If you're not from the DC-area or haven't heard, DC is expected to get crushed by a potentially historic snowstorm this weekend. It's been all over the news, grocery store aisles are cleaned out, the city is reaching it's typical "SNOW-MG" fervor.



And yet tonight in yoga class, my instructor focused on the quiet calm that snow brings when it starts falling. You know that time when everything seems to slow down just a little bit and there's that quiet hush?

She challenged us tonight to find that quiet in our daily routines.

You know when you do a workout, any sort of workout, and you finish and you know it's exactly what you needed? That's what tonight's yoga class was for me.



The last few weeks since I've been back at work and classes have started up, I've lost all ability to be able to "find the quiet."

Between a major new project at work, a couple of very tight deadlines, prepping for a handful of speaking engagements and diving into what is going to be a ridiculously time-consuming semester, my inner peace has gone into hibernation.

I've been stressed, I've been anxious and even in my yoga class on Monday, I wasn't really able to block out my increasingly growing to-do list.

It was in that frame of mind that I walked into class tonight. And as soon as the instructor started talking about finding the quiet, something immediately clicked for me. For that one hour, I was able to turn my brain off, block out the to-do list items and just try to find that quiet.

I walked out of class when it was over feeling more centered than I have in weeks. Sure I might not be able to hold on to that feeling for too long (I do have a pile of homework waiting for me tonight), but just for that one hour, I got a little bit of a break from the crazy, and it was exactly what I needed.

Every week at the beginning of yoga class, the instructor asks us to set an intention for the next hour of practice. Usually my mind draws a blank, and I feel all this pressure to come up with some sort of good and meaningful intention. I have to think really hard and then wind up with something like "Be less stressed."



That's generic and so broad, I'm not even sure what I mean by it half the time, but it's what I go with because I don't have anything better.

But this week, when the instructor asked us to set an intention, the phrase "What will be, will be" immediately leapt into my mind. I'm not sure what exactly triggered it, but lately I have been trying to be more present in the current moment rather than worrying so much about what I've got going on the next day or the next week or the next month.

"What will be will be," or the more religious "Let go and let God" that I heard frequently in my many years of Catholic school, are not easy things for me to actually put into practice.

I'm such a Type A planner that just being present actually takes quite a bit of mental work on my part. As weird as it might sound, planning and thinking about the future are my ways of feeling in control of a situation. In my mind, I link just being present with being unprepared, and even though I know they aren't the same thing, that puts me really on edge.

But given how crazy this time of year can be, I'm trying to spend more time just being in the moment and appreciating what's going on around me now and not worrying so much about what tomorrow holds. I guess somewhere my subconscious mind realized that and threw "What will be, will be" into my mind at just the right time in yoga this week.

I'm sure all this being present stuff is going to be a huge work in progress for me, and I'll probably still have moments where I call up my best friend and the first thing I say when she answers is, "PANIC!" (True story, that happened Sunday night...she thought I said, "Can it!" and was very confused at first ha!)

But yes, so being present is a thing I'm working on. If this were the New Year, I'd say it was a resolution of sorts, but we've still got some of 2015 left, so this is just a thing I'm working on so I can worry less and appreciate life more.

After four days of hard workouts, with three of those days being two-a-days, yoga was just what my body needed last night.

It was a calming, restorative class that helped clear my mind after a busy week at work and helped loosen my legs after a week of hard training.

It's classes like this one that remind me why yoga is such an important part of my training.

When I get busy or just need a break, yoga tends to be the first thing to go because I figure I can always stretch at home on my own. Of course, I never actually follow through with that though.

But yoga does so much more than just stretch my legs. It does a great job of clearing my mind and helping me refocus on what's important. I can more easily sort through the five million ideas I've got rattling around up there, and I can just as easily let some of the not-important stuff go.

Yoga is a like a big system reset. It's like wiping the slate clean, letting your body absorb all the benefits of a hard week of training and getting you ready for your next round of workouts.

I'm making it a goal this training cycle to make sure I get to my yoga class at least once a week. The benefits to both my legs and my mind are too great to pass up.

After a busy day at the office yesterday, dealing with meetings, computer problems, a massive paper jam in the printer and some other chaos, I was really looking forward trying Bikram yoga for the first time with Erin.

I was nervous, but also kind of excited. I wasn't sure how I would hold up in the 105 degree heat for 90 minutes, but I had spent the day chugging water to make sure I was hydrated.

