The Running Man

Another big change I made this year was that I started running.

This was originally inspired by yet another challenge with my brother-in-law when we agreed to run 10 K for the Mothers Day Walk & Run here in Calgary. The rules were simple - complete 10 K without stopping or walking with no time limit. The biggest challenge was that neither of us were runners and both on the "not so lean" side. My brother in-law has since dropped out of the challenge fearing that he'll have a gripper on the course since he hasn’t trained at all. So it has now become a personal challenge for me to complete the 10 K and collect my prize. Bwahahahahaha !

Anyway, I have been running now for 9 weeks and have covered just over 155 K ! This is a vast improvement over my previous efforts where I would go out and run for an hour until my legs felt like they were on fire, my shines felt like they had splintered and I'd puke when I stopped and never run again. There are a couple of reasons that I have been successful this time :

I bought proper, fitted running shoes. Actually I got them for Christmas so a huge thank-you goes out to my parent in-laws !

I found a great running plan. Actually....my buddy Paul found a 13 week training guide to go from zero to 60 ( running minutes ) in 13 weeks specifically for the Mother's day race. So a huge thanks to Paul too !

The other thing that has been great is the Nike + running kit for my iPod. It keeps track of all my runs and then uploads them to my personal log on the Nike + site. I love music and have compiled a couple of running playlists that helps set my pace and motivates me to keep going even when I dont want to. I just found this online and am not sure if I can get a set in time for the big race. :)

If you are a runner theres a great site call Map My Run to help map out your runs and figure out your distances. Be sure to check it out, it's really cool

Just over 4 weeks to the big day !

Yoga

2007 has been the year of change for me and one of the new things this year has been Yoga.

The health club that I belong to ran an introductory class so I decided to sign up along with 2 of my co-workers. My friend Paul has been practicing yoga for years now and strongly encouraged us to give it a try.

The form that we are doing is called Hatha yoga, which focuses more on gentle poses, stretching and breathing which is different than Ashtanga or Power Yoga. At first we joked around and called it "Sissy Yoga" but quickly realized how difficult it can be. I'm certainly glad I didnt take Ashtanga because I dont think I would have enjoyed it.

Our instructor is great. She is certainly good for beginners as she talks us through the different poses and occassionally will come by to help correct your position if needed. She sets a very calm environment with lowered lights, soft music, candles and has a very soothing voice.

Our 10 week class has just ended and I can see a huge improvement in my core muscles and balance so when I heard they had decided to offer more classes I had to sign up while there was still space - as did the other 2 from my office.

Namste