Wholistic Fitness

Our Running Warrioress of Team Mountain Yogi; Lisa Goldsmith (Tribal Code Name; Vishnu Doll). This is a helluva Trikonasana after tearing the legs off all the other competitors; both male and female! Lisa blistered the 10 mile mountain run in 73 minutes giving our Team a whollop of momentum going into the final bike leg! Below are a few snapshots of my Team’s second consecutive Team Victory at the 43-mile, multisport event…enjoy and THANK YOU Temple Manager Ananda for running around trying to get these shots. The event did not have photography available and no one was allowed on the upper reaches of the Sacred Peak where i was.

Driving “Bala” across the high deserts of New Mexico toward the Sacred Peak of Tsidool…they don’t give out noses as large as mine unless you can use it wisely; i use my honker to sniff out podiums…hey, look, it looks like i am catching a whiff of another podium already…yep, i KNOW that scent!…the Scent of PAIN, SUFFERING, TACTICS, and PUTTING THE GAWD AWLMIGHTY HURT on anyone else showing up to the Start Line…LOVE THAT SMELL OF WARRIORISM!!!!!!!

Unpacking ‘Bala’…getting nervous, baby! If you ain’t getting all tingly over events in your life; be brave and get out and PUSH YOURSELF in some competitive event; nothing like testing your Faith and your Yoga Practice against competition; Sports are the ideal battleground for learning your true stance against your egoic structures.

Equipment Check In; shhhhhhh!!!!! top secret mountain yogi technique for running through ankle deep snow in summit winds of over 30 mph and freezing temps; Kahtoolas!

Team Meeting; 8:00 pm the evening before Race Day. Discussing tactics; in a Team Event coordination of logistics and communication is vital. Clockwise from bottom left; myself (Company Code Leader ‘Shiva Muscle’), Angela Verderame with her husband; Richard “Grammage” Verderame our State Champion cyclist, Lisa “Vishnu Doll” Goldsmith studies the vertical gain of her run leg while her husband, Roy “Dharma Brat” Goldsmith wonders what the hell is up with this craziness!

Race Day Morning; up early; Early Morning Ritual including Toilet Yoga�, Neti, At-Sink Pranayama� and…of course, SUNRIDER herbs!!!!! a yogi without Secret Herbs is like the pope without a chalice. On the Race Day Menu; Sport Caps�, Action Caps�, Fortune Delight�, VitaFruit�, VitaSpray�, Metabalance 44�, and Energy Plus�. I will tell you this; most podiums are won long before Race Day; day to day Nutrition is the KEY TO PODIUMS! i rely on SUNRIDER Herbs� and have done so for 23 years! Need a podium in your life? PUMP THE HERBS and DO THE PRACTICE!

Grammage in full on, WHOLISTIC FITNESS� WARRIOR GARB! Temperature, a balmy 27 degrees. elevation at start; 6,473′. bike leg; 13 miles, 1,800′ of climbing with wind. Grammage would crank it in 53 minutes and hand off to Lisa.

Hours before the Start, i had to be bused, then transferred to the 9,500′ Level of the Sacred Peak.

the view from my Transition on the upper mountain. i relied on my mountaineering experience to stay focused, warm, and alert for the hours that remained before Lisa would scorch her way into the Transition Zone for my hand off. i used this time for meditation, pranayam, and visualization…and, creating new WF Programs for YOU!!!!!!

At the Awards Ceremony i spoke up for the mountain; “On behalf of Team Mountain Yogi, i devote our Victory to the Sacred Mountain of Tsidool. Just because She doesn’t have a lot of snow upon Her, doesn’t make Her any less Sacred.”

With Flagstaff HP Yogin, Jut “Jut Do It” Wynne who finished the event as a Soloist, baby! 6 hours and 19 minutes of WORLD CLASS CHI BUILDING, BARDO TOUGHENING, baby! i BOW to Student Jut!

Back at the motel room, attempting to recover from the jackhammer like pounding i forced upon my body. i found that watching the Olympics is MUCH BETTER when your own Trophies adorn the TV!

Pancake Belly; ahhhhhhhh!!!!! the Morning After!!!!!!
Best place in the NATION for pancakes and home cookin’ with a ton of small mountain town love; 1st Street Cafe in Grants, NM! Don’t live your life without experiencing a true “cake in a pan”! Get your ‘cake fix along Route 66!

SUMMARY:

Overall Team Winner:
Team Mountain Yogis
Grammage’s Bike Up: 53:30 (2nd fastest)
Lisa’s Run Up: 42:32 (1st))
Coach’s Ski/Snowshoe Up: 25:10 (2nd fastest)
Coach’s Ski/Snowhoe Down: 12:54 (3rd fastest)
Lisa’s Run Down: 31:43 (1st)
Grammage’s Bike Down: 32:59 (1st)

Total Time: 3:48:14 Overall Fastest Team regardless of age or gender; that, my friends is HIGH PERFORMANCE YOGA�!

Sometimes, we don’t especially feel like pushing ourselves. We look around and see that others are displaying little by way of kindness, compassion or consideration of Rising Above their negative tendencies. Often, they aren’t even bothering to honor their Divine Light which the yogic Masters like Jesus, Buddha, and Gandhi so beautifully and bravely in-Abled us to do. The non-Practitioner “hides selfishness beneath a thin veneer of social nicety,” as Cainer puts it. Why, then, should we get out on the BattleField of our egos and PUSH OURSELVES SO HARD THAT WE WONDER WHY? Because we shouldn’t pretend at our life. Death comes fast. For our own satisfaction before we enter the Bardo, make a deep, genuine, wholehearted effort to be truly kind and fair, to be truly brave in our own effort in Self Cultivation regardless of who else is doing or saying what.

You are the creator of your own Sacred Happiness. No One else. Think of yourself as a winner – because that’s what you are. You may not yet have it all, however you’ve got all you need for Enlightenment.

May these Mt. Taylor Chronicles of 2006 do one thing; inspire your Divine Light and Faith of Self.

from the top of the podium,
on behalf of Team Mountain Yogi,
i salute you
for your Spiritual Strength and Support of our humble, powerful Temple of Wholistic Fitness�.

OM SO IT
“May there be happy omens.”

coach ilg

****

For more Race Results, go here:

http://www.ccrtiming.com/races/results/2006/06mttaylor.htm#t-oall