Those unavoidable Runs

I got my butt out there for a run today. It is amazing how many excuses one creates in order to delay the unavoidable. It seems there is never the right time. Now I see that registering for the Twin Cities 10 Mile Run and paying that $70 something fee was well worth it, because it motivates me to train. After all I don't want to be out there among so many people and probably one of the youngest but yet the slowest. Don't give me wrong, I do regularly run when I exercise in the gym but this, a run 10 miles, from Minneapolis to St.Paul is the farthest distance I have ever even attempted to run. I went out there and had a difficult time running my first 2 miles. I kept on breathing heavily for some reason and couldn't get the appropriate breathing rhythm down. The next 2 miles however went like a breeze, that is, once I turned off the ipod, and started deliberately concentrated on my breathing, I was able to catch get the breathing rhythm down, and started to control my breathing. It's amazing how great it feels to just concentrate on your body and what its telling you during the run, it has the same effect on me as meditation. I must say though, the first mile or two are the worst, that is when one is most likely to quit because it is the hardest. I am not sure why but the body probably is trying to adjust, to the increased demand for oxygen and the vital quick conversion of glucose to energy.

A Sunday

Its amazing how fast these weekends go by. This morning I woke up a bit late, and went to the bank in Uptown in order to pick up the check card I lost on Friday. On Friday I withdrew some money and forgot my card in the ATM machine. On Saturday I was looking for it and realized where I had forgotten it. I was amazed that no transactions were made on my card and that an extremely kind person had turned it in. This is a surprise especially in that area.

Before stopping at the bank, my sisters and walked around Lake Calhoun. While in that area we stumbled across the annual Art Fair that is currently going on. Initially all we wanted was get the famous cheese curds that my friend always praises are "to die for". But as things never go as planned, we ended up spending a lot of time there and actually did not end up getting cheese curds. Instead, we bought other delicious food and I also bought a gorgeous silver and precious stone ring from an artist.

I must say I am amazed at what some people are selling. There was this artist that travels the world and takes photos of places and people. She than sells those photos for an enormous amount of money. Each photo is like 200 bucks. Is that art? I guess that is for everyone to judge for themselves.

When we returned home, my mom and my sisters ended up having a delicious summer lunch on the deck. And I took a picture of a cucumber in my mothers garden. We don't know how it happened that the cucumber grew through the fence, but it definitely made us chuckle.

I also ended up taking a picture of a flower that my mother insists is a rose. I don't think I have ever before seen a rose that consists of two colors. "What's in a rose," right?

Weekend

The weekend has officially begun. I worked today till 4 pm in order to get home earlier but also to beat the traffic. Lately the traffic has become unbearable and a trip that would take me 30 minutes is taking with the traffic 2 hours at time. It is the worst between 4:30 to 6:00 pm, that's why I am very good off leaving any time before. When I got home I was thinking maybe to study for a bit before going with my sister to the movies. Next week is my test, and this time there is no way I will void it. This time its for real. And I am finally ready to overcome my fears and to master that test. However, instead, of studying (which lately has just become so difficult) I decided to go for what I thought would be a quick run. According to my training schedule for the 10 mile, which I got off the Internet, I am supposed to run today 3 miles. There is a lake near my house whose circumference is about 1.96 miles, usually I run twice. Since all day it was rainy I decided to go right away after work while it had stopped raining. So that is what I did, although it was a bit difficult and the second lap I was not able to run but instead walked. I decided that I need to get a book or some other educational materials about the diet one should eat while training for such a huge event. I believe that my diet needs some improvement. Another factor I blame for my lethargy is the fact that I did not get enough sleep last night. Anyways, I did the best that I could, tomorrow is a rest day and than Sunday I am supposed to be putting in 5 miles. It seems to much considering that I just started officially training this week. Shouldn't I be taking it easy? I should note this training schedule I got off the Internet is for beginners. Yeiks. I came home only to quickly take a shower and get ready for a movies night with my sister, Aida. Aida just came home from Bosnia after spending over a month there. I have been busy and have not had that much time to spend with her. Tonight is the night. We are going to watch the thriller that is coming out today, I believe its called "A Perfect Gataway." Afterwards we might hit Uptown. Will see how it goes. Tomorrow however, definitely is a study day, and so is Sunday...

Cirque du Soleil

I just came back from a cirque du soleil performance. I came home late for that I have to be at work early the next morning. However, I must say that it was a spectacular performance that left me thinking afterwards I left thinking, about how amazing the human body is. The human body is perfect, it is designed flawlessly and on top of that it is beautiful and graceful. The human body is a perfection of design that no science could ever replicate not tomorrow, not a decade from now, whether one believes that this is the creation of the divine or a result of evolution is a interesting discussion question. When I saw the performers move and bend in all those ways, I was astonished of what the human body can do. Acrobatics,-gymnastics, dance and other arts such as singing have always fascinated me. People that do acrobatics to me see so free and happy. When they practice and when they perform they are taken back into a different world. In a world where all that matters is their body, how it moves, how it projects and how it feels to them. It is definitely calming and exhilarating. I remember when I went to salsa lessons every Sunday. Every time when done, my muscles would hurt but there was also some kind of alleviation. The alleviation was from the daily burdens and stresses of my everyday life. I left feeling so incredibly hurt, but also so incredibly energetic about life in general. I wonder whether those performs yesterday felt the same way. And than of course, there is the passion that goes into doing acrobatics, or singing or doing any kind of art. The passion comes out for me when I dance, and knowing that others are watching me and might even be admiring me gives me a happy feeling. I am sure that these performers after finishing their part must have felt the same, a happiness that their hard work of practicing had paid of and that they had left the audience breathless. These physical forms of art are amazingly powerful. I admire such people so much because deep inside me somewhere, I know that had I chosen any other profession than the one in which I am heading, I would have wanted to be a performer of some sort.

Reconnecting

Finally, after a very long hiatus and some difficulty I am reconnecting here, with a determination to keep it up this time. This morning I was thinking possibly to join twitter, but then I reconsidered and decided that twitter is really not very useful. Twitter is more for random status updates that no one cares about and no one wants to read. During the course of deciding whether or not to join twitter I realized that I still had this blog! I find that having a blog is more useful since it forces me to reflect on something and it forces me to write something coherently. It also can serve as a diary, except that this diary is open to everyone. Another advantage is the fact that contrary to what I thought prior to today, the blog once created will never expire, thus it is out there on the web forever, even if one does not log into it for years. Such was my case. When I tried to retrieve my blog and sign in, I had a difficult time remembering what email and password I used originally. I must say after hours of searching and guessing, but I was determined since I did not want to have to set this all up from scratch. I must say that the "Help" links attached to this website are not helpful at all. But either way I am back.