Physical Funness for the Motion Starved

Fit more fun into your fitness while exploring the outdoors.

Category Archives: Events


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I got Mob’d

Scoutmob.com

A week ago Sunday, my scope said that last week was “going to be all about karma.” I got a little nervous, as I’m not always a good girl. Then I thought about it and thought… yea, I’ve earned some good karma! I’ve done some nice things for people in the not so distant past, so… YES… this should be a good karma kinda week (I figured, think positive).

Anyway, as the week rolled on I kinda forgot about my scope, and then magically good things really did start to happen. It was kind of freaky!

I won’t bore you with the details, but basically the one thing that I wanted to happen was for my Run With The Bus race to turn out well, for it to get Motion Starved some attention and to meet some nice people.  All of which came true.

If you read Fridays post you know how the Bus race turned out, if you didn’t, read it now. What you don’t know, is while literally begging for help to promote the race, I got the attention of the folks at Scoutmob.com, how it happened I have no idea.

If you don’t know Scoutmob, they were born from a love for the locally owned businesses that make our city unique, and the hard-working people who make it all happen. They wanted a chance to work with and promote folks like me, but also a way to tell our stories. Scoutmob is a way to get curious urban explorers like you, out and about and exploring the city… all with the incentive of free mobile deals.

The way the deals work is very simple, if you see something you like, you claim it and then you use it. Like old-school cutting a coupon out of the paper and then redeeming it. You don’t pay Scoutmob anything. Plus, their site is super cool and they work hard to bring you new, fun and interesting things, not just any ol’ thing. That’s where I come in…

It was crazy karmic, I got an email from a nice Scoutmob lady telling me that she liked what I’m doing and since Scoutmob likes to promote people and places that they find curious, they wanted to help get the word out about my style of workouts. With that, they’ve given me a little space in their daily email that goes out to many more thousands of San Franciscans that I could ever hope to reach at this point. The little ad links directly here, to Motion Starved, Scoutmob gets nothing out of this deal other than the satisfaction of getting me some attention and helping their fans find something new and interesting.

The moral of the story, maybe there is something to karma or maybe it’s that hard work gets rewarded, or maybe it’s, do weird things people will notice you. Who knows…Bottom line is, come workout with me. Tell me you’ve been Mob’d I’ll give you 3 classes for 30 bucks.

Kisses…

P.s. Check out Scoutmob.com they’re all over the country. Not just SF.


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Hey there Mr. Bus, we kicked your butt and your friends’ butt too!

Where you been bus? Get a flat?

6:10 pm Wednesday, July 20th 2011. I arrived at the corner of Fillmore and Bay to find a group of 5 or 6 people stretching their legs. Yikes…I thought…it’s starting!

As I chitchatted with the first-comers, and suggested they warm up their legs, others showed up. Every time I turned around there were more people. My head was spinning as I tried to go over the “rules,” route and basic game plan. In my mind there was a lot to do. The initial plan was to get everyone to participate in a warm up sequence but alas all we did was swing our arms around.

As we warmed up (swung our arms around) I sent Mo over to make friends with the bus driver. Armed with a goodwill offering of a box of cherries (why cherries? Because they’re healthy and were on sale) Mo bravely went over to politely let our victim know what was about to transpire. I figured if he knew what we were up to, he might make an effort to travel at a respectable pace and play along.

After the cherries were delivered it took the bus about 10 minutes before it slugged over to the starting line at the corner of Bay and Fillmore. According to the official MUNI schedule the bus was scheduled to depart that out location at 6:32, it was 6:40 when it pulled up to the line (no surprise there). As the bus arrived it lined up at the light, loaded a few passengers and when the light turned green, bus and runners were off.

The pace down Fillmore to Chestnut was reasonable; the runners kept perfect stride with the bus all the way to the light at Chestnut. At the light everyone including the bus (obviously) stopped. When the light turned Green the runners went, immediately leaving the bus behind. That was the last any of us saw of the bus until the finish line, 1.5 miles up the road. Not only did the runners drop the bus they were racing in the first block, they caught up to, and passed the coach that had taken off some 5 plus minutes previous to the one we were racing.

