Oakland Running Festival

March 27th was the 2nd annual Oakland Running Festival. This event was jammed packed with events the entire weekend for the endurance runner/walker and the not-so endurance runner/walker and this is truly a family event. It included a kids fun run, twilight run, and of course, the main event, full and half marathon.

My biggest concern for this day was the rain. It had poured days and weeks prior leading up to race day. I must say, I never paid more attention to the weatherman/woman than I had during the week. The previous Sunday, I was scheduled to participate in another walk, but didn't because of rain. I couldn't let another paid event go to waste. I mean...if I had a money tree, it would be one thing, but since I don't....

The morning of the race, the skies were very gray, but I remained hopeful as did my mom and best friend who were also participating in the event that it didn't rain. It was super cold, too!

And so, my 8th half marathon, begins.

Like most of my marathons, I take off alone as my mom and best friend are much faster walkers than me. I pick up on conversations along the way though thanks to the other walkers who walk at my pace. Typical conversations, 'where are you from', 'is this your first marathon', 'do you think you'll do another one', blah-blah-blah....

I'm cruising along parts of Oakland I've never been to or have only seen from the Bart train. I must say, Oakland is an interesting city and it's really a shame that most people will only hear about the 'bad' parts of Oakland. Like San Francisco, Oakland is an urban city! It has great neighborhoods with cool aesthetics and not so cool neighborhoods (i.e. cars parked on lawns or 'car garden's' as a former boss would say, project areas, and industrial parts of town with A LOT of potential). The city just needs to give some TLC to those parts of Oakland, too.

One cool moment was passing The Crucible. I've only known them to be an organization that creates awesome displays using fire. When in fact, they are a non-profit educational organization that fosters a collaboration of Arts, Industry, and Community. They created an arch out of iron/metal with fire coming out of it. Once runners/walkers went through the arch, we received stickers that read, ' I ran through fire today'. I thought it was pretty cool.

Some other moments for me along the way...

• The Oakland Raiders fans aka 66th St. mob were out with a DJ spinning hot tunes and some in full-on costume regalia, face paint, masks, etc. It was pretty comical and totally unexpected. I appreciated the cool beats spinning and the high five by the 'gorilla' as I walked on by.

• I now know where Brown Sugar Kitchen is located. I've read about this place and have yet to try it. I can't wait because I smelled biscuits and bacon as I walked by. I hope they have turkey bacon was my thought, but it smelled like pork.

• Using the men's restroom at the Amtrak station. A passenger used a credit cart to open the restroom and I asked a guy I had been walking with to wait for me. Why you may ask? Because there was someone in the other stall! I told the guy to use the urinal and I'll use the stall! I know..perhaps this is tmi, but it happened. I was grateful for that man! I felt safe in that stall. We kept on walking once we were done and never spoke of that moment!

I'm walking along at about mile 9 or 10 wishing this thing was over already and saw seagulls. Lots of seagulls flying low. To me, that's a sign the rain is coming. All I could think of was, 'Lord, please let me finish this before the rain begins'. My body is feeling broke down and I'm trying to pick up my pace. I couldn't pick up the pace. I was tired and over this marathon and couldn't wait to see the finish line!

Thank goodness for cheer squads/course supporters because by this point, I needed to hear them yelling words of encouragement. This car even yelled out, 'you're almost there'. I yelled back, too! 'Can I have a ride!' They kept going. I'm sure they didn't hear me.

By this point, I'm at mile 12 and the cheers are getting louder and louder and I'm feeling the energy as my pace picks up. Trust me...I seriously thought I was going to 'bonk'. I didn't think I could do it.

I made my way to 14th/Telegraph and I could see the Finish. I was feeling pretty good as crowds of people were cheering and applauding. They didn't know my name, so they yelled out, 'congratulations 5879'! All I could do was smile and nod.

I crossed the finish line with my mom and best friend waiting for me...as usual. I immediately let them know that I wanted a hamburger! That is what I craved along the way. And so, we went to Blvd. Burger and enjoyed our victory meals.

