Cheers to the weekend

I can honestly say this weekend lived up to my expectations. Sometimes I put too many expectations on events and plans and I am trying not to do that and live more in the moment. This weekend just came together beautifully. It included a lot of my favorite things and people.

Let's start with Friday. My company has Flex Fridays during the summer months, where half the company alternates between leaving at 12:30. This happened to be my Flex Friday and what better to do on a hot, sunny afternoon - go to the pool! One of my best friends, Erin, and I met up and got caught up on life, work and weekend plans. Love talking with this girl, she keeps it real and has helped me through some tough times. I was also able to get some study time in and finish the first book in my yoga certification (I'll write more about how this is going in a later post).

Saturday was a day my friend, Becky, and I had started planning a year ago. With our schedules, sometimes it it hard to get together. Becky and I became fast friends in high school and have enjoyed many fun times together. Weston, Missouri was our destination for the day, however I wanted to start with some yoga. I hit the gym for a nice, detoxifying yoga class. Basically, I was sweating my ass off.

Me and Becky

After picking up two friends I met at work, Danny and Lorena (who are both fabulous), and Lorena's friend, Ann, we were off. Weston is a quaint town about an hour north of Kansas City. We went mainly for the wine. Riverwood Winery was our first destination, which was about 10 miles outside of Weston. The owners took an old elementary school building and turned it into a winery. It was the perfect place to start the day. The Peach Bellini slushies were amazing and on a hot day, definitely our drink of choice. We sat outside on the patio where they had a huge backyard. Took some awesome photos, drank, ate and relaxed.

We headed back to Weston where we did some tasting at Pirtle Winery, which was an old church. I had been told to get the Blueberry Effervescent wine, however they were all out. Oh well, just an excuse to go back (not that I really needed one). I have to add this quote of the day from Lorena "This is not meeting my meades." Okay, I guess you had to be there, but it still makes me laugh when I think about it. We decided to check out downtown Weston before sitting down for more wine. We again took some awesome photos, ate ice cream and did a little shopping. For dinner it was O'Malley's for some pub fare. They also had live music, the Rumblejetts, a rockabilly band. So much fun! They had just gotten back from a month-long tour in Europe.

Wine Club - Becky, Danny, Me, Lorena, Ann

Sunday plans included a Holistic Health Career Fair at the place I'm getting my yoga certification, KC Fitness Link. I met Darryl, the owner, and it was more of a question and answer format and Darryl told us about his background. We went through the different training programs they offer – Nutrition, Yoga, Massage and Personal Training. It was very informal and I was able to ask a lot of questions. I was really glad I went since I'm doing the online program. I was even more excited about this path I'm on and would love to continue on to the Yoga Therapist training which is a 1,000-hour program. The training I'm doing is 200 hours. I also would like to take a Thai yoga massage class.

I ended the weekend with a massage from Mary, who has become my friend. During the one-hour session, the first half is usually us getting caught up on life and then I fall into relaxation and she gets out all my knots out. She is wonderful! I get a massage once a month from her and wish I could go more.

After a weekend like this, I can only say I am one lucky girl. I have great friends and lots to be thankful for. Remember to take in each moment and have fun!

Running (and yoga)

I never thought of myself as a runner. I do yoga. That is what I am good at. However, when a friend found a 5k called The Color Run, I thought “Why not. It sounded like fun.” You run with a bunch of your friends and people throw paint at you, covering your whole body with rainbows of color. Check out this video. Looks more like a party, than a run.

So, then I found a free 5k that lululemon athletica  was putting on with free yoga after wards. That's what really got me (and the free part). I signed up with a few friends and then proceeded not to think about it much until about a month before the run. (I don't like calling them races, as I'm not that competitive and it's not as intimidating). I thought maybe I should run a little before the 5k, considering I haven't run a mile since high school. I found a 5k training schedule online and printed it off, ready to go. I had three weeks before the run and it was a six week schedule. I bought some new shoes and hit the treadmill at the gym. I started wondering what had I gotten myself into.

Then the day was upon me and I had two goals 1) Don't walk and 2) Finish around the 30-minute mark. Well, I didn't complete my first goal, but I did finish a just over 30 minutes (31:28 to be exact). And, considering one of my friends (who is a runner) said it was as difficult as the Hospital Hill run she just did , I felt pretty good. It was a hilly course and I got a side cramp halfway through, so I walked.

As I was running/walking, I was thinking to myself “You are doing this for you, no one else, so it's okay if you need to walk. Someone has to be last. “ Okay, I wasn't last and then I got a surge of energy. I made the last turn (saw Crate and Barrel) and knew the end was near. I told myself to just keep running. The cramp had ceased a little and I really was feeling good. I knew I could do it and it helped that I heard my friends cheering me on as a crossed the finish line.

The cherry on top was the yoga. Just with this one experience, I think all runs should end with a little yoga. It helps unwind your body and I felt great! Check out these articles about running and yoga.

MindBodyGreen

Yoga Journal

Runner's World

Everyday Health

I still don't know if I would call myself a runner, however I am going to continue. It helps to have a 5k as motivation and what a sense of accomplishment once you finish. 

Me, Jenny, Audrey