2012... Bring it on!

As 2011 comes to a close I've spent quite a bit of time in deep reflection. This has definitely been a bit of whirlwind year - emotionally, mentally and physically. But I am grateful that I got through 2011 without getting arrested :) Not that I've done anything to break any law in the Criminal Code... well at least nothing punishable by imprisonment! (To my parents... I'm just kidding!!! I'm a law-abiding citizen!!!)


I am ready for 2012 and all it has to bring. To tweak me to become a better me. To hopefully be a better person than I was in 2011. It's going to be a busy year... My schedule is busting at the seams until about mid-July... which is good... because keeping busy means staying out of trouble (again to my parents ... don't worry ... !!!). 


I am extremely grateful for my life. I am grateful for my family, my friends... I am grateful for all the laughs, smiles and even tears that I have experienced. I've come to realize that there are certain things (and people) in my life that I have not yet let go of. And that is something that I resolve to work on in 2012. Letting go is never easy... but it is necessary. 


My resolution for 2012 is to be the best person that I can be... first and foremost to myself. I resolve to be a healthier person in all aspects. 


My wish for 2012 is for my grandmother to fight the best fight that she can fight with the least amount of pain. It's been tough watching her fight this battle. It's been tough watching the people that love her help her fight this battle. My wish for 2012 is to give them all strength. Strength to persevere, strength of positivity, strength to extend it to each other. 


So giddy-up everyone. It's time to prepare ourselves to embrace whatever it is that 2012 has to offer. 


Wishing you all love, joy, happiness, peace, health, sun shine, and prosperity in 2012. Wishing you all limitless moments of laughing until your stomach hurts, meals until your pants are too tight, smiles until your face cramps and just enough rain to appreciate the sun and just enough tears to appreciate the smiles! I love you all and thank you for being a part of my life!


xoxoxox

Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays everyone! Wishing you and your loved ones a wonderful holiday season full of love, laughter, peace and merriment!


Only had one more workout done this week.... and now I'm off to Toronto where I'm hoping to get some workouts done with my brother's abandoned equipment. I'm sure it needs some TLC... so I'm going to make it my mission to do a mini-WOD every day. Yoga mat, check. Skip rope, check. Other equipment... TBD :)


The WOD on Tuesday was quite a bit of fun! 


3 rounds for time:
20 push press - 65lbs
30 toes-to-bar (or knee raises in my case)
40 wall balls (7kg)


Total time: 19min 40sec


I was totaled at the end... It was the longest walk to the metro... literally dragged my feet there!


Got home... made an omelette and some toast... which was promptly rejected by my body. Was up all night again...


Not sure what is going on but I just want my body to stop striking!!!


It's going to be torture to not want to eat everything while in T-dot this weekend... but will power will need to be my best friend!


Took a couple of days off from working out hoping that my body will get back to normal... last night was the first night I didn't have to get up every hour.... hopefully it'll stay this way!


Off to pack!


Merry Christmas Everyone!


Much love to you all!

Hello muscles :)

After a full week of eating badly (or not eating at all), of not sleeping, and not working out... I was definitely feeling it. I was restless, fidgety, mildly ADHD... but my body was on strike. 

And now I'm back baby!!! 

Dear muscles, 

You've had a full week to recover since my immune system decided to konk out... but vacay's over :)

Love, 

Me xoxox

First stop... Home away from Home... HappyTree! And what a pleasant surprise... Albert was subbing for Genevieve :) What a great start to my Sunday! After class, my heart was shining to match the big ball of sunshine outside! It was like I never left my mat... I know it's only been a week but it's honestly felt like an eternity. I was itching to get my body moving again! It was awesome!

All in all... an amazing Sunday. Yoga, dim sum with great friends, shopping and dinner with the family. Bliss!

Was frankly a little scared about going back to Crossfit though... especially since I felt a little woozy on my way there. But once I got into the workout... I was on fire!

Today's warmup:

100 singles

40 overhead squats

30 toes-to-bar

20 pushups

5 wall climbs 

Wall climbs are an interesting creature. Start in a pushup position with your feet flat against the wall. Push up and walk your feet up the wall and your hands back towards the wall until you're in a handstand, walk your hands up and walk your feet down until you're back in a push-up position... and repeat. Good times :)

Today's WOD: 1/2 Angie + 1000m row for time

50 pull-ups

50 push-ups

50 sit-ups

50 squats

1000m row

Total time: 14min

I really need to improve my row time... i.e. improve my cardio. 