Walking in to the heated room felt nice after being out in the cold winter air, but as we were sitting there waiting for class to start I was getting warmer and warmer.

For those unfamiliar with Bikram yoga, it's a series of 26 poses repeated twice. It's the same exact thing ever week and it's done in a heated room with the lights on. It's not set to music or soothing like you would think of a traditional yoga class. And it doesn't flow gently from one pose to another. You do one pose, then do it again and then move to a new pose. It's extremely rigorous.

That was really different for me. The school of yoga I am trained in is flow-style yoga. I'm used to poses moving from one to the next seamlessly and being a little more zen.

But last night I was working so hard to do the poses and not let sweat drip in my eyes, that I couldn't really focus on the lack of flow.

The 90-minute class actually went by fairly quickly and the heat only felt really overwhelming a few times. The most challenging part was dealing with the buckets of sweat. Every time I had to hold my foot in my hand it would slip. Or sweat would drip in my eyes or I would get distracted by the little sweat balls running down my back.

I don't think I've ever sweat that much even on my hottest, most humid summertime runs. Or maybe I have, but on the runs, the sweat evaporates. In Bikram it just sits on your skin.

But despite the heat and the totally new style of yoga, I left the class feeling surprisingly relaxed and calm, like I would leaving any good yoga class.

Unfortunately my zen was completely shattered when I got to the parking lot and realized someone had parked me in. And unfortunately the owner of said car was not in least bit nice about it and yelled at me for parking in "her spot." It was a open lot with no signs, but she yelled anyway and made me wait a long time until she moved it. I finally had to tell her I was going to call a tow truck if she didn't move her car. That got her quite cranky but finally made her move it.

Much thanks to Erin for waiting in the cold with me and helping me deal with the wacko.

So needless to say, the whole night was an experience. In fact that whole day was a experience, and I'm quite happy Monday is over and Tuesday is here.

Yesterday was my work from home day and in the middle of the afternoon I got antsy for some activity. So I decided to pop the 30 Day Shred in and get a butt-kicking courtesy of Jillian. I did Level 2 and man am I feeling it my back and shoulders this morning. Holy Moly.

Working out in the middle of the afternoon freed me in the evening to go watch the BF's volleyball team in their last regular season game. His team won all three games, even though they didn't play their best. BF had an alright night. Playoffs start next week. I might try to make it to those, but it means I'd need to start work at like 6 a.m. So we shall see.

I also have some important yoga news to share.

After this month, I will no longer be teaching yoga on a regular basis. The past five months or so of teaching have been a lot of fun, but lately teaching class has seemed like more of an interference in my life and something I was forced to do rather than being something I enjoyed doing. I will still be a sub so I can fill in when other instructors need help. That will give me more flexibility to fit classes around my life rather than trying to fit my life around my classes.

You wouldn't think that one or two extra hours a week after work would make that much of a big deal, but I've just found it really has. There are some nights when I just want to go for a run and can't. Or I just want to sit and relax, but can't.

So I've decided now that it's become more of a chore than something I truly enjoy doing, it's not really worth it to me anymore. I may miss it down the road, but right now I think I'll be glad to have my evenings back for things I want to do.

I've been having a stressful two weeks lately and so I apologize for my absence. Training last week was less than fun, but I muddled through it and managed to survive. In the middle of training I found out one of my coworkers had accepted a new job and so we're all doing the who's-going-to-be-taking-over-what shuffle. And I'm sad to see her go.

So things have been kind of nuts.

In workout news, last week when I was in training, absolutely none happened, unless you count the 15 minutes of ab work I did on Monday when I had the motivation and was still trying to make the effort to get something in.

I got back to it this week though. I attempted to do my speed work Tuesday night, but I'm not really sure one could call what 6 miles that I did any form of speed work. I had planned on doing intervals, but my legs were having none of it. So then I figured I'd do a tempo run, but my legs weren't so keen on that either. So I did 6 miles of alternating speeds on the dreadmill, trying to push it when I could.

Last night I taught yoga. I thought it was a crappy class because mentally, I was not there. I was so seriously distracted thinking about other stuff that I've got going on. In fact at the end of June, I'm actually going to be dropping one of my yoga classes because I've just got a little too much on my plate right now.

Last night I was determined to drop both of them at least for the rest of the summer, but I think I've reconsidered and I'll keep one of them through July and then re-evaluate. I may be writing a little less regularly over the next few days and weeks, but I'll keep trying to stay caught up with you guys, although my comments may be a little less frequent. I'm not however going to be taking a blogging sabbatical like soooome people.

