Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Bikram Yoga, Surfing and Ultra Running


Hey There Everyone! I'm Angela's Mom, Jen. I just celebrated my 51st birthday. Entering the half century mark is exciting for me. Why? Because I love to work out. Angela and I will be sharing with you our two generations worth of adventures, so come along for the ride!

Some of the things that I love include, Bikram Yoga, often called hot yoga, surfing (started at age 45 folks, so it's never too late) and my main love, is ultra running. What's an ultra run? It's any distance over a standard marathon which is 26.2 miles. Our shortest run is 50K, 50 miles, and yes, I have completed a 100 mile race as well. Oh, and Angela and I just tried stand up paddle boarding.

I love to run on trails for the breathtaking beauty and meditation. Your mind slows down from all the chatter and you hit this amazing zone. Plus, you get some pretty nice looking legs in the bargain!

So, there I was two and a half months ago on the trail with my favorite running partner, Rico, when disaster struck. I came home that night from a 20 mile run and was limping. Turns out I had a torn meniscus and torn ACL. All those miles and I had never had a twinge of knee problems. Until I did. The doctors recommended surgery. Ouch! What self respecting ultra runner would allow themselves to be cut into? Me.

But I firmly believe that our bodies are magnificent healing machines. It's been two and a half months and a lot of ice. I am biking, doing yoga, surfing (finally) and am determined to reinvent myself into an even better ultra runner than ever. I have to keep up with Angela don't I? I've got some ideas on how I am going to accomplish this, so stay tuned.

Friday, September 25, 2009

Stand up Paddle Boarding


Hey there everyone! So iv always wanted to try stand up paddle boarding and last week i finally got to do it! And it was so much fun and a great work out to! The way you do it is you stand on the board which is a little thicker than a long board, and holding the paddle with both hands you pretty much just paddle as you would expect. The cool part about it all is that your getting a great upper body work out at the same time. You also get a lower body work out to because you have to keep your balence so it makes you tighten your leg muscles. As well as being a good work out it is also very peacful and relaxing, i really hope that everyone can get a chance to try it at least once because it is a really fun experience!