Random Musings

Who the Hell Is Dick?

I downloaded some Grateful Dead songs onto my iPod, some from CDs that I own, others from iTunes. I came across a pretty cool group of Dead songs called Dick's Picks in my travels and I'm wondering, "Who the hell is Dick?" Granted, Dick has some pretty good taste in Dead tunes (his U.S. Blues pick is awesome), but who is he and why do his picks matter? Where are Bob's picks? Or Mary's picks? Or, for that matter, Martta's picks? And I thought I was up on all that is Dead.
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First Place, Woo-hoo!

I took first place in my age at South Orange Rotary 5K this past Saturday. I felt that I ran well but I never dreamed that would take first place at any race this early in the season. I've started doing some speedwork on my own and that's probably been helping. This was a tough course, too. The first mile is all uphill...yuck! We DID have terrific weather, though, 70s and sunny. The best day for 2006 so far.

My time was 25:21. Not my personal best, but a personal best for this particular course. More than a minute faster than my 2004 time. I am praying to the fast twitch gods that this will be the first of many successes for me in my running career this season.

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Yoga? Zzzzzzz.

First off, let me start by saying that I think yoga is a beautiful thing. It's great for flexibility, stress reduction, spirituality and for people who cannot do weight bearing exercises. That being said, for the most part, I like more of an aerobic or anaerobic workout, like running, swimming, karate, etc.

The reason I bring this up because my sister-in-law RAVES about this yoga place in West Orange and has been trying to get me to come. I did go with her to some sort of anniversary party they had and honestly, I was not that impressed.

For one thing, throughout the entire party, the owners/instructors were shilling for membership. A BIG turnoff to me. Kind of used car lot-ish. Show us, don't tell us, as a former creative writing teacher of mine used to say. Make me want to come back, don't pressure me.

At one point, people got up to give testimonials. One of the stranger ones was a woman, about early 40s, who said that she was having pains in her chest so she decided to check out yoga! Uh, Honey, if I had chest pains, I would be on the phone to a cardiologist, not running to a yoga studio!

Also, while my sister-in-law's in great shape, most of the people doing the demos/testimonials were kind of on the, uh, zaftig side. Not what I would call fit. Think I'll stick with the running, swimming, bike riding and weight training.