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That time I met my favorite Biggest Loser

April 26, 2013 by meganlri

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Ok, so this is my level of poor – not only do I not have a smart phone, I don’t even have a dumb phone that can send pictures. So pictures stay on my phone. But trust me, this is me with Danni from the Biggest Loser.

Remember that time I wrote about my deep love of The Biggest Loser? The sweet and strong girl in the picture in that post is Ms. Danni Allen, the winner of season 14. For someone who doesn’t watch television, I was sure into this season. I think it was because I don’t watch TV that I had some trouble separating the show from my actual life – all day before the new episodes would hit the internet, I’d have anxiety and force myself not to google what happened to Danni before I could watch it.

Fortunately for me, all that worrying was for naught – Danni survived and thrived on the show! She won, my mom and I were beyond happy for her, and then I went back to my life.

Fast forward to yesterday – I gave my Yoga for Runners clinic at the Country Music Marathon Expo in downtown Nashville and noticed the clinic schedule for the next day included the girl who’d given me my Biggest Loser anxiety for all those months!

So I came back today to meet her. I don’t really know what I expected, but the place was packed. And I thought to myself, “Oh my God – I had no idea she was famous!” Again, I don’t know what I was thinking – maybe that she was my little TV BFF and didn’t even know yet. Evidently a lot of people were thinking the same thing. But throughout the course of the crowd Q&A session, I began to see that there were more kindred spirits there.

Several people in the crowd had lost over 100 pounds. 100 pounds! I was amazed by these people – Not only Danni, but certainly including her, too – the way some seem to be amazed at celebrities. I’m just so impressed that all people have the power within them to take control of their own happiness, and we get to be around these people every day! Humans are pretty cool that way. And I’ll take a “Human-who-has-realized-his-or-her-power” sighting over a celebrity in the Paris Hilton category any old day.

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Three Reasons to be Happy

April 23, 2013 by meganlri

1.)  As Ryan and I discovered yesterday, you can still be healthy while traveling by air! Here are some genius ideas of ours:

  • Bring an empty water bottle with you through the TSA line. Fill it up in the terminal. No more paying $2-4 for sweet sweet hydration! Your skin will thank you for it when you’re up in the air.
  • If you’re getting airport food because you didn’t pack airport snacks beforehand, walk to another terminal to get it, then back to yours. Even if you don’t have time to eat it at your gate and have to wait until you’re airborne to chow down, you will have burned off at least some of those calories you’re about to consume. (*note = cinnabons are the exception. I’m pretty sure you can never burn off a cinnabon).
  • If you can’t split it, don’t eat it. In other words, don’t eat a combo meal by yourself – if there’s nobody there to split it with you, pass on the sandwich and fries and get some snacks instead, like yogurt or nuts. It’s cheaper, and you’ll walk away without feeling like you just ate a pile of bricks.

2.)  Just got back from a very active weekend in Scottsdale, where the company my husband works for had their annual conference. For just three and a half days, I feel like we got a lot of fitness in: two yoga classes, a long walk through the town, a 4.5 mile hike in the desert, a 2-hour bike ride, and a very sunny game of tennis.

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Evidence of one of the five activities

3.)  Over the weekend, I got not just one, but TWO gifts from some very thoughtful and supportive friends, Callie, Jo, and John. They’re both yoga shirts – one is pictured and one is not, since I loved it so much I sweated too much in it this evening.

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dog’s got perfect alignment 

Thanks for enabling my yoga addiction, you beautiful people, you.

ALSO, my Yoga for Runners clinic is this Thursday at the Country Music Marathon Expo! If you’re signed up for the race, plan to come a little before 3 so we can get to know each other!

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Any more reasons to be happy? Airport health tips? Gifts for me? Comments are below :)

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Vengeance is Depressing, Peace is Divine

April 19, 2013 by meganlri

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Beautiful Scottsdale

Just a small thought today from our hotel room in Arizona: I was in a yoga class this morning with people from all over the country, and Boston was on everyone’s minds. The atmosphere in the room was one of empathy and compassion, and, after namaste, peace.

Time to go out for a nice long bike ride in the desert with my mom-in-law and some family friends. Still thinking about you, humanity. Hang in there. 

