Rock & Roll

A few years ago, when I was training kayak, the thought of running a marathon was far from a goal.

"I will never run a marathon for fun. I don't see anything fun about it. 200 meters (50 seconds) is fun for me."

Now, its 2010, I've been a retired kayaker for over a year and a half and I'm contemplating participating in a marathon. Or at least, training for one.

"Hmm...I wonder what it would take exactly...is 18 weeks long enough to prepare?"

Last year I trained for the Crossfit Games, which was incredibly rewarding. Now, I'm interested in something totally different.

My athletic existance always revolves around the edgey wild sports. Jiu Jitsu tournament? Count me in. 30 Overhead squats with a 400m run? Perfect. Racing 500 meters in a kayak with four other people in Poland? Rad!

Run a marathon? Hmmm. I never really thought about it.

Now its time to think about it.

My need for speed, admiration, and my bull dog spirit has mellowed out. I would feel complete just finishing a marathon.

Running a marathon is simple, you keep running even when you don't want to anymore. Something about that is calling to me right now. I will sit w/ it for a bit.

Don't get me wrong, I love crossfit, and intensity, and pain. I do.
However, my life has recently taken a slightly more balanced turn and I'm being called to focus on a few other things.

Lately, I feel like my 'intensity' is being put towards other areas...and I'm also softening a bit. I don't feel this huge need or desire to pursue athletic accomplishment like I have before, at least not the same way.

Since I retired in 2007 its been a slow process of letting go of competion as my life.

Lately, every time I swing a kettle bell it feels like I'm getting punched in the shoulder. Not in a good way. It feels like my little brother is punching me in the shoulder and I'm ready to scream "knock it off! you're so annoying."

It could be a phase or it could be a more permanent shift. I'm not yet ready to make that judgement call. Right now, I feel like I need to love my body and not force it to take a certain shape.

I've been much more inspired doing other things lately.....



I'm not forgetting however, that doing crossfit is a great way to catch up with good friends. :-)

The Art of Being Clean.

Really, what we're going to talk about is the opposite of the Art of being clean.

I've been cooking at home to save money, which is great and making a huge impact on my finances.
When I cook I make dirty dishes. Then I put them in the sink to come back to later. Lunch rolls around and I have to wash the dishes to make food. After I make food the dishes are back. Then I go on a cleaning rampage and leave for work. That's when the roommate cooks and the sink is full again.

The garbage fills up. Our dumpster is all the way down in the garage. I put the garbage outside our door to take it down when I'm leaving the house. I pack up my stuff to get to work and I walk out the door with my hands full of books, lunch, and training equipment. That's when I see the bag of garbage I left there earlier. I say to myself "I'll get it when I come back." A few hours later I come back from work, exhausted, with my hands full of groceries. I see the garbage bag again "oops forgot about that, I'll get it when I go to work." Obviously, something is NOT working.

Lets talk about laundry, really, lets talk about LAUNDRY. So I have a ton of lululemon right? Its great. I have black, blue, pink, yeah a ton of pink. I have pants, crops, shorts, and even a few running skirts. I have tank tops, t-shirts, and some hoodies. I love having everything to choose from nicely hung up on wooden hangers in my closet. I also wear my lululemon when I train, when I teach, when I work at lululemon and occasionally when I date :-). What I'm getting at, is that as soon as everything is clean and hung up, I have to find an outfit to wear and a tornado hits! Before I know it the day is done and I've gone through 3 different outfits, one for teaching, one for workout out in, and one for working in.

People, this is what is called the vicious cycle. Think about it, something doesn't work.