hot yoga - love. running - near hate.

remember the time i joked around and said whose idea was it to essentially train for 30 days in a sauna and then go out into the dead of cold and run for the first time?

remember that?

i have a hate on people. i am still getting to 3-4 hot yoga sessions a week [which now i appreciate on a whole new level] but am also running almost everyday. 5k 4 days a week, plus one 'distance [which right now is 5k and i'm laughing out loud but also dead serious] run a week, plus my hot yoga and a bit of weights. and by weights, i mean 4 pound hand weights. they are so cute and they match my decor. it's all about priorities right?

so back to my hate on. i totally think that once i am running over 10k in one go, that i might feel better about it. but right now, i have to make a very deliberate effort while running [in rain/snow/slush] to maintain a positive mindset and a strong focus on my goal to kick this half marathon's butt in may.

the thing is, i don't just want to 'finish' the race. i have a goal time in mind that i want to beat. not meet. but beat. so i am  really pushing myself everyday. even if today that meant only 5k. i will totally get there. i am going to do this race and i want to have no regrets when i do beat my goal time. and then i might never run again unless a giant dog is chasing me.

seriously.

hot yoga is this incredible, spiritual, fulfilling, physically challenging but in a warm and wonderful way kind of lifestyle/activity. when i do it, i dedicate my practice and feel like i am genuinely a better person inside and out after each class. i honestly do. if you are into growth and personal development, you should be doing yoga.

running is this freezing cold, not-so-spiritual-more-like-spit-up, less-fulfilling, physically challenging in a way that reminds me why i should have plie-d a little deeper after each jete during my dance training because now all of those old injuries are coming out of the woodwork and onto the pavement and it hurts- kind of lifestyle/activity. i do feel great everytime i do a run simply because i DID IT. i don't feel like a better person for it. not yet at least.

so for now - i will definitely grit my teeth and keep running my measly little 5k a day and hope that when i do my next distance run i can manage like, 8k. stop laughing. but i will definitely stick with it, and if there's one thing i am trusting and sure of, it's that the day i finish this race, i will have learned a lot about myself from it. i will be better for it. i will have accomplished another physical goal off of my list which means there is room for new goals. i can't wait to set new goals. i will be stronger for it. marcus will be so stoked to see me 'in a race' with a real number and everything. i'm going to talk my dad into taking marcus to the finish line so i have someone there to celebrate it with when i finish.

i am totally doing this. it just isn't as warm and wonderful as yoga ;)

run on people.

-kare