Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Finding your happy place

Often a happy place is in one's mind, perhaps a memory that conjures up positive energy and good times.  I have those happy places too but I also have a physical location for my happiness and gratitude and positive energy.

If you didn't know to look for it, you might just pass it up.   After surfacing from the subway, head East



















Don't let the seemingly "closed for the day" vibe of the surrounding businesses fool you


















The door is never locked, the creaky stairs await you.


















Warm up to warm up, climb 3 flights of this walk-up ...but don't rest here, it's just the bathroom



















The hues indicate something welcoming inside but that's just the surface. 



















My happy place  ...where or what is yours?

Sending out a SRS

Summer
Racing
Sucks

Take it easy, don't expect a PR opportunity and chalk it up to another running experience.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Making the most of my Firebolt

Ah yes, once again I've let my time on the blog slip away.  Fear not, life continues moving forward although at times it does seem to be a blur of working hours, running hours, weekend trips and guests coming and going.  The Reader's Digest version of what's been going is as Wooderson from Dazed and Confused says "L-I-V-I-N"

One day at a time.

I decided to get the wheel rolling on training again, working towards a goal or two in the fall.   The exact race(s)/goal(s) are not yet in cement but I'm running & working with Lloyd - yay!  And mixing it up a lot:  running with various peeps like EG, ES, LK and SS, joining groups at times and hitting the trails.  It's all a tremendously good time.  With the warm weather and humidity you really need more options and ways to deal with the conditions.  These peeps and new routes are a huge aid!   And of course, I'm still lucky to get a few miles in here and there with Missy!!   Not long now and her baby girl will join the world and start rocking out her new BOB stroller - cannot wait to meet this future Boston Qualifier with over 1000 miles under her belt come her birth day.

Finally got my carcass back to the yoga studio too and don't plan to stray in the near future.  My body reminded me that yoga is part of the deal.   No building miles and miles without adequate time at Kula.  Summer time at the studio is especially fun and challenging and very slippery as temps in the rooms there can get to quite the stifling point.  All in all it makes for a great 90 mins per session even if I do look like I'm coming out of a pool.  I can practically hear my body sigh in relief after some time spent there or maybe that's just my pores gurgling with sweat - either way, it is so worth it.
 
And seeing as it's now over halfway through 2010, the folks at KR and I started checking in on our goals for the year to see where we all stood.  As posted at the end of 2009:
  • #1 goal is to run a strong marathon
  • Run at least 2000 miles
  • Stay healthy
  • Expand my yoga practice
  • Run a HM PR
So I'd say I've got about 3.75 of the 5 covered or on-track to cover.  I'm still chasing that elusive strong marathon but I did nail a beautiful HM PR in March and have 1440 miles for the year already logged.  I've also managed to stay relatively uninjured and quite healthy (no colds or sickness of any kind in quite awhile - yay green monsters!). My yoga practice hasn't expanded in quite the way I thought when I posted this goal but I'm certainly getting more and more out of every session.  I'd really love to make it to one of Kula's yoga retreats this year but if not, next year is just as good.

Outside of running and yoga we've had a number of visitors in the last several weeks and have traveled to a big family reunion for my dad's side of the family.  Good times continue into the summer - coming up next, yummy eats during restaurant week and catching Thierry Henry's debut with the NY Red Bulls vs. Tottenham.

Stay cool peeps!

Oh and yes my firebolt aka the mini stub of a ponytail shooting straight out of the back of my head - she's a keeper!