Special shout-outs to friends I saw along the way:
My college counselor, Mr. Robert Clark
My cardio-kickboxing instructor, Ofc. /Sifu Damon Gilbert
My mom's friend, Claudia Reyes
TNT coaches: Mama Lisa, and Al


www.oaklandmarathon.com
www.thecrucible.org
www.brownsugarkitchen.com

Zumba! Surgeon General - Regina Benjamin, Dr. Pamela Peeke, and Beto Per...

My First Zumba Party

On Thursday, March 17th, I attended my first Zumba party with Sharon and Letica. I didn't know what to expect, but boy was I surprised when I went to the SF Marriott to stand in line for entry. There were tons of people in line in bright colors of hot pink, lime green, reds, and of course, decked out in Shamrocks! I mean...it was St. Patrick's Day, after all.

You honestly would have thought there was a major music star we were all waiting to see. But in Zumba life, the major star was Beto Perez, the creator of this fitness party, Zumba! He was leading the Zumba party while we attendees supported Augies Quest to fight ALS. This Zumba party was a party with a cause and rather than be decked out in our fly skirts, pumps, etc., we were decked out in workout gear, sneakers, and headbands.

Upon entry, there was a stage set up for Beto and his crew along with a DJ and live percussion band. It was freakin awesome, yet unbelievable at the same time. I was really in awe. I mean, who would come out to the SF Marriott and NOT go the the View Bar on the 39th floor?

There were a few speakers to remind us why we were attending this event along with the US Surgeon General, Dr. Regina Benjamin and Dr. Pamela Peeke. Both provided great support to Beto.

Once the music started, Beto said, 'let's warm up' and off we went to WORK IT OUT! It was such a great time and great fun! It was said there were more than 2000 people in attendance and $210,000 was raised.

Attending a Zumba party was way better than going to the club!



http://www.augiesquest.org/
http://www.zumba.com/us/

When the scale doesn't show hard work....

So...it's no secret that I am always working on bringing sex-ier back. I say 'sexier' for obvious reasons...I already know I'm sexy! Let me tell you, it's not easy. From a previous post, I've starting taking Zumba classes led by my friend, Sharon.

This past February, I decided to re-join Weight Watcher's (WW) to assist with my bringing sex-ier back challenge. Fitness and Medical experts say exercise combined with a healthy diet will lead to weight loss and a healthier self. I know and understand all of that. In fact, my doctors say I'm healthy (numbers wise), but I need to lose a few pounds to ensure I don't develop high cholesterol or blood pressure. (I am not even close to being in jeapordy for that!)

I know with weight loss there are up and down weeks, but two weeks ago, I followed WW as best I could. I logged every morsel I put in my mouth, I worked out, and I slept well. I went for my weekly weigh in and I was up .8lbs. To many, that is nothing, but when you know you busted your butt all week and said, 'no' to the sweet treats, it was a little discouraging. I returned home from my meeting to log my weekly weight and than checked my email. In my inbox, my best friend, Yvette, shared an article ironically sent from WW. The focus of the article was to celebrate your 'non-scale victories'. Pretty apropos, huh?

The article talked about not letting the scale be the only factor being considered as part of your weight loss journey. Consider ALL of the many things this experience is doing for you and celebrate them, too.

• Exercising regularly
• Eating better i.e. more fruits and vegetables
• Clothes are fitting differently i.e. better!, etc.

This article gave me great pause to really sit back and tell myself, 'yes, I am doing a great job at becoming a healthier me'. I had to kick start my damn self, put away the thoughts of what junk food I wanted to enjoy at my pity party.

And so, off I went to prepare a yummy, healthy breakfast of egg white scramble with mushrooms, bell peppers, turkey bacon, and whole wheat english muffin. On WW, that's a 7 point breakfast. The next week, I weighed in 1.2 lbs lighter.

I celebrated that victory, too!


http://www.weightwatchers.com/index.aspx

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Today is my mom's 60th birthday! She is the very reason this blog began. I wanted to document my training experience with her as she set out to train me to run a 1/2 marathon before my 40th birthday.

