The alarm went off this morning and I seriously considered sleeping in. Since it is Martin Luther King Day, I'm off work and the idea of spending an lazy morning in bed was certainly more appealing than getting up at the crack of dawn in the freezing cold. As I lay there I realized that by staying in bed I might be buying myself another 30 minutes so I figured what the heck, I might as well just go. Only it was cold in there this morning... and not just cold but the kind of cold where after I took my UGG boots on I was jealous of the people who thought to wear socks and I wondered if it were possible to practice with socks on. It was so cold.... so very cold that I debated actually leaving. The thought actually crossed my mind "I could just roll up my mat and leave right now... I could ifnd a class later on today."

With my mind finally quieting down, practice came hard and slow.... I was tight in the cold... I was tired... my body feels completely worn out. My muscles are exhausted and I feel more sore than when I haven't exercised in weeks and suddenly whip out a full first series. It's not the saddle sore but more of complete muscle exhaustion. I understand a lot of Ashtangis take Motrin for this... but I can't seem to bring myself to rely on "medicine." For that matter, the two times I've tried it, I haven't noticed any difference (perhaps I was too conservative in dosage?).

When Tiffany was in Prasarita C today, her hands were sooo close to the ground that I pushed them down... only I knocked her off balance as I thought she was a bit more steady than she was.... I don't think Tim was happy (and really I shouldn't have) done that. Mari D was so hard today that I barely gave it effort. Kurmasana hurt like a mother... Supta K was unattainable. By the time backbends floated around I had fleeting ideas of how exactly I could get out of doing dropbacks entirely. I debating simply breaking into shoulderstand... surely I could pretend I had to go to work... if only I hadn't started with the rest of the class which made it quite clear I had no office to go to today. Maybe I could do my 6 and find Rich in the room... or, better yet, let's convince Kiran to do her thigh adjustment which makes it a whole hell of a lot easier than the one handed adjustment I knew TIm would try. I struggled through four when Tim came around and did an adjustment from my "head side" -- it felt really good but I knew that meant six was next and tha meant coming up. He helped me up by my hips... then did dropbacks which felt horrible. On the last, hands back, Tim told me to walk it in... I grunted... he said "That's it?" He put his hand on my chest and I thought "Damn, I have to do this..." We rocked a bit and then I came up... And then he did the squish in Paschimottanasana....

I guess, all in alll, it turned out to be an okay tight practice... full of lots of mental anguish which is probably sometimes good... but just way too cold in that room right now... way too cold.

I spent the rest of the morning running errands with the kids when I got an email from Tiffany asking which W we are staying at in Chicago... so I checked the reservation and discovered that I'm an idiot -- I made a reservation for DECEMBER of 2006 not January and, as a result, we had no reservation for Chicago on Sunday... you can imagine the litany of swear words going through my head especially after I discovered that most of Chicago is sold out. Like all I could find was a Courtyard and we all know that I'm a horrendously horrid hotel snob. In the end, I got us a room at the W. Cross off stupid on the crossword puzzle of my life this week.

I also received my invitation to MSFT Dev Con 2006.... which is something that I can't pass up and also happens to be the second week of Guruji's visit... which means I can pretty much hang up my hat on the idea of practicing with Guruji. I had the idea of going up for a Sunday but, realistically, I can't pull it off. I feel fortunate to practice with my teacher regularly and, for now, I suppose, as much as it sucks, that's the sacrifice I'm going to have to make.

Our big familial event this evening went great.... a big deal that seems to be working itself out as best as it can and our entire family seems to be buying into it.

Tomorrow is a day off... I'd love to practice but I have meetings all day tomorrow including through lunch. Sunday is Chicago, then home for two days... then Maya Tulum..... 7 days... on a beach... doing yoga.... it won't get any better.