Dam Race 2012 prep 1

The date for the 2012 Dam Race is July 21. Let’s be ready, team Mantua!

  “ Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. ”
    ― Thomas A. Edison

DDR (Dear Dam Racers),

I have let you all languish in repose long enough! It is time to begin your Dam Race preparations.

Perhaps some few of you have kept up your training, and you are to be commended. However, even you noble ones need some instruction to be fully prepared for the intense competition that will soon be at your doorstep.

Chi: life energy, life force, or energy flow

We begin with the first of the four Chi-skills written about by my good (unilateral) friend Danny Dreyer who wrote Chi Running. And that skill is:

Focusing Your Mind

Your mind instructs your muscles to start working or relaxing. Your mind orchestrates the perfect run, the perfect form, starting out slowly, finding the perfect tempo, and taking in the beauty and chi of your surroundings so that you finish relaxed, empowered, and full of energy for the day ahead.

When your mind is focused and your body is responsive, you have y’chi (ee-chee), a full mind/body focus. It’s the unbreakable focus of a cat when it stalks a bird, or a tennis player awaiting a serve.

Like a meditation practice, the training of the mind and body in ChiRunning is more relaxing than letting the mind wander. Studies have shown that watching TV is not as relaxing as sitting quietly. A focused mind is more relaxed than a mind that wanders aimlessly through the details and minutiae of the day. When you are focused on teaching yourself something new, the benefits to your body and mind will far outweigh the effort it takes to focus. Eventually as the ChiRunning form becomes second nature, your mind and body become as one.

PRACTICE EXERCISE: Focus on your posture, whether sitting, walking, or running. When in a standing position, pay attention to your upper body alignment, your lower body alignment, and pelvic tilt. Imagine a line running downward through the middle of your head, right down through the middle of your ankles to the floor. Keep head and chin straight. Now focus on your feet. Your feet should be parallel and hip width apart. Make sure the feet are parallel and not turned out. Imagine a yard stick lying flat and straight out in front of you on the ground (or put one there), then align the inside of one foot along the straight edge. Do not let the ball of the foot rotate outward. FOCUS!

When you begin your daily run, keep your mind gently focused on your posture.

Coming soon, the next Chi skill: Body Sensing.


Off and running,


Coach Rebrah

Florida Track Meet & Hunger Games

SO, we drove nine hours to Jacksonville, Florida to see Mary in the UNF invitational track meet. She did not jump her best, but did pretty good, and we had a wonderful time visiting, despite the rain and rain delays. We stayed in the same hotel as the track team. (The serving woman in the breakfast room of the hotel said that the Harvard team was very nice and very polite, unlike other teams that were very rude and very not nice!) I read the entire second book of The Hunger Games to Russel as he drove; certainly made the time go fast and kept us awake. (We did not stay in the Seahorse hotel, but it reminded Russel of California hotels, so we took a pic!) And that is Mary with her coach, Coach Tolbert.

Pinks!

Pinks are so beautiful! And so pink! And the really cool thing is, they smell like cloves, and I love cloves! We have had a beautiful spring. Right now, in addition to the Pinks (dianthus) my white azaleas are blooming. Sun and rain sun and rain; it's a good combination.

Forgiveness

I was thinking about forgiveness the other day, I guess because I was privy to a particular incident, and several others I have known about over the years. This kind of information is not often known, because people don't usually talk about it. I came to the conclusion that people don't forgive, they get even. Perhaps not in the Hatfield and McCoy way, but even nonetheless. Except for kids; people do forgive their kids. Maybe that's why God can forgive us, we are children. If we were on par with Him, maybe he wouldn't be so forgiving! ;) No doubt that is why that multiple gods thing didn't work out so well.