Una Simple Sonrisa
Posted: April 12, 2013 Filed under: Random Workout | Tags: blogging, Boston Marathon, exercise, fitness, freshly pressed, gluten free, happiness, health, hipster, hope, jogging, kindness, life, love, lululemon, meditation, motivation, musings, natural, paleo, passion, perspective, running, simplicity, trail running, walking, whole foods, WOD, yoga 10 CommentsWell-behaved women seldom make history-
We can grow through inspiration, please say hello to Anne this morning (she is the young lady on the left in the photo below).
I’ve known Anne for quite some time now, always greeting me with a smile first thing in the morning. That’s how our friendship started after all, a simple smile.
Anne was kind enough to sit down for a quick chat to discuss her upcoming Boston Marathon run. Without further ado …
How long have you been a runner and how did you get started?
Anne – I started walking around this lake area with neighbors when the kids were in school and the bus picked them up on the corner. I started running when I was 39 yrs old and I am 69 yrs old now. I needed to get around the lake faster for family obligations, so I tried running. I still love running.
How many years have you been racing Boston? Favorite and least favorite moment?
Anne– I qualified for Boston when I was 49 and ran my first Boston when 50. I have run marathons in Nebraska and many other states. When my son moved to Boston 5 years ago, I decided to go back and this is my 4th Boston in a row. Favorite moment would be when I see my family and/or friends waiting for me at finish line. Least favorite moment is “many moments waiting for marathon to start”. In Boston you get up at 4am, walk to buses to be transported to Hopkington. There are 30,000 runners doing the same thing so it is a big process that takes a lot of time. Then you wait for race to start. Boring and a little nervous. You can think too much about the distance although I have met and visited with a lot of interesting people.
What are some of your favorite places to run locally and around the world?
Anne– I love running the county roads here in Sarpy County, Nebraska and around the world: I like running in Acapulco, Mexico. In Mexico I run in a large park and go around and around and around where I have met other runners who only speak Spanish, so we do a lot of smiling at each other. And smiling seems to be enough to have in common along with the running.
What is it that you enjoy the most about being active?
Anne– I appreciate being able to participate in lots of sports and have gotten used to younger people asking if they can ask my age.
How do you know when you’ve had the perfect run?
Anne– It is an inner peace feeling. Like “I did it”, my day is not complete without running. I feel at a loss, but it quickly that goes away when I next get out and run.
**You can cheer Anne on this Monday during her inspiring marathon run. Keep an eye peeled for a touch of Husker Red, a Bright Smile and Anne’s Bib #21960. You can also track real-time race results via the Boston Marathon website.**
Therese de Lisieux once wrote: “Miss no single opportunity of making some small sacrifice, here by a smiling look, there by a kindly word; always doing the smallest right and doing it all for love.”
I believe building enduring personal connections, real, face to face connections is critical for our health and well-being. We are born to connect and we thrive and excel when we connect with other people. Whether you choose to run a 5k this weekend, a marathon on Monday, go for a relaxing walk early tomorrow morning, practice yoga, The Gran Fondo Bike Ride or whatever else you choose … Be inspired this weekend and please take care.
“I tell you I must go!”
Posted: April 11, 2013 Filed under: Random Workout | Tags: blogging, Boston Marathon, Charlotte Brontë, exercise, fitness, free range, freshly pressed, gluten free, happiness, health, hipster, hope, Jane Eyre, jogging, kindness, life, love, lululemon, marathon, meditation, motivation, musings, natural, paleo, passion, pilates, running, thoughts, trail running, walking, whole foods, WOD, yoga 6 Comments… I retorted, roused to something like passion. “Do you think I can stay to become nothing to you? Do you think I am an automaton?—a machine without feelings? and can bear to have my morsel of bread snatched from my lips, and my drop of living water dashed from my cup? Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong!—I have as much soul as you,—and full as much heart! And if God had gifted me with some beauty and much wealth, I should have made it as hard for you to leave me, as it is now for me to leave you. I am not talking to you now through the medium of custom, conventionalities, nor even of mortal flesh;—it is my spirit that addresses your spirit; just as if both had passed through the grave, and we stood at God’s feet, equal,—as we are!”
– Charlotte Brontë – Jane Eyre
Notes:
A very inspiring, touching and important post is on tap tomorrow to celebrate the 117th running of the Boston Marathon. I hope you stop by, until then – take care and be well!
