World Tai Chi & Qigong Day

Ellyn Ritterskamp

Today is dedicated (by some) to world peace and healing the planet. Maybe not by raccoons - they are just troublemakers.

Who knew? Google's How-to of the Day did.

I used to love qi gong. I followed David Carradine on a videotape for 30 minutes, for years. And then, well, you know. He died. Kinda weirdly.

But it seems like a good day to find a free podcast and do some realigning of the old qi. We can always use more world peace.

Onward.

At last, an easy habit to break!

Lawrence Toppman

Unfortunately, it's exercise. Despite pathetically feeble good intentions, I haven't walked on my treadmill since returning from Las Vegas.

I have no shortage of excuses, all lame: I still feel like I'm on vacation, it's hot in my house (we keep the temperature at 76 to save on air conditioning), gloomy skies encourage me to stay in bed and hit the snooze alarm over and over, I'm working late every night rehearsing "H.M.S. Pinafore" and can't get to bed at my usual time. (Thus, I sleep in.)

Friends who love to run/walk/swim have told me exercise will become a joy, once I do enough of it. Either they're deranged, or I am never going to do enough of it to take pleasure in it. Even when I was walking 2.5 miles up an incline every weekday morning, I never enjoyed myself. (Though I did feel better physically.)

Of course, now that I've stopped, I feel guilty every morning when I walk past the machine without turning it on. The combined shame supplied by my conscience and my scale will probably get me back on track Monday, if not tomorrow.

Probably.

It's just breathing

Ellyn Ritterskamp

Breathe in through my nose, a count of 8. Hold for 4. Out through my mouth for a count of 7.

Funny thing, breathing. We have all these automatic systems in our bodies, that we don't control - they just happen. And then we have other systems that we influence by thinking about them. breathing is where these two kinds of things intersect. When we get a nice slow breath going, the pulse and blood pressure come down. And they stay down longer.

In 8, hold 4, out 7. It's the hold, just a tick longer than I think I can, that seems to make the difference.

Do that five or six times, and I can get through anything. I learned it from Dr. Andrew Weil maybe ten years ago, and passed it along to my ethics classes this past week. Several students wrote in their journals that they are learning to do this when they get in the car, and now they don't get so upset at other drivers, or at waiting in line, or at everything else.

Win. For all of us.

I'm looking for a new routine

Elizabeth Templin McCamic

Now that my half marathon training is behind me, I'm working on finding a new routine.

I am definitely going to continue running. Now that I've trained my legs to go long distances, I'd like to keep it that way in case I decide to run another race later in the year. I also have come to really enjoy running. I'd miss it, if I just stopped.

But, when I started this project, I wanted to do more than train for a half marathon, which is all I've had time for so far.

I'd like to add some strength training and to try out some different sports and activities. I'd also like to develop a new routine, since I tend to do my best work when I'm accountable to a schedule.

I'm not exactly sure what this new routine is going to look like. I don't know a lot about strength training, so if you have any tips - especially for strength training for women - I'm all ears.

For now, I'm running, trying out a few classes at my gym and finding my way.

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas...

Lawrence Toppman

...and much of it stays on visitors' hips. I guess the Las Vegas motif of unrestrained consumption inspires folks to eat and drink on binges. Every hotel on the Strip has an all-you-can-eat buffet, though few are bargain-priced any more. Maybe paying $25 a head REALLY makes you want to gobble your money's worth, but I have never seen so many overweight, underdressed, unruly people cramming one sidewalk in my life.

I guess those hotels also have exercise rooms, but I didn't hit any. Instead, my wife and I drove out of the city into Red Rock Canyon and Valley of Fire State Park, where we took modest hikes. (The desert's at its prettiest in spring, and the cacti were blooming.) But even though we stayed away from the cheesecake tables -- and the gaming tables -- we still got away from our healthy Charlotte routines. Hey, when Battista's Italian Restaurant offers all the wine you can drink and all the garlic bread you can eat....

