It's Morning, Get up!

I feel great. Well, my body is a little stiff, but my mind is doing great. Between the yoga and running, I’m feeling content and very comfortable with life right now.

On Monday, I got to the gym. I packed my lunch the night before to get a few extra minutes. The first mile was hard. I felt out of practice. I had on long leggings and my Great Pi Race tech shirt. My trusty phone was distracting me with Daredevil Season 1. I’m not a hundred percent into the series but I like to stay up to date with the all the marvel universe stuff. The long leggings were maybe a bad choice. I got hot right away and starting sweating. Like serious sweat dripping from my brow. Sometimes, I get a little self-conscious because I know my face is tomato red and I sweat like a pig (Pigs don’t actually sweat do they?) My pace is slow.

PreRun Picture

But I am running. This in and of itself is a success as I never thought I would be running and especially not at 4:30am on a weekday. I like the idea of sweat is fat crying. I know it’s not true because if that was the case, I would be at my race weight, but still it sounds cool. The red face lets everyone know I’m working my butt off and maybe it inspires someone else to give a little extra. And my pace, my pace is slowly growing faster. I started running slow a 13:00 pace and now I’ve improved to 11:30 on my morning runs. It’s still slow but I’m continuing to improve.

At the end of my Monday run, I had gotten in 6.13 miles. It was nice to get that distance in. I’ve still got the half marathon and that’s 13 miles with hills. There is still a lot of work ahead of me but I did it in the past and I know I can do it again.

Wednesday night I had a full class. 3 regulars and 3 newbies. I made sure to make it fun and light. Sometimes, trying new things can be very intimidating. We worked on getting comfortable with the fabric. Lots of rolling from front to back and returning to the front. My mind got a little creative so that the regulars and new people were all on the same foot tackling new asanas. Plank and boat series made appearances. Hips and shoulders got worked out. One of my regulars had brought her daughter and after class we worked on coffin to help with tightness in her shoulder and neck.

Inversion Hair. Don't Care

This morning I went for another run. I got a little later start. A little extra sleep seemed good. Driving thru the icy rain this morning, my stomach rumbled with hunger. It probably wouldn’t hurt to put my Gu Chomps in my bag. I don’t mind fasted runs, but it might be nice to do a few runs with the chomps. Especially, when I start going longer. The little boost you get with these gum drops really does help you dig a little deeper.

I was smarter today and wore a tank top and capris. And my brooks. My Saucony trails have gotten a bit of a break. Though I might use them for my half marathon. The Wi-Fi was uncooperative this morning. I thought I might have to run with no music and no daredevil. I’m quite spoiled. I don’t want to hear my panting and pounding feet. Some people feel like it’s a good thing or comforting. I just find it distracting and making my effort more prevalent in my mind. It makes me want to quit because who wants to keep going when they are trying that hard.

It wasn’t an easy run. I ran five min intervals at a comfortable speed and then a much faster speed. If I thought I sweated hard on Monday-well, Monday had nothing on me today. I tried not to watch the clock but it was hard. Very hard. Thankfully, the episode of Daredevil was very engrossing. When I finished, I felt wiped. I wished I could go take a nap rather than hop in my car and go to work. I took a cold shower to halt the sweat and wake me up. And off to work I went.

On my drive, I was feeling accomplished. The sun was just starting to come up and I had already run nearly five miles. I am achy but it was a suck it up buttercup moment this morning when my alarm went off. I made a race commitment and a commitment to myself. I will run that half marathon and I will continue to lose weight and get healthier. 

Short report and Yoga Memes

TGIF. I’m looking forward to the weekend. Hopefully, I can get a run in.

I’ve been carpooling with my fiancé and haven’t had a chance to get to the gym in the morning and after that I lose motivation. I also didn’t have my normal Wednesday aerial yoga. I got my last fitting for my wedding dress.

However, this morning, I enjoyed an hour of aerial power yoga at home. I worked legs, arms, back, stomach, all while trying not to make too much noise. Serenity is easy to find at 4 in the morning. It sets the mood for the rest of the day. The dog was needed reassurance that this was not nearly as weird as she thought it was.

Since I don’t have much to say for this week, I found some yoga memes.

Have a great weekend. Do something that makes you happy, joyous and free!!!

Happy Pi Day

Happy Pi Day!

I have pie.

On Wednesday, I had a fun class. It was a class that was full of regulars and we adjusted some of the regular aerial yoga moves into low aerial. It was fun and challenging. I also finally figured out a move that has had me baffled for a couple of years.

Friday, I picked up the stepdaughter to be (SDTB) and we went to aerial yoga. It was a full class with lots of different faces and personalities and experiences. I am still not a fan of the leg warm ups. It feels like the hardest part of the class, the part where I sweat the most. It is also the part where my pants got super slippery and I slid out of my plank. I just laid on the floor and giggled at myself. Such a simple move and I slipped right out of it. While I was on the floor, I also realized how comfortable I was in the studio. In the past, I would have died from embarrassment and Friday, I really could have cared less. That is such a blessing to find such a safe place where I can exist.

