[translation: Victory, Irving Berlin... Victory!]

Contrary to what you might believe that title is supposed to mean, I am not gloating about the nearly unanimous dissent towards a comment posted on Monday’s blog post, 16.6 and Dropping! Rather, quite the opposite.  I spent a lot of yesterday seriously thinking about “Irving Berlin” and the things he had to say about my post.  And though the last line of his comment explicitly states, “I hope you cried at the end of this,” I did no such thing.  I did not shed one single tear over anything that Mr. Berlin said.  I went the opposite way… I laughed.  Long in hard, in fact.  And many other people laughed as well.  And again, lest you get the idea that I’m laughing at you, Mr. Berlin… I assure you I’m not.  Much of what was written was absurd given the actual content of the post.  I would like to touch on a few things first in response to Mr. Berlin’s comment.

First, as Cece so eloquently puts it, you haven’t the slightest idea how tall I am since I never mention that.  I could be 5’0″ and weighing in at 160lbs would certainly put my BMI in the obese category.  I am, however, not 5’0″.  I am actually 5’7″ so even at my top weight, it barely put me in the “overweight” category.  I realized that then and now, and I was simply unhappy when my personal state of fitness so I sought a change.  Also, Mr. Berlin… I do see a therapist, which if you read my blog, you would know isn’t a secret.

Second, it appeared that much of the issue Mr. Berlin had with my weight-loss program was that I did not utilize portion control and I did not exercise.  I would like to point out the following quotes from my plan in support that I do and am utilizing both of these concepts:

• If you’re out to dinner, eat half of your dinner and take the rest home for lunch. [I believe that this definitely qualifies for portion control and eating less]
• Step up the exercise; if you’re dieting and you’re not getting out there and moving around then you’re probably not doing enough. [*cough*Activity*cough*]
• …while I’m doing a 30-minute loop around town. [While I did not mention this in the post, my 30-minute loop around down is a distance in excess of 2 miles]

And while I did not mention it in my post, my weekly fitness routine involves several trips to the gym (mainly for running) and at least 4 bicycle rides that are, on the low end, 7 miles each.  I’m also beginning to implement a resistance training regimen to boost muscle building and stave off osteoporosis (which seems to run rampant in my family).  I attend a weekly yoga class that is 90 minutes and not for the faint of heart.  And I failed to mention all of this because since the beginning of the year 65% of all my blog posts are about how much exercise I’ve been getting.  Frankly I figured my readers were getting bored of listening to how much running I’ve been doing!

But really, more than anything else it pains me to know that you, Mr. Berlin, are carrying around such incredible hatred and anger that you had to write this crazy, anonymous tirade on my very small, insignificant blog!  I mean really… this blog rarely gets over 200 hits a month.  I’m by no means a World super-power when it comes to blogging!!  The likelyhood of many people seeing your comment is so very slight, except that you have garnered more attention to yourself by writing such inflammatory comments.  So, instead of making me feel sorry for myself… making me feel small, unwanted and pathetic, the only thing you accomplished, Mr. Berlin is make me feel nothing but remorse for your terribly dark and blighted soul.

It is for this reason that I did something that might be surprising to some (definitely to Joe Peacock and Wes)… I dedicated my entire 90 minute yoga practice last night to you, Mr. Berlin.  Every purposeful motion, every breath, every utterance of my mantra was dedicated in your honor that you might be able to experience a tiny bit of peace and joy that the rest of us are able to experience on a daily basis.

At the very root of yoga are 8 yamas (or limbs) by which to live by.  The first one is simply yama, or universal morality.  That limb is further broken down into 5 characteristics.  The first characteristic of the first limb of yoga is: Ahimsa, or compassion for all living things.  It is this characteristic that I am attempting to invoke when I dedicate my practice to someone other than myself.  It may be a small, symbolic gesture, but I feel that it is the least I can do.

And a truly miraculous thing happened last night…

As I was moving through the class, my instructor led us to a series of postures that eventually culminated in Urdvha Dhanurasana (or Wheel Pose), a posture that I have feared for years.  I know that my upper body strength is lacking, despite the flexibility of my spine, and every time I have to attempt it my body clams up and I fail miserably.  My instructor knelt on the floor close to me and talked me through my hand position, which apparently has been a contributing factor to my failure, and then suddenly a light coursed through my entire body and I lifted up with ease into the posture.  My whole spine literally felt like it was singing the most joyful song I’ve ever heard when it happened… and it was singing it for you, Mr. Berlin.  When I came out of the posture I was so overcome with joy and happiness that I could do nothing but laugh… and cry tears of utter happiness.  I hope, Mr. Berlin, that at that moment you were able to see a tiny pinhole of light, at least… because that is the best gift that I can give to you.