Anyway, just wanted to check in and let you know I'm back on the training wagon. I'd love to get some outside runs in if the rain would go away. Seriously, I think it's been raining for like two weeks straight.

Yesterday was National Running Day. And you know what I didn't do? That's right, I didn't run.

Why you might ask? Well because National Running Day fell on one of my cross-training days and I wasn't about to get my training schedule all messed up just for some faux-holiday running celebration.

Seriously, I run most days of the week. In my mind every day should be National Running Day and people shouldn't need a special day to go out and do it. But yea, America is fat so I guess the country as a whole needs days like this. Props to all who participated.

I however knocked out a solid day of cross training. I did Level 3 of the 30 Day Shred for the first time and holy moly I was in some serious pain. I had to do the modified version of a lot of stuff because I thought I might die. What an awesome workout.

Then I taught my yoga class where I for the first time had two participants who I don't think smiled once. They were all super intense yoga people and the whole time I was just thinking, "Oh man my class is so not for you." My class is so mellow and chill and for people who just do yoga for a good time and for the health benefits. I don't like making people bend into unnatural shapes. So I feel like those two ladies probably didn't get a ton out of my class. But my normal Wed. lady was there too and she looked pretty happy with the class, so it's all good.

It's raining like crazy here today so we'll see how I'm feeling about tonight's run. If the weather clears I'll get it in, if not I might just swap in another day of the Shred.

Happy Thursday!

I kicked my own butt by accident in yoga class last night. I went in knowing I wanted to teach a semi-challenging class with lots of planks because I hadn't rocked any core work in a while.

I also did a solid lunge series and rocked some deep Warrior poses.

Today I hurt.

My legs are seriously killing me. The BF came over for dinner last night and we walked to Fuddruckers (I know, I know, I felt like such a fat kid eating there and I still feel gross). Fuddruckers is not far from my house, but the walk was killllller. And my legs are definitely still sore this morning.

Thanks to everyone who left comments about what I should do about the 10 miler before my half marathon. I'm still mulling it over, but I'm leaning a bit more toward no right now.

In other fabulously exciting news, my cousin had her baby yesterday! She was due last week and so the doctor's had to induce her yesterday and my new baby cousin was born at 4:55 p.m. Abigail Grace, 7 lbs. 10 oz, 21.5 inches long! She's a cutie with a full head of dark hair. I'm so happy for my cousin and her husband and I can't wait to meet Abby!

OK guys, I have a question. How smart is it to run a 10 mile race the weekend before the Virginia Beach Half Marathon, which I'm definitely considering my A-race for the season and hoping to achieve a sweet PR at?

I tried to make a pro/con list but I'm still not sure.

Pros:
It will be a good tune up for race weekend.
It will acclimate me to running a race in heat and humidity with lots of people before race day.
Practice those aid stations.
It's apparently a hugely fun and popular race (I'm considering the Annapolis 10 Mile)

Cons:
It's too close to the race.
What if I get hurt?
Will running it do more harm than good?
Will I have enough recovery time?
Is running 10 miles the weekend before a race bad for taper time?
Helllllp!!!

Please leave me your advice. I'm really torn about this race. I want to do it, but I want Virginia Beach to be an awesome race. Help!

Last night was some speed work. I was supposed to do 3x1600 at 9:31. But after the first 1600 I got bored. So I decided to break up the last two 1600s into 800s and do 4x800 at 8:57. That was much more entertaining for me and I liked pushing the faster pace and working on my foot turnover. I walked a quarter mile in between each 800 so I made sure to recover plenty. It was a pretty killer work out that total six miles with the warm up, cool down and recovery time.

Taught a pretty challenging yoga class afterward with lots of planks. Overall, an excellent night of workouts.

Since I'm in the office again today, no Jillian, but I will be teaching yoga tonight.

So remember the other day when I was telling you how awesome my job is with my sweet work from home days and all. Yeaaa...well karma's a bitch. I had to go into the office yesterday and I'm going to have to next week too. That's what I get for bragging I guess. So I give you permission to all chuckle at me.

Since I was in the office yesterday and not at home I didn't have time to squeeze in any Jillian. I usually take a break around lunch time when I'm at home to work here in, but it obviously wasn't happening since I was in the office.

Instead, I just taught my yoga class last night. I had three people, which is pretty average for my Wed. night class and afterward, one girl I told me I was the best yoga instructor she's ever had. I was stunned. And flattered. It was a comment that caught me kind of off-guard.

