Bikram Yoga 60 Day Challenge

That's me in the back, not the guy.

Here's the official report:

It's day 7 and I feel great!
I'm on spring intersession now so it's not hard to make the time to go to yoga, nor am I stressed out and annoyed to the point that I just want to go home and drink beer after school. I'm drinking plenty of water and I'm forging ahead. I feel like last year, while trying to do the 30 day challenge, around this time I had already begun to feel the wear and tear of a daily practice. However, this time around I feel much stronger.

Along with the 60 consecutive days of yoga, i am also taking off about 40-50 days from running. Not running has been interesting. It's been two weeks since the horrid Tobacco Road Debacle Marathon, also marking two weeks since I last ran. I miss running. I fantasize about putting my shoes on and just heading out the door- going until I want to stop. But, strangely, or maybe not so strangely, I feel grateful for the forced opportunity to take a break from running. It will afford me a greater a appreciation for my running practice and I look forward to that. Sometimes in order to truly reflect upon something, you must step away, gain perspective and assess the full picture. It's also an interesting experiment in my running fitness: how will it feel to not run for a over a month? Will I lose all of my training? Will 3 miles feel like 5, 5 like 7, and 7 like a marathon? Will my form and breath change? Will I be stronger? Weaker?

Only time will tell.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Swamplandia! Revisited

An awesome portrayal by Sara Lautman of Ava and and the Bird Man on their odyssey like quest through the swamp in search of the underworld.

Shower Beer!!

I'm not quite sure who coined the term. I feel as though I may have first heard it several years ago in Vermont with Kurt and Alex Beschorner. But, perhaps this is a widely known practice and nomenclature. Anthropologists, I smell some relevant research...

The shower beer is ideal for:

-post run showers when one cannot wait to imbibe
-pre going somewhere instances where, again, why wait?
-drinking the last beer in secrecy, so loved ones do not know it was you (hey, where'd that last beer go?)
-just adding a little spice to your boring old routine

Other terms for shower beer may include "getting' ready drinky" and "waiting wine".

Shower beer. If you're not doing it, why wait?


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The Radio?!

So, since moving to Durham and now residing 5 minutes from school, I no longer have the Privilege of the Commute.  The Privilege of the Commute is this: 20 minutes of uninterrupted me time with the jams, coffee, podcasts, or just silence if you so desire.  Now, I've started listening to the radio. 

I know, GASP! 

And, I've got news for you, the radio is every bit as annoying as I remember it to be.  Laugh-rambling douchey DJs, horrible music, and ads ads ads.  Every now and then you'll find a little gem of a song right as you pull into work.  You'll sit in the car and close your eyes, and for a moment, you won't be in the parking lot of an elementary school.  No, you'll be somewhere else entirely.  Somewhere totally awesome.
Today it was Steppenwolf's Magic Carpet Ride. 

Indeed, Steppenwolf, indeed.

So we meet again...

Yes, the pollen is here. Yes, I am taking some forced time off of running because of it. Yes, I'm sure I'll still feel like a loser for not running even though I can't unless I want to look like I got stung by a tracker jacker. Yes, I'll be supplanting with a 60 day Bikram yoga challenge. Yes, I know my hair will be wet for 60 days straight. Yes, I did 30 days last year, and yes, 60 is 30 doubled.

Read This!

Whoever you are, you need to read this hilarious take on something I'm sure we all struggle with. With which we all struggle...Or with whom we all struggle...I don't know...whatever!

Read it!



How to Bring Your Lunch to Work


Thank you, Hair Pin

The Yellow Cloud

It's either going to be the title of my next album or the thing hanging over Durham right now resulting from a mixture of fog-smog and pollen.

You decide.

Bekah!

She's here!  She's great!






We eat ice cream! And wear stripes!

On the bandwagon or not?

If you haven't been living in a hole, you might have heard of a newish television series that you must watch.  Everyone is talking about it, which often makes me want to dislike something, but when Friday Night Lights, Mad Men, Six Feet Under, Breaking Bad, and Gossip Girl run out, it's time to try a little something new.  I'm game for that.  This is why I gave Downton Abbey a chance.  I've seen 3 episodes and I'm not convinced.  Here's why:

1) I don't care about any of these people.  Yes, I know I've only seen 3 episodes but isn't it the show's responsibility to make me care about these people so that I want to continue to watch?

2)  I can't figure out who is who.  They all look the same!  Who's a servant?  Who's a richie?  They are all so white...and British!

3) What the F is Downton Abbey?  The main guy says in the first episode that he cares about Downton Abbey more than anything else.  But what is it?  It's not a farm, not a business...is it just a big ass house?  Do they all just live in the house and walk around and talk to each other?  I'm not down with that.

I'll give it a few more episodes before I make my final decision, but they better hurry up and make this thing good soon, or I'm out!

