Gone to the dogs.

Just after I posted about my morning routine and moving my walk/run to another place, my husband said 'you know now someone will find you where you are?'
And I replied that the one person who read the blog probably didn't live in the vaguest vicinity to us, and I think I said 'sigh' a lot when I replied thusly.

So the day after that conversation I drove into the car park, only to see another car parked where my car usually goes (you know, there are forty car parks in there but it's mine) 
I hesitated before pulling into the parking spot, pulled in a way.
Then I saw the owner of the car get out, then let out.. Her.. Two.. Dogs.
Yes folks that's right, not just a dog. Two dogs.

I again hesitated, and groaned. "You've got to be kidding me" I muttered to my steering wheel. I was tempted to turn back home, avoiding the dogs, but then had second thoughts, I told myself I'd regret missing my run, and that the ground was frosty ( I know, right? In November!) and I'd done the hard bit.. I was out of bed so might as well run.

I studiously avoided eye contact with the dog owner, who had one small yappy dog which seemed to have a pooping problem. Of the overdoing it variety. She spent most of the time chasing the yapper through the bushes collecting its deposits, which of course left the bigger dog to chase.. me! And the birds. 

After my run I sat in the car shaking my head at the absurdity of the situation. Nobody else would care about dogs on the running area I know, and probably nobody else cares now, but the ridiculousness of this happening within days of my post complaining about dogs running wasn't lost on me.

I've been back since and no dogs, no people, just grumpy me being happy alone. 

Coming last in first aid

I did first aid training today at work.
Aargh.
Eight hours of compression bandages, role playing and words like pus, intestines, gaping wound and spinal injury. 

I always offer to be the dead person in role plays, I figure I can't get anything wrong that way. I am usually last to do the CPR drill on the dummies though; I never quite get the head tilted back far enough. (Side note: not for you though I'd always do CPR right for you), I reckon by the time the instructor finally gets to assess me she's so tired she won't notice the chest doesn't quite rise and fall enough. Didn't work today either. 

It amazed me how much I already knew. Not remotely because I'm brilliant, nor because I remember from the last lot of training, but because between the four kids we created, we have had asthmatics, reactors to bee stings, choking children, deep cuts needing immediate stitching, burns requiring hospital visits, dog bites needing stitches, antibiotics and leaving scarring, appendicitis, heart murmurs, broken bones, sprains, strains, split heads, eye injuries, one who regularly dehydrated after one episode of vomiting, ant bites.... We ticked so many boxes, well done kids!

Today's partner and I managed figure eight bandages around our ankles in case of snake bite.. Woah, you wouldn't want another snake to come nearby. Your partner, who would of course have been with you to tie you up, would run a mile and you'd be left with an amazingly tight and neat figure eight bandage to ward off the next snake.  

We discussed St. John's slings vs regular slings. 
The fact that more deaths occur from people walking away after having an epipen shot instead of going to hospital.
The fact that Australian animals aren't the most deadly, they're the most venomous. (Because fewer of us die, folks. We just keep going)
That white tail spiders aren't actually dangerous, more just disgustingly dirty foul little creatures who are so full of bacteria and stuff we react to that. (So more like a dusty white, or dirty beige tail then?)
 We're back to splinting as well. It went out of favour for a while because everyone was splinting everything that wouldn't move, but now they realise splints have their place (like if you're in the desert or the ocean, apparently) so we can splint again.
Just when you thought your joy bucket couldn't get fuller.

I know that first aid training is essential. I know when I am struck with the need to use my training, I will say 'um' a lot. But I also know common sense kicks in, just like it did when the kids presented me with all their ailments, before I was a certified first aid person thingy.

When the instructor was talking about phoning 000, she told us how the conversation would go and how the central office handles calls, etc. She also said 'don't hang up on emergency services. Always be last to hang up'
And my stubborn immature brain imagined a call.

"No you hang up."
"No YOU hang up"
"No you hang up first"
"Alright let's hang up together... One two.. You haven't hung up have you?"

Always be last. 

From the diary of a klutzy fitness tragic.

So today I did the C25K* for week 2. I know I've been doing it for about 10 weeks, maybe even longer, but I missed out on a few weeks, and they advise you go back if that happens. So I went wa-a-ay back.
See, it didn't get light til around 7.30 am in China and by then we were already up and going; devotion and prayer time done and breakfast happening. And the footpaths and streets have too many bumps, unknown potholes and people for me to have achieved anything but frustration, so I skipped it. Reluctantly and not without whinging, mind you.

And now I'm back.

