Girl Rising

After my yin yoga class last night, giving me peaceful openness I watched this movie, confronting, heartbreaking yet beyond inspirational. I implore you to watch this amazing doco. & to be a part of the movement 'GIRL RISING' By giving a girl an education she has a better chance to be safer in this world & to create a better life for herself, her family, her community & for the entire human race. I have been blessed in my life with an education that has given me incredible opportunities & I wish that could extend to the girls who need it more than most, to empower the most vulnerable. Surely every girl has the right to live her life with freedom & without fear, with support to learn & to survive.

rocky road

These photos from last weekend are from the mighty Blue Mountains, climbing rocky crags, scrambling to the summit, trekking for 7 hours, camping & making fires with baked beans & potatoes (beautiful but fundamental food), dancing around the campfire in me onesie =) the bioluminescent bugs dancing with me in the night & hiding from mysterious wildlife in the tent, lots of laughing & basically loving life at it's most basic!!

It's so good to get away from it all, be in nature, be challenged on the trail, & to break out of the daily grind that has been getting me down of late. Listening to the sounds of the stream rippling by & of the bush noises well into the night, the beautiful light that was twilight took me away from myself & I was happy to just be present in the wonder filled wilderness.... 

sunny Sundays

My perfect Sunday recovery day..

1) Early morning awakening with natural sunlight pouring through my windows, slinking around my place.
2) Supping green chai tea & making bliss balls for breakfast whilst watching the football lying on my floor cushions.
3) Vinyasa flow yoga class at my new local studio, my new luv. Power, focus, strength.
4) Run 7ks to & from the park in the sun listening to some 90's club classic tunes.
5) Chatting in the park with one of me besties & her dog.
5) Lying in the sun on my balcony, reading Stephen Fry's "More fool me".
6) Veggies shopping at whole foods for organic smoothies ingredients for the week.
7) Chatting on Skype to my family & friends across the world.
8) & polishing off a whole tub of 'SO delicious' coconut milk turtle trails ice creammmmmm.
9) An early night. Bath of epsom salts & in my bed. Night xo

new magic

THE MAGNIFICENT MOUNT SOLITARY - TRAILING FROM HERE TO THERE CREATED SOME FUCKING GOOD MAGIC TODAY, READ ON...

Having just returned from an amazing / challenging bush adventure in my fave Blue mountains, run / walking from the Golden Stairs to Mount Solitary to Chinamans Gully & all the way back again. I feel positively alive. & I had to write of a happier state of being after me last post & I want to send gratitude out there for the experience. With beautiful clear skies kindly provided, my 'nature healing' expedition clearly was just the tonic.
I'm excited about the future again, I feel like things are about to change, & I am going to make the necessary adjustments in my life to create a new direction. Don't know why I'm sensing this but I just am & being away today helped to give me the clarity of mind, I ran off the blues! There's nothing like summiting a long hard climb for building confidence.
Now I found these words (below) & they have been my mantra all day, all the while when I was panting, pushing on, heaving myself up the steep & rocky terrain, feeling faint in the hot heat, & with my tired legs screaming at me... 
KEEP GROWING & GIVING & MOVING.
Running not only empowers & inspires but it keeps me wanting to be the best version of me, & after 6 hours out there today I'm feeling pretty proud of myself, for personal growth is important to share the love, so, to new magical beginnings..... 

feeling lost

"Climb every mountain, search high & low, follow every byway, every path you know. 

Climb every mountain, ford every stream, follow every rainbow, til you find your dream." 

(The wise words of the reverend mother - The Sound of Music)

I hope when I run in the Alpine challenge in a few weeks time I find myself again, feeling lost... Sending out some prayers to the universe to guide me there... Hope that wherever you are, you're on your right path navigating your way through the rocky terrain that is life too... xox

Kyoto trail run

My trail run in Kyoto last weekend was a super good day. Not in the running sense & that it wasn't painful because indeed it was. & it wasn't the fastest 32k by far so no records were broken. No it's my actual back that is broken!! & with my once again sore sacroiliac joint it was frustrating but it was an incredible feat to finish. & in Japan on a beautiful track. & with me brother. So it was special.
Little bit of history here: My first memories of running involve my brother, racing in the back lane behind grandma & granda's. Then we went to running events in the north east of England at school age. I remember him always winning, so I started swimming until he beat me at swimming too! I pretty much gave up sport at 12 years of age to take up chasing boys, booze & tabs! But after a 10 year hiatus in 2001 I started training again, to race my brother in the Great North run half marathon. 
Circumstance & 9/11 stopped us from competing in the GNR that year. & over the past few years entries into races like the Tokyo marathon were declined & with geographical difficulties no races were run.  A few river & beach jogs on family holidays proved that brother is still faster. Meh. But. Now was my time to win the sibling rivalry running battle. This year when I have ran my 100k convincingly & feeling fit & fabulous & fast. So we entered into a 32k trail run through the mountains surrounding Kyoto. 
But well, we're no longer spring chickens as our dad keeps reminding us! & then we both carried injuries into the competition, with my damn back pain back again with a vengeance after a fall & me bro's dodgy knee we hobbled around the amazing trail; me: "eee me back" brother: "ah ma knee" so we just took it easy down hills challenging his knees, & the nimble trail technical twisting trialling my joint.
However we had a reet giggle throughout, got high on power gels & nurofens, talked about life, dug deep on the steep slopes & didn't speak, laughed at each others ailments as brothers & sisters do & we analysed over the distance & deliberated the finishing time mostly from the outset.
& so we when we finally crossed the finish line together after 5 hours 56 mins the competitiveness was completely lost out there in the mountains. When we actually ran over the line the finish ribbon blew away so they were all flapping around & we had to stop & wait to run thru it, so a good job it wasn't a sprint finish between the two of us!! I'm just so happy & blessed to have shared the running adventure experience together!! Running x family time = fun times.

 Shameless selfies at the startline, with ambitions for a speed off!!

Brother on a bridge break, just taking in some energy bars & beautiful valley views...

 Kimonos hangin' in the sun, quirky Japanese nuances kept me entertained on the journey.

Photo moment. Me. One of the most serene & stunning sights along the course we crashed down the mountain to discover this lake, one of the nicer trail running surprises (the extra surprise 3 kilometres at the end of the race when our energy was waning was not one of those!!) 

beach please

BEACH PLEASE?? Oh ok go on then.. 
This weekend I plan to run along the beach - to the coast then from Coogee to Bondi & back - a dreamy distance of 30 kilometres & then, well I'm basically going to lie on the beach for the rest of what is to be a lush long one, 3 days of chillaxin' n sunnin' myself by the beautiful ocean. I'll be absorbing as much vital vitamin D on Sunday & Monday as I possibly can & maybes I'll even have my first dip in the water this summer.
So also I will be buying my new swimmies for the season, care of Zimmermann a super special swim brand. I'll also be juicing for rejuvenation & that bikini body to look good in said swimsuit. 
This weekend I am really feeling the need for nurture, I'm quite fatigued & my energy stores are low so locking in loving myself for the next few days - massage, lie ins, green veggies, herbal teas, retail therapy, swims, sunshine, friends & meditation all getting locked in. Looking forward to bright blue sunny skies & happy good times... Happy Friday guys xoL