Overall, I am happy with my time... happy with how I felt throughout the work out. 

Giddy up!

Getting restless....

It's now Day 6 that I haven't worked out or practiced and I'm getting really antsy. I'm also no longer sleeping again... 


Still feeling kind of dizzy and I really need to watch what I eat because definitely not everything agrees with me. 


Going to try to practice tomorrow morning... take it slow and see what happens. I'm just getting very impatient with this whole situation. But don't want to jump the gun and get hurt...


Whatever this bug is... GET OUT.... please... 


On a brighter note, we got our shirts this week!! We got some team shirts printed... Super happy with the way they turned out!

My body is on strike!

This seriously sucks....


My body has been rejecting food since Friday.... Nothing. Nada. Niente. 


Did I mention this seriously sucks?!?! I'm weak... dizzy... dehydrated... hungry... all around seriously crappy!


Bahhhhhhhhhhh!!!


I'm so hungry!!!!

Go team!!!

Sadly Crossfit was closed today :(

BUT luckily Char worked at the Gym today... so we had a team workout!! Woohooo! We decided to retry "Paolo's Chipper" from last week. 

The following is what I call "Two Asians, two cameras and one WOD" :)

We both clipped significant time off our WODs! It was awesome! A little different doing the WOD at the gym instead of the box, but a workout nonetheless!

Super early in the AM :)

Warming up on the bikes

This was followed by "Paolo's Chipper":

10 power snatches

20 chest to bars (modified with ring rows)

30 front squats

40 kettleball swings

50 deadlifts

40 wallballs

30 toe to bars (modified with knee raises)

20 ring dips (modified with bench dips)

10 clean & jerks

And here we are... :)

Knee raises... don't let my expression trick you... THIS SUCKED!

Power snatch time!

KB swings... yippee!!!

Love wall balls!!!

 Some stretchy-wetchy time:

All in all... a super fun workout! I can't wait to get in the saddle!!! And can't wait to get on my mat tomorrow for some hot yoga at the Tree!!!

Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!!!!!

NB: None of these pictures were actually taken during the actual workout... WE'RE BEING TIMED!!! Well except for the stretching... that was real-time :)

OMG!

Super exciting news!!! The RTCC contacted me a few weeks ago and said that they came across my blog and wanted to know if I wanted to share my story. They said that hopefully my story will motivate and inspire others to join the ride! How freakin' awesome is that?!?! Me... inspiring someone else! That would seriously KICK ASS!

So they did a little interview and a couple days ago, they sent me the "rider bio".... I'M STOKED! They also contacted me a couple weeks ago and asked me if I would be interested in becoming a "media rider"... HELL TO THE YEAH! This is CRAZINESS! But seriously... This is really flattering and humbling. I'm just a regular Jane Doe embarking on a personal challenge and it's now become sort of an epic mission. I'm just a regular gal who's using this as the motivation needed to get into shape while supporting a great organization. It's also the only way I know to help my grandmother. Trust me... If I can do this... anyone can. Seriously. 

Well back to tracking my progress of the Crossfit WODs. 

On Monday night, my body was still tired from the Saturday craziness. But I pushed myself to go... because that was a path I didn't want to embark on... you know... the "I'm too tired today" one. So off I went to Crossfit with a bit of an "Eeyore" attitude. But the minute I started the warm-up I perked right up. The energy in that place is ELECTRIC. 

Monday's WOD: AMRAP 15 minutes

- 30 double unders

- 30 ground-to-overhead

Was a great opportunity to practice my double-unders and managed to do 10 in a row a few times. So happy with that! I went with the power snatches for the ground-to-overhead with a 55lbs bar. I was pretty happy with my work out that night. Ended up with 5 complete rounds in 15 minutes and added another 2 rounds by working another 7 minutes. Overall... not bad. But I was beat at the end. I'm very grateful that a fellow Crossfitter gave me a lift to the metro... since I was exhausted and it was POURING RAIN! Merci Marie-Josee!

