Mindful Strides Round 2!

Last Sunday I was invited back down to Victoria to attend a second Mindful Strides Workshop. As you may remember, I did a 2 days workshop back in June. This was my chance to check up with Marilyn to make sure I was headed in the right direction and improving on the drills, which in turn improves my form. I feel as though I am more efficient with my running, but many times I have thought I was doing things right, to then film myself and see that I actually wasn't doing things the way I thought. So it was nice to have Marilyn's expert eyes to give me a few little tips and cues and overall I was advised that everything was looking improved and much better! Woo hoo!

Marilyn demonstrating



Assisting another workshop attendee



Me doing the drills (photo credit Mar's iphone, Kat's photo skills)

I also wanted to go to the workshop so I could do another Yoga class with Yoga Guru Katherine! I will admit I haven't done much of the Yoga she taught me back in June. I am so new to Yoga that this weekend was only my 3rd class (if you count each day of the 2 day workshop separately). I feel as though I was more comfortable with it this time around, but definitely am by no means an expert. I find doing Yoga easier following someone else and Kat's voice is so soothing and calming I swear she could put me to sleep at times.

I drove down from Nanaimo on Sunday and it was cloudy and rainy all the way to Duncan (about half way to Victoria). On the other side of Duncan, it started to clear and then driving over the Malahat, pure sunshine! It was a gorgeous day at Beacon Hill Park which is not far from downtown Victoria. The park was busy, which was likely because Saturday was a day of pouring rain and most families were taking advantage of the sunny day. It was a good group of about 10 or so of us. Even 3 others from Nanaimo went down after I sent out a little blurb about the workshop to the local running clubs.

Kat (and Marilyn in the background) getting ready for meditation



Marilyn all tangled up!



Katherine!!

Thanks to Marilyn and Katherine for allowing me to take part in another successful workshop. They have one last workshop on August 29th in Vancouver and then they will both be taking a break from Mindful Strides to concentrate on the final preparations for their marathon at the end of September. More workshops might become available in October, so keep your eyes open at the Mindful Strides website.

Training is going well this week. I had a strong workout on Tuesday. My workout buddy Mark who has joined me for at least 1 workout and 1 easy run per week for the last 2-3 weeks is in Vegas this week, leaving me to run them alone. Not a huge deal though as I used to do pretty much 100% of my training alone anyways. I thought I would miss him on my Tuesday workout, but it went well without him. Another good workout is scheduled for tomorrow. It would be nice to have his company for this one as well, but I will survive. Occasionally one can get stuck alone in a race, so doing workouts solo can be good preparations for that right?

See you on the trails!