More Lake Running

Another unusual run: on Saturday afternoon instead of Sunday morning. I don't know why, but I find it much tougher to run in the afternoon as opposed to in the morning. In addition to that, it was very very windy this afternoon, which made it hard. I felt winded (no pun intended!) from the outset and never managed to get into a smooth rhythm.

So what was supposed to be 6 loops (8.4 km) turned into 5 (7 km), which took us about 50 minutes as we needed to stop a lot more often to walk. What was supposed to be an easy run turned out to be nothing but easy! Bummer...but at least we got out there and did something.

Good luck to Mom and Katy tomorrow, running the ING half marathon in Atlanta! I can't wait to hear how they did - I'm sure it will go well.

Beginners Mind

At my gym they were handing out free copies of Runner's World Beginner's Running Guide (in Dutch), and I picked one up, and even though I know I need to stop thinking of myself as a "beginner", it is still useful to think with a "beginner's mind" every now and then. The guide had lots of useful tips...and one of them was to run your usual route in a different direction.

So this morning when I started out for my 45 minute run, I went in the other direction than I normally would. I also decided to listen to the whole "30:00" music by DJ Bobby Ewing (you can still download the music here: http://www.leuven.be/showpage.asp?iPageID=7318), which I hadn't yet listened to for doing one of my runs. It's really cool instrumental music that has a nice easy tempo. So everything felt new and different! The other thing is that I needed to run a much bigger loop than usual to get 45 minutes in.

I ended up doing 6.4 km for the 45 minutes, which included (on purpose) some steep hilly parts. It felt good to get out, and even though I have a ton of things to do today and was feeling kind of freaked out earlier this morning, I knew that skipping my run would only make me feel more stressed out, not less. So now I am home and showered and ready to tackle all the stuff on my list! Once I finish this blog, that is!

Running at the Lake

We woke up this morning to about a half inch of snow on the ground, which was very pretty. And since it was lovely and sunny out, we knew the snow was not going to last long, so we decided to go out the lake as planned.

There were very few runners out today! Of course we did get out there pretty early, by 9 am...most runners here don't start showing up til about 10 am on Sundays and holidays (today is Easter Monday, a holiday and a day off for most people in Belgium). I know that sounds terribly late to you early morning runners!

So we started doing our loops. The plan said 5, so that's what we did. It took us 50 minutes, but we stopped for a bathroom break after the first loop (must have been the cold!) and by my watch that cost us 5 minutes. So we did the total 7 km in 45 minutes. Which is quite okay, even though it mostly did not feel easy.

A Wintery Easter

The weather here is terrible! Wind, rain, snow - eck! Not at all what you think of as Easter weather. The shops are full of spring clothes: little short sleeve tops, short dresses and pants, but who feels like buying it when you can't wear it! We are all bundled up and shivering. We'll definitely need an extra blanket on the bed tonight; it's supposed to get down to -5° celsius.

So of course I went to the gym yesterday to run. A speed workout: 4 segments of 5 minutes each. Still a lot slower than I would like, but hey. I did 4.3 km in 28 minutes. And yeah, my face was as red as a tomato.

Happy Easter to everyone!

That's More Like It!

We are having a little winter snap here...they are even predicting possible snow on Easter Sunday! So to avoid the cold, I went to the gym to run on the treadmill. And I did 6 km in 40:10, which is more like it! But man, was my face red! I really hate how red my face gets when I run. Anyway, I've got seven weeks to the Ladies Run, so it's time to get serious again. Which means hill workouts, speed workouts and long runs. Yes, Jenny, as of today I've got a program!

During my run, I was trying to apply Chi Running by leaning forward and keeping my arms back. It's funny how similar it is to meditation in the sense that you have to keep gently bringing your attention back to what you are supposed to be focussing on. It is so easy to let your mind wander and "forget" what you are doing. This happens to me all the time while I am trying to meditate - my mind is going a million miles a minute, from one topic to another... wish I could run as fast as my mind can race!

I have bad news for those of you who read a previous post here about wine being vegan...unfortunately it technically isn't. I've been reading up on veganism, and discovered that not only is most wine filtered through various animal products, but some wines even have animal additives (like blood - eck). Now of course everyone who decideds to go vegan has to draw the line somewhere - for example, automobile tires are also produced with animal products and I'm sure lots of vegans still drive cars - and this has a great deal to do with your main reasons for it. Animal welfare, your own health, your family's health, the environment, climate change, or solidarity with the third world...these are all valid reasons.

Being new to this myself, I am still feeling my way and trying to figure everything out. For example today I went with my husband and oldest son for lunch at Thai House here in Leuven. They did have several vegetarian options on the menu, so I ordered stir-fried tofu with veggies. It was really good, but I am sure the broth that accompanied it was either fish or meat stock base, because it was exactly the same broth that came with my son's stir fry pork and veggies! But I enjoyed it and figured at least I am doing way better than before and am making a difference, even though it can never be perfect.