Come Tuesday, my body officially hated me. I wasn't in pain but just tired. Walking was taking too much energy.. Hell breathing seemed to consume too much energy. And I was STARVING all day!!! I still am! I think it's time for me to see a nutritionist to make sure that I'm eating the right things for the kind of workouts that I'm doing. So instead of going to the Tree for some restorative yoga... I went to mi casa for a reunion with my couch and mindless TLC (as in the channel... and not tender loving care). Watching back-to-back episodes of "What Not to Wear" was exactly what I needed. Because I woke up this morning ITCHING to get back to training. 

Which brings me to tonight's WOD. OUF!

Wednesday's WOD: 6 rounds for time of:

20 wallballs (I used a 5kg ball)

20 squat thrusters (Stand in squat position, put hands down and jump back into pushup position and jump back into a squat and stand up... as Paolo calls it ... a "half-ass burpee")

20 V-ups (lie on back and pike up so hands touch feet)

Total time: 25min 15sec. 

Not bad. I wasn't the first, but wasn't the last :) 2 out of 6. 

I'm still doing the option 3 WODs and I'm not sure when I'm ready to graduate to option 1 and 2. Maybe in the new year! I still have another 13 days of membership with Crossfit after which I will renew with a 6 month membership... LOTS of time!

Life is good... Keep on smilin' :)

Back to the mat tomorrow night... now that's a reason to smile!!! <3

Overdrive!

Motivation is on overdrive... especially yesterday. 


After a day off of training I was ready to hit it HARD.... and I did... possibly a little too much. 


Yesterday was definitely a crazy intense day. Woke up at 7am, went to bed at 1am and didn't stop all day... except for maybe about 20 minutes at HappyTree when I felt like I was melting into the couch!


My day started with a serious ass-whooping session at Crossfit. 


Here was the WOD - called "Paolo's Chipper"... I'm pretty sure he was drunk when he made this up (he admitted creating it before he went to bed the night before... alcohol must have been involved)

Unfortunately my chest was going anywhere close to the bar... so ring rows it was :) And on that note, neither were my toes.... so knee raises it was ... Hmmm... now I know why my abs hurt so much today! Duh! My muscles may be getting stronger ... but brain power? Not so much! Oh well - you win some you lose some! :)


Total time: 33:00


It was awesome to be cheered on for my final 3 Clean & Jerks... High fives all around!


From Crossfit I made my way to HappyTree for Yin  Yoga with Albert. What a fabulous combination! I was really hyper when I got to the Tree... jumping around like the crazy person that I am! I said to Albert, "I'm really hyper" and like the cool cucumber that he is he replies, "Just lie down on your mat". I rolled out my mat, laid down and BOOM!... I could almost feel the cells in body chilling right out. Can't explain it... it's one of those things that you need to experience for yourself. Needless to say, the class was amazing. Albert is PHENOMENAL! I wish I had a tape recorder with me during class so I can retain what he says. I always say to myself "I need to remember that..."... and then I don't. It's almost like I'm in a dream. I don't even know how to explain it. Come to his class and you'll know exactly what I'm talking about!

This is what I felt like after Yin...

I then spent the next 20 minutes essentially melting into the couch at the Tree. I wasn't moving. If there was a fire at that exact moment, I'm not sure I would have cared enough to move. I was in full zen-yoga-brain-mode. 

Once I got the energy to move and got up off the couch, the energy came back like FIRE! And I also realized that I was starving! So I went next door to Tutti Frutti for a veggie omelette (with a side order of bacon... heehee!!!). It's all about balance right ;) Yeah yeah yeah.. I know! But I can always rationalize eating bacon. Just like I can always rationalize getting another pair of shoes :)

My next stop was Le Gym at Concordia for a fundraiser for "The Mercy Project" which was co-founded by one of my friends. What a great organization! Check out their website to find out more about this organization and ways on how you can support them! (www.themercyproject.com). 

The "Feel Good! Do Good!" fitness fundraiser had a bunch of awesome classes. The one I really wanted to check out was "Crazy Skipping" with Herby from Hard Knox Gym. Since I'm not the world's best skipper, I had a bit of a hard time. But it was INTENSE! It definitely was crazy skipping. He also incorporated a circuit into it which involved: Kicking, jabs, abs, squats, shuttle run, skipping. I was beat. And really sweaty. And ultimately felt really disgusting! I apologize to everyone that had to ride in the metro with me :( At least it was only one stop!

