Elisabeth has challenged us to do 10 minutes of intentional movement every day in October. Here’s the details from my fourth week.
Wednesday October 22nd: 20 min easy run, it started raining a couple of minutes into the run. I changed T-shirts and put on a coat to walk to personal training for my 45 minute session. By the time my session was finished it was raining heavily. In the afternoon it stopped raining long enough for us to walk to the grocer to get some food for dinner. Riley came with us. Total Steps: 10,551.
Thursday October 23rd: Walked Riley to the park in the morning. Walked to church for band practice in the afternoon. Total Steps: 10,083
Friday October 24th: Long run along the coastal path for 2 hours. Total Steps: 23,074
Saturday October 25th: We went in to the Tan and met our running group in the morning. I did a 6K easy run. After the run we had breakfast with the group. Later in the day G and I took Riley for a walk. Total Steps: 11,664
Sunday October 26th: I walked to and from church in the morning. It was raining on my way home and it kept raining all day. We had to drive to church for Alpha in the late afternoon because of thunderstorms. Total Steps: 6,850
Monday October 27th: I walked to church for mainly music, then to the gym. I did 40 minutes strength and 32 minutes on the treadmill with some sprint intervals. In the afternoon my daughter, H, came over and G her and I walked Riley to the park and back along the beach. There is a house on our way home that goes all out with the Halloween decoration. Total Steps 21,946
Tuesday October 28th: Today we took Riley for a walk to the park. He got to play with his friend Sonny, who loves to lick his face which he doesn’t like, so he was barking at her and then they got into a bit of wrestling. The funny thing is that as soon as Riley gets a bit rough Sonny rolls onto her back so then Riley backs off, but then Sonny will jump up and start the licking again. He is too old and grumpy to put up with that behaviour. After the park we walked to the beach and back home. Later in the day I did went for a run—4 x 1K with warm up and cool down. Total Steps: 21,004
In last week’s CBWC round-up, Elisabeth shared Jana’s photo of a Rattlesnake from one of her walks, then asked the question: “Are there venomous snakes in your part of the world?” I live in Australia which, as most people know has plenty of venomous snakes. I took the photo above while on our Tuesday on the park-beach circuit we walk regularly with Riley. I have not seen a snake in this area, but take that with a grain of salt because with all the hiking I’ve done in Australia I’ve only ever seen a couple of snakes, and there are always sure to be plenty around out in the bush. My most recent sighting was on a hike at Wilson’s Promontory where I think we saw a juvenile Lowland Copperhead. I wasn’t sure what kind of snakes are in Melbourne, so I googled the question. Apparently there are seven types of snakes found in Melbourne:
- Tiger Snake
- Lowland Copperhead
- White-lipped Snake
- Red Bellied Black Snake
- Small-eyed Snake
- Little Whip Snake
- Eastern Brown Snake
All these snakes are venomous although only the Eastern Brown Snake, Tiger Snake, Lowland Copperhead and Small-Eyed Snake have recorded fatalities. Tiger snakes are the most common snake in Melbourne. I feel like you mainly need to be wary around the rivers, for sure I would be careful near the more overgrown parts of the Yarra, and I’d never let Riley off lead in overgrown bush.
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10 responses to “Cool Bloggers Walking Club – Week 4”
Oh, snakes! I saw a “Beware of snakes” sign on Monday during our mountain bike tour, thankfully, we didn’t see any. I’ve only once met up with a Cape Cobra when we went running in Kirstenbosch. Always good for a jolt of adrenaline!
I didn’t realise Melbourne had that many venomous snakes – seven is quite the line-up. Good call on keeping Riley on a lead near the bush; those curious noses tend to find trouble first.
Also, I love how your week mixes running, walking, and even strength work in the rain. You’re doing a great job with keeping up with exercise despite all the other things going on!
I can imagine you meeting with a Cape Cobra would have given you a shock. I’ve never seen a snake while running, although I do run in areas where you could see snakes. For the Two Bays Trail Race every participant had to carry a snakebite kit, and some runners did see snakes the year I did it. Australia has the most venomous snakes in the world, and 20 of the 25 most venomous, so I guess you’d expect some of them to be here in Melbourne.
When I was preparing to go to Australia, I had to block out the fact that you have so many poisonous spiders and snakes! I am terrified of both! I did not have many encounters with them, though. There was a poisonous snake outside of our neighbors’ apt door once so they called animal control to get it. But I just stayed away when I heard about it! We all had at least 1 Australian in our apartments (which has 4 people total) so it was nice to have a local who knew what to do when you encountered a snake for example!
You had some great walks this week! I am still going strong with mine and will hopefully only miss 1 day for the entire month which I am proud of!
I actually don’t think about it very often. Obviously if I’m out in the bush I’ll keep on eye out, but haven’t really had many encounters. I’ve certainly never seen a snake where we’ve lived, although I’m sure there would have been snakes around in the suburb I grew up in. I’m glad you have been able to get out and about for your walks.
Eeep snakes! We only have cute little garter snakes here.
Hahaha Riley. Oh, I remember that with Barkley, how at one point when other dogs would try to play, he’d be like “bitch please.” Dogs are the best.
When we were on our trip, our new Australian friends were talking about how they raised their kids and would do low cost things like go to the beach, and it was just so interesting, how the world over we are all doing the same things but in such different ways. Like my kids grew up in cold, landlocked Calgary, so low cost things would not be going to the beach. That was part of a vacation! Anyway, the world is wild and interesting, but we are both getting rain right now – you are having spring rain and I am having fall!
That’s one of the things that makes reading blogs so fascinating our lives are so much the same, but so different as well.
Oh my – the snake presence in your area would leave me unsettled. I suppose you adjust, like not letting Riley off his leash in overgrown areas. I’d be interested in joining a running group if there was breakfast involved. 😉
I would not have thought about snakes being in our area if not for the signs, but there are other areas in the city where I would expect them. Yep, the breakfast is a highlight. Some of the group who are injured at the moment come in and go for a walk then join us for breakfast.
This is something so different from Germany. I think we have one poisonous snake here. At least that is what I learned as a kid. Things might have changed. And even that one will be not as time sensitive as a rattlesnake bee or something.
As for the walking… you know how impressed you are with your step count. I am celebrating myself that my annual average is 7000 but that is the low day for you.
My step count is boosted by running which makes a big difference and running is not for everyone.