Ventiquattro: Expectors

No pain no gain.

There are no shortcuts to success.

The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity.

The mind is everything. What you think you become.

Inspirational quotes. They are absolutely everywhere. Some we know and take to heart, others... we know but we choose not to see it. If you are one of those friends that post inspirational quotes on Facebook or social media on a daily basis, I may well have blocked your posts from showing up on my feed. To me, they are in the same classification as "spam", even though, granted, some are actually pretty deep. 

While I won't be caught dead posting spam usually, these quotes are here because it's all related to mind strength. I've often been told that my mind is weak. Note that mind strength is actually quite different from mental endurance. Hiccups in life faze me but I won't sink too deeply into depression, pressure drives me to achieve, and my head is hardened by what is commonly known as stubbornness. Mind strength, to me, is resolution. Commitment. Most noticeably lacking when exercising and during sports. People who know me will know that I play badminton 3 times a week, but they might find it surprising that it's actually really difficult for me to motivate myself enough to go. Every. Single. Time, my mind will be a raging debate between "stuff it all, I'm tired *insert thousand excuses*" and "come on, exercise, play the sport that you love!" The former is often stronger than the latter and would have won if I didn't have friends waiting for me, expecting me to be there. 

Expectations. I hate to disappoint. 

From fooood

The thing about exercise and keeping fit is that you can't just stop and pick it up when you want to. It needs to be consistent. Fitness is hard to gain but easy to lose. That's what friends are for- as motivators, as "expectors" (yep, that's not a word but it's my word now) and it works both ways. Every fortnight, B and I would go run at The Bay. 7km, a beautiful scenic route, plus this winter weather. I once ran in the wrong kind of shoes and suffered badly from it, so I'm showing off my splurge buy. Last weekend, TW came along and we motivated each other to run the full course without stopping. Next target: 14km.

From fooood

Because the Bay run is at Rozelle, we decided to check out a cafe after. We were running the morning, so brunch was much needed. "The Bean" is a bar, bistro and cafe. It had a very old-school vibe to it, with posters of records from the 60's-90's, old newspaper clippings of Elvis framed up and vinyl records.

From fooood

My order: Chicken burrito with chipotle salsa, guacamole, sour cream and jack cheese (I had to ask the waiter about this one because I saw a neighboring table order it and was intrigued.) No coffee for me that morning, but their mint and pineapple frappe was a good refreshment.

B had their huevos rancheros house made beans, chorizo, chilli, egg, tortilla, avocado and salsa.

TW had the Big bean- eggs with bacon, Irish pork sausage, field mushroom and roasted tomato with toast.

While the food is a standard affair, it was a great way to end a run on a sunny Saturday morning. Poor TW copped a full gust of the white pepper I was shaking onto my burritos, guess I should be more careful next time.

Part 2 next time, because brunch wasn't enough to satisfy.