Saturday, SDTB and I had a 5k in honor of Pi Day. We both received an individual pie, nice V-neck tech shirts. I had warned her the night before that there might be a hill or two after looking at the course online. The weather was one of those days where you weren’t sure if it was going to rain and the temperature made it difficult to figure what to wear. We both went in with goals.

There weren’t a couple of hills. There was 4 big hills. Big. Hills. And then a few other rolling rises. It was hard. People walked hills. People got sick from the effort. I ran, albeit, slowly up the hills. My left foot and knee niggled a little bit but after the first hill, it went away. Detachment had to happen quickly because my brain was very loud about how impossible this course was and how walking was ok. It reminded me that I hadn’t trained at all. I had brought music with me this time around. When things got hard, I started singing the lyrics. Anything to drown out my brain. And by the time I hit the second hill, I started feeling more confident. I knew I wasn’t going to win any awards but I knew I was going to finish. Seeing all the people being beaten by the hills as I slogged up them, I felt good.

The last hill took us right to the finish line. I didn’t see my SDTB except once in a turn around. She was a full minute ahead of me. She took second in her age group and got a medal. I found some speed out of somewhere and got up that hill and sprinted thru the finish gate. We waited around for the results and the medals. My time was 32:17 and I was 20 out of 36. The run seemed to be middle sized with 400ish people. It was more than two minutes faster than my last 5k. I can only imagine what my time would have been without the hills.

This morning I went to the gym. It was an easy run. The pace was nice and slow and comfortable. I looked at it as a recovery run. Some people ran next to me for a bit taking off at speedy speeds. Now don’t think I didn’t sweat, because I did. I’m a sweat-er. I was really glad to get some time in on the treadmill. I like running outside but there is something nice about the treadmill with easy access to amenities. And not need to be quiet because the rest of the house is sleeping.

No great revelations this time around. Just enjoying my time on the fitness journey. I’m happy to be able to do all this Bechet’s and myalgia. I wonder what the future holds.

Here are a few shots of my dragon and dog.

I caught her sleeping like this

 The dog watched Castle with me Saturday night.

 The dragon was not as impressed with the acting styles of Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic

Spring is on it's way

Hi, all.

It’s time I get going. I have to start running more for two reasons: the half marathon in May and my last fitting for my wedding dress is March 18^th and then I have to maintain my weight till my wedding day.

My weekend was the opposite of getting in shape. We had a tasting with the caterer and dinner with friends one day and brunch for a family member’s birthday. I stuffed my face. And it was delicious. I regret nothing. There was a blondie brownie sundae that had to be consumed.

While the gym was discussed over the weekend, it did not happen. Monday, again, it was discussed but a case of the Mondays lead to no trip. It was such a lovely day, I still had to go for a run. The dog stayed home. I need to socialize her a little bit a more as she still has issues on the leash and since the day was so lovely, I knew there would be too many issues. She sulked when I left and ignored me when I came home for a while. It was 60 some degrees and it was too nice too not get outside.

It was capri and tank top weather. I may have been able to go with shorts even. I don’t know how long this weather will last but I’m enjoying it. X-Ambassadors kept me company and moving. My goal was to hit up some hills. My soon to be sister in law told me the half marathon I signed up for has hills. The last thing I want to do is not be prepared for the elevation changes. The good news is my area is full of all sorts of hills, big hills, little hills, slow rise, and steep. As I ran, looked around at intersections to look for hills. I zigzagged thru the city. It was a hard run. I ended up quite sweaty. Many other runners and walkers strolled the sidewalks.

As Runkeeper notices came, I felt like the mileage came slowly. I pushed my discomfort. Running isn’t always comfortable. Well, it is rarely comfortable.

 Running is changing your body every second you do it and change is not comfortable. You are pushing and arguing with your mind. Your mind will be telling you to stop, or make excuses to not even start. That is why I listen to music so I can distract myself. When I do long runs, I find myself detaching from my legs but the first part of the run, I try to talk myself out of it.

In the end, I felt good. I hadn’t run in a while and I hadn’t run outside and even longer. I wish the dog could have come with me but I’ve got some work to do with her. It wasn’t easy. There may have been some swearing in my mind. Yet, there came a point when I just felt joyful and successful. I don’t know if it’s a runner’s high or it’s just being excited at my accomplishments.

I have a race on Saturday with the step daughter to be. One of my regulars and few others might join us. It will be interesting to see what the results would be since I didn’t run much in February.

Till next time J

Running Humor

Lucky me. Just as I sign up for a half marathon, I get a nasty head cold.

So we had yoga and it was nice and fun and we had two new people and two regulars. We all had fun. It was a very relaxing class as I was starting to come down with this cold. No selfies after, Just wanted to get back to my bed and an alka-seltzer cold and flu.

So I don't want to leave you hanging and found some fun running memes. Hope you enjoy and have a great Friday.

This is still true even today

If I don't get to use the dog as an excuse, this is a great one for a early evening

Chafing where you didn't even know you could chafe there

oh yes, so true

We tell ourselves this over and over again

I might be getting carried away here but there are so many good memes. Runners are a funny group. When we get our runs in

And lastly, a few from the Harry Potter Fandom

That's it for now. Hope you all have a good weekend. Running helps you live longer. So does laughing, So if you can't run, laugh.