It was amazing watching everyone run up the hill! 4 blocks of hard climbing! Every single person (and lady Jane, our K9 Mascot) dug incredibly deep, they even beat me to the top and I was on a bike! Geez!

In the end everyone seemed to have a great time, thanks to generous donations we had some fine top finisher prizes as well as a couple honorable mentions, all going to very impressive competitors.

Special thanks go to Brock at The SFist for helping me get the word out, Team P for their photos, support and bell ringing. I’d like to thank racer Ross for documenting the event and sharing his video and photos, to Mo for being Mo and to my two other fav Ab’s (that’s code) you made this event happen!

Finally, a huge THANK YOU to everyone who came and raced, brought their friends and had a good chuckle. This is the way life should be, a little nutty, a little challenging, and a little hot and sweaty!

Until next time…

P.s. Thank you for playing Mr. Bus! See you again next month. You might want to work on your hill climbing between now and then… Just sayin’

P.s.s. Wanna see more pix and a video of this event? Check out our Facebook page!


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Allez! Allez… it’s Run With The Bus day!

The 22 Fillmore

Yippee! The very first Motion Starved Run With The Bus competition is here. In case you haven’t been following, we’re racing the 22 Fillmore Muni line from The Marina to Geary Street, here in San Francisco. The course is only 1.5 miles but includes a half-mile of climbing at about a 15% grade. “Ouch” is the word that best describes the climbing in this event.

At approximately 6:30 this evening runners will take on the janky electric bus. There will be spectators along the route as well as supporters on bikes to cheer us on. We have top finisher prizes and my pal Earl has built us a winners podium to insure top-notch photo ops. This is a pro operation folks, no messing around here!

With that, I’d like to take this opportunity to share a few hill running tips:

  • First of all, think “soft eyes, soft mouth, soft shoulders” when running/riding/doing yoga etc… A tense face/body is not an efficient use of valuable energy. Relax!
  • As you run, hold your arms so that your thumbs brush by, or just below your hip bones with each step. Most folks hold their arms too high.
  • Your arms should not cross your body. Think “cheek to cheek” (face cheek to butt cheek).
  • On a hill shorten your stride and pick up your knees pushing off with each step. Think, “push, push, push.”
  • Running uphill, lean into the angel of the hill. Thrust your elbows back hard as you run. Run with power and conquer!
  • Never, ever, look up the hill. Look straight in front of you about 50 feet. When you look up and see where you’re headed you panic. Don’t do that!
  • Breath! Holding your breath is dumb for all sorts of reasons that I’ll go into another day. Just remember to keep breathing.
  • Lastly, make friends with the hill. Most folks hate hills and panic when they see one. If you decide that the hill is your friend then you’ll have an easier time going up than the folks that are busy freaking out about it. Get me?

With that, we’re off. Good luck to all those participating in our Run With The Bus race tonight. I bid you a safe and speedy pursuit.

P.s. Official race report will be posted on Friday. Stay tuned…


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Are you gonna Run With The Bus? Update here…

Hello Bus Racers!

Thank you for participating in our Run With The Bus workout. We at Motion Starved very much appreciate your support and are looking forward to a hella great time. On that note, it’s important to mention that this is an event designed show folks that exercise can be lots of fun and to bring out the kid in us. It’s an excuse to run up a hill and act a little nutty, in no way is it meant to be a comment on Muni service. In fact we hope that Muni will take this challenge in stride and play along with us. As noted there will be prizes for the first few to reach the top of the hill as well as finisher prizes (even if the bus gets there first).  I should also mention that just like the bus, all “racers” are expected to obey the rules of the road (stop and wait at the light!) and exhibit acceptable sidewalk etiquette (no knocking into people please).

As noted there should be a 22 Fillmore arriving at Bay and Fillmore at about 6:30. When the bus leaves the location we’re off and running. Since the course is only about 1.5 miles and goes up hill pretty fast I suggest you warm up before the start. I will be leading a short warm up workout starting at 6:20 please attend if you’re able.

Lastly, don’t forget you’ll need to get home after the race. Unfortunately Motion Starved is not able to provide transportation back to the start so you’ll need to bring bus fare or run/walk back. Better yet, hang out on Fillmore with fellow racers and enjoy a little recovery snackage.

