One Rising Star

#nextchaptervietnam Participant...Finisher...possibly even a 2nd place WINNER?!?! All the hard work during the Wednesday night runs with the club and the early morning solo runs on weekends paid off today. One of the parks I run through on a weekly basis I woke up at 2am for a race that was meant to begin at 4:30am in the center of HCMC. We started a little late, but I wasn't going to let that affect me. I was feeling quite good. Before picture I decided to stick with one of my colleagues from the start as I knew he could hold up a good pace and I felt I could likely stay with him for a good portion of the race. Nearly half way into the race, I noticed there were only 2 girls in front of me. I got a tad excited and decided to pick up a bit more speed. Right away, I passed one girl, which meant that I was in 2nd. I knew my chances of catching the 1st girl were very slim, so I decided that I just needed to pace myself and hold on to the 2nd spot. In the last 5

#nextchaptervietnam Year after year, on November 20th, teachers in Vietnam are celebrated. It's a special day for students (and their parents) to express their respect and appreciation. This year, celebrations began a few days prior to November 20th. Our school's board of directors invited all teachers to a nice Friday evening gathering in the school foyer. There were many types of foods and beverages; even alcoholic ones for those interested. They also presented us with cards and a bit of cash, which I already used over the weekend to get my first full body massage here in Vietnam. Today, Monday, November 20th 2017, the students arrived bright and early with gifts in hand for their teachers. Then, they performed dances and songs in a morning assembly. Finally, teachers (and students of course) were able to leave at noon and have the afternoon off; I was excited to have a lovely afternoon nap! I'm told some places around town also gave teachers discounts on selecte

#nextchaptervietnam No pain, no gain. It finally happened. Monday evening, Nathalie completed an entire work-out during her Crossfit class doing all 50 (5 x 10) prescribed kipping pull-ups - without a band! Her hands were an absolute mess after class, but she admitted that the pain was totally worth it as she'd been waiting several years for that moment and that feeling of accomplishment. First comes love, then comes... In other news, as some may know, Nick (one of Nathalie's brothers) and Amber are expecting their first child this December. To add to the excitement of welcoming a baby, Nick proposed to Amber this past weekend. Congratulations to the happy couple. We look forward to documenting their wedding sometime in the near future. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas After weeks and weeks of contemplating travel plans for the winter break, it's been decided that Nathalie will be heading to Dubai for Christmas this year. Norway and Can

#nextchaptervietnam I often talk about the benefits of mindfulness and the importance of balancing hard work at the gym with breaks from time to time, but too often I struggle to follow my own advice. This past weekend, I forced myself to take a break from my regular workout routine (which wasn't easy) and instead I joined a one-day yoga and mindfulness retreat. The retreat began with Qi Gong; a form of gentle exercise composed of movements that are repeated a number of times, often stretching the body, increasing fluid movement and building awareness of how the body moves through space. Then, we did some meditation; both seated and walking - the later being new to me.  Once our bodies were ready, we did a gentle flow yoga class with some of the usual poses - downward dog, child pose, cobra, warrior... For lunch, we practiced mindful eating, which required us to spend 10 minutes eating in silence, putting down our fork or spoon after every bite and chewing our food abo