The Zen of Ultra Running

Last run of the year with Indianhead Track Club before I leave for Thailand for winter break. It was sunny and super cold (9F, -4F with wind chill). The run started at the same place that we always meet on Saturday morning - Owen park. We had a great turnout this year and everyone's sweater was beyond my expectation. My ugly sweater was "too cute" compared to others'. Need to work harder next year!!! I got my ugly sweater from Savers and paid 3 dollars for it. Got to use it twice this year (once to the department party and another for the run). We ran the same loop (5 mile Carson park) and came back to drink hot chocolate and coffee with some treats. I brought the wrong pair of glove so my hands were freezing! urgh. After the drinks, we ran the loop for the second time. This time my hands were too cold and that made me miserable. So, I decided to did the short loop (only 4 miles). The total was 9 miles on that day. Indianhead Track Club people are sup

I originally signed up for Thermal 3 (3 miles) but switched to 8 miles on the race morning. The course was quite hilly (I was told there was ONLY one hill). It turned out that there were more than ONE and it's also windy. However, we were fortunate to have a nice weather on the race day (40F, sunny). I was glad to run 8 miles and get to spend more time on the road :) Final time was okay. My average pace was 9.19 min/mile (improved from last time) but I'm happy with it. Better yet, I felt involved in the community for the first time. So, I wrote a post on my FB page below. *Repost from my Facebook page* Six months ago at an ITC race, I walked into the registration area to pick up the race package by myself. I did not know anyone and most people were there with their friends or family. At that time, we had been in EC for almost 2 years and still did not know many people. I felt out of place. After the race, I sent an email to  Paul Wagner  asking why I should join ‪#‎

Headstand pose away from the wall has been something that I am very frightened to try. I can do the pose with the wall just fine but rarely do the pose without the wall. I guess the wall gives me support and safety. Then, my yoga teacher said in class one day (at the end of the class) that if we would like to try any pose after class, she was willing to help us. So, I told her that I would like to try tripod headstand starting from wide leg forward fold pose. My yoga teacher was AMAZING. She and the other yoga teacher helped guide me through the pose and at the end I was able to do it! Below is the picture that I took when I got home from that class. Still need to straighten the legs. Two weeks later I had another chance in another hot yoga class to try the supported headstand. The teacher only suggested that we did some kind of inversion but I took a chance and tried the supported headstand. My body was warm up by that time so the pose was not as difficult as it used to be.