Boston Marathon

Dear Friends,

It feels great to be home. Woven into the gratitude of all your sweet messages and hugs, I have had an painful sense of sadness thinking about beautiful Boston and those who suffered and are recovering. I never imaged I would ever be this close to terror. I am thankful for wonderful friends that were there and looked out for me. Melinda and I are excited to train for next year!

Monday, April 22nd, Sophie and I will be back for LG Boot Camp.
The session dates are:
April 22nd – May 17th.
MWF @ 6:00 AM & 9:00 AM
You can join us for a 2-Week session, a 4-Week Session or Drop-in.
LGBootCamp.com

All proceeds will go to:
The One Fund Boston – a catchall vehicle for supporting the families most affected by the finish-line explosions at the Boston Marathon. If you’d like more information, please go to onefundboston.org.

I wanted to share the heartfelt letter from the Boston Athletic Association to the runners. I can’t speak highly enough of the B.A.A. and how they handled everything. Finally, I have included my personal experience from the race that was on my Facebook page. Thank you again for your friendship!!

Much love,
Lori

TO OUR RUNNERS:

As we watch the latest episode in this agonizing story surrounding Monday’s cowardly attack in Boston, I want to let everyone who participated in this year’s marathon know that we at the Boston Athletic Association stand with you.

We have been inspired by your bravery in the face of unspeakable cruelty, and we have been moved by your outpouring of support for our race officials, volunteers and our entire Boston Marathon family-a family of which you are now a lifetime member.

We will be forever moved by the strength of our runners. Runners who finished their race, only to then race to give blood to help save their fellow runners who had fallen. Runners who helped support those around them when they found themselves leaving the course and huddling in schools, churches and the homes of strangers who opened their doors.

Monday’s tragic events affected us all. Those who were injured are in our thoughts and prayers. Yesterday, we prayed together. We prayed with President Obama, who told us.

Our prayers are with the injured-so many wounded, some gravely. From their beds, some are surely watching us gather here today. And if you are, know this: As you begin this long journey of recovery, your city is with you. Your commonwealth is with you. Your country is with you. We will all be with you as you learn to stand and walk and, yes, run again. Of that I have no doubt. You will run again. You will run again!

And we will run again. You are strong. Boston is strong. And You and Boston have made us enormously proud. The Boston Marathon is a deeply held tradition, an integral part of the fabric and history of our running community. We are committed to continuing that tradition with the running of the 118th Boston Marathon in 2014. We will all run again.

Facebook Post 4/17/13:

The Boston Marathon:
Thank you Boston for your outpouring of love and friendship from every walk of life.
I love your Patriot’s Day, and deep love for our country and appreciation for this great land we live in. Along the course I saw so many guided runners, military service men and women who have lost their sight for our freedom. I saw miles of beautiful country, and picture perfect quaint towns where everyone extended every hospitality. There were thousands of enthusiastic college kids screaming and cheering just for the runners, and humorous devoted sports fans who sure know how to enjoy their refreshments. I was almost overwhelmed with emotion every mile thinking about my family, my daughter and the joy magnified of our blessing and miracles this year. I met wonderful runners from all over the world.

I couldn’t comprehend at first the horror of what had happened, and then I was fully overwhelmed with the deep sorrow we all felt. In the midst of terrible tragedy and shock, there continued a gracious and giving spirit by all. I saw faith, hope and love. I know there was fear, especially in the confusion when so many were trying to find loved ones and friends. But there will not be fear or tolerance for this ugly and sick cowardliness. Home sweet home now. Thank you again dear family and friends. Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that.
God Bless Boston, the East Coast and all of America!!

A Piece about Me

 

If you ever had the chance to meet Lori Beveridge, owner of Couture Conditioning in Los Gatos, which offers personalized fitness evaluations and training regimens, you wouldn’t be surprised that you were talking to a woman with a passion. I had the chance to sit down with her and learn about her life, where she has come from, her goals for her future, and was absolutely blown away by her passion, drive, and love for living.
“My purpose is to give life in all its fullness.” – John 10:10
Lori was instilled with a passion for fitness at a young age watching her mother work out to Jack LaLanne. At that moment, the seeds had been planted for her to pursue a career in health and fitness. From watching her mother make time for working out despite her incredibly demanding schedule, she learned that it is not the end result that truly matters, but the joy experienced in taking the journey. She would take this message and fulfill one of her lifelong dreams of having a job that she fully loved. For her, that job is in inspiring people to live a happier and healthier life.