Got home, showered, got ready and headed off to my work Christmas party. I really really really wanted to bail, but since I helped organize it I couldn't not show up. I was uber-tired through the night, but it was a lot of fun :)

Yesterday was a LOOOOONNNNNNGGGG day! And I felt every minute of it this morning when I woke up. I may have worked myself a bit too hard yesterday, because I had to tape up my wrists this morning in order to get through the yoga class.

My new best friends: Rub A535 and sports tape

No pain no gain right?!?! All I need now is a good nights sleep... So bonne nuit!

Back to Crossfit tomorrow! Woooohoooo!

Keep Smiling!

Ahhhhhh..... TGIF!!! Well almost!!!


My day off from any exercise/training... WOOHOO!!! As much as I love it... sometimes we just need some time apart :) After 3 Crossfits and 4 yoga classes... I think I have earned the next 36 hours off!!! Wooohoooo!!! Although at the same time I'm uber-excited for my Crossfit-Yin Yoga Saturday morning.... Woooohoooo!!!!


Had another awesome practice tonight at the Tree :) Sometimes I think that Sonya can read my mind and knows exactly what I need ... Lots of heart openers tonight. Just what I needed. At one point, we're in downward facing dog and she comes by my mat and moves away my water bottle and towel... so I thought to myself "Ooooo... Wild thing?"... Then she says "Lift your right leg back, bend your knee and open your hip to the purple wall and gently go in Wild Thing"....


WILD THING, YOU MAKE MY HEART SING. 
YOU MAKE EVERYTHING GROOVY, WILD THING. 


I totally started rocking out in my head. I LOVE WILD THING. 


I got an email first thing this morning saying "Hope to see you soon. Keep smiling!"... So here are some things that made me smile today:
- The old man at the mall playing with his grandson
- The pretty yellow scarf with purple polka dots
- WILD THING
- Getting to the bus just in time
- Getting a lift in a really big truck to yoga
- Little girl on the metro blowing kisses to everyone
- Finishing both Sudoku puzzles on the metro
- Reading my horoscope at the end of the day, realizing that I've done the exact opposite and had an AMAZING day!
- This awesome laptop decal

Does it get any better than this? 


I'll leave you with another one of my favorite quotes:


"I'm going to smile my best smile. And I'm gonna laugh like it's going out of style" ~ Garth Brooks

Wise words from my brother

Once in a while I turn to my older brother Kenny for some sound advice... or to at least give him some entertainment :)


I once wrote a story about an EPIC FAIL date... I forwarded it to my brother who in turn forwarded it to some co-workers and said "Dude, check out what happened to my sister"... :) Gotta love him!  It was a damn good terrible date! But this is not the time nor place to discuss it :)


So I was talking to Kenny tonight about training for the Ride and I said "Dude, that workout on Saturday was AWESOME. I felt amazing after the Filthy Fifty, except that I couldn't walk"... his answer to me was MONEY!


"Ya, I get the same feeling from an awesome bowl of wonton soup"


Et voila! How's that for motivation!!?!?!? Hahahahahahaha


Good old inspiration from my big brudder! He's awesome!


I'm trying to convince him to join me in 2013... (Kenny... you know you want to!!!)


My brother is currently participating in Movember. An amazing cause that raises awareness for prostate cancer. The only problem is that he looks like a creepy pervert... seriously. Being Chinese, he doesn't have the genes to grow facial hair... so it's a little patchy. A little creepy. And it's crooked :) He's raised over $1000 for the cause which is amazing!!!


Here's where the WTF comes in...
I said to him tonight "WTF! I'm training like a MOFO so I can bike 250km and I've raised $600 so far. You're too lazy to shave and you've raised over $1000?... WTF??!?!?!"...


That's awesome! But seriously.... Movember is an amazing cause for a disease that doesn't get that much spotlight. So if you know someone who's Mo'ing it up this month, support them. Support the cause. The more awareness the better chance there is of beating it. 


And at the end of the day. Cancer sucks! And whether it be growing a mustache, riding, walking, running, spreading the word, donating... whatever your action may be... The more we do to raise awareness and money for research... we CAN kick cancer's a$$. Every little thing that we do can make a difference!