So in the end all your silly little comment did, Mr. Berlin, was fill my life with joy and inspire me to do the same for others.

I will leave you with our closing chant from our class:

Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu
[translation: May the entire universe be filled with peace and joy, love and light]

Jai Sri Satguru Maharaj Ki.  Jai!
[translation: Victory to the inner teacher. Victory!]

The icon for this blog post was borrowed from: Heavy Metal Yogi

Related Posts

• March 19, 2010 -- Can it GET Worse?
• February 12, 2010 -- [C25K] Beginning of Week 2
• February 5, 2010 -- [Material Girl] Feet, the way God intended them

I am currently sitting in a hotel. A hotel that the website made look awesome. And because it is literally within walking distance of our flyball venue for the weekend I was all over it. This place has everything… A restaurant, a fitness center, a pool & spa, and did I mention it is within walking distance of the flyball venue??

Yeah… It’s awesome all right. It’s awesome if your definition of awesome is a retro throw-back decoration style from 1973. And it’s awesome all right if your idea of a “fitness center” is two exercise bikes and a BowFlex. And it’s awesome all right if you only want WiFi to say that you could do work on the weekend… but don’t actually intend to do any. Cause after all, the WiFi doesn’t work (thank God for iPhones so that yours truly can still write a scathing review of the hotel that I’m staying in). And finally, it’s awesome if you don’t really like to eat or if your anorexic… Caude the food at Richard’s Restaurant is really only barely edible. We ate ours, but the couple next to us didn’t. And just walked out because they had no intention of paying for something so inedible as what they were served.

Oh yes… The Eisenhower Hotel & Conference Center is awesome, as long as by awesome you mean 2 stars at best!

The worst thing is that I came totally prepared to run – my shoes, my iPhone armband, my water bottle, a towel, my Nike+ sensor… everything. And I get thwarted by the sheer “awesomness” of the Eisenhower Hotel’s fitness center. It’s supposed to be nice outside this weekend, so maybe I can steal 30 minutes in the middle of the day to run outside. Keep your fingers crossed for me, otherwise, I’m going to be TWO weeks behind!!

Related Posts

• February 12, 2010 -- [C25K] Beginning of Week 2
• February 5, 2010 -- [Material Girl] Feet, the way God intended them
• July 24, 2010 -- Flying into Little Rock is always an adventure
• July 8, 2010 -- Report on the “successful” camping trip
• July 2, 2010 -- Race to the ONYX!

I considered posting at the end of Week 1, but to be perfectly honest I was embarrassed… disappointed in myself even. With the impending 2nd dose of the region’s “snowpocalpyse” I hurried off to the gym the eve before we were supposed to get dumped on by snow. I was excited. I felt awesome after the first two days of Week 1. But something terrible happened. It sucked.

For some reason I really felt off my game through the whole run. In the middle of run three I got caught up in my headphone cables and my iPhone went flying. I tried to catch it, but no dice. I ended up hitting the stop button because I didn’t know what else to do (silly me, didn’t think to just step on the side rails). When I retrieved my iPhone from the floor (thank goodness I’ve been encasing it in the OtterBox iPhone 3G, 3GS Commuter Cases [3 Pack]) it wasn’t damaged, but when I plugged the headphones back in my running music never came back on. I also didn’t think to pause my #c25k app so I was all off on the run/walk schedule. And then the worst thing happened, about 20 minutes in my chest got really tight and I was afraid I was going to have an asthma attack so I had to take a couple of puffs on my inhaler. Oh the defeat.

So the worst of the worst could happen. I’ve been going great guns and and feeling awesome and then BAM I felt like crap… just like I did when I was younger and trying to run the mile. The only thing that would have made it worse would have been a scary gym teacher barking at me.

Week 2 – Overcoming the Odds

With that awful run closing my Week 1 I was a little more than nervous about Week 2. After all, Week 2 ramps up the running just a tiny bit.

Week 2, Day 1

Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 90 seconds of jogging and two minutes of walking for a total of 20 minutes. Five-minute cooldown walk.

I knew that when the going gets tough I have a tendency to tense up and get scared – especially when it comes to exercise. But not today… today I had to triumph. Or at least I had to try.

But I didn’t just try… I made it. And I made it with EASE! The running part was awesome. I’ve been listening to an iTunes genius mix of Nickelback’s “Burn it to the Ground” but I thought for today’s run I needed a change of pace… something inspirational. The only thing it could be today was Black Violin. I had also armed myself with a Belkin Sport Armband Plus to ensure that I didn’t get myself tangled in my own headphones again.

