Brandy Keener

Kai and I sharing the foam roller in our living room. I’ve been a huge fan of the foam roller for years! I used to like it for my legs and still do but the real treat is that it pops my back. Of course, when we got to New Zealand, I immediately started searching for my beloved foam roller. Yes, I use it everyday. Doesn’t seem to be that common in New Zealand so I special ordered it to the local sporting goods store. I paid $70 for my back popper. Pretty cheap if you think about the money you’ll save from chiropractic visits. Most of my Ohope friends have “rolled it out” after having dinner at our house and were really into it.

Surprisingly, Kai is pretty keen toward the foam roller. It’s pretty stiff and hurts a little but the outcome is similar to a deep tissue massage. Like mother, like son.

I found my spin classes in Whakatane, New Zealand. So what if I’m the only one in the class? One of my favorite parts of spin is picking the music and I certainly get to do that in New Zealand. So what if I have to ride with tennis shoes and use my beach towel as a sweat towel. Travel, baby-you make it work!

Teaching and taking my spin class

       
Me pointing to where I want the boxer guy to stand to take my photo

( I love this photo because I naturally get bossy when I hop on that spin bike!)

There are two spin bikes upstairs at a cage fighting, boxing gym next to Sunnyz gym in Whakatane, New Zealand.

Happy workouts!

I love trail running. It makes me happy and calms my mind. “It is my medicine.”

I can rock out to my music and solve all my dilemmas while trail running. The footing can be a little slippery and steep to say the least so I have to watch my step. But it’s always worth it and I’m a better person after I take my medicine…

I’m over the hump of my 30 day yoga challenge. I’ve been whimpering and whining about missing my yoga classes in New Zealand so decided to do something about it. I went online and found a beautiful site called YogaGlo. It has over a 1,000 yoga classes to choose from where you can pick the style of yoga (vinyasa, yin, meditation, etc) duration (5 min-2 hours) and teacher. It’s a sweet deal if you like yoga classes and are unable to join while traveling or away from your studio. I stream the classes through my ipad and connect it to the tv so it’s a big beautiful picture.

They add new classes everyday so you don’t have to repeat classes if you’re looking for variety. And it only costs $18 US dollars a month for unlimited yoga so it won’t break the bank. I love yogaglo!

I tried a new trail run last week and this was the start of my hour long adventure! I’m not a big fan of stairs so was a little surprised to see so many. Like all the trail running here in Ohope Beach, it was an ass kicker.

Part of travel is being uncomfortable. Sure, there are lots of exciting parts but sometimes I miss my yoga classes in Ohope New Zealand. Yes, I could do it alone at my apartment and yes I could do an online class by myself. For me, doing it at home alone isn’t the same as going to a yoga studio and sweating it out with 20+ other yogis. Here’s how it goes down at home for me: I’ll be in downward dog and think about tossing the clothes in the dryer real fast or write that one email before I forget about it. Suddenly, I’m piddling around the house cleaning up and my 5 minutes of yoga are over.

Our friend Luck practicing his downward dog while Kai gets into cobra pose

I know that part of being enlightened is self discipline and self practice but I haven’t gotten there yet. I’ve done a few 30 minute timed sessions by myself at home but miss the classes. Maybe, I’ll sign up for the online classes that I read about. Or maybe I’ll sign up for the yoga classes with Jane (the only yoga teacher I’ve heard about) in Whakatane. They start up again after the holidays in February.

Kai kickin it in his pj’s during our morning run and as happy as a clam

If you run often you’ll know what I mean. Back in the day when I began my love affair with running at Oregon State, a mere 18 years ago anytime was a good time to run. I would run in the early morning or late at night. I remember driving to Dixon Recreation Center at OSU and running on the treadmill at 10 or 11pm! I was game to run 6 miles around the track or the treadmill, it didn’t matter. After a good 10 years of running, and a few marathons, I became a little pickier about where and when I wanted to run. Here in Ohope, New Zealand I’m running 4-5 days a week which is a lot for this baby mama. The trail runs are epic and running is the no brainer for me. Maybe, tomorrow I’ll hop on my borrowed 10 speed bike for a few sprints.

Nearing the end of our run, Kai started meditating before he fell asleep. He squeezed in a 20 minute power nap while I finished our run and cranked out a few kettlebell squats at the gym. Good times.