I taught my normal Monday hot class this evening but it was one of those classes where everything seemed right. I felt instantly engaged and connected. The moment I walked in the studio door after a long afternoon at work, I knew it was going to be good.

This is in stark contrast to last week’s class where I felt disconnected and stumbled over my words, nothing came naturally. My mind was somewhere else.

I talked to my class this evening about accepting both the good and the bad practices. Some days it’s easy and you leave feeling on top of the world. Other days require a bit more digging to make peace with your body and mind and you leave kind of wondering what just happened there.

If it was easy all the time, it wouldn’t be any fun.

This has been one of my biggest lessons as both a runner/yoga student and as a teacher. Some days it’s just not there and you really can’t force it. These days, instead of getting frustrated with my run or my practice, I figure out a way to get something out of it that I perhaps wasn’t looking for when I started out. When I am teaching and discover that it’s one of those days I give myself a break instead of beating myself up. It’s impossible to be 100% on every single day. And I know my students are okay with a little imperfection…it’s what makes us real.

That said, when it’s good…it’s great. I always love teaching but classes like tonight’s leave me feeling so lucky and grateful that people actually choose to allow me to guide them through their practices. I only hope that when they roll up their mats, they feel a sense of personal achievement and self-worth for the things they accomplished.

It’s much the same with my personal practice and running. The tough ones make the good ones so much better. There is no better feeling than the triumph and rush that comes with a really strong practice or run. I feel endless thanks for the things that my body does for me.

What lessons have you learned from making it through “bad” workouts/runs/practices?

I was up waaayyy before the sun this morning (like 4:45 a.m. before the sun) to teach BodyPump. After class I came home and made a pot of oat bran/oatmeal while I got ready for work.

This was a mix of rolled oats, oat bran, ground flax, banana, pumpkin, cinnamon and dried cranberries. Topped with TJs pumpkin butter and almond butter.

Lunch was an open-faced sandwich with hummus, mashed avocado, heirloom tomatoes, spinach and cheese on whole wheat. Carrots, tortilla chips and a peach on the side.

I packed a Greek yogurt/fig/granola mix for an afternoon snack.

And finally, dinner was leftovers from Saturday’s get together. Pulled pork, baked beans, collards and cole slaw. Just as good as round one!

Oh…and then this happened. 😉

I used my powers of Twitter persuasion (uh…never mind he was sitting right next to me) to convince Brandon to go to TCBY with me.

Brandon, Sullie and I loaded into the car and took a trip to TCBY. I won’t even begin to start listing what went into this concoction but the highlight was the cookies and cream yogurt flavor + waffle cone pieces as a topping.

Must go prep for my day tomorrow and then get in bed to read. Trying to finish the last Hunger Games book. Call me crazy but they’re no Twilight series for me.