Fit Pantry - a Fit Foodie's thoughts, tips and recipe

Saturday, May 3, 2014

A Ridiculously FUN Afternoon

May 3, 2014. The day was hot. Sun was out, no clouds in the sky, no breeze. At the Orange County Great Park Irvine, hundreds of people swarmed the flat empty scape. Music filled the air, you can smell the excitement and of course, the delectable fragrance off the grill from the food trucks.  The ROC Irvine commenced today! ROC as in Ridiculous Obstacle Challenge.

And that was where we were today. 12 obstacles, ranging from doable to ridiculous dotted the course. Some of the obstacles are ridiculously hard. Almost impossible, like jumping on top of 3 inflatable balls across two platforms. Injuries are to be expected. Fortunately, our team only suffered minor ones.

I started feeling hungry by the time we were walking towards the ninth obstacle. OH man... I couldn't wait to cross the last obstacle and check out the food trucks!!

We got water sprayed, bubbled, swinging from ropes, jumping across obstacles, hanging on monkey bars, got clobbered by swinging balls into cold water, then slid head down to the finish line ... it was fun! I would have double-back to do the last slide again had my stomach not calling me to hurry and get food :)

A nice peace and quiet afternoon on a hot day like today was a sweet idea. But once in a while when an event like this is available, go out. Get some friends to join and do it together with you. It is an experience you will remember and it would strengthen the bond of friendship, as a team won't leave a member behind.


We finally got to eat!

Information on ROC: http://www.rocrace.com
ROC on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/ROCrace

#roc #fitnessfriendshipfun #teamwork

Friday, May 2, 2014

Live Life Happy - 100 Happy Days Challenge

When I started this yesterday and shared this on Facebook, several people told me that it was impossible for them. Well, come to think of it, if by 100 happy days means you will be cruising the days with a smile on your face, or grinning the whole day then, of course it's unrealistic. In fact, that would be down right creepy!! And I would have nothing to do with you. Delete you from Facebook friends. Block you, and delete your numbers..... Just kidding :)  That is extreme :p

Anyway, living a happy life doesn't mean that you will have no negative emotions like stress, sadness, anger in your daily life. There is no way around those negative energy. It is life and many things are beyond our control. That said, how we react to the negativity around us especially when we got affected, and how we handle our own emotions is within our power. I am not going to lie and say that if someone cut me off on a freeway I would just smile and wave at that car. Dude, I'd probably *censor* and give a *censor* kind of wave. BUT, would that ruin my happy day? Would I let that drag me down? That, my friends, is the question and to me, what the challenge is all about.

Following this seemingly outrageous challenge for 100 days is actually an exercise for our emotion. Can you bounce back from a negative feeling to a neutral even positive one? How fast can you do that? Granted we are not built with a switch. There will be process in between and this challenge is going to help you focus your thoughts and mind towards the right direction, which is up - "up" being a direction we associate with positive energy, thoughts, feeling.

I will give you an example which actually had just happened. I woke up feeling dead tired, got up from the wrong side of the bed, hit my toes on the way to the bathroom, missed my facial appointment, burned my breakfast, forgot to cover the blender when hit "start"....  How do I feel? Like *censor* censor* *censor* !! Right??? I mean, wouldn't you? And only on the second day of the challenge nonetheless. Then a friend texted me and asked me if I'd join her at the gym.

Option A. I could simply brush her off and say "nah, don't feel like it. I have hell of a day to start!"  In short, I could wallow in my gloom and doom day and holed up in the room hoping nothing bad would fall on my head.  But I took a moment, and option B, I answered YES! I was still dragging my ass while getting ready, but I kept thinking of the feeling I'd get after the workout.

When I arrived at the gym, I hit the car bumper on the curb.... -___-;;;; Oh *censor*.  Moving on, I walked inside the gym, smiled at my friend, which felt like I had a 5 pounders on each corners of my lips, then started focusing on my workout. In no time, I felt better. Inadvertently I thought about how lucky I was to be able to do this. Despite the crappy morning, I arrived safely at the gym, got to work on getting myself fitter, stronger and healthier. And that makes me happy. BOOM! Right, THERE. So you see, yes, I am happy.   

Crappy day should never define you and how you live your days. You can be 365 days happy every year. 

The point I want to make is there is always something that we all can be thankful, feel blessed and be happy about. And that spark or sparks are there. We often forget about them, overlooked them, ignored them. I am not going to draw examples for you, because you know you and your lives better than I do. But I bet you that yes, you have something in your live that you can use to bring yourself up.

Hm... now that song plays in my head, "Happy" by Pharrell Williams. And now I smile again :)  

You don't have to sign up for the challenge, you can simply do it on your own. A challenge is set up to keep us accountable and focus. It is human psychology that if there is no goal, we tend to wander. The official website to sign up is here: http://www.100happydays.com
Now go live life happy :)

#Livelifehappy #feelblessed #100happydays