Confused Pose

We went to yoga last night as is our usual on Monday nights. I was excited because my legs are getting restless with the rest before the race and I thought it would be a great chance to work them a little with a safe margin of time before race day. It's odd to me how I can run for hours, but ask me to hold a simple lunge like pose and I am shaking within a minute. Sure, I get the different muscle thing, but… RUN FOR HOURS… can't hold a lunge pose for longer than a minute without trembling like a leaf!

I digress though. Last night our regular instructor was out and we had a sub. He was ready to work the class and we flew through several poses in the same time it took our normal teacher to explain what we were going to focus on.

I soon found myself covered in sweat and trembling. Here's where I get a little confused. Yoga is all about breathing and settling into your body and poses. There's an odd relax sort of vibe. I am accustomed to attacking a workout, even if it's just a mental shift. I do that with running and going to the gym. I ease into the workouts, but my mind is set on tearing through the task in front of me. If it starts to hurt, I push myself harder to get through. I just naturally transfer pain to motivation.

That's where yoga seems confusing to me. I get to the hurt and want to attack it. "Oh, another fucking warrior two pose?!? Bring it on!" Not quite the zen that I think I am supposed to get. It is also tough to keep hearing the speech, whatever you can do that day is where you are supposed to be. If that were true, I'd be on my back on that mat in 20 minutes enjoying nap pose.

As frustrating as it is, I am intrigued by the challenge of it. I know at a few hard points in my last marathon, I used the breathing techniques. I was also focused on the thought I gained while trying to hold that damn warrior two pose for the hundredth time, "this is only temporary." Both got me through some tougher points. I know I can learn something here, it's just not fully known yet.

A Little Further

I didn't sleep too well yesterday and have a busy day at work. It was a tough to pull it together for a post work workout. None the less, I grabbed my mat and hit a yoga class. It was hard without a lot of energy, but it felt good to get good to get it in. Sometimes pushing just a little further is the payoff, even if you fall down a lot.

Bike to Work Day 2013

Today was Bike to Work Day! I am thrilled to be biking to work just about everyday now, but it was especially gratifying to see so many other riders out today. As part of the celebration, there were breakfast stations all around the city. Tiff and I hot the one outside our neighborhood Whole Foods and were treated to breakfast burritos, smoothies, granola, fruit, and coffee. I heard there were pancakes at another station but thought that would be tough to get to work on time if I ventured that far and defeated some of the purpose of Bike to Work Day. I love being on the bike and getting around with ease. It felt great to participate in an event that might allow others to enjoy it too.

Even the mayor hopped in a bike today!

Even the mayor hopped in a bike today!

Yoga Monday

This is so not me by the way.

Part of my training is going to yoga on Mondays. I truly used it during the last marathon and can't help but feel it added to a new PR of better than 12 minutes. I used it last time, but did not try classes till about halfway through my training program. It's still hard as all get out for me. No distance running or weight training experience seems to lend itself to any ease in class.Plus it is summer and I am always hot, thus there is the added flattering aspect of sweating my tail off. Honestly, I haven't sweat like this since Defiant Theatre's The Pyrates (I brought a towel just for act one).

What's different is that I don't care as much that I am pretty lousy with the yoga. I have finally accepted the tenant of yoga that if you are working, you are doing it correctly. I am not limber and agile like my classmates or wife, but I am working. The sweat is a dead giveaway. I am relaxed though and laughing a lot more than I used to. I managed to get into a pose tonight and immediately chuckled and fell over. It's fun and somehow is helping me get faster at 26.2 miles.

Yoga Monday

It's often lauded as great to try new things. I'm a degree skeptical on that one right now as I sit here rocked by another stab at yoga. Not even a class, just a DVD even! I'm shocked how hard this is while simultaneously looking so damn simple. Trust me, the part of the DVD I'm at, it is still ridiculously simple. I dig it, but damn it's humbling. As with so many things, yoga appears to be of the nature that starting out will be slow, humbling with a gratification a little ways down the line. Running started out the same way. I was running in Hollywood in plaid Target shorts, Merrel's and big cotton socks. It was not exactly smooth sailing. I'll stick with it, but am truly desiring an ego boosting endeavor soon. Just enough to get me back on that yoga mat next Monday.

Gym

I went back to an old haunt this afternoon, the gym. It has been a refuge for many years, albeit not this particular one. I just enjoy the environment of pushing harder. There is a great reward in even just getting to the gym sometimes. It is one of my favorite "no money fun options. It felt good, but I was humbly reminded that time in said oasis is bought with time. Going once a month enables you to be there a briefer time than going weekly or daily. The more you go, the longer you can stay. It's a cool investment ratio.