A very bad race indeed

I've been avoiding writing this post for the past two days because I didn't want to have to put into words what a loser I feel like, but alas the time has come to face the music.  My yoga teacher in Thailand said once that nobody ever learned anything from being comfortable, and that is most definitely the theme of this marathon: discomfort...and hopefully some learning.

As you can see, I hobbled across the finish line at a staggeringly slow 5:30 time.  I looked around as a few pity filled cheers brought me in and noticed that the race volunteers were breaking down the finish line party.  Yes, as in packing it up for the day...I was that slow. 

Here's how it went:

-Wake up at 3:55 am to be at the start by 5:30 (why they wanted us there an hour and a half before start time is beyond me.  One of my least favorite things is the pre race wait around and this time it felt like an eternity)
- Start running at 7:00 and feel pretty good until about mile 13 which makes sense considering my training.  I was totally prepared for a half marathon and not a full marathon)
-I did manage to push myself gingerly along to mile 15, where I saw Chris Brophy who so kindly came out to support us.  We ran together for the next mile or so.  Feeling good again.
-Mile 17, I see Jason on his way back from the out and back.  He's walking.  "My IT band" he says dejectedly.  I persevere on.
-Mile 18...Must stop and stretch. Hard to start running again.  I walk as the 4:45 and 5:00 pace groups jog past me.  Damn it. I start running again.
-Mile 20, I eat a pickle at the aid station.  Feeling good again.
-Mile 20.5, Must stop again.  This time it is bad.  My legs are so tight.  I am really far behind now.  I walk until I see Chris Brophy again at Mile 22.  Pep talk ensues.
-Mile 22, I run again.  "Damn this trail"  I shout as I leave the Tobacco Trail and head down some boring Cary road heading toward the finish.
-Miles 23-25  This literally feels like an eternity.  Cary moms and Jersey transplants drive past me.  I curse them.  I'm slow.  Like really slow.  Like, am I walking or running or just shuffling?
- Mile 26  The next .2 will be hell and it is.
-I cross the finish line at a painful 5:30:58.  Shame.

Here's the learning part:  1) At least I finished.  I didn't drop out as I had fantasized about doing many times during the race. 2) I did more that day than most people do on an average Sunday. 3) This failure will make me more hungry for success the next time (yes, there will be a next time) 4) I learned that I need to train for real next time.  I will not just get by on my past running experience.

I think that can be applied to life as well.

Thats Nice

Get them started early on repressing their emotions.

Me and My Daughter!

Here we go again...

If you've been in my recent closest circle, privy to my ups and downs and wants and woes, you know that this Sunday I will be running the Tobacco Trail Marathon.  You might also know that technically I have not appropriately trained for this race due to a myriad of excuses/legitimate reasons.  Moving, trips, and an overall strange lack of motivation coupled with a rebellious discontent for anything that I "have" to do:  these things have sunk me...or not sunk me.  We shall see.

What I do know is this: I have run 3 marathons before.  I have been consistently running for the past 4 years.  I am a badass.  So, because of this I will prevail.  And if I don't, I will pretend to faint and get airlifted to the finish where medics and volunteers will wrap me like a cheap gas station burrito in foil blankets and massage me like a rack of lamb.

Swamplandia!

I am currently reading Swamplandia! which looks like this:

Man, is this book fun!  I'm enjoying reading this book more than any book that I've read recently. I'm racing home from stuff to read it, setting my alarm an hour early to read it, and choosing to read it over catching up on new Gossip Girl episodes.  That says something!
It's super well-written, it's identifiable, realistic, mystical, suspenseful, hilarious, and just plain old fun.  Russell's strength is definitely in her taut descriptive metaphors comparing people on the mainland in little pink and white apartment buildings to cutlery in a drawer and a TV infomercial zone out to medicine- a thick syrup of information. This type of simile isn't necessarily decorous or flamboyant like Garcia Marquez, but just so perfectly describes things in a beautifully dirty cut and dry way that is representative of the novel overall.  Read it!

 I do prefer this cover though (Why do publishers feel the need to change covers?): 

Shoulda been a song writer

I'm a naturally born song writer, people!


My talents lie within a very specific genre: spontaneous jingle commentary.  Meaning, I write songs on the spot about what is happening right now.

Currently on my hit list:

1)  Everybody, Everybody
2) Ima do my jobby job
3) Put it up
4) Time to go

But let's not forget the old classics:

1) I am talkin' to all of ya'll
2) I don't wanna go
3) Vegan chocolate chip cookies
4) Shut the f**k up!

I can smell my next Grammy...which will actually be my first Grammy.

Awakening

How can you buck the system if you are "the man"?

