Core Fusion, live with Fred DeVito

Life changing.

That is the only way I can possibly describe tonight’s Core Fusion class at the newly opened Exhale Spa at Battery Wharf in Boston.

Now, my sis and I took our first live class together yesterday at the same location…it had been at least a year or two since we last attempted a live class. Well before we initiated our Core Fusion Challenge a month or so ago, even.

And lemme tell you, that was an experience in and of itself yesterday.

But when Dori alerted us (love you, girl!) that Fred DeVito – THE Fred DeVito – was coming back to the Battery Wharf location tonight to teach one class, we HAD to be there. Just had to. I left work a full 90 mins early just to get there (and good thing I did, directionally challenged, much??).

And it was completely and utterly life-changing.

I honestly don’t even know how to capture our experience tonight in this post. Words seriously won’t do it justice. But I’ll try.

Fred DeVito, in a word? Has such an amazing presence about him. He’s calm, he’s extremely centered and ridiculously inviting and encouraging. (jobo commentary: hey, you stole my line, that’s exactly what I thought! He was radiant, calm, balanced. And happy. All sorts of happy!)

He immediately asked where his “twitter friends” were – um, that would be us! He welcomed us in with a warm smile and a handshake. And from there, we were off. He instructed us not to listen to his instruction but to just do what he said, without thinking. And you know what? That is EXACTLY how the class went.

I didn’t think. I just moved.

And it was unreal just how motivating it was, and incredibly detoxfying. I even tried some moves I was only modifying before and I was stunned to see that I didn’t do a half bad job at the “real” version of flat back, for example. Just his encouragement was all I needed – he came by during that very move and said “tomorrow – you’ll get there” and just smiled. And I beamed with pride. (jobo commentary: this is where he held my legs up higher and really pushed me, and to my surprise, my legs *did* go higher and I was able to hold it. It felt incredible).

He believes in his students. I mean, TRULY believes. And here I am gushing away, but that’s exactly the reaction he brings out in his students. He instills courage and pride and strength and focus. (jobo commentary: he came over to me as I was doing the curl, lifted my back up and slid his kneees under my back and whispered, ‘lean back. Now hold your arms out wider, lengthen your legs and just hold it.’ And having that guidance was exactly what I needed. And damn, did I feel it, like whoa!)

He wills you to push harder. And you do. No thinking. Just doing.

I’m sitting here in utter awe at how changed I was by tonight’s experience. I am completely and totally re-commited to Core Fusion like never before. Seriously. I want to see even more change, deeper change, by going to the class as much as I can. Fred urged us to commit for three weeks – three classes a week and “then you’ll be hooked.” And I’m right there. (jobo commentary: um, me too. Can I just, like, move in there and go every single day?!)

Thank you Fred DeVito. We are changed. And inspired. And ready to surrender to Core Fusion all over again. 

Of running and race schedules…

For those of you that live in New England like me, you’ve probably been diggin’ the downright balmy temps this weekend. I was in my own personal heaven this weekend at the sheer thought of running outside on both Saturday *and* Sunday…and without freezing my butt off in the process.

Now, neither run was all that long (around 4 miles or so) but that didn’t matter to me. I didn’t care what my garmin said. I didn’t care how long it took me to get there.

I simply embraced the run. And it felt awesome.

Just letting my legs carry me along, realizing that those intervals this winter have totally helped and yup, and a stronger core (thank you Core Fusion!) that pushed me through?

Yeah, that’s pretty much why I run.

It’s mine. It makes me happy. It gives me confidence. It clears my mind. It centers me.

So – timing is good then, to have figured out my tentative race plans for this spring/summer/fall, right? Now – this is hopefully just the start of my race “schedule” for this year. I hope, anyway! The way I structured the plan is to start slowly and build up towards the higher mileage races. But we’ll see how it goes – like I said, I’m hoping to add to this schedule as we go along. <—what can I say? I’m eager!

Without further ado…the race schedule, 2011:

April 2: Hit The Street for Little Feet 5k Road Race in Manchester-by-the sea (this one is great, takes you right by the ocean, love!)

May 13: Backshore Road Race 5-miler (another one that takes you by the ocean, this one is in my hometown and takes us right past where we were married almost 7 years ago, love x2!)

May 19: Fitbloggin’ 5k, at Fitbloggin in Baltimore, surrounded by fellow #fitblog friends like you!

June 19: Rockport Fathers Day 5 and 10k (I’ll do the 10k – this will be my FIRST 10k race, actually. I went right from running 5ks and 5-milers to running half marathons…apparently that’s how I roll…)

September 24: The Wicked Half...I wasn’t sure I’d choose this half to conquer again, but it holds such a special place in my heart since it was my first half, that I really do want to go back and tackle it again.

But…there’s *another* half I’d love to do in the fall, but it sorta depends on if I can get myself there. We’re planning a return to wine country (hopefully) this fall but still need to figure out the timing. If we do, I’d love, love, LOVE to run the Healdsburg Half on October 29 –I mean really, WHAT could be better? Running a half, in my mecca (I swear, I should’ve been a Cali girl!), surrounded by the vines? Um yeah, sounds awesome. We shall see. ;-)

November 24: Wild Turkey Run 5-miler (this would be our fourth time running this race on Thanksgiving. It’s my favorite way to kick off the holiday…and it would be awesome to set a new PR like I did last year!)

So, that’s it. The race schedule…so far. I hope you dig it.  🙂

And speaking of running…a MAJOR congrats to my girl Heather for not just running her first half, but KILLING her first half with sub-two hour race day finish. I am SO proud of you girlfriend!! xoxo