Finding Balance

After my downer of a post yesterday I thought I should write maybe a more uplifting post today? Not sure how uplifting it will be. But sometimes you get rain and other days you get rainbows. Or something like that.

I am trying to find balance in my life. For almost two years now I have been only running. Running and that was it. No cross training. Nothing. I would mix in a body pump class here and there or maybe would go religiously three times a week; but other than that I was running. It all started after I started to really enjoy running and would go for a run on almost a daily basis. I turned my love into a hobby and then a habit and then into something that I no longer recognize.

I feel like the start of the demise was when I had a goal of hitting 1,o00 miles in a year. Then once I hit that I wanted to run farther than 1,000 miles. This year my goals were simple. Or somewhat simple? I wanted to run a marathon and I wanted to run further than I did the year before. I have gotten burnt out on running alone. I need to get back to the place that I used to be at. Running with out a Garmin, with Sirius and with a smile. I have been paying too much attention to technology on my runs and have become bored, and my runs have become joyless. I am determined to find a balance between running and my life so that running can be apart of my life for the rest of my life.

I have been trying to find balance by trying to figure out what else i like to do. I like to sweat. Elipticals are boring. Stationary bikes are too stationary. Spinning is amazing but the class schedule at my gym doesn’t always work out for me and my work schedule. In my quest to find something to help create balance I discovered that I LOVE Bikram yoga.

I feel like Bikram compliments my running in a perfect way. Bikram yoga was founded by Bikram Choudhury and it consistes of 26 poses that are done in a 105 degree room. The reason why I think this is the perfect compliment to my running and Body Pump is because Choudhury was a marathoner and a weight lifter before he had a weight lifting accident that crushed his knee. Clearly I have not had any accidents but you get my drift! By practicing yoga (and working with doctors and scientists) he was able to restore the use of his knee. I know the amazing effects Yoga has on runners. I am just not into yoga so much. However, Bikram, due to the heat of the room, sweat like a pig, which is exactly what I love. If I don’t sweat I don’t feel like I got a good enough workout in. Crazy, I know!

I am hoping that the addition of going to Bikram a few times a week and not wearing my Garmin on every run I might find the joy that I once had with running. I hope so. I have (sort of) missed it. Maybe my love is coming back already?