Aaand, No, I shouldn't run

After my post this morning, I went off to Ashtanga, did my practice all the way to my last pose, Garbha Pindasana, which has been my last pose FOREVER.

David Robson looked at me and asked, "Do you still run?"

I'm pretty sure I never told him that I started running.

I nodded. It's been about 2 1/2 weeks since the last time I technically ran, but I've done lots of walking since. (Yes, walking up and down hills until you break a sweat still counts! Especially when you do it for 45+ mins and your hips are sore the day after.)

After backbends, he pressed on my back and said, "You're at an edge. You have to choose whether or not to give up what's tightening your hips, and choose something less stressful for your legs."

"So it's the running that's the problem?"

"Yes. You start opening the hips one day, and the next day they tighten back up again," he explained.

So it's confirmed. What I've guessed for weeks now, since I've upped my mileage to 10K+ a week.

Running makes Ashtanga hurt, hard, impossible.

For my hips at least, especially with my bum knee. (friggin half-lotus impossibleness)

I'm bummed. So I took a longing-for-the-outdoors picture with the Two-Bum.

I want to run

This happened yesterday.

Oh, you don't recognize this? 

This is an over-walked dog. 

With 3 active women living in my house, and a beautiful day outside, all 3 of us took the dogs on 1-2 separate walks/runs. 

That's too much for a 11-pound fur baby? 

Yes, yes it is.

In other news, I'm getting fat. I didn't post a picture or video of my belly roll talking to you, so you're welcome.

I forget that when I'm not running, I can't eat like I still am.

So in a logical twist that makes perfect sense, I've decided to run again. I'll keep my mileage down to less than 5 miles a week, and hopefully lose my fat and still keep my Ashtanga gains.

Stay tuned!

Pizza night and the Mysore morning after

This morning, I woke up groggy and tired. I didn't want to sleep any more, but nothing in my body wanted to bend, stretch or push either.

I'm ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN this feeling had nothing to do with the activities of the previous night.

PIZZA PARTY DEUX: 

Spinach, red onions, roasted eggplant, mush-a-rooms, cherry tomatoes, peppers, tomato sauce (with about 8 cloves of garlic).

1) Crust

2) Toppings

3) Bake

4) Attempt to peel the cheese-glue off the tin foil and free the pizza!

5) Pizza cheers because you can't wait for the rest of the dinner party it smells so good! (Sorry about my face. Gawds...)

6) "Traffic was horrible!"

7) "Would Sandy notice if I stole her dogs?"

By 10 PM, us girls were glued to TLC's Breaking Amish while the boys held their heads in their hands and pretended not to fall asleep.

Understandably, the next morning was tough on my old creaky bones.

It took a great deal of determination to drag myself off to Mysore.

I made it to Ardha Padma Paschimottanasana and wanted to give up. Every jump back hurt. I felt nauseous, dizzy and tired. I wanted to give up.

I forced myself through to backbends.

I've been able to comfortably drop back (fall back, catch myself on my hands, Thanks, Gravity!) for a few days now.

But coming back up is another story failure.

I push.

I fall.

Push.

Fall.

Repeat, repeat, repeat until my arms feel jello-y from catching myself.

Today was even worse. I was nearly ready to give up, so I sat up and watched the room around me.

A girl in the front row dropped back, pushed herself back up, and did it again. And again. And again.

Something clicked. Something about the way she pushed her legs down, something about the way her body floated up...

My favourite yoga teacher always says, "We learn by watching," and it was never more true than today.

I tried it again, and lifted up as high up as I've ever gone.

And fell back down.

I tried it again, and again, until I was frustrated and exhausted. I thought to myself, "No more falling back, GET ALL THE WAY UP."

And it worked.

So I did it again.

And again.

And by the time I was done, I forgot how tired I was when I came in. I couldn't even really comprehend that I had lifted up from a drop back all by myself.

I finished the closing sequence and lay down for rest.

Leaving the studio, Jill, the girl at front desk asked me, "Did you get up?"

"What do you mean?"

"From the backbends," she explained. "I was watching you. You lifted so high up, and fell back down. After a while I couldn't bear to watch anymore."

I laughed. "Yeah, I got up eventually."

She beamed. "Congratulations! That's huge!"

In a way, it is. My body achieved something it hadn't done before.

But facing that fear of falling back? Pushing through that fear and trusting in my instincts?

A surfboard and some waves taught me that years ago.

Gifts galore!

This month has been hard on the wallet.

It's not only a month of birthdays, but in a few weeks, Steven and I will be on an airplane to Australia for a year.

That's a long time.

That's a Christmas, a New Years, a whole year of birthdays and weddings and things we'll miss.

So I got my sister this:

She's already run with it a couple of times. She says the GPS is really, really slow to load, so she hasn't actually used the GPS function of it yet (WHICH WAS THE WHOLE POINT AGGHHHH GARMIN!!!)

I got Steven a bunch of stuff for his birthday yesterday.