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Thoughts on Boston

April 17, 2013 by meganlri

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As a bit of a news hound and a believer in NPR, (Ryan calls it my religion) I’ve been hearing many different perspectives on the Boston Marathon bombing. But rather than listening intently, it’s been difficult for me to not turn off the coverage as soon as I hear the topic. It’s just so disturbing that these random acts of violence are making their way into more and more places that embody the goodness of our society.

Whether you’re a runner or not, you know how special the finish line is at any race. When I think back to the finish lines I’ve crossed or been at to cheer on the runners, it hurts even closer to home:

  • At my first race ever, the Beijing International Half Marathon, I crossed wanting to pinch myself. It seemed wonderfully impossible that I’d just done it – after never running more than ¾ of a mile, I’d taken a few months to train myself to run 13.1. It was a moment that opened my eyes to the idea that nothing was really impossible.
  • My mom and I ran the Women’s Half in Nashville. The finish line was halfway up a hill downtown, and my mom, who’d ran/walked the entire way with no trouble or stress, began sprinting towards it. Uphill. As we crossed, she threw back her head and made a “yes!” noise. She’d just finished her first-ever major race, 13.1 miles. For me, it wasn’t about finishing, it was about spending that much time with my mom, months in training and hours on the course itself.
  • My first marathon (Presque Isle Marathon in Erie) was tough – A few miles from the end, I stopped to walk, and a girl about my age passed me. Watching her get smaller in the distance, I was inspired to begin running again, passing her not too much farther on. Then I stopped, she caught up again, and I turned to her and said, “listen – I don’t want to slow down and neither do you. Want to run together?” So we did for the last two miles. As the finish line came into sight, not saying a word to each other, we started feeling the friendly competition urge kick in, and raced each other. I finished feeling strong. She congratulated me on “winning” afterwards, and I thanked her profusely for pushing me. I’ll never see her again, but won’t forget her or her generosity of spirit anytime soon.

With such beautifully vivid memories of past finish lines, it’s easy to imagine that runners, families, and friends were experiencing a similar emotional experience when the blast happened. That’s what makes it so difficult; it feels like an attack on the core of human goodness.

It seems that we have some time before we know details about how and why. But in this moment of uncertainty, we can draw a teaching from the athlete’s spirit; the voice you hear when you think you can’t go one step farther – you’re too hot, too tired, too dehydrated, too unmotivated. Then, out of nowhere, you hear it from within, small and strong: you can. And you do.

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Time Flies When You’re Having Fun

April 15, 2013 by meganlri

Let me just first say that this week has gone unbelievably fast. I guess that’s what being busy will do to your time – it seems like someone has pushed the fast forward button on my life; everyone around me speaking in chipmunk voices and scurrying around trying to get from one place to another.

Last weekend (time FLIES!) was my second intensive yoga training weekend. Somehow it seemed to be easier and go faster than the first. It’s amazing the difference friendship makes – spending the weekend with strangers puts you on edge and a slight discomfort follows you the entire time. Every answer that someone else knows that I don’t is cause for insecurity, and every conversation is guarded. But spending the weekend with the same group who have become friends is an entirely opposite experience. Friends know answers I don’t and I’m happy for them and for me, because now I know. Friends try poses I can’t yet do, and I’m proud of their progress. Friends share hurtful experiences and my heart breaks open, but I come away feeling more connected knowing that our lives aren’t that different at all.

I came back home on Sunday feeling like I could take on the world. I had my first school conference call with the other teachers at the school where I’ll be working this year, and couldn’t have felt unsure if I’d wanted to. I was confident and happy to meet everyone on the phone, and for the first time, felt like my real self within a group of strangers.

The next “morning,” Ryan and I woke up at 3:30 and were on the road by 4 a.m. to go to Lexington to see our friend Causi (AKA the American Moustache Institute’s Moustached American of the Year – not kidding) throw the opening day pitch for the Lexington Legends. Family, friends, and baseball = the American dream.

My brother helped me out with the sequence for the Runner’s Yoga class the next day, which I was secretly a wreck about. Turns out there was no need – it went off without a hitch. My friend from teacher training came and helped out, and she and my best friend in Nashville gave me helpful feedback afterwards.