Thanks for playing! See you on Wednesday!

Kelley

P.s. For the original Run With The Bus posting, visit the “Schedule” page.


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Mud and mirrors

You get beer after your wreck your shoes in Seattle!

Happy Monday!

Wha’d ya’ll get up to this weekend? I’d love to hear your reports. But alas, few of you actually participate in my attempt to be “social.” Does my breath stink? Wait, you can’t smell my breath via the web. Not yet anyway, I hear they’re working on an app for that.

Well, here’s what I did. I went to my first Hip Hop dance class. Yep, I sucked. A white girl with rhythm I am not. It was fun, but a little stressful. Nothing like being in a room of about…50 people, all of whom you assume know how to dance. At the same time, being forced to stare at yourself in a massive wall of mirrors while you’re jumping around. I saw things shake in that mirror that had no business being attached to my body, they seemed to have a life of their own, and it severely offended me!

Once I realized that looking in the mirror wasn’t going to help me, I started to look around for people to follow. That however, was not an easy task, some of the folks seemed to be interpreting the dance differently from that which was being taught. You’d think I’d be happy to see other “dancers” dorking out (I have no idea why I just typed that phrase, but I like it) but it confused me even more.

In the end, I found a couple of women that I could follow and that made all the difference. Although, once they moved out of my line of sight I was dead in the water (more like, chub in the mirror).

The bottom line is, I had a great time because I was being challenged, pushed out of my comfort zone. The teacher, Micaya was beyond amazing. In all her cool, thinness, she completely understood every single person in the room and their struggles that day. The kind of teacher/person that makes everyone she comes across feel better for having met her.

I see another Hip Hop class in my future, not because I particularly care about being some great hip-hop dancer, but for the insane “fun” of it.

Lastly, while I was working hard not to knock anybody over in hip-hop class, my friend Dawn was working her inner Goddess at the Warrior Dash, in Seattle this weekend. What’s a “Warrior Dash?” According to the website it’s it “fire-leaping, extreme run from hell”. Yikes! I can’t wait for her report! I’ve seen photos and I gotta say, I’m crazy jealous! Stay tuned, Dawn was wearing a video camera on her chest, she & her hubby Mark are working on a video, which we’ll share here on Motion Starved very soon. No shit, this is gonna be something to see! Stay tuned…

See ya Wednesday, in the mean time, do something “nuts”…!


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OMG! Why did I sign up for that?

Around and around we go...

I have a client who’s running her very first 5k and it’s in just a few weeks. Currently, she’s pretty calm, but experience tells me that the night before her running debut she’s gonna wonder what the hell she was thinking when she signed up for such a thing. We all do that, we do it no matter how many times we race, participate in a competitive event or sign up for something that’s new to us. It’s just the way it works.

My advice to my client and to the rest of the world is to remain calm. Freaking out uses valuable energy that you’ll need later.

If you were smart, you’ve trained and planned well for your challenge. Perhaps you even scoped out the course, or spied through the window of a dance class so you’d know exactly what you’re getting yourself into. You read the event information packet ahead of time and you have all your ducks in a row. It’s anticipating surprises that freak us out, I think. Maybe you remember when I did that stair climb in the B of A Building for charity a few months ago, I got all freaked out because at the last-minute I read a note in the race rules that said “do not crawl on the stairs.” Just reading that set off all sorts of horrific thoughts in my head. I imagined that people become so exhausted that they had to crawl to the finish. In the end, I found that I was being very silly as the race itself was a piece of cake (because I trained for it!).