So how did she go from a college student of Economics and Theology, to banker, to Apple employee, and then finally to an owner of her own health and fitness company? For Beveridge, it is a combination of the mental image of her mother working out to Jack Lalane and the joy she experiences through running. Eventually, she caught the eye of the people around her seeing her run all the time, and was sought out for advice by the community in how to stay healthy. She then realized that she could take her passion and create it as career. “If I can make people laugh, move, and sweat… I know that they are going to be happier at the end of 60 minutes then they were at the beginning,” Beveridge said. You wouldn’t be able to sit around Beveridge for five minutes and get past her beaming smile, unique drive, and passion for serving the world. “It is all about the heart,” said Beveridge. “Running, serving, being a parent…the best complement I have ever received was that I was a good mom.”

If there was one piece of advice Beveridge would give you for your fitness life, it would be to take it one step at a time and to do what you love. For her, it is as simple as that. With fire in your heart and an ability to laugh, the sky is the limit. In a joking voice but a serious undertone, Beveridge declared, “I want to be that scary woman at 80 who is still running.” There is no doubt in my mind that she will be crossing the line at Hawaii’s famous IRONMAN one day, smile on her face and a glowing heart.

Lori Beveridge is the owner of Couture Conditioning in Los Gatos CA. Please visit her website @ www.coutureconditioning.com or find her on Facebook @ facebook.com/coutureconditioning

She also trains lululemon’s free Run Club every Wednesday at 6:30pm and Saturdays at 9:00am at Los Gatos Lodge

You is smart, you is kind, you is important.

One of my favorite books last year was The Help, a story about a young writer during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s who is determined to write a book detailing the African-American maid’s point of view, and the hardships they endured. The movie was equally great. The movies tag line is “Change begins with a whisper.” Change also begins with finding your strength within. The scene that resonated with me most takes place in the child’s nursery. A young white toddler, ignored and shunned by her mother, is sitting on her maid’s lap. The maid is softly singing to her, “You is smart, you is kind, you is important”. The little girl repeats the words, “you is smart, you is kind, you is important”, and lovingly touches her maids face. It’s moving and bittersweet. The devoted maid was giving her heart and a priceless gift to a small child with a mother who didn’t seem to care. The maid was teaching a precious child what a cherished treasure she is, and will always be. I believe we all want to feel important. Important in the sense that we really matter and that someone truly cares. As a trainer I can’t help but get attached to the people I work with. I take a genuine and deep interest in who they are, and I always hope they know how important and valuable they are to the world. I am always excited and 100% confident that they can run that race, complete their first marathon, or simply feel better about themselves and their health. Helping people feel important is important to me. A dear friend of mine was recently blindsided with a very difficult break up. She shared that the saddest part was how she no longer felt important to this person. We went for a run and I told her how smart, how kind and how wonderfully important she is. I want to sing that to everyone…

If only you could sense how important you are to the lives of those you meet; how important you can be to people you may never even dream of. There is something of yourself that you leave at every meeting with another person. ~Fred Rogers

I wish I could show you, When you are lonely or in darkness, the astonishing light of your own being. ~Hafiz

What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Worrywart

I was told more than once when I was a child that I was a “worrywart”. Maybe I was born with it, or maybe it was my environment (my dad and his mom were worrywarts too). What I do know is that worry can get in the way of, well everything. So be happy, don’t worry, and as the article suggests below, get out there and enjoy some exercise!

Overcoming Worry: The Calming Power of Exercise
by Bob Livingstone LCSW, http://www.boblivingstone.com

There are a lot of us that spend too much time worrying. According to The National Institute on Mental Health, approximately 40 million American adults ages 18 and older, or about 18.1 percent of people in this age group in a given year, have an anxiety disorder. Anxiety prevents us from being happy, can cause physical ailments, and keeps us from taking healthy risks that may improve the quality of our lives.

