A Day in Limburg

On Monday we spent the day in Limburg, both in the Belgian and Dutch sides of this province. The main reason we were going was to see the exhibition of the Terracotta Army of Xi'an which is currently in Maaseik. They have 14 of the original life sized statues and over 200 smaller statues and burial objects. Of course the main attraction are the life sized warriors:

They are incredibly impressive, the detail in each face is amazing. I could not get over the fact that these terracotta figures survived over 2000 years.

I was most impressed by the life sized horse - the detail and precision was incredible:

The smaller statures were beautiful as well and gave more of an impression of the sheer quantity of what was discovered at the site in China.

When made for burial the statues were painted and adorned with leather and cloth - which all decayed over the past 2000 years. This reproduction was what they should have looked like when "new":

After our visit to Maaseik we headed to Thorn, just over the border in the Netherlands. My friend Linda had suggested it, saying it was "the white village of the Netherlands" - I had never heard of it, and was intrigued. So when we arrived, yes, all the houses were painted white!

As it turned out, the town was originally a community of wealthy noble women who came together to found an abby. The houses were painted white as a sign of virginity and purity. The community was similar to the "begijnhof" communities you find in Belgium. It was a lovely village and the church was beautiful, incredibly feminine in its decoration, right down to the pink marble and the lovely statues everywhere.

What my kids enjoyed the most about this church was all the hidden rooms one could visit, especially the one in the basement which had an exhibit of two mummified bodies of former head ladies of the abby plus the reliquary holding the forearm and hand of Saint Benedict. Very gruesome.

We finished off our day with a visit to Maasmechelen Village, an outlet shopping center, and then dinner at the little Italian restaurant there where I had the most delicious pasta e fagioli - it was so warm and comforting after walking around in the cold and wind all day!

A Race to Dream About

I just love reading Kristin Armstrong's running blog on the Runner's World website - she is such a talented writer. Her most recent post was about the Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco - you know, the famous race where you get a Tiffany necklace handed to you by a fireman in a tuxedo as you cross the finish line! A race to dream about (and yes, mom, there is a half and a full). I esepcially love the pact she made with her two daughters about the necklace.

Jenny, Mark, and Mark's brother Jim are all running the Niagra Falls Marathon(Mark) and Half Marathon (Jenny and Jim) in Canada today - I want to wish them the best of luck and times they can be pleased with (and not be cursing when they cross the finish line, like Kathryn!). It's Jim's very first half marathon, so I know what he will be going through today and I'm sure it will be a wonderful and tough experience. Good luck, guys! Can't wait to hear how you all did!

Leuven Corrida 2008

If you happen to be in Belgium at the end of December, something I can highly recommend is the Leuven Corrida, the yearly race around the center of our historic town. This year it will be held on December 28, and you can run 4K, 8K or 12K. It's a great race - we did it last year with our dear friends Joy and Patrice and had a blast. It's a fun course, there are bands and lots of spectators and a great atmosphere. Not to mention the bottles of wine you earn by running!

We will have to miss it this year (we're going to run in Florida instead!) but if anyone is interested, you can find all the information at www.dcla.be. Don't wait too long to sign up because it fills up quickly. Good luck and great running!

Workout Buddy, part 2

Yesterday I really didn't feel like going to the gym, but I dragged myself over there, because I knew going and getting it done was better than being stressed out for the rest of the day, knowing I "owed" myself and having to fit it in later in the week.

So I was bracing myself for a long, boring, sluggish run on the treadmill, but as I got on and got started, I noticed the person on the bike right in front of me was the newscaster on our local news! That distracted me entirely from my sucky run and the minutes just seemed to fly by. I ran 4.8 km in 32 minutes, a bit slower than last week. Well... there are definitely pros and cons to be being distracted!

5+37

Realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have. Make the Now the primary focus of your life...Always say "yes" to the present moment...Surrender to what is. Say "yes" to life - and see how life suddenly starts working for you rather than against you.

- Eckhart Tolle

And...oh yes... add 37 more candles to that cake!

Fall Running

Because of plans with friends this week I had to shift my usual workouts around a bit. On Monday I went to the gym and did my tempo run and weights. It went well, I did a total of 5 kilometers in 32 minutes. I even finished up my strength routine with some pushups, and I am still feeling the effects of that today (ouch)!

Yesterday I met Aisling in Brussels and she had found the neatest vegetarian restaurant for us, on the Chaussée d'Ixelles in the Flagey area, Dolma. It was delicious and so unusual! It was set up as a buffet: one table with salads, soup and fresh cold veggies; another with hot dishes, which yesterday consisted of two kinds of rice, lentils, swiss chard, seitan stroganoff, tofu in a chervil sauce, spinach quiche, a pastry with a nut filling, etc. It was delicious! For 15 euros you can enjoy as much as you like of the buffet, plus you get one serving from the dessert table. We both had the apricot almond tart, which was lovely.