After coming back to Nashville, we were here for one day until I left again, this time, for Memphis. A few of the staff from my new school were going, so I got to meet some people I’ll be working with face-to-face, and couldn’t have been happier. Admittedly, the content was way over my head at this stage in my development, but just as in yoga, progress is only possible when you acknowledge your current level. No, I’m not an experienced teacher yet. Yes, I will get there.

After all that travel and two yoga classes this afternoon, I’m pretty much pooped. But I did want to announce our winners – since only two entered, you’ll both get a Prairie Sun headband! Congrats, Ashley and Tannis! Check your inbox for details.

Hope everyone had a good weekend! Time to rest for another great week ahead. 

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Prairie Sun Headband Giveaway/Yoga for Runners Workshop

April 4, 2013 by meganlri

Hello, Friends!

First off – more exciting news!

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1.)  If you live in Nashville, come to my Yoga for Runners one-hour workshop next Wednesday, April 10 at East Park Community Center. We’ll flow to strengthen essential running muscles, stretch out tight hamstrings and hips, and  cultivate peace in our PR-obsessed minds. It’s a donation-based class to benefit Girls on the Run Nashville, and everyone will get a free Country Music Marathon tee shirt, so give what ya got and we’ll have some fun!

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Here’s the Nashville-riffic shirt you get if you come do runner’s yoga with me!

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And here’s me and my running buddy warming up for our Girls on the Run 5k last year – all donations from the workshop will benefit this incredible local organization

2.)  Melissa from Prairie Sun Yoga has an awesome Etsy shop with some very cute yoga/running/cross fit gear and has agreed to do a giveaway! Just go to her facebook page, check out the selection, and like her facebook page and/or my facebook page between now and Wednesday, April 10. I’ll announce the winner in a post then!

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Made with care by Melissa from Prairie Sun Yoga

Between getting these set up (especially the Yoga workshop, which should be awesome because GOTR, Metro Parks, and the Country Music Marathon are all involved – whew!) and navigating my yoga/teaching/nonprofit/waitressing transition, there hasn’t been much time for blogging. Luckily, there’s another intensive teacher training weekend beginning tomorrow evening, so I’m looking forward to finding some clarity and coming back to all of you internet friends with a more enlightened view of life soon.

In the meantime, I’ll just keep breathing. Please do the same; see you soon on my facebook page (or Melissa’s) or on your mat this Wednesday!

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Practice

March 26, 2013 by meganlri

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I ran a 5k that I wasn’t prepared for on Saturday and came in fourth.

I was so happy when I saw a race listed for Lawrenceburg, Kentucky on a running website. In fact, I almost didn’t believe it. The Lawrenceburg culture has many interesting highlights (including bourbon, friendly people, and a gorgeous landscape) but fitness has never really been a strong suite. It’s a rare sight to see a runner on the street or someone out of high school with a gym bag (I can’t recall a single sighting of either growing up) but as with any other small and precious place, the times they are a’ changing.

The First Christian Church had hosted their inaugural 5k on Saturday to raise money for a mission trip for the youth. Just a quick trip down across the middle school parking lot, up and down Saffel Street, back up Mustang Trail, once around the park, and back behind the middle school. 3.14 miles. Surely someone who ran a marathon 2 ½ years ago would have no problem with.

What I did not anticipate was the shock to my lungs – after months of hot yoga and treadmill running, my lungs froze up in the mid-thirties. I was more winded at the finish line than I’ve ever been after a race, and on the way home I felt the way I’ve always heard an asthma attack described. My hamstrings still feel more like iron rods than tendons.

It may seem off-putting for a fitness blogger to write about recovery time for a 5k, but it just goes to show that without practice, things you may have found easy at one time just aren’t. The same may be said for choral singing, mastering sixth-grade science content standards, and conversations in Mandarin Chinese; all activities I’ve done recently without good preparation. If practice makes perfect, then lack of practice makes hilarious, surprising, face-planting moments.

I don’t think it was a waste of time. In fact, I managed to be the fourth woman to cross the finish line and at least did something active. But I do think I’ll be trying to incorporate running into my schedule a little more often – another side effect of trying something you haven’t done in a while is rediscovering the fun of it!

 

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