I have worked out my stride; the phrase 'runs like a girl' was coined about me, and I mean I run like a four year old girl. When I run, I have my head down and my arms awkward and my legs all over the place. Like a girl. And that's okay by me. 

My arms and hands pull my headphone cords out of my ears as I run, then, while I'm trying to fix that, they pull my phone from my pocket (this after I realised I need shorts with zipped pockets because I can't run with my iPhone in my bra or in an armband despite what others tell me, and then my iPhone won't fall out as I run either, another weird situation I never see anyone else struggle with) And I can't run or walk without music, the conversations in my head would be horrendous.

I have my hair pulled back because otherwise it flicks me in the eye and face, even though it was good to hide behind.

I wear my cap pulled low, partly for shade, partly to hide morning hair and partly to hide under.

I wear my sunglasses. Partly to hide the morning's no makeup, partly for glare elimination, mostly to hide behind. (I tried the pair with the cord so they didn't fall off my face but the cord got tangled in the headphone cords and that was just...no...)

Then, even with all my disguises, people still knew it was me. Maybe something to do with the white white legs and the same coloured hair, but my husband would come home from work proudly telling  me so-and-so said they had seen me out walking, people asked me how long I'd been walking (like since I was one year old, duh) and even a delivery driver at work commented on my mornings. His comment that I was safe from muggers because I walk so aggressively didn't really placate me like he possibly thought it would.
See... It's because it's a 'me' thing, not a shared activity, and I like to be left alone, sometimes. You know, like a cat. Just when I want to be left alone.

So anyways, I finally think I have somewhere I can do my morning thing in peace. 

I used to just use the streets and footpaths, but they too, in regional Australia, have tree trunks, potholes and uneven spots which I invariably trip in or over. I have some vision issues so I actually need to run or walk head down in that situation, as I simply can't tell from a distance if a different colour in the path indicates a shadow or a dip or a stone.
This meant I literally ran into people, or one time a street sign, so really I'm a danger to myself as well as the other fitness people walking.
And I know most of these people. So they want to say hello. When all I want to do is listen to my music and walk or run, depending where I am in my program. 
People drive past and hit their horn to say g'day.. Such an Aussie thing to do, but it terrifies me as I think I'm in their way (when I was on the road) or there was about to be an accident... And me so in the zone the noise just jangled in my head.

I tried the local sports oval, which worked for a while. I drove there, then used the fence as a boundary. The oval ticked several boxes. 
Soft; at my age, dear, you shouldn't run on concrete. 
Even ground, they play sport here so it has to be, and 
Quiet... Just Because. 

Then daylight saving and warmer weather ruined everything. 
All the people wanting to tone for summer started using my oval. 
And wanting to say hello.

And setting up boxing and other things in the path of my run so I had to look up and squint to see where they were, to check if they were running in their own little section they had flagged off, and if I was going to run through or into them. They didn't have to look to see if I was coming their way, mind you, I had to change my course. Which is very hard when you're not actually a fitness person, you don't always see well, and can't see their little flags and so on, and you've only been doing this a fraction of a fraction of your life. 
And you don't want to communicate.

Then the doggie mummies came. Loud laughing ladies. Having a great meet up. Which is fabulous, except they can let their dogs off the leash (apparently) and those dogs run around me, tripping me up, sniffing my legs and my butt and trying to get me to play with them like their doggie mummies should have been but they were too busy laughing and talking together outside of the oval, but laughing ...OHHHH laughing with me about their cute dog's cute dog antics. No. Just.. Sigh.

Then the sprinklers started. Pfft pfft pfft they seemed to say as I ran through them because they started right when I got there and I couldn't stop.
So I said pfft myself, and moved to the local high school oval.

The ground is soft, it's not necessarily as even, which surprises me as it's an athletic field, but I don't care because it's quiet. I am alone and can even look UP as I run or walk. The only people I see are the bus drivers who start their pick up run early. And they don't acknowledge my presence. Well I don't think they do, they're so far away from me I can't tell.

And my newbie fitness heart is happy. And.. Just sayin' .... if you tell people about my secret place, I'm going to have to start getting up earlier so I'm alone again...and that might not be too pretty, so just.. No, right?


Note:
*C25K is an app you can get for your smartphone. It is intended to get you from 'Couch to a 5K marathon' in eight weeks. I don't intend to ever run a 5k, but I did want to get fit and walking wasn't doing it fast enough. It is about half an hour a day three days a week, and works on a walk/run combo, building up the run time gradually til you're running the whole half hour.