Workout: Why Not?!

This race is a hidden gem for a great cause! Full disclosure: I don't even like driving into the Ft McHenry Tunnel . I have a "worse case, horror movie" mentality when it comes to driving this. But, I love that my sister works for the Special Olympics of Maryland so I happily said YES when she asked me to run this race. When we got there, I asked my 6 year old if she wanted to run- and she said yes. It was her first race. She walked/ran with my husband. Yays The cause . Nothing was more exciting than running along side athletes who are so brave!  Before the race, we said the Special Olympics oath, which I had never heard before. "Let me win. But if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt." This was a motivating factor, and a quote I will carry with me.  There were a number of Special Olympics athletes who were participating in the race.   The course. The tunnel! We ran under water. Think about it- a 5K under water!  The tunnel was clean...

I began this year with a ridiculous encounter with yoga .  I was not impressed, in the slightest, and had no intention of a repeat attempt.  The year moved along, and so did I...all the way to Seattle.  I started a new job and attempted to settle-in to new responsibilities, new expectations, and a new home.  And somehow,  a month ago I gave yoga another try , this time with added heat, high-tempo music, and weights.  Being in a hot yoga class was not something I ever would have predicted. But what's even more surprising than my initial foray into hot yoga is that, a month later, I'm now going 2-3 times a week.  Somehow I have found myself establishing a bit of a routine.  But that's preposterous!...I hate routines!  How could this even be happening? Well here's the deal:  the first month and a half of this new job has been all-consuming and exhausting.  I have regularly spent late nights in my office after the school day ends an...

The following statements may not make sense to those who know me. 1. I went to a yoga class 2. It was hot yoga 3. It involved weights 4. This was on purpose 5. It was the second straight day of going to a yoga class If it's possible, I'm even rolling my eyes at myself.  Who have I become??  I move to the west coast and now I'm going to multiple yoga classes in a week? I'll start here:  There are two things that I know I need, no matter where I live.  a) Fellowship (thanks to Matt for making "fellowship" part of my regular vocabulary).  2) Physical challenges. ...  This yoga thing was both fellowship and a physical challenge.   But,  I assume the reason you're here is you want to know how a profuse sweater like me handled hot yoga.... The studio starts out at 93 or 94 degrees, plus some humidity.  I have no idea what the temp reaches once it's filled with people working out.  But as I walked into the studio and had a wall of w...

We completed the first leg of the King Crab series this past weekend with the Frederick half .  We also did what the folks in Frederick call a "nut job" and ran the 5K Saturday and the half marathon on Sunday.  I ran a recent best time in the 5K and wasn't too far off on my half (20 seconds over my best).  It was a nice weekend of running. Not a race I would plan my life around requiring to do, but it was a nice run!  I can't really explain what made it a nice run, with two really good times, and I'm not dying to do it again.  The weather was chilly but nice for running.  Yays SWAG and Medals - finished the weekend with three medals, a t-shirt and a pull-over.  Nice branding on all swag. The idea of starting the 5k and finishing both races on the horse track Super cool, great stands, easy to spot finish line! Boo Bag check for half marathon - way too far away and it was COLD!  The reality of finishing both races on the ho...

I ran the Hot Chocolate 15K this winter for the first time.  It was also my first race in Philadelphia and my first 15K.  This is a series of runs, held throughout the country.  It was a great time for me and I felt awesome.  Below are my race review highlights. Yays The course Scenic at the start (Rocky Steps, and other landmarks!) and then a flat out-and-back Bag Check Easy process and convenient location in start/finish area. The GeoTag See example below.  Quality geotag, right?! The Medal Looks good, and mentions the city on it! The hot chocolate I'm not a huge hot chocolate, or any chocolate, kinda person...but this lived up to the hype! Boos Parking We ended up parking at an overpriced art gallery garage.  It was a pain to get in and out of the location. No day-of packet pickup with a super small expo with bad parking This was a logistical nightmare from planning to execution.  Limited parking, rush hour tr...

Kicking off 2017, I purchased a Groupon for five kicking boxing classes at a local MMA facility.  The groupon included the required gloves (bonus!) and we convinced a few friends to tag along.  For the obscene amount of sweat this workout created in/on/from all of us, the gym was clean and odor free.  Cardio kickboxing was a mix of the hit/kick/jab of kickboxing, with all sorts of planks, squats, etc. the class was segmented into 5-10 minute blocks with water breaks. I never left feeling dehydrated and I always left feeling that good sore of a good workout. My takeaways: 1. The soundtrack was motivating and also made me laugh. It was a mix tape of what I could have made. There were many moments of "rest" where dancing happened. This was a plus! 2. It's important to try something more than once. Kickboxing class number one was my favorite instructor but my confidence and thanks only built the more classes I took. I'm glad I got a chance to do this multiple times ...

