So, yesterday I took my daughter up to Woodstock for our last official pre-race meeting of this year.  The goal was to get the safety team and course team all on the same page and geared to go next weekend.  

It was pretty intense.  The amount of thought, care and planning that goes into a race like this is pretty amazing.  Three towns are involved, local and state police as well as a fire department or two!  To see it all come together is just awe inspiring.  

So is the course.  It's awe inspiring and from the back seat of a car at the tail end of an energetic caravan it will twist and turn your stomach into knots until the stunning distraction of the epic scenery is nothing in comparison to what you would give for a good ruben and greasy fries just to settle your stomach!

This course is crazy. CRAZY I say!!!!  It's crazy beautiful, it's crazy long, it's crazy technical and it is CRAZY hard.  And you know what?  We have over 70 crazy brave and awe inspiring women already signed up!!!  Now THAT is amazing.  It keeps being said that grown men, avid cyclists have given up on the hills of this course and yet these women are coming back for a SECOND time to show us what they've got and through tenacity and training they WILL CONQUER THE CATS!!!!

So, whether you cycle or not, are into women's sporting events or not, love the scenic Catskills or not, this event what it represents, and these women deserve our respect and our support.  Because this is epic!  These women are epic for being amazing racers, the donations we will be able to give to the Hope's Fund for women is epic, and of course... this course is EPIC.

www.WWCGP.com <---- Check it out and join us this Friday and Saturday!!!

Thankfully, our calendar tells us that SPRING is finally here!  Now we just have to wait for Spring to actually get here...

In the mean time may I suggest getting in the swing of things?  It may feel a bit premature but the warm weather will soon be here and so will summer.  At that point you'll be left feeling like you missed the boat!  Like two years ago when I thought I could plant my garden in July and have fruits and veggies before it snowed in November.  It just isn't going to happen!!!

So don't let the cold spring weather trick you into thinking you might actually have more time to get bikini ready or prepared for that race/event you've been mulling over in your head all winter long.

Get going now, start making a plan.  Do you want a trainer who will be with you during every workout to make sure you're form is correct?  Do you want a coach who will give you an exercise plan and meet with you every other week to make sure things are going smoothly?  Do you have goals to lose a whole bunch of weight and the desire to run your first 5k?  Are you finally brave enough to mount your bicycle or lace up your running shoes without the worry of poor drivers and fearsome snowbanks?  Do you want to try your hand at a Triathlon this year or simply survive the local nursery school's 5k run to raise money for colored pencils and glue?

Whatever YOUR goal is, get on it!  It's spring!!!!

So I read an interesting article this week.  It was more like a poll of health and fitness professionals.  The question posed to these professionals was, "Fresh Food Prep Vs. Exercise: Is One More Important?" You might be interested to hear that some trainers would rather see their clients spending more time preparing their food. Why? you may ask: 1.) If you're cooking you're standing and moving around, not sitting while the microwave does the work. 2.) If you're preparing your food fresh you're probably making better food choices for you and your family. Better food choices = better functioning bodies = happy healthy people. 3.) Cooking can be a pretty good workout itself. I made some delicious Thai Mung Bean Pancakes this week and it calls for grated vegetables. I used a hand grater and got one heck of an arm workout! And have you ever hand whipped your whipped cream or homemade egg nog? Christmas is coming... I dare you to try it ;-)

The start to Thai pancakes! Grated kohlrabi, carrot, and chopped scallions. Let me know if you'd like the recipe!