Running and Hill Survival!

Hello Readers!  Hello Bloggers! 🙂

Happy to say I have been challenging myself to harder runs! Running multiple hills each run.   Although I am attempting to be kind and patient to my psyche and my body…I have been running longer distances.

I was looking at my Garmin stats last night and was amazed to see that I have run over 200 miles! YES! 🙂

I went on a run without my Taste Tester last night and really enjoyed the run.  Although challenging for MANY reasons…I did it! It was quite a different run without him there.  Both are equally enjoyable.  However, there is nothing like the solitude and peace of a run alone!  Running is constantly testing your limits both physically and mentally!

Each time I run I add HILLS!  If we run the neighborhood around my store HILLS are a given!  There are some pretty intense hills at that! Whew! No matter which route – the home route or the shop route there are some hills that can make me feel like I want to “blow”  (throw up) once I reach the top!  But all in all, I know they make me a stronger runner. Working through the intensity of a hill is amazing!  A battle of the physical…a battle with the mind and more than anything…truly a battle with yourself!

There are key points I think about when I am feeling the intensity of a hill!

1) When feeling this pain and being in the moment it is truly a moment to BEHOLD!  Everything you are feeling – you are able to feel because you are ALIVE!  Enjoy this moment.  Feel everything occurring in this moment! Feel the muscles, breath and experience life!  RIGHT NOW!  BE IN THE MOMENT AND LIVE! This is what I tell myself.  Of course…

2) When somehow that thought process doesn’t work – I ask myself a question “Are you going to quit?”  Immediately the answer is “NO!”  I have done this before!  I can do this again!  Why wouldn’t I be able to finish?  What are you saying to yourself?  Quit? NO WAY! NOT AN OPTION! Just keep going!  Push it! Push it a bit harder! Your almost there!

3) And when that doesn’t work soundtrack music and song lyrics come to mind!  A key one is the song written by Bone Symphony – from the “Revenge of the Nerds” soundtrack.  “You’ve got to put one foot in front of the other put the right foot down…down…down…. -or- Don Carlos “The road is long Oh yes it’s long, Got to reach the end…I just can’t stop! No I just can’t stop! Got to reach the line!” At any given moment my mind can break out into a soundtrack within! 🙂  Anyone else feel like that out there?

And before I know it, I can see the lights to our driveway and I know I am home! The run has been FINISHED & CONQUERED!

I must finish the run I set out to do.  Within organized races, I have only done the 5k, 8k, and 10k and cannot imagine stopping at this point!

I am hoping to find some 15k’s and ultimately the Half Marathon is looming.  It’s out there calling me.  It is waiting to be conquered by the Veg888 Blogger! 🙂  More than anything I would like to run the half just to prove it to myself! That I can do it! That I can conquer anything I set my mind to!

Besides, we are living an uncertain world these days.  As a whole, Mother Nature is being abused and somehow, in some ways a natural disaster seems to be something that NOBODY CAN GET AWAY FROM! Just depends on what part of the world we are in as to what we may or may not face!

This leads me to my next tidbit for the day.  Have any of you readers seen a magazine called “Outside”?  The other day, while searching for ORGANIC CORN ON THE COB I spotted an article called “Apocolypse Survival”.  As I scanned through the article, I began thinking.  If there is an earthquake, civil unrest, whatever matter…I will need to run! Run from the ocean waves if I am by a beach, run from a bunch of things falling in the event of an earthquake, run in case of civil unrest….

The article itself was not as great as the title, however,  it did set my mind the following thoughts.

1) BE PREPARED

2) Make a list of what is needed in case of an emergency

3) Start checking out Survival websites in the case of a Natural Disaster!

I am certainly not saying these things because I am being negative.  This is reality.  In the year 2011 we have seen tsunami devastation, unfortunate effects from an oil spill within the Gulf of Mexico, Flooding throughout the United States, Heat waves hitting the mid section of our country, the list can go on and on and on!

So stay tuned and I welcome any thoughts regarding today’s posting!

Love and Light!

Namaste!

Sundaze Adventures – Both Musical and Culinary

Nishat Khan - USC - 10/11/09

This Sunday we went to USC to see a sitar player.  Sundaze are usually our time to go and check out muzic.  We are usually tired after we close the store and it just seems like the thing to do on Sunday evenings.

It was a pleasureable performance and I really enjoyed the visual representations of art in the background of the stage set up.

Nishat Khan explained and played Ragas.  I enjoyed that he took the time to explain what a raga was.  For those of you that don’t know here you go…——>

raga [ˈrɑːgə]n (in Indian music)

1. (Music, other) any of several conventional patterns of melody and rhythm that form the basis for freely interpreted compositions. Each pattern is associated with different aspects of religious devotion

2. (Music, other) a composition based on one of these patterns

Since we were going to see Indian music, I decided to use some Indian flavor for my clients.

For anyone who knows this blog you know that I cook on Wednesdaze and Sundaze.  I make vegan/vegetarian food.  Both cooked and raw.  On this weekend’s menu:

1) Saffron Sweet Potato & Garbanzo Bean Stew

2) Madra Masala

3) Quinoa with Slivered Almonds, Red Onion and Parsley

4) Raw Ricotta and Kale Roll Ups

5) Quinoa with Hempseeds

I hope that everyone that ordered food this week will enjoy their food.  In the future I will be adding more vegetables to the salads I provide with the meals.  Carrots, Zucchini, Beets, and Sunflower Sprouts.

Which reminds me. Anyone know a good place to buy Hemp Fabric Salad Bags? Info and weblinks appreciated!

Namaste!