It started with a travel pack: Visine, floss, lip balm, toilet seat covers, hand wipes.

Then, sunscreen for his delicate baby's bottom skin, and underwear.

Because all of that makes sense together. Right?

The piece de resistance:

A waterproof camera! 

Steven was surprised. When he first brought up the idea of a waterproof camera, I played it really cool.

Steven: I think a waterproof camera is a good idea! We'll be in and out of water, traveling, you know. It might be good to have a camera that can take the abuse.

Me: Nooo, it's too expensive. I have a waterproof casing for one of my film cameras. We can just use that.

Steven: But I'm sure we can find it for cheap on kijiji or something.

Me: Bad idea. Don't waste your money.

Steven got the most badass cake for his birthday ever.

Those cupcakes are glued onto the mini cake with frosting.

Whomever thought of this is genius.

In other news, Two-Two got a hair cut:

Big Brown Eyes.

:)

My new favourite hobby

Forget running.

I'm taking up roller skating so I can be as rad as the old timers I saw a few nights ago:

The picture doesn't do justice to the rockin' rollers out there, jammin' to the tunes while spinning around on their skates, doing cross steps and hops. Simply put, kicking our young asses out of the park completely!

Although we didn't dance nor skate the part, we looked it!

The night before that, we decided to have a pizza party.

Steven and I got started first because we got hungry.

We made The Perfect Pizza on our first try. This mini 5-or-6-bite baby:

It had the perfect blend of cheeses, mushrooms, sauce, and garlic. The cornmeal at the bottom of the crust gave it such a beautiful, fresh crunch.

Unfortunately, we were never able to replicate perfection.

Pizza #2 in a cast iron:

For some reason, we messed up All Important Sauce-to-Cheese ratio and it didn't taste the same.

How do people do it?!

In doggie news, the new kid is enjoying our longer afternoon walks as much as the Two.

They plop down at my side upon coming home, all tired and cuddly.

However, Fu-Fu is a little disaster when he's feeling rebellious.

He got into the garbage one morning, and got a big a-scolding when I got home. He's done this 2 or 3 times now, and we're thinking he needs to be tied up when we leave the house in the mornings.

How do you teach your dog not to get into the garbage?

Two-Two had never really messed with it. She is so sensitive to criticism that she stays by Fu's side while he's in time out, clearly ashamed of herself while Fu looks like he's the king of the world. Grr...

Two dogs!

Look! We have another dog in the house!

This is what they look like after a good 45-min walk. After this picture was taken, they fell asleep.

:)

Fu-Fu is the white prince sitting there. He is here for a month with his owner, Angela.

Two-Two was unnerved when she first met him, but now she's better. The more we walk together, the better we get along!

:)

Big smiles.

It's so nice coming home to a puppy party.

Being 26 on the 26th

This is the last day of 26! And a good riddance, too.

Onwards to my late-twenties and perhaps more maturity (but probably not).

Today, I slept in---meaning I woke up at 7:30 feeling refreshed and ready for my pre-birthday celebrations.

I put in a decent effort at the shala. I did Marichiyasana B and D for the first time since upping the running ante. I'm going to have to keep my running miles low in order to keep my Ashtanga awesomeness up, eh? Alas.

After Ashtanga, I raced home and grabbed the dog. She had an appointment to get shots into her Two-Bum.

Here, and here.

Sorry for the laundry basket and piles of wood in my house. It doesn't look pretty, no, but there's a reason, I swear! The reason might be "lazy" but that is besides the point.

What is the point, you ask?

Don't ask me, I'm only 26. I'm a kid.

"Sorry your bum-bum hurts, Dog. I'm sorry you don't understand why walking up and down the stairs hurts you or why you feel lethargic. I'm sorrryyyyy!"

For dinner, Jenbeans took me to Agra on Yonge and Sheppard.

Jumbo Tandoori Shrimp. Jen, Eric and Ferrari-Boy indulged in these.

Why am I calling him Ferrari-Boy instead of Strawberry Jam-Boy like he should be called?

Because he's afraid everyone will think he really likes strawberry jam and will buy him strawberry jam when they go to France (ahem...). He made sure to clarify that he likes it, but would rather be called Ferrari-Boy if it means people buy him stuff for his birthday or as souvenirs.

He makes a good point though.

BACK TO AGRA!

Okra! Delicious.

Palak Paneer. Good, but a little too oniony and not the greasy creamy stuff you usually get. Not that I'm complaining!

The butter chicken that I didn't have.

My plate!

Overall, Agra is good, but Banjara is still my favourite.

The sister did something silly and bought me stuff from Lululemon, even though I get a discount there since I'm a yoga teacher (sort of).

She got me arm sleeves for running and a light running zip-up.

AT FULL PRICE.

SISTER! You kill meeeeee....

But she shoved them in this tubey thing and wrote "To Sandy Beans". Which is awesome-sauce.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ALL THE CHAMPAGNE OCT-27-ERS OUT THERE!