Are You Living It?

It was deeply satisfying to track my coaching client Stacey G. as she ran the Boston Marathon yesterday. Stacey, a former division 1-A collegiate track runner, hired me to train her for this race after she’d been plagued with overuse injuries in her previous marathon training. Her plan involved a lot of focused running complemented with strength training, plyometrics, drills, swimming, and a weekly ride (now that Boston’s done, she’s making a transition to triathlon, which I know she’ll love). She consistently nailed her workouts, and while there were days when she felt sore and tired and a week when her foot hurt, she made it to Hopkinton free of injury.

I have some friends who recently sold everything they owned, invested their cash into a pickup truck and trailer and left everything behind to travel to the Nation’s national parks. Their goal isn’t quite clear - other than they’re hoping to stumble upon something great by stepping outside of their comfort zone. Following their story is interesting - and reminds me of all of the road trips I’ve done in the past. Funny, they’re about 8 years older than me, yet I learned some of the lessons of living on the road about a decade ago.

Two crashes in two weekends, both on the final corner of the last lap. As soon as I saw the carnage happen, I sat up and gave up. Same thing happened last week. Both resulting in two people heading to the hospital for serious injuries. It makes me wonder why do I race my bike?

I know you just visited, but please come back as soon as you can! The flowers, trees, birds and bees all need you. And dry pavement is good for racing.

Sincerely,

Soggy Wet Seattlite.

Yesterday I took advantage of the weather and headed down to Chris’s house at Salmon Beach in Tacoma. We hopped in his boat, cruised across the narrows and hit up happy hour at the Tides in Gig Harbor. Makiah joined us - and her entire body shook the whole time we were afloat. We picked up some new bbq parts for his 12 year old grill, grabbed some items to throw on it and then boated back. Rainer was out in full effect - along with the Olympics. I got to wear flip flops for the first time in MONTHS. And then I had the extreme pleasure of meeting Galen aka Gatron. Truly a one in 6 billion people - this guy was off the charts. Check out this clip on youtube from him being a dare devil and flying through 90,000 volts of neon on a wet Saturday afternoon in January….

In the last 36 hours, I’ve spoken with four athletes who profess interest in yoga but who feel intimidated by going to their first class. Once or twice a week, I get an e-mail from a potential student who worries about coming to yoga for the first time. So I’ve pulled up an old draft I started when a Twitter friend (sidenote: come join us on Twitter, and learn what all the cryptic RTs, #s, and @s mean! I’m @sagetree) asked me two months ago if I had any advice for runners who’d never been to yoga before. Indeed I do! Much of it appears in The Athlete’s Guide to Yoga, and I’ll repeat the main points here.

Headed south to the Dalles - the wind surfing capital of the NW and this weekend the Cherry Blossom Stage Race. Was going to take Maggie until I took her for a standard oil change and my new mechanic said I probably should drop about $1,500 into her before making the venture. Did I spend the money? Nope. So now we’re onto Plan B - borrowing Julie’s honey’s Pathfinder with lots of room for all of our stuff.

Hopefully the weekend goes smoothly and we actually see the sun for a change! It’s been raining in Seattle since November and my pasty white skin is itching for some Vitamin D. Hard to believe spring has sprung in parts of the states already… I’m thinking road trip….