Bootcamp Discovery

Clayton is traveling in Africa and I'm left with lots of alone time on my hands. On a run in my Potrero Hill neighborhood, I see a paper flyer for a free bootcamp class...try before you buys sorta deal. I've never taken a bootcamp class and am curious... why not?

One class... and I was hooked!

I can't say enough positive things about I Luv My Body Fitness. Kristen, the owner and trainer is fantastic and I'm constantly challenged. The first class I made the mistake of telling her I thought the classes were going to be harder. Well now, every class I am challenged to the limit - in just 45 minutes. At first I scoffed at such a "short" workout, but the HIIT style of workout or High Intensity Interval Training packs a lot of strength training and cardio in short bursts to get the most effective burn in a short period of time. You don't waste a single minute of that 45 and there's rarely a class where I'm not sore the next day. I say check it out.

Clayton Climbs Kilimanjaro

Woodminster Dick Houston 9M Race

Oakland Running Festival - Half Marathon

I ran using Aimee's Bib. Thanks Aimee!

President's Day Bridge Run

Kaiser Half Marathon

Today is Better Than Yesterday

...but can you imagine a day when:

- Every 10 minutes someone would NOT die of blood cancer

- There would only be stories of SUCCESS, like Michael C. Hall, of famed HBO show Dexter, successfully battling Hodgkin's Lymphoma

- There would be a 100% SURVIVAL rate of blood cancer

- Bill Walsh, builder of the 49er dynasty might have lived to see his team's resurgence instead of dying without a CURE

I don't know about the future fate of the 49ers, but I do know you and I can help fund a cure for the disease that killed him. So far this year alone my team-in-training has -- funded 5 research fellows with 40-100 thousand dollar grants for three years. That was done through donations from individuals like you, to fundraisers like me, towards a single mission: cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families.

I run for the cure February 7th -- Superbowl Sunday (a day that the 49ners have not played since '94(?) -- and I hope you will join me to be a part of the cure.

If you have even five dollars to donate to the cause, now would be the time. Many thanks.

Donate here: http://pages.teamintraining.org/sf/mardigra10/knishikawa

No Limit for Better

I have been "working" the same job(s) going on 7 years now and its taken me a long time to allow myself to say aloud that I need more. More growth, more progress, more meaning. I continue to feel valued and impactful, and I've learned to problem solve and think of my feet, but increasingly feel the need for other kinds of growth.

Outside of work I've trained and ran marathons, and continue to strive for better... techniques, exercises, remedies, finish times.

These thoughts of the unknown and personal Drive are foreign and scary to me. Yet, 2010 has me thinking beyond self... I am in search of mastery. (Mastery of what, I'm not quite sure, but that is part of the mystery!).

Check out this video by Daniel Pink, who's book Drive just came out this week. His NPR segment on this morning's forum was insightful, bright and eye-opening... made me crave better in my life. So, I'm sharing... and as he put it "joining the conversation" because the "way the world really changes is conversation by conversation."

Two questions that can change your life from Daniel Pink on Vimeo.

YOYO Run Thru the PresidiO

Part training, part resolution: Beautiful weather and the need to catch up on a team run I missed yesterday.

Resolution #1: Don't waste a beautiful weekend, if you can help it.

So, as much as I wanted to stay in bed, the sun and presidio called. So, from the Sports Basement, I ran down towards single Safeway and back, up into the Presidio, past Clay's childhood home on Kobbe Avenue, down the Presidio Promenade to the lookout and down the stairs to Hopper's Hands and back to Sports Basement.

7.33 miles in 1:16:25 = 10.36 min/mile.

If I keep this pace for the Kaiser Half, my finish time will be 10.36*13.1 or 2hr:16min which is 5 minutes faster than my last half marathon time... which makes it a PR (assuming I can do it).

This my pep talk to self, can you tell?