Mom inspired and told me, 'yes you can complete a full marathon'. A full marathon is 26.2 miles. Mom told me she would be there at the finish when I was done. And so, mom has met met at all of the full and 1/2 marathon's I've completed.

Thanks mom for being my biggest cheerleader, role model, and inspiration to stay fit and healthy.

Happy Birthday!

Love,
Juvella

Giving Yoga a try... again

I'll always try a workout at least once. I've tried yoga about 3 times. All of those experiences haven't been the best for me. I guess I'm a sucker to keep returning to something I've not enjoyed or was successful at.

Yoga on the Labyrinth at Grace Cathedral gave me a new perspective and a reason to say, ' I'm glad I tried yoga, again'. My two co-workers have been going to Yoga on the Labyrinth for a while now and have invited me to go with them. For one reason or another, I've declined the invite, but I've always asked that they light a candle and say a prayer for me.

This past Tuesday, I gave Yoga on the Labyrinth a try and I'm so glad I did. I had the most wonderful experience from start to finish. The instructor, Darren asked the class if their were newbies, of course I raised my hand. His voice was very gentle and kind. He welcomed me, thanked my friends who invited me, and than he introduced me to a 'helper', Laurel. She would walk around to check on me, show me alternative poses, or help me get into poses.

The session begins with a live harpist and vocalist as Darren reads a mediation, which was an excerpt of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s speech on the night of his assassination. Afterward, he asks us all to take in a deep breath and let it out, saying, 'OHM'. I felt weird, so I didn't do that, but I did let out the deep breath. As the session continued, Darren took us through downward dog, warrior poses, child's pose, table top, etc. I was comfortable moving from one position to the next with Laurel coming by to ease me into the pose. At times, I would just stay in child's pose.

It was comfortable there. I lay still and listen to my own breath.

The session concludes with Darren reading the same MLK excerpt. Here we are practicing yoga in a Christian Church with people of all ethnic backgrounds and religious practices, but at the end of the day, we're all looking for our mountain top of peace.

To my co-workers, thank you for inviting me to such a wonderful experience. I am so glad I was able to give yoga another try.

And, I was able to light my own candle and say my own prayer.

Namaste and Amen.

Getting fit to stay fit

Happy New Year!

With the new year, everyone sets out to lose weight, eat better, quit smoking, etc. and blah-blah-blah.

Everyday for me, I set out to get fit and eat healthy because I know it makes me feel better in general, but about myself, too. It's not easy because at times, it is a struggle to do both.

Thanks to Facebook, I've reconnected with many grammar school mates, one of whom posted her road to a healthier life/weight loss journey with frequent updates, Sharon Jones Steele. Sharon and I have some fitness activities in common, but I found her to be a bit more daring than me. She's about crazy long bike rides and muddy buddy runs.

What especially caught my eye was Sharon's post about becoming certified to teach Zumba classes. I had heard of Zumba, but hadn't tried it. I'm always down to try new fitness activities to keep me motivated and to stay on the healthy trail. I mentioned to Sharon that once she had a class going to let me know and I would be there. She kept her word and I kept my word.

She subbed at a gym where I'm not a member, but I told her I would go, so I paid the non-member fee and took her Zumba class. I think it was one of her first classes, too. I was bitten by the Zumba bug! I had soooooo much fun! I told Sharon to keep me posted on her classes and she had at least one student in class, ME!

I've attended all, but one of Sharon's classes, to date. She tells others in her classes upon introduction that she can always count on me to show up for class. Sharon thanks me for attending. I thank HER for hosting the class. I let her know that our relationship is mutual. Her class is getting me fit to stay fit!

Whatever your New Year plan is, make sure you add something to maintain a healthy life and whatever that is, have fun doing it!

Sharon, I thank you for getting me out on the Zumba floor!

If you want to bring the Zumba party to your work outs, find classes with Sharon, or a Zumba class in your area visit www.zumba.com and click, 'find an instructor' or 'find a classs'.