Lets Talk about Yoga

Hellllllo, February!

I’m probably the only person in the universe that likes February, but its because its my birthday month and I am really vain about my birthday.  I’m an Aquarius, what can I say?  And no, this is not my “new” sign.  I have always been an Aquarius and I don’t intend to attempt to re-identify myself as a Pieces after all of these years.  Turning 30 is identity crisis enough.  No need to add insult to injury.

Anyhow, I like February.

                                             Cake and gin & tonic, oh my!

A lot of my friends (and both Andrew’s sister and mom) also have birthdays in February.  Its basically one huge month of celebrating, and I dig it. 

                                                                     I like to celebrate anything.

Speaking of celebrating, I was in DC a few weeks ago for work and discovered cupcake heaven.  It was in the train station.  It was called Crumbs.  I brought them home with every intention of sharing them with my fellow cupcake-loving friends, Emily and Karolina.  They didn’t even last 20 minutes once I got on the train. I ate half of one for “pre-dinner” and the other 1.5 after actual dinner.  Andrew helped. But not much.

                                             These are my friends who like cupcakes. And wine.

When I die, I want to be buried in Crumbs’ cupcakes.  They were THAT good. 

I wonder if they ship….OH MY GOD, THEY DO! 

I’m done for.

 

In other news, I registered for the Broad Street Run. Again.  Maybe this year I won’t fall off my front steps and sprain both my ankles 3 weeks before the race.

Maybe.

 

There are no safety guarantees in my life, as my friends know well.  Every minute I spend uninjured is just one minute closer I come to actually being injured.  My friend Kate once said, “We are always prepared with you, Oot.  Every time we hang out there’s always the chance we might go to the emergency room. In fact, we kind of expect it.”  And she would know, because (somehow) she is the one who has ended up with me in the ER the most.  Oh the stories she will tell my kids.

I’m not embarrassed. Its who I am and we have all learned to cope  with it. Except Andrew. It still really annoys him.  He doesn’t think “accident prone” is attractive.  I can’t imagine why.  Who doesn’t want to bang a cute girl with nice legs in a short skirt (wearing an ankle brace and scabs on her knees)?

So THIS year, I really want to run the race. Like, finish it and not die and then go drink beer immediately afterwards.  So I’m trying hard not to get hurt.  I definitely overtrained for this race last year which is why a little fall turned into a HUGE injury for me. I mean, I’m usually covered in bruises and I trip a lot, but I don’t ALWAYS end up in bed for 5 days.  That only happens maybe once every other year.

So, this year I actually put together a real life training schedule, complete with color coding. Its pretty fancy.  Its also a muuuch slower workup in distance than  I attempted last year.  And it incorporates some speedwork, crosstraining and yoga.

Oh yoga, how I’ve missed thee.  

I took a late class at my gym on Tuesday.  I had looow (low, low, low) expectations, because I feel like gyms aren’t the best place for yoga: they’re loud and have flourescent lighting and its usually hard to focus and most times the rooms aren’t even private.  Yoga is always best practiced in a studio, in my opinion.  A lot of the experience of yoga is the setting in which its done, so it makes sense to do it in a space that its made for.

But anyway.

I went and it was a very full class, even at 8pm.  I am NEVER in the gym at 8pm so I had no idea how many people work out that late at night.  A LOT of people work out that late, in case you were wondering.

So we were kind of crammed in in the spinning room, in front of all the bikes and there wasn’t enough yoga blocks for everyone but it worked out.  The teacher closed the door and lit a candle and put on a nice soft light instead of the flourescents.  It wasn’t the perfect setting but it was a good improvisation.  Basically, she was just an amazing instructor.  She made sure every position was correct and walked everyone through every pose.  There were 2 people in the class who had never even done yoga before, and they were able to follow her and actually enjoy the class. It was just the right mix of challenging, stretching and relaxing. 

I am definitely going back.  I even modified my training schedule to include it.  I think it will be really helpful in preventing injuries, while also helping build strength without lifting heavy weights, which I don’t like to do while I’m running a lot because I hate running when I’m sore.

I guess this post wasn’t really all about yoga.

 

                                        This is my family. By Andrew.

 

                                   This is my niece. She is the coolest. EVER.

                                                    We both wear our sunglasses at night.

                                                                              This is Saturday.

                                This is proof I have always been a dessert lover/fat girl.

                                              This is what my dog did to my mattress topper.

                                                   This is the award I won for work. Modified.

                                                                      This is the love of my life.