Bike Run Yoga...that's my tri 2010 Event Challenge: Commit Today!

Bike | Run | Yoga by Comfycrafter

2010 Bike Run Yoga Challenge is HERE!! 

Bike Run Yoga…that’s my tri is about being healthy and doing what you love. I personally am not a fan, yet, of swimming so my ideal triathlon would be one where I could Bike, Run and do Yoga. This year, 2009, I challenged myself to complete 12 events in cycling, running or yoga. This was 11 more events than I had done the year before! And I did it! Just this past weekend I ran my 3^rd half marathon of the year and it marked the end of my challenge.


Before this year I worked out modestly and had done some cycling and yoga but mostly PAID for yoga memberships and gym memberships with little “attendance.” I sat on the couch after work and watched tv or I would just surf the net all night. I was gaining weight and I had two choices, spend money to get new clothes or get and up and get exercising!


January 2009 started off with attendance at a Team in Training meeting in hopes of learning how to run a 5K and swim enough so I could do a sprint tri. At the meeting I phoned My friend Ginny and she somehow convinced me to run a marathon and that is how this all started.


As 2009 winds down, I’m already looking ahead to 2010 and my new challenge, 24 events in 2010! I’ve got my first one picked out, January 1 I am running the New Years 5K in Dallas, Texas.


Join me in this awesome personal challenge where you are sure to find out many things about yourself, perhaps the most important is that you can do anything you set your mind to. You CAN do it!


2010 Bike Run Yoga Challenge
How to enter:

1.      Post a Comment on this blog that you are committing to the challenge

2.      Follow the Bike Run Yoga blog

Requirements:

1. Make a commitment to the challenge (this means post a comment here and tell me you are doing the challenge)
2. Complete 24 events (Tri, duathlon, run, ride, swim, yoga or other organized event)
3. Must be a finisher at the event (we use the honor system for verification)
4. Submit your events, email address, full name and shipping address to Bike Run Yoga no later than January 5, 2011

What do you get? 


A free Bike Run Yoga T-shirt with all your events listed on the back. The events will be listed on the back with the name of the event and the event date. It will be custom made for you and shipped to you in 4-6 weeks.

Not enough incentive? 


Get paid to complete events! Buy a Bike Run Yoga T-shirt and wear it at your event. For every picture you send in with a Bike Run Yoga Shirt on and your number, Bike Run Yoga will give you $5. You must complete the Challenge to be eligible and all funds will be paid upon completion of the Challenge. If you wear a Bike Run Yoga T-shirt for all 24 events, you will get $120!


Here is a list of events I’m doing in 2010, it’s not a complete list but I’m working on it!

New Years Day 5K (Run) January 1

Too Cold to Hold 15K (Run) January 17

Big D Climb (Stair Climb) January 30

St. Patty’s Day Dash 5K (Run) March 13

Dallas Rock & Roll Half Marathon (Run) March 14

Tour Dallas (Ride) April 3

Big D ½ Marathon (Run) April 11

Too Hot to Handle 15K (Run) July

Hotter N Hell 100 (Ride) August

Tour Des Fleur's 10K (Run) September

Susan G Komen 5K (Run) October

Texas Yoga Asana Championships

Thundercloud Turkey Trot (Run) November

Mayors 5K (Run) December

Good Luck! I hope you will join me in this awesome challenge!
 
Questions? click here to email me.

A Yogi's Experience at the 2009 Texas Yoga Championships

From TxYogaAsanaChampionships2009

I have trained for many events this year; a marathon, century ride, half marathons and a yoga competition. The Texas Yoga Championships ranks right up there as one of the hardest and most amazing events I have done this year. It was a wonderful journey where not only the body opens up but the mind opens too.

The 2009 Texas Yoga Championships were held in Woodlands, Texas on November 8, 2009 at the Cynthia Wood Mitchell Pavilion. Yogi’s from all over Texas came together to demonstrate their yoga practice and share their results of hard work and perseverance. It was so wonderful to share the stage with 9 juniors, 12 men and 32 other women competitors. I was impressed at the variety of people, flexibility and strength of the competitors. No two were alike and yet, all were beautiful and they performed their postures in such a way it could only have inspired the audience to want to get up and try themselves.

From TxYogaAsanaChampionships2009

The other students from Bikram Yoga Dallas and I got there early to check in and check out the stage area where we would be performing. After doing a few poses on the carpet and feeling pretty confident, a group of us decided to walk around the health and fitness expo. The junior competitors went first, then the men, then the women. I had most of the day to relax, stretch and prepare myself for the stage.

I think the best part of the expo had to have been the free Zico coconut water! It wasn’t the small size we have at the studio either, it was a huge container - it must have had 3-4 servings in it. I was so excited, I opened mine right away. I love coconut water, it is so delicious after class; I sometimes feel like I could drink gallons of it.

After walking around I decided to stretch and get warmed up. As I was doing that, I heard this bizarre gurgling sound in my tummy. Oh my….it is the coconut water! I must have had too much because goodness, my tummy was so full of coconut water, every time I bent forward or side to side it swished around and made noise. So nice right?! I was thankful I still had a few hours before I went on, I could only hope most of the coconut water would pass through my stomach by then.

From TxYogaAsanaChampionships2009

They call my name to get in line…almost time! I was amazingly not nervous. I practiced as much as I could, I did what I could and now it was time to show the results of that work…there was nothing else that could be done. And then they called my name….and I walked on stage…with a smile.

Smiling for me is perhaps the hardest part. I concentrate so much in class I rarely smile so I had to remember to smile and show I was happy. This is suppose to be fun! And it was. I started with Standing Head to Knee and almost got my head to my knee, just slightly wobbled at the end as I was coming out of the posture. Standing Bow Pulling was good I thought. The whole time I was thinking of armpit and crotch, which is something Mary Jarvis said in class the day before, your armpit and crotch should be at the same level. Bow was easy, I just had to remember to keep my knees in and wrists flat. And then a good forward bend, Rabbit. Rabbit use to be easy for me but lately I feel a tightness in my back that makes it difficult to roll the spine properly.

The key is to hold each posture at its fullest expression or what you can do for at least 3-5 seconds so the judges have time to score. Each posture I am counting in my head, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Then there is Stretching, boom…pull and down. Hold. Oh the pain behind the legs can be awful. But who cares, it is only 5 seconds. Now onto my two optional postures, first I did Pigeon. After watching some of the competitors, I am convinced I do this pose wrong. My back hurt like hell. I grabbed my foot, rotated my shoulder, bend backwards and put my foot on my head but man it felt like my spin was going to crack from being so compressed. Not that compressing it in a backbend in bad, just that it felt as if I was bending backwards for the very first time! And now the last posture, Bow Leg, and I stick it! So great! I had just tried it a dozen times back stage and couldn’t get my foot to hold. I decided before I went on I would just push it down and I didn’t care if it hurt, I was going to make it stay. And I did! I looked up, hands in namaskar (prayer) and smiled!

From TxYogaAsanaChampionships2009

What an amazing feeling! I worked so hard, 3-4 hours of yoga on Saturdays and then yoga and coaching on Sundays; it all paid off when I was able to get on stage and demonstrate all I had learned, hopefully inspiring others as well. I didn’t win and it didn’t matter, for me that is not the purpose of competing. My measure of success is doing the best I can and sharing how wonderful yoga is with others.

This is the third year I have competed and I think I will continue to compete because at the end of the day, there is nothing better than knowing you did your very best and were able to share that experience with others. The best compliment perhaps came from Yassi Maige from Bikram Yoga Richardson when she leaned over to me and said “you have come so far from last year, you did amazing, and you smiled!”