I know, I know. I’m extremely late to the yoga party. But at least I’m finally showing up. I convinced myself this week that I needed to end my gym drought and make use of some of the classes I was paying for. Since I’m training for the Rock ‘n Roll Savannah half marathon, I figured yoga would be a helpful addition and would force me to do a little stretching (I got scolded at Fleet Feet for being a stretch slacker). I’ve been getting better at working stretching in, but I still forget to do it after runs

I have a silly habit of getting nervous about going to places I’ve never been or participating in activities/events that I’ve never done. I think it’s the control freak in me that doesn’t like giving up control and being knowledge-less about the situation – who will be there? will I run into a student? will it be so full that I’ll have to be in the front row? will the instructor be using yoga terms? are there certain yoga clothes I should be wearing so I don’t stand out as the newbie?

But really, who cares? Why does any of that matter? It doesn’t! And life is too short to worry about nonsense like that.

The short story – I survived and really enjoyed my first official yoga class! I was the youngest person there (I’m almost 30), so that was interesting. I thought my legs were going to pop off during pigeon pose, and apparently so did the older gentleman next to me based on his grunts 🙂 I think yoga will be beneficial for half marathon training, and it will definitely force me to stretch 😉

Do y’all have any suggestions for how to prevent slipping on the mat? During downward dog my hands kept sliding all over the place. I’d also love to hear where y’all get cute yoga clothes!

Update: I’m so sore today! I also found this article from Runner’s World on how yoga can improve your running!