It would appear that I am not alone

My New Year's resolution to be healthier in my own way, and to do more yoga, is a popular one, methinks. That must be why all of the classes I have taken on my 30-day-unlimited-pass at a local Yoga Studio have been so ridiculously full (except, of course, the 7 AM Power Yoga classes, which are less full but bring their own brand of amazing ridiculousness to my life).

And, of course, today, when I decided I should pre-register for the 21K trail run I've tentatively scheduled for this weekend, because it looks like the weather is cooperating -- oh, yeah, that would be Sold Out. Bastards!

I briefly considered signing up for the 30K and then had a moment of sanity. That would be stupid! The last time I ran anything more than 15 miles was the San Francisco Marathon in August. My body would not be pleased to go from last weekend's 8.5 mile long run to 18+.

So, maybe I'll be doing a medium-long run all by myself this weekend. Or, maybe I'll opt out of the long run altogether and maximize the benefit I derive from my 30-day yoga pass before it expires and hit up as many yoga classes as I can fit in this weekend. At the rate I'm going, I should definitely fit in 10 classes in 30 days, which averages out to $4 per class -- a STEAL! If I can fit in an extra 2 classes, that's a rockin' $3.33 per class -- which makes the $10 for a yoga class I paid in Zihuatanejo look like highway robbery! Given that I'm cheap like that, you can imagine where this is likely to go...

Sure, this 30-day pass is a promotion. Yes, they want me to try their classes and realize the benefits and join their yoga studio permanently. No doubt, many people take advantage of this offer and do so.

But, for me, I'm fairly certain it's not gonna happen. While physically, I'm definitely enjoying the benefits of this studio, it doesn't have everything I'm looking for. For one, there's too much loud, high-spirited music in all of the classes except Bikram. For two, the classes are too physical, and there's not enough focus on meditation, breathing, alignment, and spirituality.

Who woulda thunk that me, of all people, would be considering rejecting a yoga studio for not being hippy enough? But, truth be told, if I truly want to get my ass kicked, I'm not even thinking about heading to a yoga studio at this point in my life -- I'm doing sprints, I'm going to a boxing gym, I'm doing martial arts, I'm even considering taking a kick-boxing class. But yoga? No. Yoga, for me, is not supposed to be focused on ass-kicking, it's supposed to focused on life-balancing (which is actually much more difficult than ass-kicking).

For now, I'll chalk it up to the noise -- I mean, Beastie Boys in a 7 AM yoga class? This is not what I had in mind. And for $40 for 30 days, I can put up with it, but when it expires, I'm going to try another studio.

Thankfully, no one else is invited to garage night, where E and I go into our garage and watch a Simpsons episode while I push myself for extreme speed training intervals on the treadmill and he bikes on a difficult setting on his trainer. So at least that commitment to working out went according to plan this week.

In other news, the plan for the next couple of days involves soup, salad, and multiple workouts with a goal of final recovery from Christmas in the South, and being comfortably back within my California 10-lb weight range.

What happens after that, of course, is entirely up to chance...