Today I got to thinking about the world and how I want to be a part of it.  I'm not exactly sure of the answer to that question in total yet.  But what I do know is that I don't want to be "normal".  I don't want to go with the grain. I don't want to be a rule follower.  And, I most definitely do not want to be "the man".

I know, I know...systems and rules are put into place to organize people and  minimize chaos.  Well, I'm all for that.  I don't want people running around killing each other and rioting in the streets.  But I also don't want to be a drone. An empty void of a person passing the time by satiating with a myriad of worldly addictions.

You might be thinking...

How did you start thinking about this?
Are you some kind of an anarchist criminal?
What's wrong with you?

Well, I'll tell you.  It all started on my run yesterday.  I was running and feeling truly satisfied.  And wondering why it was hard for people to find satisfaction. The Stones had it right when they said "I can't get no Satisfaction".   I was thinking about satisfaction and how people (myself included) are so numb to being able to tell whether or not they are actually satisfied.  Why can't we get no?

 I think most of us are this way because society is set in a way in which humans are bombarded with distractions.  We have to distract ourselves from the banality.  This is how we become addicted.  Addicted to food.  Addicted to drugs and alcohol.  Addicted to sex.  Addicted to television.  Addicted to shopping. Addicted to exercise.  Addicted to surrounding yourself with people.  These addictions provide temporary satisfaction which we highly evolved 21st century beings have confused for real happiness, or santosha, contentment, if you will.  Our confusion and displacement of contentment allows us to float along through life, through the systems which were set up to contain us, unaware of our own oblivion.

I don't want to be a slave to the distractions anymore.

I hear people around me saying things like "We're all just finding ways to pass the time".  And maybe that is true.  Maybe we all need to find a delicate balance between our spiritual fulfillment/pursuit of contentment and our worldly distractions because we are only human.  And what about things like art, music and literature?  Couldn't these things be considered "distractions".  I don't know the answer.  But I do know that I can't ever hope to find my way to the surface for a breath of fresh air and reality if I continue to be "the man" participating in a system that condones the exertion of some kind of power over others. A system that is based upon power imbalances, control, and oppression is a system that breeds tendency towards a need for diversion and beguilement.

I want to be awake.

Tournament of Books

Thanks to Laura Bennett, Jason and I have edified ourselves in the ways of The Morning News' annual book tournament- The Tournament of Books.  Basically, its a way that literary people can get competitive and brackety, drink beer and read, and get a tummy flutter for March without having to watch a single second of college basketball.

The tournament started today and it's very exciting.  I'm sort of participating vicariously through many different people who in a combined way have read most of these books.  Currently, I've read two, and working on my third.  But amongst several friends, I think we've almost got every book covered.

Check out the bracket here.


Now, go read and get your rooster on!

 

Numbers are Hard

Hello, My name is Blaine and I am Mathematically Challenged.  I need help.  I do.  Numbers and Math seriously paralyze my brain.  It's always been this way since I can remember.  I was a great speller (almost the 5th grade Spelling Bee School Champ, had I not spelled quail like quale), a great scientist, an OK writer, an OK reader, and enough personality to get me into a sufficient amount of trouble.  But Math, oh man, I feel bad for my teachers in school.  I would whine and complain and cry "I dooooooon't understaaaaaaand", and to my credit, I didn't understand.

Things that I have not been able to calculate recently:

1) 26.2-19= the difference between how much I must run on March 18 to complete the Tobacco Road Marathon and my longest long run.  To freak out or not?

2) 32+40+16+24= the amount of liquid I have had to drink today for post 19 mile hydration

3) 620 x 60 = the amount of calories I will burn doing a 60 day Bikram yoga challenge

4) 185-X= the amount of days left in this school year

5) (180 x 2)X = the least possible amount of calories that I will consume in beer to make it until the end of the school year

6) 351-351= the amount of money I will have to go shopping after my car payment clears

7) 2,863/2 = the amount of miles that Jason and I will each drive as we trek to Oregon in a few months

Blogging Husband

Some gotta follow in the footsteps of greatness...

Check it out!

Necessary Movement

Our Album Cover

Siblings!

When we moved, they shared a bed





And now, they have their own




Now all they have to fight about is which parent loves them more.

Yes! Nooooooooooooo!

There's nothing better than feeling that first warm day and knowing that Spring is just around the corner. You pull out your cute skirts and little shoes and retire the coats and scarves  to the winter clothes bin, and walk out the front door in little more than a baby cardigan.  However, this also means the start of the worst time of year for me.  Pollen time. A time filled with snot, grime, itchy watery eyes, head fog, and an immeasurable amount of anger and resentment towards those enjoying the spring outdoors.  This year I plan to take a little running hiatus and head to the Bikram studio again for a 30-60 day challenge.  I will sweat and enjoy the heat.  I will become a Bikram rat and scoff at all of you in your joyous sunshine running your beautiful trails with pollen in your eyes.