So maybe this whole blog won't just be about fitness adventures.  Perhaps if we re-frame it as "adventures in sweating," then this topic of natural deodorant will fit right in. ( Only problem with that is that Abbie doesn't sweat....she sparkles.  Ugh! ) A little bit of curiosity ends up with this! A few years ago, I heard about a possible connection between aluminum-based antiperspirants and Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases .  My grandmother died from Parkinson's in 2013.  Given that it's already in my gene pool, I slowly started to think I should look into lifestyle choices that might lower my risk for this terrible disease.  And given that I'm unaware of anything else I could be doing to lower my risk factors, natural deodorant seemed like my only option.  The problem with this deodorant/antiperspirant issue is that I sweat a lot . . . a whole lot !  None of that "I don't sweat, I sparkle" nonsense for me.  It's more...

I found an online challenge that was 12-days of 12-minute workouts from Trainer LJ at Fit Mix Mom.  I believe I found this on twitter.  I put in my email address, and was sent links to either a printed or video version of the daily workouts. I selected video, and I was sent daily to a YouTube video of an average sized mom working out in a room much like the room I was in.  Please note: this woman has significantly stronger core muscles than I do.....This I learned quickly. Each 12-minute video had a theme.  No equipment was used, and the only sound was background music and a "ding" to change moves.  The movement was also captioned, some I knew some I didn't. I now know why people hate burpees. My takeaways: 1. Sometimes all it takes is a hashtag and a series of YouTube videos to get me to do a little bit more. I did miss one day, but especially with encorporating my favorite two people in my fun (my 5 year old rocks at planks apparently), I felt motivated...

I have a friend in New Orleans whose daughter thinks I should be a boxer.  I'm not sure where she got this idea from, but whenever she hears that her mom and I have spoken, she says, "Oh, Rachel, the boxer?"  So it was with great anticipation that I signed up for a pack of 5 kickboxing classes with Bowie MMA Training Center . Today was class #1 for me.  If you want to skip-out on reading my full review, I'll sum up the experience with this: I had the pleasure of meeting the instructor, Quenton King , before class began.  He gave Abbie and me a good run-through of what we'd need to know, without being overwhelming, and asked if we had any concerns or physical limitations that would need modifications.  Once everyone arrived and we were ready to go, the music started and we got to work. In some ways, kickboxing is pretty simple.  And that was something I really appreciated.  Punch the bag.  Punch the bag some more.  Punch the bag harder....

For the past five years, I have considered myself a cyclist.  I have come to thrive off the joy I derive from riding outside and feeling the stillness of the world around me. And for the last 3 years, I've had a gym membership with 24 Hour Fitness, where I can take a spinning class, for no additional charge, almost any day of the week.  One time I showed up for a class, but after waiting 15 minutes for the instructor, I decided to leave. But then just before Christmas, Abbie hopped on the 3-day free pass train and suggested we do a spin class.  I was willing to try it out, while keeping a firm hold on my concerns and reservations.  I've read about spinning from other cyclists and have noted a general sense of frustration and disappointment from many of them. So we took a gander at the class schedule and found a spin class to go to. My first mistake of the night was in taking only a small hand towel up to the studio with me (more on that later).  My secon...

Today, we "juiced" up some fruits and veggies.  I had sampled the outcomes of juicing, but Inhad never tried it for myself.  We had kale, carrots, pineapple, apple, mango, ginger, lemon, lime, turmeric root, cucumber, cabbage, oranges, tangerines, and strawberries. Rachel brought over her machine and we went to work! The combos were made by what we thought may work.  The last creation was green, thick, and a "kitchen sink" approach. The good news: the results were not too gross, and I think I ingested more veggies than I did all of 2016. Verdict: Not ready to invest in anything, but will happily do again.

According to Abbie, this year is going to have a "try anything once" approach (*) for new workouts.  And what better way to kick that off than going to a free yoga class on the first day of the year?  There is a yoga studio around the corner from her house, so with about 20 minutes to go before the class was to begin, we picked up water bottles and yoga mats and set off down the road for yoga.  There we were, walking along the sidewalk with yoga mats...it felt like nothing either of us should be doing...which I think means we were doing things right in 2017. I have had a few brief brushes with yoga videos in my past.  Overall, I have not been pleased.  Too much hokey nonsense about "space" and not enough good stretching for my taste.  But I was willing to test out the in-person experience of a class. . . . I'll go ahead now and say that I feel satisfied with scratching yoga off the list for 2017, knowing it will not make a reappearance on my radar. Thou...