It's funny because I never think my classes are that great, but I guess some people really enjoy them, which is always good to hear.

Hey bloggie peeps! I'm back from my vacation to the wonderful Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Got in last night and promptly passed out. Driving for 7.5 hours is exhausting.

I have tons and tons of pictures that I hope to get uploaded soon. We had a wonderful time enjoying the sun, sand and surf. And major bonus points to me for only picking up mild sunburn. (I'm pasty white and burn pretty easily.)

Some quick highlights:
We left at 5 a.m. to start the drive down and made amazing time.
South of the Border signs are horribly racist.
South of the Border itself is just creepy. We didn't stop. I refuse.
Our loft was gorgeous and the complex had a lazy river, heated pool, fitness center and shuttle to the beach.
I ran 3.22 miles Sunday morning and 5 miles Monday morning. It was HOT!
Took a yoga class Tuesday at the fitness center. It was geared toward senior citizen and all done in a lying position.
I kicked booty in mini-golf. Won by 10 strokes and had two holes in one.
Went to bed early every night and woke up early every morning. I love life at the beach.

Some of the girls and I drove back yesterday. We left later and got back later and got stuck in traffic on the way home. The ride was much less enjoyable. Now I'm home and it's back to the grind.

Half marathon training kicked off for the BF this week and so far he's hit all of his runs. Go him! I'm working on developing our training plans. I know what they'll be in my head, just a matter of getting them on paper.

Vacation pictures to come soon.

Sorry for the late post today. I've been at a conference for work all day long and I'll be there again tomorrow, so tomorrow's post will probably also be late.

That pretty much sums up my yesterday. The day really moved slowly and when I got home I was feeling unmotivated to do any kind of workout.

My legs were tired and sore and my IT bands felt a little tight so I didn't want to run and it took all my willpower to drag my butt out the door to get to yoga. And then of course, the class I took was crappy. (Ironic, seeing as how I just wrote a post all about how much I love yoga yesterday.) But it was with a new teacher that I just didn't dig.

Not even talking to the BF and the mommy last night helped, and that always cheers me up. Bleh. I'm not sure what was at the root of the problem, but I'm determined to make today better, despite the sinus headache I woke up with. Sudafed will be my best friend to get my through a bunch of meetings this morning. If I'm not feeling better by then I'm using some sick time and going home and sleeping.

It's supposed to be 80+ degrees here this weekend. I will not spend it curled up in bed asleep with sinus problems!

So take that bad day! I will not have two of you in a row!

Like I said earlier this week, I've been getting a lot of different yoga questions lately, so I thought I'd try to handle them in one post answering them as best as I can.

First, here's a bit of background. I've been certified to teach yoga for just about four years now. I'm certified through YogaFit, a very flowing style of yoga that focuses on sequences that move seamlessly from one to another. YogaFit can be gentle or it can be more vigorous and active depending on the instructor and the personal style they bring to the class.

My personal thoughts on yoga are that it should be something that is accessible to everyone. Yoga isn't about the girl who can stand on her head or the guy who can wrap himself into some crazy pretezel contortion. While it's great that they can do that, I will never teach those kinds of poses in my classes. Instead, I teach on a more basic, but still challenging level. The poses aren't hard to get into persay, but there are modifications that make everything a little more challenging if you want to take it to the next level.

I believe yoga should blend strength and flexiblity, so what you will find in my class are tons of planks, side planks and not-too-tough balance work mixed with lots of deep stretching. I tend to focus a lot on the legs and back with the stretches, which is probably because flexible and loose leg muscles equal better running.

Now that we've got my theory and background stuff out of the way, I'm going to try to tackle some of your questions and concerns.

A lot of people are put off by yoga because it's slow moving or they get bored holding the same pose for a long time. (This isn't a specific question, just a common feeling I've picked up in blog reading.)

My advice is to try a flow style class. In flow based classes you move from one pose to another and don't hold anything for longer than five to 10 breaths. Sometimes it can be hard to tell if a class just labeled yoga on a schedule will be flow style. Unfortunately, the best advice I can give you there is to read the class description if there is one or try to talk to the instructor before you take the class and find out what style he or she teaches.

Susan asked: Do you have any tips for getting into yoga? I've tried a couple times, but maybe it's just not for me?

