While I sit here and wait for iTunes to finish dumping 130gbs of music onto my iPod, I figure I should do something productive rather than shoveling homemade kettle corn into my mouth. Kettle corn that I had made for my upcoming road trip. Nothing special, just heading down to Boyton Beach tonight for a friend's birthday party and maybe a burlesque show. I know I promised a recap on the Run For The Children race at Universal and I swear it's in the works, but for now here's a brief summary of all the things I've been doing that's been keeping me from writing said review.
Well first off, I've started learning aerial. Yes the crazy, 30 feet up in the air hanging by your foot from a silk, aerials. And I'm in love with it! It's a hell of a work out and by the end of an hour and a half class I can be as bruised and sore as I was after roller derby practice. To some of you that may not sound like such a good time but it's worth it. When you wrap your self up to what an impossible height (okay maybe 15 feet), just to let go and free fall to the ground to stop just above the oh so reassuring 1" thick mat and realize you could do it a million times more, you feel a mixture of adrenaline and accomplishment that I can't even begin to compare to anything I've done before. When I'm twisted up, swinging around, dangling upside down, I feel the glee I had as an 8 year old playing on the monkey bars. The childlike energy that pours into me I'm sure exhausts the other students as they work to master the trick I just did on the first attempt. I really do turn into a kid for an hour and half, which isn't saying much since I am operating at the maturity level of 12 year old boy at any given point. Though, my first time attempting a major drop, I was in such disbelief that it was possible for me to do. Essentially I had wrapped the silks around my thighs in a way that looked like a rock climbing harness, sitting in a straddle and doing my best to ignore the mega wedgie this position created. Then my instructor tells me to bring my body in front of the silks, still holding on above my head. That's easy peasy, though I scared the shit out of him when I let go of the ropes to do this, apparently you're only supposed to go one hand at a time. After he over comes the shock, he tells me to let go and spread my arms like a bird as I fall forward.
"Uuuuuuuuuummmm, what?"
"Trust me, just put your arms out and you'll be fine," he assures me. "Okay, if you say so," and with that I let go. Now I've done plenty of falls... in a harness... remaining upright the entire way... and with trained medical professionals usually nearby. Never have I done a fall that would, as far as I could tell, unravel my harness. Time slows in moment of hesitation, I take in a deep breath, then I feel my hands let go of the silk. At this point Time realizes the rest of the world has gone on without him and ran to catch up. A scream more appropriate for a cat who's just had it's tail stepped on escapes from my lungs and suddenly I'm at the bottom of the rope, still hanging in the "harness". Sure enough my arms were straight out, aching from the sudden impact of the taunt silks, but I was alive and otherwise unscatched! When that realization I suddenly became an 8 year old again. I jumped out of the silks and began to bounce around, asking to try it again before I let somebody else have a turn. The other girls were looking at the silks as if they were made of mutant cobras. So I jumped back into them and wrapped myself up again. As I settled at the top I felt the scream building in my lungs and Hesitation holding me by the shoulder. Hell no, I've done it once, now I can do this and no one can take that away from me. I closed my eyes so the scream wouldn't know when to come out and let go while Hesitation looked the other way. No scream or surprise at the bottom, just adrenaline and accomplishment. I spent the rest of the class feeling like I was chomping at the bit, ready to do it again, to try the next big and bold trick. It's my latest drug of choice.
But I haven't forgotten running! Oh no, I just ran my second longest distance yet, thanks to the Nike coached runs. If you haven't tried these things yet and you're not the best self motivator, do yourself the favour and get a couple of albums. They're perfectly done. I will have a more in depth review of the few I have after I've tried them a couple of times. I have been using the Kara Goucher's Endurance Boost on and off for a while now and I love it. The coached runs, if you haven't checked them out yet, are essentially a playlist with the BPM set to the pace levels of what you're trying to accomplished. They're all interval training based and the coaches popping in with motivational feedback are very encouraging. And so far I love the music that's picked for these workouts. Quite a few popular artists, as well as some lesser knowns. I'm just the music might be out of reach for some, they do feel a bit geared to the hip and indie, but they don't get played out. What's really interesting is how you feel when you hear that song come on the radio, or at work, or just randomly through your iPod. This Pavlovian desire to just start running or do something awesome kicks into your head. It gets you motivated and thinking "Okay, when's my next run?" Nike also has finally updated their Training Club application. I first began using the iPhone version of the app when it was the "Women's Fit Club" and it was glitchy as all hell. Since then they've ditched the original application and reworked it so that instead of being a list of work outs that crash every time you try to use it, you get several coached and timed workouts. You can even set your own music, playing directly from your own library, and earn rewards like celebrity athletes' workouts and specialized recipes. I've been using the app, in conjunction with the aerial training, to focus on my core and in three week's I'm already seeing the ab muscles I lost when I stopped doing P90x.
So as you can see, all and all I've been quite busy. And yes I have been writing here and there to finish my race review. Need to have it out before the next race! I've also been working on a super secret podcast which you will be hearing more about in the next few weeks. Stay tuned!