Here's my brother's Mospace... support him (or just look at the pictures to laugh at him :) That's what I do ... heehee!!!)


http://ca.movember.com/mospace/2516928/

*********************
And to be accountable... I have been training... just not posting. 


Had a pretty awesome hot yoga class last night. Very different from what is normally done. Worked our way through the chakras which was pretty awesome. Chanting while holding triangle pose actually makes it a bit easier :) I love having classes with new teachers, there is always something new to learn. A new perspective to appreciate. Amazing. 


Today's Crossfit WOD was a lot of fun! There I said it... it was FUN!!! I was highly motivated because of some news I had received prior to my workout... It's a bit too premature to share that story just yet... but hopefully soon. I digress. 


So today's WOD was:
Warmup: 100 single skip jumps, 10 shoulder dislocates, 10 pushups, 10 squats, 100 single skip jumps


20 minutes, as many rounds as possible of:
- 30 box jump
- 30 push press
- 30 pull ups (or ring rows which is what I opted for)


I finished 3 rounds and 60 reps... and then I looked at the board... The WOD is actually 30 box jumps, TWENTY push press and 30 ring rows!!! Damn.. I totally could have finished 4 rounds... NEXT TIME!


I promise to post some pics soon of Crossfit! It's awesome! I'm in awe of what some of these people can do. So for example, a group of people there were doing the same WOD except that they are wearing a weighted vest!!! CRAZINESS!!! 


One day... one day!!!

Burn is good... pain is not...

So I know I've worked my quads hard this week... 


The burning was expected and good... but now there's just pain... not good :(


A big problem is due to my inability to stretch my quads... Doesn't matter what I do... they're not stretching. Grrrrrrrrr


Training grrrrrr #1


Help.... anyone???

Yang + Yin + Food = Veg

What a perfect morning with a combination of Crossfit, followed by some restorative yoga ending with some ultimate comfort food. Now I am reuniting with my couch ... and sweats... I may look a little sketchy :S

The WOD this morning was the "Filthy Fifty"... oh... he's a dirty dirty dirty lil' one. The workout was basically 50 reps of 9 different exercises. Here's the board because I don't have the energy to type it all out!

The "Filthy Fifty"

The box jumps and burpees nearly did me in. Those two alone took me 12 minutes! Wow... that was madness. I literally wanted to crawl out of there today. 

Total time to complete the Triple F (... oh ya... I call it the F*%$en Filthy Fifty): 30 min 30 sec

Left Crossfit to head over to HappyTree for some Yin-lovin' yoga with Albert. Every muscle in my body was screaming. Well ok.. maybe only about 30 of them... but it sure felt like all of them! You never fully realize how stiff you are until you do a Yin class and experience how different your body feels after! Cuing "yoga-brain"...

And the perfect ending to the perfect morning... Comfort food. Oh ya. I had an energy bar prior to Crossfit and a granola bar post-yoga... But I needed a food hug. So I went to Brossard to meet up with my parents for some Congee and radish cake. 

My muscles are tender, my brain is mush and now I'm entering into a food coma... How is that not the perfect morning!

 

Who needs a drill sergeant...

When I have a mother :) LOVE YOU MOMMY!


She asked me tonight why I'm not training today... and I said Fridays are my day off... her response was "Hmmmm... ok. But you're going tomorrow right?"


God love her!


But seriously... seems like I talk about my mother a lot here. And she deserves a lot of credit. As does my father. The two of them have always been extremely supportive of all the endeavors I decide to embark on... regardless of the level of insanity. For that... I am grateful!


My parents definitely deserve their own blog post... at least one!!!


So here is my dedication to my parents. 


I don't think I was an easy child to raise (I can already see you readers nodding in agreement!!!). I was stubborn, rebellious, quick-tempered and basically at every opportunity went against my parents' will. God love them for not disowning me! 