A lot of the yoga experience relates back to the instructor. If you don't enjoy the instructor's teaching style, it's almost a gaurentee you won't enjoy the class. I'd suggest trying a few different classes to see if you can find something you like. (Free week long gym trial passes work great for this. You can go to all the classes you want for a week until you find one you like. Then you can decide if you actually want to join said gym or yoga studio.) Another thing to try is different yoga DVDs or YogaToday.com, which is free. I've watched a few YogaToday episodes and it's kind of hit or miss on whether or not I like it, but it's worth checking out if you're interested. When I first started doing yoga, I had a hard time enjoying it because as a runner I just found it too slow moving. But after sticking with it for a while, I came to really enjoy the half hour or hour of calm yoga provided. So if you're thinking it's not for you, don't give up after a few classes, stick with it for a month or two and then see what you think.

Amber and XC2 both asked about my thoughts on Bikram (or hot) yoga. Amber asked: I was just wondering what your thoughts are on Bikram yoga? Would I better off getting a membership at a Bikram studio or a regular yoga studio??

I have never tried a hot yoga class, but one day I would really like to. I've heard mixed reviews on hot yoga. Some people love the feeling of the sweat pouring down their bodies and feel the heat lets them sink deeper into poses. Other people find the room is just too warm and they can't get comfortable. Again this comes down to personal preference. Before you invest in a hot yoga membership, I would try taking a single class to see how your body reacts. Most hot yoga studios will let you take a class on a drop-in basis for a small fee. Some places may also offer a free trial class. Same is true for a regular yoga studio, I would see if they offer a free trial class or a drop-in rate so you can see if you like the instructor's or the style of the class before you invest the money.

To wrap up this rather long post, here's a few of my final thoughts on yoga:
If it's something you haven't tried, I really encourage you to give it a shot. The worst that can happen is you don't like it so you don't go back. But who knows, maybe you'll really like the class and the benefits it has for your running.

Yes, yoga will help your running. It will help loosen tight hamstrings. It will help strengthen the core, which supports us through all our pounding on the pavements. It will build strength in the legs as well through lunges and various other poses.

If you have more questions or want to know more, feel free to leave them in the comments and I'll do my best to answer as best I can!

Last night I wanted to try to repeat last week's speedy run. My goal was to do 3 miles at a 9 minute pace. I didn't quite make it, logging the three miles in 27:55, but still that's not too bad for me. Plus there are many, many hills on the course I run, so I had to stop and walk twice because the uphills were killing me.

But overall it was a good hard run.

I forgot to mention that over the weekend, BF and I went shopping for running gear. BF was in need of some tech tops for summer running and all the bouncing around with Jillian has proved to me that I really, really needed some new sports bras.

We hit the Under Armour outlet first where I found one sports bra and four pairs of socks and BF found some shorts. However, it was only a mildly successful trip. I was a little let down by the lack of awesome sales that I usually find there.

We hit Sports Authority afterward where we were both much more successful. I found two more sports bras, a really cute pair of Nike shorts and a champion top. BF found three or four tech tops and a golf glove (not at all running related, but something he needed.)

I normally don't post twice in one day, but I've been getting a lot of questions about yoga and yoga and running lately. I promise I will answer them soon. I'm not ignoring you.

I just wanted to throw out a quick request to everyone. If you have yoga questions for me, leave me a comment on this post and I will try to answer all of your questions in one post later this week.

OK that's it for me for today. Read below for my real post from today. :o)

I had a super fun weekend post all planned out for today, but then I took two seconds to read my work e-mail and now I can't think past the letter I have to write for our Acting Administrator to sign (GAH!) and the fact that I was such an apparent space cadet last week that I scheduled a meeting on a day I'm not even in the office. Ugh. Where was my head?

Needless to say, that's not the most fun way to kick off the work week.

But, I'm gonna think happier times and tell you about my awesome weekend that started with a super fun BBQ on Friday night to celebrate the wonderfully warm weather.

Saturday, I was subbing for one of my fellow yoga instructors at the gym and it also happened to be the launch day for the new Body Series classes so you could bring friends for free to any of the classes. My friend Emily and the BF came to my yoga class and let me tell you, I think it was an experience for both of them.

Emily's been wanting to come see me teach since I started like four years ago when I was back in college, but due to class and work schedule conflicts she was never able too. Afterward she said she had really enjoyed the class, but was surprised how tough it was.

I think it was also a little more challenging than BF expected. He didn't love yoga, but he didn't hate it. His overall feelings were that it wasn't bad "but he thinks there are better things he can spend his time on at the gym." I will have him convinced though that he should do it every so often to help with his flexibility, which will as a result help with his running.

The rest of the weekend was spent housesitting and playing in the hot tub because I could.

I feel like today I will either be way too wiped out to do any form of workout or I will totally need Jillian and some running to blow off steam. We shall see.

After teaching my normal yoga class last night, I decided to stick around for the BodyFlow class. Like all the Body Series classes, BodyFlow is a set of standard moves set to specific music. In BodyFlow, it's a combo of yoga, pilates and Tai Chi set to kind of pop-y music that's supposed to appeal more to the general masses than regular yoga.

Here's the Website description:
BODYFLOW™ is the Yoga, Tai Chi, Pilates workout that builds flexibility and strength and leaves you feeling centered and calm. Controlled breathing, concentration and a carefully structured series of stretches, moves and poses to music create a holistic workout that brings the body into a state of harmony and balance.

Overall it was a decent class. As a more traditional yogi, I definitely didn't think you held certain poses quite long enough, but I did like the flowing style of the class. I teach a more flow style yoga anyway, so that worked well for me. However, like all of the Body Series classes, I think I would get bored doing the same thing over and over every week. Although I think BodyFlow would be the class where that would be least annoying because each week you could work deeper into the stretches than the previous week.

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In other really super exciting yoga news, after the BodyFlow class, my boss asked if I would be interested in teaching another yoga class Tuesdays at 7 p.m.

The back story here is that after I had to give up the Thursday class, participants were asking if I would be able to teach at 7 because that time worked better for them. I ran the idea past my boss but there were already two yoga-style classes Thursday nights and adding a third would just be too much.

But after my former class participants kept emailing her, she decided to re-work the schedule, move another girl to a different night and offer me the 7 p.m. slot on Tuesdays! Needless to say, I'm so super pumped.

I loved the people that I met in the Thursday class and I've been bumming that they haven't been able to make my new class time. So it would be great to get them back Tuesday nights. Plus she said I could keep my Wed. class if I wanted.

I've already started tinkering with my Va. Beach training plan and a Tuesday night class would actually work perfectly! Hooray!

Yoga helped bust some of my stress that I mentioned in yesterday's post. I have a more calm perspective about the MVA. It's still driving me nuts, but I'm just trying to do one thing at a time. Like this weekend, I will tackle the state safety inspection.

This weekend my little bro is also going to be in town for a big lacrosse tournament at Maryland. My brother plays for Temple and I don't get to see him play a ton so I'm really looking forward to seeing him Saturday.

In other quick news:
* Last night was my last Thursday night yoga class. Starting next week I will be teaching on Wednesdays instead.
* I got in a quick lifting session last night after yoga. I focused a lot on my legs with some of the exercises I learned in PT. Trying to keep that knee strong!
* XC2 suggested I get a big old calendar and figure out which races I really want to do (and are affordable) so I can have a better focus. It's a great idea and I'm going to try to look into that this weekend.
* Also going on that calendar will be more schedule strength training workouts.
* Tentatively my plan for now will be run for fun with no real training goals until the beginning of June, then kick it up a notch for RnR Va. Beach.
* Another other bloggers thinking about doing RnR Va. Beach?

Ok that's it for me. Hope you all have a great weekend and thanks so much for your support on yesterday's post!

(Photo note: That's my "little" brother playing lax. He's actually much bigger than I am, but because he's younger I can still call him little.)

This entire week I have been one big stress case. I can pinpoint a few of the things that are really bothering me and I'm trying to deal with them as best I can. Some are completely out of my control, but the thing that's really driving me nuts is the dealing with the MVA to get a Maryland license and to change the registration of my car.

I must have read the stupid MVA site five times and I'm still confused about the excise tax. It seems like the application says one thing and the Web site describing the application says another. Gahhh!!

Deep breaths, deep breaths.

Thank goodness I'm teaching yoga tonight. It will be just the stress reliever I need.

It will also be the first time I've done any form of exercise since the race on Saturday. I wanted to run yesterday, but just ran out of time dealing with work stuff and life stuff.

As far as what's next, I'm scratching the Annapolis half marathon from my race calendar. It's way too expensive. I am however probably going to register for the Baltimore 10 Miler soon and maybe a new half marathon in Arlington, Va. in May.

We'll see though. Part of me wants to stop "training" and just get back to running, and lifting and yoga and then get back into training for the Rock n Roll half in Virginia Beach.

I don't know. I'm kind of all over the place lately, which probably came across a lot in this post.

Sorry for the scatter-brainedness, hopefully yoga will fix some of that tonight.