Run! It's amazing how much better I feel when I run a few times a week.

Short, easy runs where I give myself full permission to walk to hills seems to make so much difference to how well my digestive system works and how well I sleep and *both* of these contribute *massively* to how happy I feel and how productive I can be in my work.

It seems short, easy, regular running is a linchpin habit for me. And that even when I don't feel like running I should probably just put on my shoes and get out the door as it's rare that I feel worse when running; I usually feel better than when I began.

![](https://images.ecency.com/DQmVuVidsd5QH7iK9kKYYVLNRxqyq6JjGcmo7maGw5rJesi/screenshot_20221110_154722.png)

So this morning after having a sleep in that it seems my body needed, I took a *big* swig of water, got dressed, pottered around the house just long enough to let the water settle and then out the door I went.

Since I'm someone who feels stifled and restricted by routine and too much familiarity I let my imagination pick the route for me to run. To my surprise, instead of going *into* the bush and running on the single tracks I love, my imagination showed me the bike path along the *outside* of the Bush Reserve.

So jog I did, walk up the hills I did, cruise the flats I did. 

![](https://images.ecency.com/DQmShEZiYLFpwYGzE7tUodvFfUGpd6uGVxafSVuKyj4zgbE/screenshot_20221110_154827.png)*This makes me think that my heart rate zones must be wrong because I definitely didn't work that hard. I think they must use 200 - your age. As I would have said that most of this run was in Zone 2 and a bit in Zone 3.*

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Around the 1km mark I realised I was getting pretty hungry (I barely ate last night as digestive pain was oppressive) so I set a goal for my turn around point. But then I heard birds that lit up my heart and I stopped short of my arbitrary goal and watched and listened and stood in awe at this beautiful scene that is so close to my house.

![](https://images.ecency.com/DQmemWisq5DLDmXjpCFiMYEzAvxqoKqhWHkBEjhN6ckoDgm/screenshot_20221110_154737.png)

![](https://images.ecency.com/DQmQoQtHBSNHHTvC12ZRtrjmF8FMHzU2vB5eDe4ykuKriE1/screenshot_20221110_154756.png)*Can you tell where I stopped to take photos? Hahaha. **Someone** forgot to turn her watch off. Hehehe.*

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I took photos and appreciated this was a much *better* turnaround spot. And soon enough my belly reminded me it needed feeding and so off I went, back home, full of smiles. Light headed but grateful for life.

![](https://images.ecency.com/DQmVo7rUjogtJncDB9w95mbEQaj6hTsJ8JBKfoq3ETg1ox9/pxl_20221109_212938951.jpg)*This is a Pacific Black Duck. [Or so this website tells me.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_black_duck)*



![](https://images.ecency.com/DQmTuDy4cbGTiJH7uR5ppTNvoSBymHHC4t4Cq4Sjrbvb7K9/pxl_20221109_212909131.jpg)*This one is a kind of cockatoo known as a Corella. [This website confirms it.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corella_(bird))*

![](https://images.ecency.com/DQmS1TFTMNCR9bPthiHchff7nu1UdufbWrqMTu2F5rkvL75/pxl_20221109_212920661.jpg)*We used to have these ones at our place when I was a child. They're called Dusky Moorhens. See a better photo and info about them [here.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dusky_moorhen)*

![](https://images.ecency.com/DQmfTjRaGK46LUyLcJzoQj2TeMgU5ZuNWZ2E2ZiXjwtB9u3/pxl_20221109_212903514.jpg)*This is a baby Dusky Moorhen! Or... maybe a teenager.*

![](https://images.ecency.com/DQmQtiXHurxzTHFrYdUs7V7tv4hSQGjrmCfWbo9zhUr8HHa/pxl_20221109_212855815.jpg)*And these are Australian Wood Ducks. I had to [check that](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_wood_duck) for sure, even though I've been seeing them my whole life.*

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All in all, I was glad I went out and happy to eat breakfast!!  🤸🤸‍♂️🤸‍♀️

Next run? Well... maybe this afternoon 😉

Caroline x

P.S. This was a #HiveBloPoMo post. It is day 10 of 30 and I'm on a roll 😊