wheeled past

This extraordinary scene took place recently at the Sanaga-Yong Chimpanzee Rescue Centre in Cameroon, West Africa.

When a chimp called Dorothy, in her late 40s, died of heart failure, her fellow apes seemed to be stricken by sorrow.

As they wrapped their arms around each other, Dorothy’s keeper gave her an affectionate stroke on the head and settled her into the wheelbarrow that carried her to her grave.

I saw this touching photograph in The Age this morning, and it lingered in my thoughts long enough that I decided to google the rest of the story. What I discovered was a touching tribute, written by her friend and carer Dr Speede from the Sanaga-Yong Chimpanzee Rescue Centre.

Here is an excerpt from the article:

Dorothy spent at least 25 lonely years, and probably closer to 40 years, chained by her neck before a daily parade of people at an amusement park – people who thought it hilarious that she would beg for cigarettes and savor the butts they threw at her. After the first ever armed confiscation of primates in Cameroon in May 2000, Dorothy enjoyed eight years and four months at Sanaga-Yong Center surrounded by people and chimpanzees who cherished her.

Dorothy was a kind and giving soul. Those of us who loved her, enjoyed many hours being groomed by her. Her long lovely fingers were patient and unwavering in their gentleness; only seldom did she bow her head and look up sweetly, asking for someone to groom her in reciprocation. I trusted her completely, and for some inexplicable reason, considering the harm done to her by humans, she knew that she could trust us. Sanaga-Yong Center manager Agnes Souchal entered her enclosure recently and drew blood from Dorothy, with Dorothy’s permission.

Dorothy used gestures and sounds to communicate very effectively. “Come here.” “Give me that thing over there.” Give me that thing over there, NOW.” “NO, NO, NO, not that thing, the other thing!” “Open this door and let me in.” And my favorite, which fortunately was never applied to me: “Your presence is really annoying me. GO AWAY.” With a grunt and quick back flip of her hand, Dorothy communicated this last sentiment as succinctly as anyone ever could.

I believe that Dorothy loved her human friends, but the relationships that were most important to her, by far, were her relationships within her chimpanzee family. Dorothy was respected and loved by all in her family – perhaps most of all by Nama, her loyal friend who had suffered with her through some of those horrible years at the amusement park and who was rescued with her.

This page at IDA-Africa.org tells the story of Dorothy’s heart-breaking years in captivity, and her rescue. Another page is dedicated to the beautiful story of her adoption of an orphaned chimpanzee, Bouboule.

It’s such an incredible story, and a very powerful photograph. I wonder how different we really are?

• Life
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