brightening up a rainy day

Just a quick one before the weekend... Sometimes rainy weather can get you down... I know... I lived in London! Today however, it did not! Sometimes you just have to find something to brighten your day... like the umbrella this guy in front of me was wielding against another Brisbane downpour! Made me smile :-)
L.

beautiful brisbane mornings!

 This is just a super quick post of piccies- these are early morning shots taken from my bed (yes, really!)... this is the reason NOW is my favourite time of the year to go running- the temperature is perfect, the light is stunning and there is nothing better than the feeling of invigoration you get from watching the sun rise... The fact that I can see this from my bed is probably what makes it so easy for me (most mornings!) to get out of bed and get going- why wouldn't you when it looks this beautiful?! That said, it isn't like that every morning- there are definitely times when I struggle! But it is definitely days like this one that make it all worthwhile! Hoorah, going to be a good day, I can feel it in my bones!!!

Early morning mangrove run

The nights are drawing in a bit and bringing the new season... there is just a hint of it in the air... or so I thought until yesterday when it hit 31degrees again! My mind and my body are definitely ready for a change of season and although the hours of light suggest it is on its way, last night was still a muggy, hot one- hard to sleep in that! Oh well, I'm sure I'll be dreaming of the long summer days in a few more months but for now I just have to practice patience- in a few areas of my life... something I've never been very good at! At least with the changes to the light it makes running in the mornings and evenings at the moment more interesting- the sunrise and sunsets are a softer light, full of colours (rather than the harsh light that suggests half the day is already gone, that you wake up to in mid-summer). This pic of the mudflats under the mangroves at the brisbane botanic gardens that I ran through this morning capture this light... Bring on beautiful autumn runs!

full of bliss-ful energy!

These pics are all that remain of the yummy scrummy energy bliss ball attempt by moi! Inspired in part by my dear friend Alana's love of 'byron bay bliss balls' in cafes around SEQ (Australia?), in part by the lululemon blog on their 'bliss ball challenge' and in part by the desire to cook up something yummy and energising to share with my friends at the uq twilight run today... these little goodies were born! It has been a miserable/grey/overcast/rainy few days but nothing would make me pull out of the twilight run... If it were only for me I may have, but most importantly this was the first race of my amazing friend Carmen's... and she made it! We all made it! What made it even more exciting was the fact that Carmen breast-fed minutes before the race... yes that's right- not only was it her first ever run, but it also was a run that showed where she has come from- giving birth to her beautiful daughter only just over a year ago, Carmen has turned into an inspirational running machine... It was so wonderful and really kind of special being able to run alongside her and my own mum (and at the event to also have the support of Paul, Maya and Kara!) that I think there was some kind of karma that parted the clouds for us and allowed the whole run to be completed sans rain! I am so glad that I have been able to run with my mum and create a little world of running love, full of friends who I can go on running dates with... there really is nothing more exhilarating than being able to share a run (and a post-run coffee!) with people who are really near and dear to you... So, thankyou to those near and dear to me for the amazing twilight run (and also I guess to the few thousand others in the race who aren't quite as near and dear... yet!)... I hope you enjoyed it and found it as wonderful as I did!

L. :-)

yoga under the trees!

ummm... yoga outdoors, under the trees- how divine! I have done yoga more than a few times before, but I wouldn't exactly call myself a yogi... I try to fit more of it in because I know how good it is for me to have a good ole stretch and it's something that I just don't seem to get around to enough outside of a formal class situation... after today's class... I may be a new devotee- to outdoor yoga! Lululemon in brisbane has been holding free yoga outside in new farm park on sunday mornings. This morning I did a big river ride with my wonderful flatmate then headed over the water to new farm to stretch it all out. The class was good but I think the bit I loved the most was being able to look up and see the canopies of the trees above me... I really do love the speckled, dappled light that filters through trees and so doing yoga beneath said trees was amazing. There is also something that just feels 'right' about doing yoga outdoors- it's really grounding being literally in contact with the earth, being able to feel the world via breeze on your skin, grass on your cheek... It really was a great way to start a sunday, particularly with post-yoga brekky with fellow-yoga friends at little larder...sunday ritual? I think so!

L. :-)

catch-up-o-rama!

Wow, has been a while, after I was in such a good habit there for a while!
Well... I do have some excuses... top of the list being that I moved house! It was all a bit of a whirlwind, dealing with tax, banks, real estates, removalists and new body corporate... but I am in and I love it! I'm @ Torbreck, which is Brisbane's first residential highrise, built in the 50s and still going strong today... I am now just  a few minutes walk from my favourite Brissie 'hood- West End; I have walk and run routes literally on my doorstep; a lovely lap pool down the road and a cool down pool in my back yard- hurrah! I will try to post more often but for now I will give a snapshot overview of my time away from the blog...

Most recently on Sunday 7 November I mud-wrestled my way through the 350m dam swim/10km mountain bike/4km trail run(mud run!) that is the trex off road triathlon... yes that is mud, all over us, at the end of the run, but you cant hide our huge smiles- I felt like a kid again, whipping through the mud, swimming around the dam, and generally loving being outdoors. The event was low-key, family-friendly and great fun... hecks yes I'll be back for more of that!

This is a bit of a Brisbane special- there has been a spectacular Jacaranda season and this was taken mid-run on a highgate hill-uq-regatta-go between bridge route. After coming over the Green Bridge to uq I turned the corner and this boulevard of jacarandas stretched in front of me- made it into a great Saturday morning and an awesome way to start the day!




Finally, this pic from a weekend at the end of october was taken from the top of  Mt Ngungun, one of the Glass House Mountains North of Brisbane. My friend Alana and I had an awesome weekend, climbing up Ngungun early saturday morning, wandering around the mountaintop towns of Maleny and Montville, before coming down to sea-level at Noosa, where we tried stand-up-paddle-boarding around the beautiful Noosa National Park, bikram yoga and lots of delicious, fresh food from around the Sunny Coast...


 I guess the recurring feature of the couple of months just gone has been enjoying exercise- mixing it up, doing it with friends, using it to see new places- always with a smile :-)
Let's keep that going- I can tell it will be a good summer!
L. x

primo afternoon stretching spot

I just wanted to share this fab afternoon stretching spot... In my building I'm a lowly 2nd floor-er, but this afternoon rather than exiting for my run at the bottom of my building as per normal, I decided to exit at the top (we are on a steep hill- hence the 2 entry points!)... Awesome decision! There is a little opening on the 7th floor where us lowly folk who can't afford the view permanently, can go just to hang out and have a look. This afternoon I was lucky enough to catch the beautiful setting sun, streaming over the city and setting behind the Brisbane valley hills in the background... Loving the afternoon light at this time of year... what a great place to stretch out the day!
L. x