I do feel really good, have a lot more energy than I've had in a long time, and have even noticed that odd little skin issues I've had for a long time are starting to clear up all by themselves! So I think I will continue to do my best to eat vegan, and not beat myself up when for some reason beyond my control, I can't. Now if only eating vegan would stop my face getting all red when I run, then I'd be set!

Springtime Shake Up

Spring is in the air here and this morning I decided to do something completely different and run on Saturday morning instead of Sunday. What a shake up!!!! No seriously, my middle son is having two friends sleep over tonight and I want to make them pancakes in the morning, plus we want to go to the Palm Sunday service at church, AND the weather is supposed to be crappy tomorrow.

So I was thinking about it and since I wanted to go to the main post office in Leuven to mail Easter cards for my nephews and nieces and godson, and that is the only place that has Saturday pick up, I decided to run to the post office. So not only a new day, but also a completely new route (I told you it was a big shake up).

The post office is up by "pencil park" (Jenny knows where this is) and I was thinking a round trip would be about 4 km. It was so nice to run somewhere completely different than usual. I passed the Asian man who does Tai Chi in the park every morning. I enjoyed the beautiful flowering trees - I even stopped quickly to take a photo of this statue I passed because the trees looked so pretty. Then I ran through "pencil park" and dropped my envelopes off and headed back home.

It took me 31 minutes and when I mapped it on Map My Run, it turned out to be 4.5 km.

The greatest benefit from all the half marathon training I did last year is my endurance: I don't run fast, but I feel like I can keep going and going at my nice easy pace and I don't have to stop and walk anymore. Of course, I did stop briefly to take the picture, at one traffic light, and to drop the cards in the mailbox, but not because I needed a break from the running. The running feels just as comfortable as walking, which is a strange concept to me, but very cool!

A quick side note: I've been eating +/- 95% vegan for two weeks now and I have to say I feel great and it is really not that hard. I did have GI issues for the first week as I adjusted, but the last few days I have had a lot more energy and feel quite good. I've been doing a lot of experimenting in the kitchen, and getting a kick out of enjoying things like tortilla chips with guacamole, dark chocolate and wine, which are also vegan!

Just a quick post

I'm twitching about because my writing group is supposed to meet at my house this afternoon but I'm not sure who is coming. But this morning I did rush down to the gym to get a run in. I did 6 km in 42 minutes, which is sobering because if I am planning to improve my time in the Ladies Run 11K from last year, I am going to need to bump the speed up just a bit!

Let's Play Tag!

A blog game! I've been tagged by my sister Katy (http://katyshops.wordpress.com/ ). Here are the rules:

Rules:
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. Share 5 facts about yourself
3. Tag 5 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).
4. Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment at their Blogs.

5 little known facts about myself...hmm...
1. I love to sing, but the sad twist of fate is that I have a terrible voice and cannot carry a tune to save my life. So I belt it out when no one is around! And take piano as a substitute.
2. I never intended to spend the rest of my life in Belgium! I came to study here for one year and fully intended to come back - I even had job interviews lined up in Atlanta!
3. My mother, on the other hand, always thought I would end up in Europe.
4. My university degree is in French literature, of all things (maybe that's why my mother thought the above?)
5. I learned a great deal of Dutch by watching their version of the TV game show "Family Feud"!

I am tagging Mom( http://cindykicksbutt.blogspot.com/), Christy ( http://christysrunningblog.blogspot.com/), and Allie (http://pink-faulous-moneymaker.blogspot.com/). I wanted to tag Sammy too but Kathryn got to him first! Oh well! And if Joy and Claire had blogs (which I am hoping for, since they are the two best writers I have the honor of knowing personally) I would have tagged them too!

Synchronicity

In response to Kathryn's comment on my last blog entry...I totally agree with the idea that, if we are paying attention, things that we need to know, people we need to meet, experiences that we need to have, both good and bad...come to us as if ordered specifically for us. It may be difficult to accept that with negative experiences, but somehow I still think it is true. Just like I mentioned how I kept "bumping into" certain books about vegetariansm and then "by accident" I found out about the EVA lecture in Leuven. Synchronicity has been a recurring theme in my own life, which has always had a kind of "go with the flow" quality to it.