I’d like to say that everything went smoothly, but I wasn’t completely thrilled with the armband (more to come on that later) and my Nike+ sensor essentially crapped out on me. I was hoping that this wasn’t a sign of things to come. And it certainly wasn’t. Black Violin didn’t fail me. I get absolutely consumed by their music. Brandenburg came on in the middle of my first run and I just giggled… out loud! It was so much fun!! And then before I knew it, the voice prompts were telling me that I was halfway finished. And then almost right after the app was telling me that I was about to start my last run… I was heartbroken! I wanted to go longer!! But I stuck to the program because I didn’t want to kill myself just when I was starting to feel great again.

Continuum Transfunctioner of Running?

I’m just totally confused how I could feel so crappy at the end of Week 1 and then feel so fantastic after the first day of Week 2. Kind of feel like Jesse and Chester from Dude Where’s My Car? and my running is the Continuum Transfunctioner – whose mystery is only exceeded by its power.

If anyone has any suggestions about why this anomaly occurs, please feel free to post a comment! I know that to really figure it out I’d have to probably track my sleep, my meals, and all kinds of other factors to determine why I felt crappy one day and not another. But it seems contrary that when you ramp up in your training program that you’d feel better and it would be easier than the level before it…

Related Posts

• March 18, 2010 -- [C25K] Slight Setback…
• May 12, 2010 -- I have joined the club…
• March 19, 2010 -- Can it GET Worse?
• February 5, 2010 -- Couch to 5K
• February 5, 2010 -- [Material Girl] Feet, the way God intended them

Vibram Five Fingers – Nature’s Best Shoes…

Since August I’ve been meaning to write a blog post about Vibram Five Fingers, these relatively new, innovative barefoot running shoes. I have literally had more than one revolutionary experience while wearing them. There are a bunch of new studies coming out that say barefoot running can significantly decrease the possibility for ankle, knee, and hip injuries. The basic premise behind it is that running without all of the cushioning, padding, and extraneous stuff that are often built into running shoes forces your foot to work the way God intended it to (or nature intended it if you’re not into the spiritual stuff). Our lower body is not designed to withstand constant heel strikes while running, which is exactly what traditional running shoes cause your feet to do. Barefoot running, in theory, will allow your feet to work in the completely opposite way, with the ball of the foot striking first and then rolling back to the heel acting as a shock absorber for the rest of your leg.

Some Links…

• Shoeless Joe from Outside.com
• To Run Better, Start by Ditching Your Nikes from Wired.com
• Foot strike patterns and collision forces in habitually barefoot versus shod runners from Nature Journal of Science paid access is required to read the full study
• Barefoot Running at Harvard
• In Running, Is Barefoot Best? from Harvard Magazine
• Daniel E. Lieberman, Professor of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University

Coming from a background in Anthropology I can completely get behind Dr. Lieberman’s theories regarding barefoot running in correlation with human evolution. I just makes sense to me.

The Plunge

I was originally unconvinced that barefoot running could even be an option for me because I have incredibly flat feet. After having been to so many orthopedics and all of them insisting that orthodics were the way to correct my problem (none felt my flat feet or my pronation was bad enough to warrant expensive and painful corrective surgery), I had just given up. I’ve been buying shoes at exorbitant amounts of money that do not in any way shape or form meet the criteria of “cute” for a twenty-something-almost-thirty-year-old-woman. Comfort has been my only objective for the last 10 years.

On a whim I decided to try these Vibram Five Fingers. Actually, I decided after having seen a guy wearing them at our County fair and he didn’t get beaten up. I figured if he can walk around the County fair in these crazy looking shoes, then I should be able to wear them in public and not have too many problems. After a single day of wearing them around I was 100% sold! After a normal day of walking around I usually had pain that was probably 7 out of 10 radiating up my legs and into my lower back and hips. After wearing the Vibrams around I can honestly say that I had ZERO pain. At first I thought that maybe it was a fluke but after continual wear I noticed that my pain had been significantly reduced, if not totally eliminated.

But… that was not one of the two revolutionary moments that I experienced. That was merely an added bonus to make me not want to ship them back despite my DH calling me “Gorilla Feet.”

Revolutionary Vibram Moment #1

I’ve talked previously about flyball, that high-adreneline dog sport that DH and I play. My first Revolutionary Moment wearing my Vibrams came during a flyball tournament. I purchased my first pair (yes, I said first… and yes, I own multiple pairs) right before a flyball tournament this summer. I wanted to test them out at top speed.