With that, my best pre event suggestions are as follows:

  • Get yourself completely ready a few days before your event. Make sure your cloths are clean, have good food in the house, read all the event info, collect your race number/chip everything you need so the last few days you can chill.
  • It’s important that two nights before your event you get a good night sleep. You may be anxious the night before making for a less than perfect nights sleep so focus on two nights before. If you have a good sleep two nights before, the night before you’ll feel less anxious.
  • Eating the night before. Frankly I never recommend stuffing yourself the night before. No matter how far, or what it is you plan to do. Remember, the more you eat the harder your body has to work to digest it. When your body works hard it gets tuckered out and can affect your sleep.  Remember, you don’t want to carry around a pile of pasta in your gut while you attempt to race. Get what I’m saying here?
  • What to eat the morning of your event can be tricky. The rule of thumb is, eat 2-3 hours before your event to allow your body time to digest the food (and so you don’t yack it up). That can be a problem when your event is in the early morning. From years of experience I’ve found that I can stomach oatmeal w/raisins & walnuts a couple of hours before seriously exerting myself. But, that’s come with years of trial and error and now I stick with just that. The most important thing I can tell you is that you need to practice eating just as you would anything else. As you train, try different foods and at different times. Not only will you figure out what to eat, and when to eat, you’ll find out what foods give you most energy. It’s trial and error.
  • Bottom line, never try anything new the day of the event. No new food, drink, lotion, shoes, clothing, nothing! You have no idea how you’ll react to it so don’t take the risk. As far as shoes are concerned, it takes 2 weeks to break in new shoes so if you need new shoes get ‘em early (bike shoes too!).
  • Lastly, have faith in yourself. Trust that you’ve trained and are ready for this exciting new challenge. As you lay in bed the night before say to yourself: Okay, self…this is how this is going to work… you’re gonna have a good night sleep and wake up feeling great. You’re gonna get to the event and you’re gonna go, go, go feeling great the whole time. Everything will be smooth and easy, and you’ll feel unbelievably great when you’re done.  It works every time. Trust me.

Now, go make me proud…


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Oldness

Seriously?

Nancy The Guit (as I like to call her) had a birthday this past weekend. According to Nancy she is now “old.” It was hard for Nancy to turn “old,” just as it was for me last year. When we’re kids we learn that birthdays are something to be celebrated, that they’re “our special day.” We get attention and gifts, and we eat cake, yippee, a day to look forward to.

But then, we get older and we become sensitive to the number attached to that special day. We get stuck on those double digits representing the years of our life; numbers that are reminders of the approaching deadlines for the goals that we had hoped to achieve and may have missed. At which point, celebrating is the last thing you want to do (although cake is still welcome).

In spite of our best, educated intentions, The Birthday Dreads take hold. You can’t stop them and nothing can be said to make the transition from young to (your perception of) old any easier.

All you can do is let the dread/sadness run its course. It’s okay to be emotional but there’s no point in making a big deal of it and fretting. Like everything in life, you gotta let it flow.

With that I would like to remind you of a few good things that come with being “old:”

  • A good thing about getting older is that you’ve seen a lot of things — You’ve felt things, seen things and lived through them. With that, you come to know who you are, you become more confident, have greater perspective and make wiser decisions.
  • When we’re old, we have a better understanding of others — We allow people to be as they are, we’ve come to realize that there’s no need to change anyone, it wouldn’t do much good to try anyway. We appreciate those who have been kind to us and let go of those who have not.
  • In case you’re concerned — People don’t get grumpy when they get old. It’s grumpy young people that become grumpy old people. As you age you’re more emotionally (except for the days when your hormones go through the roof) stable making you happier/less grumpy.
  • And — When you get super old, they let you to into the movie for really cheap and public transportation is practically free!

In the end, let the good times roll and stop thinking about where you haven’t been and start thinking about where you want to go next…


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Sometimes you gotta just suck it up and dig deep.

I have a really nice house with a really nice yard, a really needy cat and lots of good friends, all of which are constantly calling for my attention. If it’s not one thing it’s another, the cat vomits, the lawn needs mowing, friends need calling. There’s always something to do. My point is, it’s hard to get out and do things that require more than just a little effort. Specifically things that take a significant amount of guts, or offer a challenge.

For example; last weekend Penny and I participated in a trail run/race that took us up 3,000 feet in the air within the first 3.5 miles. After that we still had to climb another 2,000 feet. Translation; up, up and up till you think you might puke, then down, around and up some more. Pen took second place in spite of the fact that she has a full-time job, two babies, a husband, a house and a very needy dog. Pen did so well because she dug deep and sucked it up. She knows no other way.