Here's a little story that basically wraps me up as a kid. I used to wake up really early (never been a big sleeper) so instead of waking up my parents, I would just leave the house and go play at my neighbor's house.... at 5am!!! Thankfully, my friend's grandmother was also an early bird and she would make me breakfast, feed me, brush my teeth and sometimes bathe me. I should mention I was 4 years old at the time :) 


Here's another one. My mom once told me that even before I was born she knew I would be trouble. I asked her to explain. I was a breached baby, and no matter what the doctors did I wouldn't turn. I was comfortable sitting right side up... what can I say. :)


One more. People are often surprised that I speak Cantonese really well. My response to them is "It was the only way I could talk-back to my parents efficiently"... hahahaha! I wonder if my parents ever curse the 15 years I went to Chinese school and the endless hours of Hong Kong sitcoms and drama I watched (bootlegged of course!).


I'm also not the typical Chinese girl much to the dismay of my parents! They made an effort to make me as girly-girl as possible. I may be a lot of things... but delicate and docile are probably not two adjectives I would use to describe me. 


I admit, I spent a good part of my youth trying to shock my parents. Actually to be honest, I probably still do. Always testing my boundaries. I would like to think that as much as my parents have taught me and instilled the values and moral code that I live by, I have done the same for them. Having a daughter like me can't be easy and definitely requires them to be more open-minded and accepting of everything outside of their norm. But to be honest... They have taught me much more than I could ever teach them. And at 32 years old, I am not ashamed to say that I was wrong a lot of times... and they were right! But they allowed me to make the mistakes that I needed to make, to take the falls that were necessary and then ensured that they were right there holding their hands out to pick me back up. 


I love my parents. More than I can ever express. I'm not the most emotionally open person and probably don't show them gratitude like they deserve. But if I may say so myself, my parents raised a hell of a girl :) Hahahahaha! Modesty may be something they overlooked ;)


Dear Mommy and Daddy, 
Thank you for everything you have ever done for me. Thank you for everything you will do in the future. I honestly couldn't ask for more supportive, loving, caring, patient parents. Your love for each other is truly an inspiration for me. Your love for me is felt everyday and every minute. I may not say it, but I wouldn't be who I am today without you. So thank you. Thank you for letting me be me. Thank you for letting me become exactly who I needed to become. I love you both so much and am so grateful for you. 
Love always and forever, 
MMJ


PS: Please don't be mad about the pictures you're about to see :)

circa 1972, when they were dating.

Wedding day - August 3, 1974

Plus 1 - 1975

Plus 2 - My first birthday, 1980

La famiglia, 1982

Side note: This is me running away to my neighbor's house to get bathed :)

Family vacay, 1984

Kenny's University graduation, 1997

Family portrait, 1999

Seriously, the love is oozing...

Attending another graduation, 2010

I love them I love them I love them!

What great energy!

The energy in the Tree today was on fire!!! Practising in a room full of extremely focused  people really brought a strength to my yog and my practice to a whole new level.


I don't remember the last time i felt so strong in a yoga class.


It helps to be guided by an amazing teacher too!!! Sonya's class is definitely one of my favorite... Especially when we do urdhva dhanarasana (wheel pose)... My favorite!!!!


I was pretty stiff walking into the studio but now i feel like a whole new woman!! Ready to tackle whatever tomorrow brings... As long as it doesn't involve too many stairs. My quads are still burning!!!


Some pics of some lovelies from the Tree!!


Om nama shivaya. Namaste.

The awesome Sonya!

The super "desk-guru" Dawn!

Inspiring

This made me very emotional and teary-eyed... and for those of you who know me well, you know that doesn't happen very often...


Very inspiring...

I love rice...

To be more specific. .. I love WHITE rice... I guess it comes with the territory of being Chinese ... And my previously mentioned fear of raw vegetables...

I think i have earned some chicken and edamame stirfry over steamed WHITE rice...

Whoa....

What was that??? That was a crazy WOD!!!

Warmup for 2 rounds:
250m row
10 shoulder dislocates (not as gruesome as it sounds)
10 inchworm pushups (as gruesome as it sounds)
10 burpees (I love burpees! I love burpees!)
10 jumping squats

WOD was 3 rounds of:
100 mountain climbers
30 wallballs with 16lb ball
10 kettleball squats with 20kg KB

For those of you who don't know what a "mountain climber" is, it goes something like this...

Start in a pushup position with one leg forward in a lunge position... Then jump-switch your legs... 100 hundred times...

My biggest challenge during this was keeping count... So I kept switching languages... 1-20 in English, 1-20 in French, 1-20 in Chinese, 1-20 in English, and finally 1-20 in French... For 100.... Oh ya... The second biggest challenge during this was that my abs and quads were BURNING!!! Minor detail!!