I’ve mentioned what the dogs do during flyball, but I’ve never really talked about what the people do. It’s not just a sit back and watch the dog perform it’s “trick”; there’s quite a bit more movement involved. What the human does is quite a lot like running suicides. There’s a quick sprint up the lane after your dog (who runs it quite a bit faster than you do) and then upon reaching the start/finish line there’s a really fast pivot and you run back enticing your dog to chase you back down the lane. Depending on where you release your sprint could be 50+ feet or it could be less than that. The quick pivot has been known to bring down the most agile of flyball handlers, simply because you’re also usually dodging the dog that is coming back the same time you’re running up after your dog. It’s enough to throw just about anyone off balance.

That first flyball touranment I ran in my Vibrams was a life altering experience! The first “real” heat (because you rarely really run in warm-ups) of the first race of the day something miraculous happened. When I ran up and then pivoted to turn and run back my baby toe did something it has never been able to do before… it stabilized my pivot. I was turning on a dime and I felt every single one of my toes do exactly what they were intended to do. I couldn’t believe it! I was faster, more agile, more stable, and my feet were actually working for me. Suddenly I felt sorry for people that didn’t have all of their toes because all of mine were doing something to help me make that sharp pivot turn.

I have since tried to get Vibram Five Fingers to be our official club shoe. Sadly I have not convinced everyone.

Revolutionary Moment #2

Revolutionary Moment #2 came just the other night when I started my C25K program. Of course, I’ve done tons of reading that says that when you run in barefoot technology shoes that you naturally revert to the rolling motion that your foot should do, rather than striking on your heel. But I’ve been running (or trying to run since I’ve never really succeeded before) for nearly 30 years now. Heel-Toe is just the way it’s done, right?

Wrong.

Not in the Vibrams. Suddenly, I was running in a natural gait that felt wonderful. It wasn’t jarring, it didn’t feel like I was going to shake my head loose and my feet felt awesome! I truly never want to run in any other shoes ever again. Never never never again.

So… you want a pair now, don’t you?

There’s lots of places on the internet that carry Vibram Five Fingers. Among them, I’ve ordered pairs from REI and Kayak Shed. If you’re in the Washington, D.C. metro area and you want to try a pair ON, you can head over to downtown Frederick, MD to The Trail House. A woman in my yoga class purchased hers from there and was very pleased with her experience; I have yet to go up there but I plan to in the next couple of weeks.

A little note about the sizing. A lot of online sites try to “make” the Vibram Five Finger sizing fit to US or Euro sizes. And frankly, it just doesn’t translate. They use a modified version of the sizing based on how long your foot is, measured from heel to your longest toe. I highly recommend you checking out their sizing instructions on their site before you order a pair.

Click the pictures below to see them full size

At the moment I own a pair of Classics, Sprints, and Peformas (which I kind of wish I had ordered in something other than black). To be quite honest, I’m not enamoured of the Classics. They have a drawstring elastic that runs through the shoe and tightens at the back on your Achilles tendon. To me, it pinches and digs in no matter how I adjust it. Just not comfortable. Surprisingly, I haven’t noticed the Performas doing this, even though they’re the same shoe basically, just in leather. But right now, my very favorite pair are my Sprints. They’re not a lot to look at, but they’re the most comfortable and I’m able to get the best fit because of the different velcro straps across the arch and at the heel. If I had to recommend a pair, I’d say get the Sprints. I’m hoping to get a pair of either KSOs or Flows to wear this summer when we go canoeing. But what I’d really love is for Vibrams to come out with a pair of KSO Treks for women.

I was very disappointed that their new line did not include a women’s version of that style. I’d love to wear them hiking because I like the idea of having the added balance with all your toes working for you, but I’m pretty sure that the soles of the regular Vibrams wouldn’t be enough to protect my feet from any pokey-outy (yes that’s a technical term) rocks that might be on the trail. I’m hoping that they’ll see how great they are and then put out a women’s version of the Treks soon!

I have not been compensated, nor will be, in any way by Vibrams or their affiliates. I was not instructed to review this product in a postive light. All observations are my own. I am not an affiliate of the Vibram company and do not receive any compensation for click-through links contained in this specific post.

Related Posts

• March 19, 2010 -- Can it GET Worse?
• March 18, 2010 -- [C25K] Slight Setback…
• February 12, 2010 -- [C25K] Beginning of Week 2
• July 2, 2010 -- Race to the ONYX!
• June 25, 2010 -- Potential for ONYX & no Hyenas