I was cleaning out my email today and printing out some of the Daily OM's that I loved...and guess what? Back in February there was one about synchronicity! Here is what she (Madisyn Taylor, the author of Daily OM) had to say about it:

When events appear to fit together perfectly in our lives it may seem at first that they are random occurrences, things that are the result of coincidence. These synchronous happenings, though, are much more than that, for, if we look at them more closely they can show us that the universe is listening to us and gently communicating with us. Learning to pay attention to and link the things that occur on a daily basis can be a way for us to become more attuned to the fact that most everything happens in our lives for a reason – even when that reason is not clear right away. When we realize that things often go more smoothly than we can ever imagine, it allows us to take the time to reflect on the patterns in our lives. Even events that might not at first seem to be related to each other are indicators that the universe is working with, not against, us. This idea of synchronicity, then, means that we have to trust there is more to our lives than what we experience on a physical level. We need to be willing to look more closely at the bigger picture, accepting and having confidence in the fact that there is more to our experiences than immediately
meets the eye. Being open to synchronicity also means that we have to understand that our lives are filled with both positive and negative events. Once we can recognize that one event is neither more desirable nor better than the other – they all have an overall purpose in our lives -- then we are truly ready to listen to the messages the universe gives us. (http://www.dailyom.com/)

If you are interested in learning more about synchronicity, I can recommend the book Jung on Synchronicity and the Paranormal edited by Roderick Main. It contains Jung's essay "On Synchronicity" where he explains his theory.

I can remember Oprah saying more than once that if the universe is trying to tell you something, first it comes as a whisper, then a call, then a shout, and finally, if you haven't been paying attention, that's when the brick wall falls on your head. To all those who are struggling right now with difficult things, I wish for you the strength to get through it and at the same time the awareness to see the message contained within it.

Transition from flexitarian to vegetarian to vegan...a work in progress

For a long time I was what is commonly called a "flexitarian": someone who still eats animal products in moderate or small quantities (and here I include dairy and eggs) but also a substantial part of their diet is vegetarian. Since my course in food, health and lifestyle a couple years ago, I have been moving more and more towards a vegetarian diet, and more recently towards vegan (no animal products at all, including dairy and eggs).

This fall I happened to read the book The China Study by T. Colin Campbell, which makes the scientific case for a vegan diet. Honestly, the book freaked me out: talk about food stress! The scientific evidence is overwhelming - consumption of animal fat and protein (i.e. meat, fish, dairy and eggs) is implicated in heart disease, obesity, diabetes, cancer, autoimmune diseases, osteoporosis, and kidney, eye and brain diseases. The simple prescription to prevent or even reverse these ailments is: "eat a whole foods, plant-based diet, while minimizing the consumption of refined foods, added salt and added fats". (Campbell, p. 242)

Then my sister Jenny started her transition to a vegan diet. Jenny is an athlete and someone with great discipline when it comes to changing to healthier habits. She was already a very "clean eater" but did consume lean animal protein. What started out as an experiment soon became a new lifestlye as she discovered the benefits. She also started a vegan cooking blog: http://www.tryoutvegan.blogspot.com/. Watching her put everything into practice and learning from her was very inspiring.

Another book I bumped into also inspired me: In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan. My review of it is here: http://considerationofbooks.blogspot.com/2008/03/michael-pollan-in-defense-of-food.html. Briefly, he also recommends that we "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." Reading Pollan and watching my sister transition so well took away a lot of my food stress and made me feel more relaxed and open to the idea of moving towards an all plant diet.

Then my friend Linda and I were lucky enough to be able to attend a lecture by EVA, the Flemish Vegetarian Association (http://www.vegetarisme.be/) , here in Leuven last month. I guess that sealed it for me! Because even though I knew that a veggie/vegan diet was better for animal welfare and for my own health, I was never ever aware of the implications of the meat, fish, dairy and egg industries to the environment, climate and people in developing countries. To learn more about this, you can go to http://www.goveg.com/ or http://www.idausa.org/veganism_campaign.html. It will blow your mind!

For example, just looking at water supply, it takes 500 liters of water to produce a kilogram of potatoes. To produce a kilogram of beef it takes...15,000 liters of water! According to the UN report "Livestock's Long Shadow", the meat industry is one of the top 3 causes of all environmental problems, including global warming. Jeez. You can download or read the report here: http://www.fao.org/docrep/010/a0701e/a0701e00.htm

EVA here in Belgium has been working on promoting the idea of eating vegetarian one day a week (http://www.donderdagveggiedag.be/). By doing this for a whole year, one person can save the greenhouse emissions equivalent to driving a car 1000 kilometers. Imagine what a family of four or more could do, just by going veggie once a week! Linda and I were so inspired by this campaign last fall that we chose "how to go vegetarian part time" as the topic of our "Natuurlijk Evenwicht Atelier" coming up in April. (Anyone interested in attending - the workshop is in Dutch and takes place in Kessel-Lo - leave me a comment and I'll get you the details!)

So not to preach, but just to get the word out, so everyone can make their own informed decision. Think about it!

Sunday run around the lake

Now that I have another race in my sights we are back to running loops around the lake. We did four loops (5.6 km) in 36 minutes - an easy 9 minutes per loop. It was very blustery, lots of wind at the bottom of the lake and the water was choppier than I have ever seen it. Luckily Stefaan's knee was fine. I was trying to lean forward more like in Chi running, it feels weird but I do think it makes me run faster.