The other nice thing about Dolma is that it has a very nice health food store attached to it, so luckily we had enough time after our meal to check out the shop. I actually saw some interesting things there that I had never seen in health food shops in Leuven, so that was interesting. All in all it was a great discovery - thanks, Aisling!

This morning I got up, I have to admit, missing my "littles" more than a little bit. It's just too quiet! I had to do my usual Thursday run today, so I set off, and when I got to the park where I was going to do loops on the Finnish piste, I saw there were groups of preschool kids there collecting leaves and chestnuts with their teachers. As I ran past them, I saw the little girl who lives across the street from us, and amazingly enough (with me in my running gear, sweaty and hair pulled up) she recognized me and was all excited, waving at me. "Dag buurvrouw!" she yelled cheerily. Well that certainly cheered me up! I ran the rest of my route enjoying the way the leaves were falling just like big brown lazy snowflakes...don't you just love fall?

Workout Buddy

Well, my kids are away at camp, but guess who is working out with me this week?

It's Oh So Quiet...

My two "littles" are gone this week, Stefaan and I waved them off in their busses this morning at the school. They are both off with their friends and teachers to spend a week away, Gillis at the seaside and Felix in the woods. And at the same time, I have my nose pressed up against the uncontestable fact that my "biggest" is indeed, growing up, in more ways than one! What is a mother to do?

Enjoy the silence. Treasure the quiet and the time to get long-put-on-hold things done... while at the same time realizing how precious the time you have with your children indeed is. Because you don't get very long with them, even though sometimes it seems like they'll be your babies forever.

It was a fabulous fall day today, sunny and bright, and just outside my back window the panorama of leaves changing color is breathtaking. I headed off to the gym on my bike to take advantage of the fresh air and the fact that the return (uphill) trip is a great leg and glute workout! I did 5k in 32 minutes on the treadmill and then did my strength workout. And headed home to a sea of time and the luxury to do just what I wanted to do.

No Run, Om

No run today - when we woke up it was blustery and pouring down rain. I can do wind, I can do some rain, but the two combined is deadly! So we will go out tomorrow, since both Stefaan and Florian are home tomorrow (they are striking again in Belgium).

There are many things I haven't had time to do this past month, but one of the things I have made time for, something that I have wanted to do for the past few years, is start a meditation practice. I have several books on meditation and have a couple of CD's but I finally found an approach that works for me* and lo and behold, I have managed to sit down every morning on the weekdays for about 15 minutes for the past month.

If you've ever read anything about meditation, it is supposed to be hugely beneficial to your overall health. People who meditate regularly are also less bothered by stressful situations - who couldn't use some of that? I actually really look forward to it, although in the beginning it is intimidating; being a person who is constantly thinking about what needs to get done next, it is difficult to simply let go and do "nothing". My mind has the tendency to be busy planning everything while I am trying to direct my attention to the meditation.

But sometimes, just sometimes, I do manage to briefly let go of all those mental twists and turns and connect with a sense of calm that feels a bit like the end of yoga class used to feel like when the teacher always led us in a final relaxation. Or that feeling of "moving meditation" that I sometimes get with running. I'm sure those of you who run or do yoga know what I mean.

Happy Sunday to you all. OM!


*I've been using a very helpful "Beginning Meditation Class" CD by Jim Malloy at The Meditation Center. On this website you can also sign up for a free 20-day class, where they send you an email each day, reminding you to meditate and teaching you a little bit about it as you go along. I also love his guided meditation CD "River of Tranquility". I have also found books by Elizabeth Lesser, Jon Kabat-Zin, and Marianne Williamson to be very helpful.

Ladies who Lunch

Am I turning into one of those? I don't care, I just had lunch with a friend at Lukemieke, one of my absolute favorite restaurants in Leuven, and it was so good! I always have the feeling, after eating there, that I have eaten something so good for me, and delicious, and that I have been so coddled and well taken care of. Mmm!

But I did get my run in first this morning before heading off to lunch: just an easy 34 minutes around the neighborhood which ended up being 4.8 km. The wind made it at times a pretty tough workout and I got some good big hills in, too!

Yesterday, Felix, Gillis and I managed to take advantage of a short break in the rain to go and do our 3 km run to the cemetary and back. As usual, Gillis was ahead of us the whole time, but Felix and I managed to get home in 23 minutes, so we were both pleased. Felix likes the 5 min run/1 min walk routine, so he can keep asking me "How long still?" during the running segments! But he is doing so well, I am so proud of him for sticking with it!

The other fun thing we did yesterday together was make the Coconut-Almond Energy Bars recipe that is in the November issue of Runner's World. Gillis helped me mix them up and they are so good! And healthy too - that is certainly a bonus.