Hills and LucYoga

My facebook news feed has been filled with complaints about Daylight Savings today.  I find this silly.  Don't you know what Daylight Savings means?  Sunlight!  Saved until the end of the day!  One more wonderful hour of daylight after work!  Boo hoo, you lost an hour of sleep.  I call that sacrifice for the greater good.  Sacrifice for sunshine.

Time taken: 6:15.  It would have totally been getting dark already at this time
yesterday.

And look!  45 minutes later (7:00!), dusk has just begun.

Hallelujah, the dark days are done!  Also, if we remember from a few weeks ago while I was stuck in the February doldrums, today also signifies Chuck Norris's International Day of Awesomeness.  What did you do to prove your awesomeness today?  I did a few things, which I will expound upon herewith, but first I want to talk about yesterday's impromptu day of awesomeness as well.

Yesterday's practice with Team was at Lake Youngs in Renton.  I believe I've talked about Lake Youngs here before, but for those who don't know: Lake Youngs is not actually a lake.  It is a reservoir completely surrounded by trees and a chain link fence.  Along the outside of the chain link fence is a 9 mile loop trail around the entire reservoir.  While on the trail, there is exactly one spot where you can see the "lake" for just a second as you go running by.  If you're going the right direction and know where to look.

Lake Youngs is also very hilly.  There are, in fact, very few flat parts.  It goes up and down, sometimes in rolling hills, and sometimes in big climbs.  Lake Youngs in not an easy course.

Nonetheless, despite the deceiving name and numerous hills, this is one of my favorite runs.  It feels like a real trail tucked back in the woods.  There's nature and stuff.  I've seen deer here before.  And I've heard rumors that a TNT coach once even stumbled upon a bear that luckily was on the other side of the chain link fence.  And, I think I'm finally beginning to admit to myself that I actually like hills.  They make the run interesting.  They make you work hard, which makes you feel better at the end.  And on yesterday's run, I felt great.

Not to mention, it was an absolutely beautiful sunshiny day.  [I realize I should have a photo here of said beautiful day.  Blogger fail.]

This TNT season is interesting for me.  My past 3 seasons, I've had Erica to run with.  We've become steadfast running partners, and in the past couple years I'd say that about 95% of my long runs have been with Erica.  But this season, as I may have mentioned once or twice, she's coaching.  So no more running buddy for me.  Instead, I seemed to have fallen into pace with the lead group at practice, which just happens to be all boys (or should I say men?  I don't know).  

Running with the boys is different.  When there's conversation, the topics aren't quite the same.  There's no catching up on all the details of the weekly gossip.  And the whole "running together" thing feels different too. Erica and I always stick together.  If one of us is having a slow (or fast) day, the other adjusts to the necessary pace.  But with the boys, we seem to come together, and then fall apart, and then come together as the run progresses.  By the end of yesterday's run, we were all spread out with about 400 feet between each of us.  I could still see them up ahead or hear them behind, but we were all in one big line.  

While I didn't start my running career as a social runner (me and Lucy and the road was all I wanted), I have certainly become a social runner.  I'd just prefer to stay lumped together in one group.  Hopefully as the runs start to get longer, the boys will see some value in sticking together, instead of speeding ahead.  But maybe it's just a boy thing.  We shall see.

One good thing about running with the boys though, is that I am definitely pushing my paces, which makes me a happy lady.  If I can keep 8:30 paces during long runs for the rest of the season, I'll be ecstatic.

Miles 5 and 7 were water stops where I was a good little TNTer who
follows directions and didn't stop my watch.

After the run and breakfast with the team, I came home, walked Lucy for about an hour, cleaned a bit, and then treated myself to an evening that included Thai take out, wine, and Hulu.  When my Hulu queue was emptied, I found some Netflix movies, and I finally came up with a viable reason for why I never really watch movies.  They make me sad.  Whether they're comedies, dramas, action, or an indie, I'm always left with a bittersweet, sad taste in my mouth.  I'm sticking with Glee and Top Chef from here on out.

This morning, I woke up refreshed, energized, and not even worried about that lost hour of sleep.  Because it  is Daylight Savings time!!  Can you tell I'm excited about that?  Have I mentioned it enough?  I celebrated by starting the day with what I have now decided to call LucYoga (pronouced Lucy-Yoga, but cleverly squished together with a shared Y.  I so smart).

No, LucYoga is not going to be the new fad in the exercise world.  It's not as cool as Yogilates or CrossFit or any of those other things.  Plus, if you wanted to do LucYoga at home, you'd have to get your own Lucy. I don't share.

LucYoga came about when Lucy decided that she wanted to "help" me with my Sunday morning yoga.  Because she simply doesn't like to be ignored for an hour, so she may as well try to join in.  She tends to start off a little aloof, though.

"Oh, are you ignoring me?  I'll stay right here, but I'm ignoring you too."

As we progress through the first 15 minutes, she begins to help a little.

"I'll just hold your feet up for you.  No problem."

Then she slowly inches closer and closer.  For "support."

"It's like I'm a wall.  You can try to push me out of the way,
but I won't go anywhere!"

As we begin to work up a sweat, she is happy to help out in that area too.

"Don't worry mom, you won't have to shower.  I'll take care of it!"

But as with any 6-year-old, after about 45 minutes, she gets a little bored with helping.

"Hey! Look at this ball.  It's a pretty cool ball.  I'll nose it just a little closer to
your face so you can see it."

But she's most talented with "final relaxation."  As soon as I lay down and close my eyes, she joins right in.

"Oh are you done now?  I'm sleepy.  I don't need to play
anymore."

And there you have it.  LucYoga.  The hot new yoga trend.  Your own Lucy required.

Side note: So happy that me, Erica, and MacKenzie got a pedicure 2 weeks ago so my toes were nice and pretty for this LucYoga demo.

After being such a good helper, I pulled Lucy right out of bed and we went for a 30 minute run around Green Lake.  She's actually quite helpful at keeping me at recovery pace, which is why these are the only runs she joins me on anymore.  Anything faster than recovery pace, and she's not such a happy camper.

That tired her out, and now she's seems to be quite offended by that fact that my feet are popping her personal bubble.

I mean really, how dare I pop her bubble.  I think we may
need to have a heart to heart soon about whose couch
this really is.

To continue the International Day of Awesomeness, after getting cleaned up from the active morning, I did some planning for work for a couple hours and even went grocery shopping and made dinner.  Not too bad of a way to spend this day to celebrate the sun and Chuck Norris.

But, the sun has finally set which means that bedtime is encroaching.  Happy Daylight Savings Day!  Enjoy your sunshine.