My coach told me to approach everything from a place of love. She used to live in Boulder, CO - the place for granola, hippies, and love-ins, so it was expected. I challenged her on it and she said it, was merely a technique to rise above emotion and come with a relaxed, caring perspective. Nancy used to say "be the better person" all the time, and it was maddening ... but she was right. I look at the national scene right now with presidential candidates chiding each other on hand size, ear size, whether they have a tendency to sweat too much ... I was thinking, "What would they say about me???"* What if (big IF) we led lives according to my coach and Nancy - come from a place of love and always be the better person. It would be a better world for sure.
My sister gave me this package of brown rice/quinoa mix. I looked at it with mild disgust, and the question that was going through my mind was, "What type of cheese would go well with this?". BUT alas, I decided to go the healthy direction. I sautéed some green pepper with chicken breast, tossed this with healthy stuff, and it was wonderful (and not a bit of cheese!). On another note, I made cookies from scratch for the blood drive. They all meshed together and it was a disaster. After eating some of the mass, I threw it all in the garbage. I asked a couple of people who would know, what I did that was wrong. Since I KNOW everything was added perfectly, the only thing we came up with was mixing it for 15 minutes may have been a bit much.
So this summer, Iowa Weight Loss Specialists and Iowa Specialty Hospitals & Clinics are sponsoring a RAGBRAI team. I put out an all staff email explaining this. I was talking with Allie Fox today at breakfast and we thought it'd be good to have a group train together on the bikes at the fitness center. I said 3 - one hour sessions on the bikes per week up to the ride (the last week of July), and it will get our leg muscles used to riding and our rear ends used to seats. If anyone has a desire to join this or talk to us about training, drop me an email. Everyone knows what RAGBRAI is and if you've ever had a desire to be part of it - this is your opportunity. Sign up!!
*"When he eats garlic, he smells like garlic. He's balding. Sometimes if he walks around his house without a shirt on and you see him from the window, you'd think he was naked. (I always wear a shirt now). His calves are freakishly muscular. He bites his fingernails. His car is always dirty."
-Steve Simonin, President & CEO