Net result: Miraculously, I gained only half a pound in six days, so I'm still six pounds to the good since January 1. I pretended I was still on vacation this morning and averted my eyes from the treadmill, but we'll get reacquainted tomorrow.

What a day for a daydream

Ellyn Ritterskamp

What gorgeous weather!

I will be walking this afternoon with my mom for the first time in many weeks, and we will get back on track for our sprint triathlon in July.

I feel so lucky to have someone I like so much to walk with, and also to have my mom be one of my best friends. I recommend it.

Maybe you have someone you'd like to reconnect with? Give her or him a call. Let's get out there in the sunshine together. Unless it's pouring rain, in which case, never mind. Maybe the next day.

Onward.

My first half: All that training paid off

Elizabeth Templin McCamic

Over the weekend, I participated in Charlotte RaceFest. It was my first half marathon and I had a lot of fun. It was really cool to see all the work I put in during months of training pay off.

Here's a recap from race day:

Saturday morning I woke up feeling pretty nervous in part because I wasn't sure the race was actually going happen due to bad weather. But by the time I got to the starting line, the rain had stopped and the weather was actually my preferred running conditions: cool, breezy and cloudy.

I spent the first couple of miles just trying to get free of the crowd. I placed myself toward the back of the pack because I didn't want to get in anyone's way, but I think if I do it again I'd start a bit closer to the front because I found wading through all those people made it hard to find my normal pace.

By mile three I had found my pace and was cruising. The light rain that had started just before we got moving had stopped and I'd taken off my light rain jacket.

Miles 4-6 were really steady running for me. This section of the race is down Providence Road and kind of feels like it goes on forever, though I was feeling really comfortable and not at all tired yet.

One thing that really surprised me was how energized I felt just being part of the crowd of runners. I'd heard about race-day energy but hadn't banked on it making much of a difference for me; however, on race day, I couldn't help but feel really excited and cheerful as I made my way through the race course. It also helped to have folks standing along the road cheering for the runners passing by. Even a few of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officers who were managing traffic shouted encouraging words as I ran by.

Just after I passed mile 6, I heard a huge clap of thunder and we had our second down pour of the morning. I started the climb up Sharon View Road. I am really proud to report that I made it up the hill without stopping or slowing down too much. In fact, I made it through the whole race without walking, which was my main goal besides finishing the race.

By the time I got to mile 8, the rain had stopped. I turned onto Valencia Terrace and knew that my family would be waiting to cheer me on as I crossed Fairview Road. As I crested a hill just before Fairview, I could see my Dad's bright orange Tennessee jacket in the distance. As I got closer, my family started cheering and I got a little choked up, not because I was hurting or sad but because the whole experience, the culmination of all my hard work during training was overwhelming and I felt so lucky to have such a great group of supporters cheering me to my goal.

I pulled myself together and climbed the short, but steep hill, further down Valencia. At mile 10, my husband was waiting for me. He actually hopped onto the course and ran the next couple of miles with me, which was really fun. Miles 10-12 went by really quickly, my legs having found a second wind.

The last mile was tough. There was a small climb in the last half mile or so that I ran up very, very slowly. My legs were hurting at this point, especially on the outer part of my left leg. Once I had the finish line in sight, I decided to just sprint to the end. Someone in the crowd started shouting, "wait to finish strong!" as I ran past.

It felt awesome not to be running anymore.

I spent the rest of the weekend stretching and resting my legs. I still have a hard time believing that the race is actually behind me, that I really did it.

I am so grateful to have been able to run the race on Saturday, that the weather was nice and that I managed to avoid injuries that would have kept me from running. I am also grateful to all the folks who volunteered, organized and cheered for runners Saturday and to all of the CMPD officers who kept traffic under control. It was a joy to run the course without worrying about traffic and a fun way to see the neighborhoods around SouthPark.

Thanks to all of you for your words of encouragement along the way. I couldn't have made it without the accountability I found in this blog and without your advice and support.

I don't have plans to run another half marathon any time soon, but I don't think this will be my last race. It's too much fun.