What a lovely morning! After breakfast Tate and I went for a great run. We were out for 45 minutes, 9 minutes running and 1 minute walking plus an extra 4 minutes run at the end. I finally felt like I was really running and kept wanting to go faster but my heart wouldn’t let me, each time I sped up my heart jumped up like I was sprinting for my life. The walking breaks are a great mental way to break up a run as well as a mini recovery for the body, I speed walk so my heart rate comes down a bit but stays in a cardio range.
The only other people on the streets this morning were the Tibetan Buddhists out for their morning prayer. Hundreds of men and women of all ages walk clockwise around the monasteries and temples, each carrying prayer beads or turning a prayer wheel. Those who aren’t walking are praying by constantly going from standing to sliding out onto their bellies and back up, over and over again. Most wear knee pads for this and things on their hands that are actually a lot like those “glider” things that are used for ab exercises. Is it weird that all I could think of while watching them pray is what good exercise that must be?
We were moving with the crowd for the first half of our run but for the return we were going against them and it was like swimming upstream through a sea of people!
Post run I hit the hotel roof with my mat for a yoga session and a quick arm workout. My yoga routine is serving me very well and it never fails to make my day a little better.
In two hours we board the train to Chengdu and 44 hours after that we arrive! I am excited about checking out a Chinese train and looking forward to reading and catching up on sleep. I am not looking forward to being so inactive for two days. This Lhasa-Chengdu rail goes over the highest pass covered by a train in the world. Later today we will go over a pass that is almost 17,000 feet above sea level! There is supposed to be oxygen pumped into the cars but I think I will do fine, especially with such little exertion.
I ordered a “Palak Paneer” (curried spinach puree with tofu like cheese) with naan bread to go from the hotel restaurant. The food is so good here I had to have one last meal. I have got to learn to make this dish. Does anyone have a recipe?
Wish me luck doing an ab routine on the train tomorrow!
Oh, Faith! I am so proud of you for your commitment to health in far away countries and often uncomfortable spaces. I, too, struggle with people “looking at me” when I’m exercising and totally go into my shell or don’t push as hard as I want. Yikes! They’ll hear me breathing or think it’s weird that I’m fully exerting myself. I want to GET OVER that weirdness.
It is so wonderful and exciting to get to hear about your journey. I can’t wait to see pictures and have you cook some of the yummy food I’m sure you’re tasting and eat salad on a floor somewhere in the no hemi. So glad you and the hubs are doing well on your travels. Can’t wait to see the 2010 video next year…
Thanks Rachel! It’s interesting how it gets easier and harder to take the stares. Somedays I just can’t handle being looked at like I am the strangest thing ever and other days I barely notice it…depends on my mood I suppose.