Getting Started...

"The miracle isn't that I finished.  The miracle is that I had the courage to start."  -John Bingham

I read this in a running column and believe in it every day that I make it out to the beginning of whatever running path I'm starting. 

This morning, though, as I lay in the comfort of my warm bed, in the still darkness and have an internal discussion with myself on all the reasons why I don't HAVE to go to yoga today, I realize that it applies to more than just running a race or long distance.

Every time I quiet those voices with the great 'not to' reasons, I'm winning.  Every morning I get up in darkness and step out into coldness against that nagging, lazy part of me, I'm winning.  Every time I choose bravery over the fear that this yoga class is going to be too hard, that everyone will be better than me and that there will be things I can't do, I'm winning. 

The Moksha Yoga studio I go to has smaller classes than I've ever been to (ranging from 2-10 students) and while that's a great way to learn, it is so intimidating.  There is nowhere to hide.  Every other person in the room can see you and all your 'mistakes'.   But it's also making me better.  My instructor today said that the biggest lesson of yoga is to accept yourself.  Accept what your body allows you to do.  Accept your imperfections.

As long as I enter a studio or start a run, I will accept everything that comes after.

Sunday Fun Day

Hi Delicious!

Winding down another great weekend...hate when nighttime falls on a Sunday evening! But I managed to pack a whole bunch of show-watching, yoga posing fun in so I can't be too bummed. 

First off, the weather...in the 40's and low 50's...IT'S OCTOBER!  And there's snow falling in the mid-east?  Next week we better get the Indian Summer they're promising (although I haven't heard it from Cincinnati's Steve Raleigh, who is only the best weather man on the planet, so I'm not holding my breath).  This weather did NOT make me want to get out of my bed early this morning and dressed for yoga only to put sweats and Uggs over that!  But I did it...the hardest part is getting out of the house...then I'm home free.  Except maybe not today cuz I took an Ashtanga class with a dude, I think that was my first.  He was challenging and very different but it was a great class (are there bad yoga classes?  haven't had one yet!) and I left feeling SO proud. 

I also found two poses that I think my runner readers will appreciate and I can't wait to see how they affect my post-run stretches!  The first he called King Arthur's pose (probably because the real name is Eka Pada Rajakapotasana variation and it was very early!) and it streched my quads more than any other pose, ever!  Here's a great explanation of it, sounds complicated but I will do this after every run now: http://www.ehow.com/how_4444032_do-king-arthurs-pose-yoga.html.
To compliment this pose, he had us do Dolphins Pose which really got my hamstrings.  Yoga Journal has great step by step instructions at  http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/2462.

Yoga took up my morning but (shockingly) football took up my afternoon.  Mention of sports for me is minimal so please don't glaze over just yet.  I don't dig sports and football frustrates me because it's the most stop and start game.  I love to watch hockey because it's fast paced and there's lots of unchecked (pun intended) aggression.  But not so much with the football.  In a town like Cinci though, if you don't know what's going on with the Bengals, you feel left out.  For the first two seasons we were here they sucked too bad for me to have to care.  But football around here kind of is like pop culture...it's what people talk about, it's the clothes people buy, it's what they DO on a Sunday.  And I have to say, it's pretty entertaining.  Because I have a DVR and I can pause, go do other things, come back and fast forward when the other team is in possession of the ball.  I can fast forward through the stupid half time and commentary and now I love it.  Now I can make a game ACTUALLY LAST THE HOUR IT'S SUPPOSED TO!  And I know what's going on.  This Sunday the Bengals did not pull themselves out of their 11 point hole in the last 2 minutes like usual and the stupid Houston Texans (very creative name!) kinda kicked our ass. 

One thing I didn't forward through is my favorite commercial in a while.  The Bud Light "Too Light/Too Heavy" commercials are mostly dumb but The Breakup cracks me up!  "We can still be really good friends, we'll just be together a lot less...like almost never." HA!  I would hope to get dumped so nicely!

Next up, my week's wrap up of the shows I was able to catch up on...

Hungry, Active, Literate Couch Potatoes Apply Here!

Hi Delicious-

Sitting down (at the request of @caboomer) to put these random, harried thoughts to the screen I realized I did this by first putting pen to paper.  Old School!  Maybe I'm the last person on the planet that has to see the written (versus typed) word to know it's real.  IThere's something to be said for seeing your words and crossing them out and ripping them up and then putting it up on the screen as the finished product.  So when you think of me doing this blog each week, imagine a pink notebook being filled with all kinds of scribble from a fuschia marker for days before I actually sit at the laptop to present to you.

Also trying to decide WHO would read this blog???  Someone as obsessed with pop culture and all things tv, music and movie related.  But not just any couch potato...no, an ACTIVE couch potato!  Because I'm equally (ok, almost) obsessed with running (altho I'm on a forced hiatus right now), yoga (I just started a 30 day yoga challenge 3 days ago) and healthy eating (@Hungrygirl is my favorite thing right now! plus I've been a vegetarian for the last 15 years) and pretty much just eating in general (last night at 2am I had Fourth Meal!) I also really enjoy travelling (everywhere) and exploring (my new hometown Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky and it's surroundings) I love animals and have 7 of them...I am very sure you'll hear lots about them here!  Lastly, I guess, a LITERATE couch potato.  I am a voracious reader and always have a book (or two) going on (so far this year I've read 43 books) most of them on the English monarchy (random) but I love everything from Stephen King and Nick Hornby to Candice Bushnell and Anne Rice.

Still with me?