I did not get to stay long today, but I got to go and that is half the battle. I recently saw a phrase I have completely embraced. It says: I will do today what others won't so that tomorrow I can do what others can't.

Rest Days

Setting some small boundaries is tough at times for me. I have been nursing an ankle that in my amateur medical assessment seem bruised. It is just tender as all get out to the touch. I am also now in the official training period for my fall marathon. The program I follow provides for three rest days a week.

Having embraced daily running, that has been less easy to follow. None the less I do want the minor aches and pains to be relieved, so I am attempting to sit out a day or two a week to help with this. I am sure when the running starts to excede 30 miles a week again, I will have less trouble doing so (I think).

A friend in need

I had been intending to do this sooner, but the need is still great so I am weighing in an effort to help. Thanks Chris for the reminder.

A friend of mine I met while working with Defiant Theatre was recently diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Will has been an non-stop, working actor here in Chicago for many years. He, like so many of us though, does not have insurance. There has been a mass outpouring of support for him, and with his consent several efforts have been launched to raise money for him. This is an amazing town as far as theatre folks looking out for each other. I am told he has vowed to fight this with everything he's got and many of us are trying to buy him as many rounds as he needs in that ring. From the few shows I has the good fortune to work with him on, I have no doubt that his "everything" is more than enough.

If you can give a little, please do. I know it's tight right now for many of us, but this is how we get through these tight times... together.

Will Schutz



More on the story.

Certified Healthy

So, I needed to go and get a physical for driving a truck for Caldera. Best I can tell, it is precaution the Department of Transportation has issued to make court cases go smoother. Why else would the DOT care if I had "ever been sick?" None the less, this was not the point here.

On a recommendation, I tried to go to a "First Care" facility as they take walk-in's and might be more affordable than my doctor here in Chicago. I had cancelled an appointment for the next day. Well after 2 trains and a bus to the south side, I found out the earliest I could get seen was next week. I called my doctor's office again only to find out the appointment was already booked. I could get squeezed in later in the day at the far north office. I hopped on my second bus of the day to Roger's Park.

It was great to see my doc again without a terrible problem like Iritis or a plastic seagull in the eye. Awww... good times. The doc gave me a clean bill of health. Here's the fun catch. The DOT paperwork had a drug test of the urine variety needed. They include a sticker label. My doctor's office was unable to handle such a request and I was sent to their regular facility... in Evanston. For those not as familiar with Chicago geography that would be now 15 miles, from the first attempt. I now even have a $14 cab ride under the belt trying to get to the test facility by closing time. That I missed by 2 minutes.

Before jumping to the fun next day, I need to reiterate that I took a cab to the facility and had no idea where I was. It took 30 minutes walking through Evanston, to find my train. That added 2 more trains to my list for the day.

When all was said and done I still have yet to offer a sample to document I am not on drugs. That step will have to wait. The next day after two runs from Roger's Park to Evanston and back I was not able get the proper paper work. This was my latest adventure in the world of health care.

By the by, I am off the patches now and well past 9 weeks without a smoke.

Insurance?

A few years back, I had a run in with a rare-ish eye problem called Iritis. At the time I was still serving the green apron master, Starbucks and had insurance. I am tremendously grateful that I did as I was very close to losing that eye before a doctor was able to successfully diagnose me and begin extensive treatments. I was on about three different drops a day for weeks and had to go see a doc at least once week for nearly a month. Even with insurance, I paid a fortune in copays. It was worth it though, I still have my right eye.

Now I am usually a pretty healthy guy. I get sick very rarely and it passes with little true inconvenience. More often I get strange injuries like the aforementioned eye dilemma (or the several under "eye" category I could list). Thankfully I have been in more ER's for stitches and the like, I ma decent at knowing how serious more bumps and scrapes are. I am decent, but no MD.

What concerns me is one of the facts about Iritis they hammered home to me. "This could come back." Every time I get a little blur or pain over there those words ring in my ears. I know I should have insurance. I also think the whole industry is a crock of shit (watch Sicko and see if you can't agree a little with that). I don't know what to do here as far as finding what I need. I have spent all morning surfing the health care providers sites and NONE of them look appealing. It's as if some lawyers got tired of fucking people in court and decided sick people would be easier targets. Between the clip-art photos of happy, healthy people and the little things like "100% copay till annual deductible ($5000) is reached," I don't know what to think. Honestly, as often as I get sick, it feels like I would be better off sticking $70 - $120 a month in a savings account and call that my insurance.

Any thoughts out there?
By the by... the picture has nothing to do with the post. Who needs a picture on health problems? However, major points (and an entire Captain Stupie post on your greatness) may be earned if you can tell me where and when this photo was taken?