SAFUN

I’ve been meaning to post about my latest CrossFit experience. As you know, I started CrossFit last summer with Alamo CrossFit. I really enjoyed it but unfortunately, I only did it for 3 months. The location wasn’t convenient to my home or office location.

Recently, I received an email from Dennis Boline (fellow Racker and the person that got me into CrossFit) about a free all women CrossFit workout with Emily Van Vleck, CrossFit trainer with Elite CrossFit. Elite CrossFit works out at the University of Incarnate Word, centrally located in San Antonio.

What was this free workout all about? Well, Emily was turning 24 and to celebrate her 24^th birthday, she wanted to offer a free CrossFit work out to women only. What a brilliant idea! It was a Saturday morning in March so the weather was perfect. