Zen and Endurance Sports - Why?

Me (I am very pregnant), my husband Bill, my oldest son Hunter, and Dean Karnazes

Hello! And welcome to the ZenduranceNow blog. I appreciate your interest and your reading. Please contact me at any time!

Since I  was a young child, I was an athlete. I don't know that I remember my  first race, but I am sure my father does. In my childhood, even before I was  officially racing, my favorite things to do were playing outside, running around  in the woods, and riding my bike. I can't help but smile and remember playing "Evel Knievel" with the neighborhood kids. Not much has changed except that I don't play "Evel Knievel" anymore... although this could be debated with some of the mountain biking I've done. I am a runner, a triathlete, an adventure racer,  a yogi, a teacher. I can also add wife, mother, employee, friend, and all around good gal!

I am writing this blog to link together endurance sports (i.e. running, swimming, biking, etc) and the practice of yoga. I started practicing yoga after the birth of my son Hunter, who is now 11 years old. I found that yoga was
a great way to transition from birth and recovery to racing again. 

In the last 5 years, I have discovered how I could use yoga to perform better in my sports. Athletes are a different breed- do I  need to tell you this? Not only are we extremely competitive, we tend to be rather inflexible. This makes yoga very tough. When I go to a yoga class, I inevitably set my mat up next to the most beautiful and uber-flexible person. Sigh.... But, our bodies are different! For me and most athletes, strength is our thing, flexibility, well... yeah... I've been working on that!

I discovered on my path, that there are teachers and athletes out there who have successfully learned how yoga can benefit the athlete, and more importantly how to teach to that athlete. That was the point when I wanted to do what "they" were doing. I received my Power Yoga Teaching certification from West Hartford Yoga and Barbara Ruzansky http://www.westhartfordyoga.com/, I trained with Sarah Powers and learned the beauty of Yin and Yang Yoga http://www.sarahpowers.com/ , and just recently I trained with Sage Rountree in North Carolina http://www.sagerountree.com/ and I was taught the specifics of how to teach yoga to athletes.

In short, I could have said... I want to share this all with you. I love to teach and I love to RUN! I now understand how the body, mind, and spirit and be balanced. When we get this balance, even it is for just a moment, we get strength. I understand this now and I hope to share this with you.

Last but NOT least, I have to tell you.... I am still on a bit of a high.... I had the chance to meet and talk with Dean
Karnazes. Ah! He is such an inspiration! He is also known as Ultramarathon Man. And if you haven't heard of
him, I encourage you to check out his website http://www.ultramarathonman.com/  He has completed the unthinkable: he has run 350 miles consecutively, ran 50 marathons in 50 consecutive days, in 50 states, run across the South Pole, I could go on and on. I got a reminder from Dean last night that I really needed.... TRY! You can do it, whatever it is. And if you can't run, walk, and if you can't walk crawl. And never never give up. 

Until  later......
Meghan

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