Worry may be a trait that is passed on genetically from your family or it may be an outcome of your environment. One or both of your parents may suffer from intense anxiety and you learn to be anxious because it is modeled for you as a way of living. The worry is usually driven by a need to have a guaranteed outcome. Of course there are very few situations that result in a sure-fire conclusion. Therefore the worrying does not seem to have any purpose or any positive effects in one’s life.

The worrying can become habitual where you immediately turn to the feelings of anxiousness in your stomach, the endless spinning of your thoughts and the sense that disaster is about to occur. You believe that there is not an alternative to this way of being because you have been processing information in this manner your entire life.

However, there is a means to transform the worrying to peace through physical exercise. There are many studies that conclude that physical exercise brings a state of well being and calmness. There is research that indicates that working out as little as 15 minutes at a time will enable you to reach this state.

First, make an appointment with your physician to clear you for participating in physical exercise. While you are walking, running, biking or other aerobic activity do the following:

1. Notice if you are feeling anxious or worried when you begin your workout. What is making you anxious? Are you worried about some project at work that is overdue? Are you anxious about your relationship with your husband/wife or partner? Are you having a conflict with a friend or family member?

2. Notice when a sense of calmness comes over you. What does this feel like? Do you notice your worrying decreasing or dissipating? What does your body feel like now? Do you feel strong and confident? Do you see yourself differently? Do you feel better about yourself?

3. Now, focus on the issue that was making you anxious in the beginning of your workout. Do you still feel anxious or has the anxiety decreased? Do you feel that you can develop a strategy for working through this difficulty? If so, do you notice how clear thinking you are? How is the strategy planning going? Is it going smoothly?

A regular exercise program will help ease your worrying. You will notice that the confusion that is created by anxiety will decrease or dissipate. You will discover that issues that once seemed impossible to approach, much less resolve, and become much easier to work through. You can learn to capture this peaceful feeling that you obtain from exercising while you are sedentary. This process won’t happen overnight, but it can with practice.

A regular exercise program can lead you to living a life where you focus on living happily in the present instead of worrying about the future or dreading the past.

Bob Livingstone, LCSW, has been a psychotherapist in private practice for almost twenty years. He works with adults, teenagers and children who have experienced traumas such as family violence, neglect and divorce. He works with men around anger issues and adults in recovery from child abuse. He is the author of the critically acclaimed Redemption of the Shattered: A Teenager’s Healing Journey through Sandtray Therapy and the upcoming The Body-Mind-Soul Solution: Healing Emotional Pain through Exercise (Pegasus Books, Aug. 2007). For more information visit http://www.boblivingstone.com.

What I hope they say about me…

What I hope they say about me…. Like most of us, I like to think that when other people talk about me, it’s in a positive light. Or contrary to what most people assume, I’m a very private person, so to be honest, I rather like to think I’m not on someone’s radar, lest they see too many faults.  But if I were to wonder, I’d guess perhaps they would think I was funny or always positive. I hope they say I am kind and generous and sincerely love to serve. Some might call me mean (I can think of a few instances my kids called me mean, or just the other day a playful shout -out from a client who decided both burpees and I were very mean).

But, I decided that if there could be just one quality about me that best described who I am, I would want to be known as grateful.

A few weeks ago, a close friend of mine lost her mom. I had the privilege of meeting her a few times and can still remember the first time I met her, sometime during my freshman year of college, somewhere in the dorm halls where we’d all meet and greet our friends parents as one time or another. I remember I liked her immediately. I was struck with what my girlfriend wrote about her mom when she shared her passing. I have thought about it a lot since then. Liz wrote:

My precious mom died last Friday. Over the years, when people would ask about her, I would always say, “My mom is the most grateful person I know.” The older she got, the more grateful she became. Now that she is forever in the presence of Jesus, I have new understanding that I haven’t really understood the phrase “eternally grateful” until now.

Liz not only writes well, she is a professional speaker at Christian Conferences. It is always a gift to listen to Liz. Her words about her mom haven’t left me since she wrote them. With all my passions and goals, I hope more than anything else, I will be eternally grateful. Albert Schweitzer wrote, “at times, our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lit the flame within.” Thank you Liz’s mom for your spark. I am inspired and aspire to be your friend that ages gracefully and becomes evermore grateful.