I'm Back!!!!

I have neglected my blog for far too long. Instead of writing, I was running and training. It was all for a very good reason, but it's time that I got back to writing. I will still run and train, but also write. I promise to fill you in on some of the more exciting moments since July 27, but for now, I'll just post this picture.

Yoga Success

After my post on Friday, I was motivated to try yoga again. That was reinforced by seeing "The Avengers" on Saturday. Looking at Robert Downey, Jr.'s physique reminded me what yoga can do.
Sunday morning had me popping ths P90X yoga DVD in. I made it through the entire 90 minutes. I didn't realize how close I had been to the end of the difficult part on my previous arrempts. The moving poses are the first half, and I kept stopping around 30-40 minutes in.

After those repeated upward and downward dog poses, it goes into the balance poses. My physical therapy must really be working, because the tree pose was not nearly as challenging as it's been in the past. I still can't do the crane pose, though.

The yoga/ab segment was difficult, and I was shaking from the effort. That was the end of it, unless you count the corpse pose and fetal pose as anything other than silly. I was laughing at them.

I still don't get yoga. I understand the stretching and flexibility benefits, but not the zen. I have felt more at peace and one with the universe after crappy runs than I did after yoga. I still miss objectiveness when I do yoga. I won't abandon it, though. I have always struggled with flexibility, and yoga can help with that. I do appreciate that Tony Horton is more about the physical aspects, so I can stomach the routine.

99% Failure

Sochiro Honda, the founder of Honda Motor Company, is credited with that quote, but he's not the only hugely successful person to believe it and espouse it. Charles Kettering, who founded Delco said, "99% of success is built on failure." Writer Elbert Hubbard said, "There is no failure, except in no longer trying."

I think Mr. Hubbard summed it up best. The word failure tends to imply finality, rather than a beginning. As adults, we don't look at it like a small bump in the road, we look at it like an insurmountable obstacle.

We should take our cue from babies. They fail constantly. Look at a baby learning to walk. They fall down every few steps. When they're not falling, they cling to steady objects to move. None of this is walking as we think of it, but none of it is failure the way we think of it either. The babies don't give up on walking the first time they fail at it. They figure out how to get up from their butt and they try again. They keep on trying over and over again until they finally learn to walk.




The only failure that can't be overcome is the failure to try. If you keep trying, you're still in the game. You're still learning the skills you need to succeed. It's at that point, that failures become mere speed bumps.

Day 84--Race Day

I DID IT!!!!
I started the day with three goals:
1. Don’t hurt myself. 2. Finish the Race. 3. Finish in about 45 minutes.
I accomplished all three goals. I’m not hurt and I finished the race. I finished the full race in 35 minutes 12 seconds.
I feel like I can safely call myself a runner now. It was exhilarating. I finally understand the “runners’ high” that I’ve heard everyone talk about. I also understand how the race day atmosphere can push you to do better than you do otherwise. I ran the first two miles in 22 minutes, and each mile took about the same time. That was my time for a one mile run, but not my goal for today. It just seemed possible when I saw others doing it. The last mile was tough and I walked part of it, but still managed to finish that in 13 minutes. It was encouraging to make the turn and see all the other runners that were behind me.
The race “organizers” need to change their title, though. It started 15 minutes late, which works out to 50% late. FAIL. There were also overlapping routes for the 5K & 10K runs, but there were no signs indicating the difference. They had guys with flags telling people which way to go. That would have been great, if we didn’t all have headphones on and could have heard him. SIGNS would have been a really good idea. Also, there were crowd barriers that were set up in the middle of the path. I saw numerous people nearly run into them.
I’m now looking forward to the next race. I want to improve my time. I am looking for suggestions of any May races that are in the area and are for a good cause.

Day 37--Finish

I finished the EA Active 30 Day Challenge on Easy. It really lived up to its name. I think I had a slight difficulty with my breath twice during all 20 exercises. I don't think I felt the day-after muscles soreness much, if at all during the month and I know I didn't break a sweat. I was using 3 pound weights for half the month, too. It would have been even easier with the resistance band. Tomorrow I will start over, but on Hard/Difficult. If it's going to do me any good physically, I really need it to be tougher. I also want to make a stronger commitment to doing the yoga every day that I work out on EA Fitness. The sporadic yoga I did over the last month probably did more for my body than all the workouts on EA Fitness.

I thought I'd check out my measurements, just in case any of them changed, but not actually expecting any change. That'll teach me to make assumptions.

My waist is down another 1/2 inch to 31. Same story with my hips; I'm down to 38. That puts my waist to hip ratio down a bit, but still not great. None of my other measurements have changed at all. I'll check my measurements again at the end of March.