SF Firsts: Yoga and EARTHQUAKE!

Two San Francisco firsts this week.

Yoga

I’ve been doing yoga on my own for years, but probably not intensely enough since I’m not very flexible.  I mean, I can touch my toes and do downward dog pretty easily, but my hamstrings and inner thighs get really tight from running.

My gym offers tons of classes so this Tuesday I finally tried yoga.  When I walked in, I saw that everyone had their own mats and were decked out in yoga gear.  I wondered if I had to run home to get my mat, but then saw someone grab one of the foam gym ones.  I followed suit.

I was afraid there’d be a lot of spiritual mumbo jumbo, but there wasn’t.  We started off just sitting with our eyes closed and breathing deeply (which these chatty girls next to me didn’t get for a good minute, continuing to chatter while the rest of us tried to relax), and then went right into lots of poses.

I couldn’t really hear the instructor sometimes, and she didn’t always demonstrate the pose.  Luckily there were plenty of people in the class who seemed to know what they were doing, so I copied them.  Still, if I hadn’t been doing yoga on my own, I’d have been totally lost.

So actually that meant a good intense workout.  She didn’t waste time teaching us how to do poses, we just did them.

Well, most of them.  There were a couple where I thought, She wants us to do what?  I realized how inflexible my arms and shoulders were.  Also the balancing with one foot in the air was great but HARD.

About halfway through, I noticed I was sweating profusely and my mat was slick with sweat.  (Nice, I know.)  By the end my muscles were shaking.

I had run two miles before the class, and originally thought I’d run another two after.  No way in hell.  I was so tired I could barely lift my arms for the rest of the day.  The next day I was massively sore, especially my triceps, pecs, and upper back.  (My legs were pretty okay, except my tush was a bit achy.)  MB kept massaging me while we watched TV, which was SO painful, but good for me.

Yesterday I was still sore but at least could lean against things without wincing.  Today I’m a bit tender but much better.

I think I’ll be ready for my next class on Tuesday!

Earthquake

Yesterday morning I was sitting at the kitchen table working on my computer.  First I heard the toaster rattling, then the coffee pot.  I thought there were just cooling off, but then the table and my chair started rumbling.

I jumped up and stood in the doorway.  There was another rumble and the bed shook MB awake.

“Holy shit!” I said.

He leaped out of bed and joined me in the doorway.  Then it was over.

It was so short, we wondered if it was actually an earthquake, or if a heavy truck had just gone by outside.

“I’ve totally felt heavy trucks go by,” MB said.

“Yeah,” I said.  “But they don’t make our furniture shake.”

Apparently, there was an earthquake with 4.1 magnitude near Milpitas, which is south of San Francisco and not far from San Jose.

The shaking lasted just a few seconds, but for an east coaster who’s never experienced anything like that, it was CRAZY.

1 comment

  1. Apparently a really awesome workout is the Bar Method, I’m trying to convince myself that I should try it. Maybe you should check it out and see how sore it makes you?
    But seeing as walking up Powell made me sore for days, I think I will stick to couch potato status!