A Long Australian Weekend: The Queen's Birthday!

Down here, under the equator, the Queen's Birthday is celebrated the second Monday of June. That means it's a long weekend for us working folk!

Steven and I had planned to go to the Blue Mountains to do some sight seeing and tourist-ing, but Lazy, Cheap, and Car-less struck us hard. So, we stayed home.

We did all my favourite things:

Run:

Stretch (ouch):

Eat Japanese Tofu Donburi:

Eat Chimney Cakes from Kurtosh:

Eat pies from Pie Face:

Yes, there was a lot more eating than exercising, and that's the way we like it!

Now, I'm downloading Nike Training Club app so that Steven and I have something to play with the next time we hit the gym. From what I can tell, it looks like a good idea, but the initial download also took like 20 web-minutes (which is really like 3 real minutes), so I've already lost half my interest. There are bonus workouts named after (or created by) famous athletes, like the Kara Goucher Pro Running Stretches that you have to download individually.

By the way, the Kara Goucher Pro Running Stretches workout is EXTREMELY basic. It covers the major areas I always do after a run: low lunge (hip flexor), triangle (outer hip, glute, inner thigh), and IT band (twist with straight leg - she does it supine while I usually do revolved triangle). But it's missing a whole lot of other stuff, like your feet, ankles, calves, quads, piriformis, spine.... yep, the entire spine.... I don't think they did one twist....

Maybe I'll do my own post-run yoga/stretch routine to show you guys... What say you, Interwebs?

Anyway, I'll write a bigger update on what Steven and I think of the Nike Training Club app soon!

Hong Kong to Sydney

Hong Kong airport is by far my favorite of all the airports I've been to (Narita, Japan is a close second).

Free wifi, big seats in waiting areas, lots of charging stations, excellent food court! 

Walking through the airport while using Facetime with family (excellent wifi coverage) just made Hong Kong all the more awesome.

I also did some stretching :)

By the time we got to Sydney, it was nearly 10 at night. 

It was such a relief to be greeted by a familiar face, my friend Minnie. I hadn't seen her in about 5 years, so it was a big reunion for us. 

She was letting us crash until our backpacker's holiday really began. 

Oh, and crash we did. 

I woke up really early, around 5 AM, and got to work. 

I did my practice, including drop backs, and felt strong and ready for the day. 

Coming back to a home practice, the quietude, the concentration and determination, was such a revelation to me after being committed to Mysore for the past few months. My practice has grown in ways I was not aware of. 

I'm not necessarily more flexible, stronger, or really any different physically. But I hold myself more accountable to the sequence, more accountable to the nature of the practice, the meditation. It's easier to slide into it, and when I'm interrupted, I'm eager to return. 

Very cool to me. 

Anyway, the day passed quickly. After getting mobile numbers and bank accounts, Minnie took us for an excellent coffee and cake.

I made a humble vegetarian dinner for us.

 

Chick pea and eggplant curry with green beans baked with celery salt. 

Not my best work, but decent! More on Sydney soon! 

More Ashtanga Backbends

This morning, David Robson told me that I have a curve in my spine!

COOL! 

Hurray for scoliosis?

He said it was nothing to worry about, and I totally believe him.

After all, all of us are infected with something or other, like us Asians. It's one of those things that is only a problem when it's severe, and those cases are rare.

In backbends today, he pushed me pretty far down on the 3 half-way dips. And on my last drop down to hold, he told me to "walk your hands in" a LOT.

He also said to walk my right hand in further than my left.

I walked in so much that I swear I nearly touched my feet (which was crazy cool), and then my left arm went numb.

Google told me that I have a pinched nerve, or Thoracic Outlet Syndrome. I would really like to floss and gloss my nerves, please, like the last treatment says.

Anyway, I came home and ran up and down the big MoFo of a hill near my house TWO times!

When I came home to stretch, the dog decided to help me.

She looks epic when she's towering over you.

That's my hero dog!