This weekend SarahSwitchblade participated in something we call The Double Dipsea. It’s another trail run/race. Translation; it dips from a mountain top to the sea and back up again, hence The Double Dip-sea. Switchie took first place in this torture fest. To my knowledge she didn’t puke, although my guess is she thought she might, more than once. Switchie too has a house, a bike racer husband whom she supports, pets, a job and all that.

When my Dad rode his bike across Iowa a couple of summers ago he didn’t wear socks with his Topsiders (not exactly “proper” cycling shoes). The ride was 7 days, and 500 miles filled with wind, rain, heat, pork chops and corn. Dad’s ankles bled the whole time. At one point I said “Dad! Your ankles are bleeding!!!!” Dad said, “What? No they aren’t!” Given that Dads ankles looked like hamburger, I then realized that he was sucking it up, doing what he need to in order to complete his challenge, so I shut up. Dad, has a very big job, a very, very big house, a wife, a not so needy dog, a cat and 3 grown, problematic children.

I know stepping outside of your comfort zone is hard. It’s hard every time you do it. It’s hard for me, for Pen, for Sarah for my Dad, for everyone. We’re all everyday people.

Remember, it’s not about “winning” something, it’s about making the effort, having the experience, or in my case, the story. Because in the end, it’s all about the stories!

(Am I right Pen? Switchie? Dad?)


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Walk up Wednesday


Walking is one of the quickest ways to blast up to 25% more calories and exercising outside is said to earn you up to 30%. So, ditch the treadmill get some fresh air.

My workout suggestion for today is to go for a power walk around your neighborhood. I’ve got some things for you to do so you don’t get bored and zap even more calories.

Here you go:

Warm up — Swing your arms around, front to back and across your body like you’re a crazy person hugging yourself. Circle your ankles 20 times each direction. Do a few jumping jacks, 25 should do it. This should take about 3 minutes.

The Meat of it — Start by walking at a quick, but comfortable pace that you can hold. (Keep a forward leaning position, it should feel like you have to take a step to keep from falling forward. Abs tight.) Keep walking, when you see a hill or set of public stairs, take the challenge and head up, even if it means you have to change your course. Hold your quick pace! You should be huffing and puffing your way to the top of each hill or set of stairs. If you can hold a conversation, you aren’t working hard enough.  Continue on your walk taking every hill or set of stairs you come upon. Use the down hill portions and flat areas as recovery, to catch your breath but keep a relatively quick pace. For bonus points add some triceps dips, bench push ups and or ab work at the top of each challenge. Just keep thinking of all those M&M’s you are burning off!

An hour of this and you could easily zap 500 calories!

P.s. Adding 3,600 steps to your day can help you lose 15 pounds a year! 3,600 steps equal about 1.5 miles. If you do the workout above correctly you will have covered about 4 miles!

P.s.s. Watch the above video at your own risk, it might make you a little dizzy. I know it’s silly but I think it’s funny.


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Petite Chunkage

Happy Friday Everyone! This week seems to have flown by. I hope it’s treated you well.

Today, I’d like to send you away for the weekend with a few small chunks, things that have flown my way this week.

A client of mine didn’t understand why she’s felt incredibly hungry this week — Folks, when you work out your body gets hungry! Food is fuel. Your body needs fuel to operate, just like your car. The more you work it, the more it needs. Just watch what you eat. No cheese puffs. If you want it to work, and keep working, you need to feed it.

Nap time — I hate naps. Naps are for kids and usually make me cranky. This week however, I took a nap on three different occasions. I’m still cranky but at least I can stand up and focus my eyes. If your body wants to sleep, let it. When you’re tired is when you are most likely to injure yourself during exercise, or in my case walking down the street. Listen to your body. Do what it says.

If you’re gonna ride a bike, learn to fix a flat and take flat repair gear with you on every ride — If I see one more person standing by the side of the road with their bike turned upside down waiting for someone to come pick them up, I am going to scream. Be smart, be self-sufficient.

Yep, it’s been raining — They’re calling this month Junuary. It’s funny but then it’s not. Remember: Those cold and rainy training days are the days that later pay off and help you reach your goals. Endure!

See you next week. I’m making Cowgirl Cookies this weekend. Will let you know how they turn out.

Be smart…