I know that you have been waiting to hear what I have been doing on Wednesday nights!  Well, at least one person has been waiting for me to post this blog!  😉

Bollywoodworld.com says, “Bollywood dancing is a commercial name for modern Indian dancing. It’s a combination of classical Indian dance (which is the base), folk dancing such as Bhangra and sometimes has a Latino and Arabic influence. It’s fun and very expressive and there’s a lot of deep meaning behind music in the films. You can actually express what the music means, through the graceful movements of the body.” 

The past three weeks I have been learning how to dance Bollywood style.  If you have never seen a Bollywood film or the dance, then check it out on YouTube.  Better yet, here is a video of my dance instructor – the amazing Faith – from a previous class she taught.

I have never taken dance lessons before.  I have never done such weird moves before that apparently doesn’t matter if you look silly doing them!  It definitely is fun and expressive and I need to just have fun with it.  Yes, I do need to learn the arm/hand moves or feet first and then add them together or I get confused.  I’m not that coordinated to do both together right away.  It took a couple of weeks to realize this was ok.  We learn a move slow.  Which is great.  And I get it.  Then we have to do it fast.  I lose it!  Then I just start to get it a bit better when it’s fast and we have to change sides.  Learning on the right – good.  Changing sides to the left – not so great!

Tonight will only be week 4, so I think I am doing all right for never doing something like this before.  The dance has been recorded up to a certain point so we can practice at home.  Perhaps I should do that!  I did it once – but have been busy and then I think about it on Wednesday before class!

All in all it is a lot of fun.  Check out Down Hips Dance Studio if you want to take a class. I love different cultures – especially their music and dancing.

What is Bollywood?
Learn How to Bollywood Dance

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I have a tennis racket.  It’s been sitting in my closet for a long time.  I’m surprised it wasn’t dusty.  A couple years ago (maybe more then that) I went and played with a few friends from Heritage, but we only went once.  Really, I haven’t played in YEARS!!!    And when I did play I didn’t really know what I was doing and I could improve my game big time!

Last week my friends and I planned to go this week.  It was great.  We didn’t really follow the rules.  One of my friends had never played before so we just hit the ball back and forth and tried to get in as many rallies as we could!  It was a great way to get in exercise, but it didn’t really seem like exercise because it was so much fun.  I do enjoy exercise with others.  It makes it exciting and not as boring.

The four of us in the picture are all friends and we all live in the same building, which is great.  There is also Justin who is taking the picture.  We are looking for another guy to play with us (or girl) to make an even number.  If you are interested, let me know!  We will also have to find a court that has two instead of just one and that we can use for free!

The net is made of fencing.  I guess that is so that the net can be left up all the time.  But as you can see from the picture it causes the ball to get stuck.  It only happened twice.  The first time by Judi and the second time by myself near the end of our playing.

Now we have Tennis Tuesday’s!  I look forward to it.  I’m excited about all of the activeness that I will be doing this summer!  Thank you to my friends for being motivating in getting out there and getting active!

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I went out around the Big Block again tonight.  The weather seems to have changed so dramatically the last two days that I forgot to take water with me tonight.  I was fine without it last week, but not tonight!  I didn’t get as much jogging in because of it.  Thankfully the church is on the way home so I stopped in for water.  Saved!  Although, I still walked the rest of the way home!

So how far is it anyway?  A whopping 6.2 KM.  Now for some of you this might not be a big deal, but it is for me! Some of you are probably thinking I’m crazy to go that distance.  I encourage you to get out there and get active! Start with 2 or 3 km.  Anyway, as I drove around I kept guessing how many KM it was going to be.  (I’m not that great at guesstimating distances or crowds or really any type of situation with numbers.)  I thought it would be at least 5k, but didn’t think it would be over 6k!

“Will you really keep the goal of being able to jog it by the end of August?”, you ask.

Great question!  I’m so glad you asked!  Here’s the thing.  6.2 KM is a lot!  Last year I ran in a 5K race and I was dying by the end.  Mind you, we only were training on a 4K route, therefore I wasn’t really set to do the full 5k.  With that, I’m going to change my goal a bit.

The new goal:  To jog 5K of the Big Block.

1 day down and 2 more to go this week!  I really need to get up earlier in the morning before the air is smog filled and sticky and suffocating!  And bring water!

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Krug – The Aud Parking Lot – Ottawa – River – Manchester

That’s the BIG Block.  Why am I mentioning the BIG Block?  I walked/jogged it tonight.  I did a shorter version of it earlier this week.  I’ve decided I am going to try to do it at least 3 times a week.  I’m getting back into my jogging sneakers and hitting the road.  The weather is finally shaping up!

I thought if I was going to go for a walk/jog I better get my jog’s worth!  Tonight it took me a good hour and ten minutes!  I think I jogged about 1/3 of the time.  Maybe a bit less.  It is hard to tell when you go between walking and jogging.  By the time I did my last jog, it was slow.  By the time I got to Manchester I had very heavy legs!  By the time I got home I thought if I sat down I might not be able to get up and have very stiff legs.  Always remember to stretch well after a vigorous walk/jog.

On a side note, some guys in a truck yelled something at me and gave me a thumbs up.  I had my earbuds in so I didn’t catch what they said.  He was smiling so I hope it was something nice.  Sometimes it can be interesting when you are out jogging!

The Goal:  to be able to jog the entire route by the end of August.

The Challenge:  Getting out there at least 3 times a week so I can accomplish my goal and the weather.  With the summer coming up with the smog and the heat I will have to get out early in the morning, which you know won’t be so hard since I have been getting up at 6am to exercise anyways (Confession time: I haven’t been great at this the last month or so).  I think it might still be too muggy to do it at 8pm.  I guess I will just have to wait and see.  I did do both jogs this week in the evening and it was a good way to end the day, but I know that won’t always be possible.

I’m still going to try and get in a couple workouts in with Gillian too.  I want to keep working on my muscles.  I also have a workout on Wed nights now too (I’ll share in my next blog…promise!).  So that is the plan.  Now it is sticking with it!

As for healthy eating, I’m trying to get back at it.  Sweats and chips are just so good!  🙂  I’ve been having pear/apple/banana smoothies (with Greek yogurt – so excited to finally see it at Zehrs) this week which is great for getting in a little more fibre and fruit.  I’ve also had a few more healthier and balanced meals as well.  I’m pretty sure that I am going to try to stay away from potatoes as much as I can.  I think they make me seriously bloated.  I don’t know if you have ever gotten so bloated that it hurts and tires you out and you need to sleep kind of bloating.  I don’t recommend it!  I’ve got something special from the doctor just for it!

Finally, a blog on exercising and not food (well, not recipes at least!).  I’ll do my best to give an update once in a while on how the jogging is going and where I am at with my goal!

The Next step: See how many KM the BIG Block holds!

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