The wall-balls were my downfall today... I couldn't get low enough in a squat to get enough momentum going to throw the ball high enough... Baaaaaa.... Did I mention my quads are burning???

Total time today: 17min55sec... Not that great but it's better than 18min :)

I am also trying to find the fastest way home from Crossfit... Today is the last time I am walking home. That tunnel is way too sketchy. I also ended up taking the bus about a km in because... Yup... You got it... My quads are burning!!!

Can someone come over with dinner and feed me...? I can't move...

I don't know if I had mentioned this yet... MY QUADS ARE BURNING!!!

Can't wait to get back to HappyTree tomorrow and back on my mat... Time to Yog it up!!!

Giddy-up!!!

My life rocks!

Do you ever have those moments when you're feeling kinda generally very icky (well quite frankly all around $hi##y...) and then you get reminded of how incredibly lucky you are... which then leads to you feeling like a complete jacka$$?


I had one of those moments today... not that I'm feeling remotely icky... but I got hit with the "You are one lucky ducky" smacks!


I woke up this morning with sore abs because I had a hardcore workout yesterday because I can...


At not one moment today did I feel hunger pangs...


I was able to walk to the metro without fear...


I am able to write this blog because I am literate... and because I have the freedom to write what I want when I want...


I walked into a warm home, with food in the fridge and clothes in my closet...


I am pretty sure that all this among other things makes me one the luckiest girls alive. 


I think one of the hardest things for us to do in our society is to not take anything for granted. I think that one of the best things we can do is to not take anything for granted. I can say to myself "I do my part, I donated money to so-and-so cause"... but until I stop taking things for granted and wasting things that people could only dream of... I'm not really making a difference am I?


I have an amazing life. I have a loving, caring, supportive and patient family. I have the best group of friends a girl can ask for (You know... the ones you would call should you ever kill someone and need help to dispose of the body... ya... those ones. Not that I'm planning on killing someone. Just a hypothetical situation). I have a great job. I've had the opportunities to travel to some fabulous places. I've loved and been loved. I have a full life. And I am grateful. For everyone. For everything. Sometimes I just need to be reminded. This is my reminder to me. 


Thank you to everyone I have crossed paths with. My encounter with you, small or large, has been a blessing. 


Dear Chrisy, 
Your life rocks. 
Love, 
Chrisy


I leave you with one my favorite quotes:


"Life is short. Break the rules. Forgive quickly. Kiss slowly. Love truly. Laugh uncontrollably. And never regret anything that ever made you smile."

A whole lotta awesome!

I came across this website today and it absolutely 100% needs to be shared!!!


Yoga meets action heroes... Oh ya! This is good stuff!!!


http://yogabeans.com

Burn baby burn!!

I think I am addicted.... To Crossfit!!


Today was my first class after completing phase I and I spent all day panicking about it after looking up the WOD in the AM.


So of course I was running late today and ended up running for the bus from work. And then half walked half jogged to the gym from the metro. Good start. I say good start because i wasn't dead before the workout started!! Who knew I had it in me to half-jog?!?!


The warm-up today:
- 250m row
- 10 squats
- 10 pushups
- 10 situps
- 10 pullups


Yeeeeehaaaawwww!!


I went for option 3 today... Because the thought of doing option 1 or 2 makes me queasy.... If you want to know what those WODs are, check it out on their website.


www.crossfitmontreal.ca

The option 3 (modified) WOD for time:
1000m row
20 pullups
20 kettleball deadlifts 20lbs
750m row
15 pullups
15 kettleball deadlifts 20lbs
500m row
10 pullups
10 kettleball deadlifts 20lbs


My goal was to finish in under 25 minutes.


My total time today for the WOD was 19min10sec!!!!!!


I'm stoked!!!!!!!


I was so excited I decided to walk home again.... But don't tell my mother :-) Errrr.... I guess the cat is out of the bag though because she does read this. Hi Mommy!!!!!!


I am going to treat myself to a turkey, avocado and cheese sandwich now!


Oups... No avocado... Turkey and cheese it is...


Cheers!!!


(clunk clunk... Still not drinking so I will cheers you with my berry smoothie)