Un poco de fe
Posted: April 9, 2013 Filed under: Random Workout, Yoga | Tags: blogging, confidence, exercise, faith, fitness, free range, freshly pressed, gluten free, happiness, health, Heuristic, hipster, hope, kindness, life, love, lululemon, marathon, meditation, motivation, musings, natural, Neomania, Omaha, paleo, passion, trail running, walking, whole foods, WOD, yoga 8 CommentsI have great faith in fools – self-confidence my friends will call it-
Why is it that even our best efforts to create change often fail? Is it sheer laziness? Lack of motivation? The quality and variety of reality TV programming? Netflix? Many would attribute our failed attempts to change as a result of these examples. Really, who knew that duck calls and sophisticated red necks would resonate so deeply with ‘Murican folks?
Laziness and lack of motivation are often the go to excuse when our weekly goals implode on a Tuesday morning. Maybe what we need to address is our lost faith (in ourselves), the ever sagging confidence in our own inner ability to create change, possibility and growth.
As a society, external influences are growing in dominance, we are attributing increasingly more of our power to external solutions …
“This damn website lost my weight loss stats for all the hard work I had been doing this past month! And look, I gained five pounds this week!”
By releasing control of our inner power and resources to external forces, we lose faith in our own abilities to create change, which only makes us more dependent on the latest and greatest external solutions. Neomania run a muck!
It’s only Tuesday the 99th day of the year (awesome hockey number) – Let’s resolve to rediscover our own inner ability to create meaningful changes in our lives. Before turning to the Google Machine or The Facetube for an answer to a problem, what if we first look within ourselves for the resource(s) to bring meaningful change?
Notes:
Learning to be apart of the solution is a heuristic process. A process that will help you slowly build confidence – faith.
Everybody Pass Me By
Posted: April 5, 2013 Filed under: Random Workout | Tags: blogging, crossfit, Envy, exercise, free range, gluten free, Greed, Guilt, happiness, Hatred, health, hipster, hope, Jealously, jogging, kettlebell, life, love, lululemon, lust, marathon, meditation, motivation, natural, paleo, perspective, pilates, pride, recovery, running, Shame, trail running, Walk, walking, whole foods, WOD, yoga 4 CommentsHow many things one should disregard in order to act-
Preface: The post that follows evolved from a discussion between some dude and a highly motivated yoga fashionista/passionate runner …
We see it everywhere: More and more well-intentioned, active people who use “data” to solve the “problems” in their life. More specifically: Using the endless amounts of data we collect from our gadgets to help us run, bike, swim and supposedly live a better more fulfilling life.
Here are a few ideas that have been lost in the space-time continuum, hidden under the centre couch cushion … let me flip it over for you.
“My lap times are abysmal! I need to shave off at least ten seconds a lap to compete in my next triathlon!”
Look at the “problems” you face not as problems but as challenges. Difficult experiences and situations in life can be excellent opportunities for growth, exploring new possibilities. Most importantly perhaps, do not run (swim) away from your problems. It’s impossible to run away, analyze downloaded data and grow simultaneously.
“I’m supposed to get 35-40 miles in per week to maintain my training schedule for my first ultra-marathon this September … ”
Be gentle, take care and be kind to yourself. As humans, parents, lovers, friends and somewhere way down the list: Athletes .. we always have something that needs a little work, some tweaks here and there and improvements to be made. The process of becoming who we want to be, starts with acceptance of who we are, right now.
“Racing in this new age group is rather intimidating. It’s like my 9am yoga class.”
By focusing on the right attitude for “life” and paying little attention to differences? We are afforded the ability to carry over lessons we learn within everyday life. Completely accepting of the fact that differences exist between all of us and these differences always will. If we continue to stay focused on what divides us instead of what unites us? Our ego will inflate in such a way that our thoughts will change from being positive to being negative.
Notes:
Data can be really useful to us, there’s no doubt about it. Although I passionately feel that if we fail to address and discuss: Envy, Shame, Guilt, Pride, Lust, Hatred, and Greed … These emotions lead to a negative emotional state, one that provides little gain, much like the data we use to comfort our soul.
Be well this weekend.
Out of the night
Posted: April 4, 2013 Filed under: Random Workout | Tags: blogging, exercise, fitness, free range, gluten free, happiness, health, hipster, Invictus, kettlebell, life, love, lululemon, marathon, motivation, musings, natural, passion, perspective, pilates, running, Thursday ramblings, trail running, walking, whole foods, William Ernest Henley, WOD, yoga 2 Comments… that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
-William Ernest Henley Invictus
Notes:
Be well today!
CultFit 