1. Remembering Pa Wiehl after 5 years. 2. Back to gym after a 2 week break! 3. So many magazines to motivate me. 4. The new bike rack fits KK’s Merc perfectly. 5. Bike shopping. 6. Sunrise in Jozi from my office window. 7. Trying to cool the girl’s food down when I’m late in the morning. 8. Pizza and a catchup with Dan & Linda. 9. Sunday afternoon snooze with Emma.
I was kept awake this week listening to my hubby (aka KK) snore. This is a rare occurrence because he never snores. The poor guy has not been well. Run down and fluey, he eventually went to see a doctor last week who diagnosed a ‘virus’. Due to a blocked nose, he’s been snoring at night which has kept me awake. But I don’t mind. You see, he normally sleeps so quietly that I’ll often mistakenly talk to him if I am awake, thinking he’s awake. Being the light sleeper that I am, it’s a blessing that he doesn’t snore. Thank-you my darling for a good night’s sleep.
KK and I divide the chores around the house. He ensures all the washing gets done. Being an engineer, he is an expert at dividing the darks from the lights. I’ve watched him when he loads the washing machine. The pants get turned inside out. He checks the labels for any hand wash items. Hanging the washing on the line is a master skill as each item gets hung in a particular way with the right pegs. Thank-you for the time you take with the small things.
If I happen to get home late, KK does not mind starting with supper. Compared to how I throw the veggies in the pot, he takes time to cut and snip each end of the beans, he carefully de-layers brussel sprouts in case of bugs and he will even steam veggies that could’ve been done quicker in the microwave. He is a Masterchef when it comes to fried rice and good old spaghetti bolognaise. Thanks-you sweety for having such patience.
I could go on and on. Such as when we run road races and he packs in a spoon for my yoghurt. Or how he puts toothpaste on my toothbrush every morning. Or how he switches on my electric blanket at night so that my bed is warm…
The best is when I run a race and he meets me 1km from the finish line and runs me to the finish. It’s his face I look for after 21kms…
I love you KK.
xxx
To say that I am feeling miserable is putting it lightly. I’m in a dip, a low point…
I woke up on Sunday morning to the tweets of fellow runners who had just completed the Pirates 10km running race. I remember the race from last year when a great running tweetup had been organised. This year, I lay in bed sleeping, feeling sorry for myself. Worse is that I had promised a fellow tweep that I’d run with her and seeing her joy as she finished her first 10km race really made me feel crap.
The fact is that I haven’t run for ages. My last race was the RAC 10km in June. Firstly, I’m not the biggest winter runner. I hate getting cold. (My ears ache). Secondly, like most people, I was hit with flu which set my training, both running and gym, back for a couple of weeks. Thirdly, I hate my body at the moment. I’m overweight and I feel heavy, irritated and downright miserable.
It’s a vicious cycle. The less I run, the worse I feel. If I don’t get to gym, I feel guilty (and then I eat). It’s a bad place to be. So, Monday is always a good time to make a change, which I did. I got to gym lekker early and decided to do a ‘light’ run before the spinning class started.
To my surprise I managed to run 2kms around the running track without stopping. I was hot, drenched in sweat, aching, out of breath. OMG! It felt fantastic!
Yeah, so it’s only 2kms. But it’s exactly what I needed to do! It’s as if I needed to flick that switch in my head.
I may not be the best runner in the world. I know that I don’t run very far compared to most other runners. I know for a fact that I may even be the slowest runner I know. But I’ve come to realise that running makes me feel good. It makes me feel fit. It makes my body work and my mind work even harder. And that’s what matters.
In life, if you find something that motivates you, pushes you and makes you get off that couch and work towards a goal, don’t ever stop. It doesn’t have to be running. Just as long as it’s a passion that lifts you out of that dip and keeps you going.
It’s been another tough week for the people in my life and in particular for those that surround me at work. Another week of watching them “live” a life where stress is the norm. In amidst the pressures of work, the rushing around, the meetings, the reports, three photos lifted my mood this week. Three photos that made me forget about everything going on. Three photos which made me stop and think differently about my day.
This photo was taken by @HayleyM_ (http://www.everything-inbetween.net/). She has the amazing ability to see the beauty in all things. The moon looked absolutely stunning this week. While some of my colleagues are hanging on by a thread while they struggle with stress, both at work and at home, I wish they knew that just like the constant moon which rises, comfort will come and that people around them do care.
I love whales. They are magnificent creatures! So when I picked up on a tweet in the week pointing to this awesome photo taken by African Dive Adventures during the Sardine Run, I could not stop staring at it. It’s mesmerizing. This whale spoke to me too. As I stared into its eye, I realised that even though I have lost steam on a specific project, I need to push through because it might make a difference to someone’s day. Sometimes, it’s not only the big things that matter, but the little things too.
I learnt something about myself this week. I learnt that it’s okay to be proud of myself and to speak highly of my successes. I need to stop allowing others to steal my thunder. This last photo belongs to @sikspens, one of the first people I followed on Twitter. Her bio includes the words ‘happy snapper’ but as you can see, her photo is far from it! If I close my eyes, I can feel the sand in between my toes after looking at this photo. She tells me this is one of her best photos. I agree! It’s one of many that she proudly shares on Twitter and which I wanted to share with you. 
Happy Weekend to all my friends and readers of my blog! Make it count!
Keeping up with the Walkers... 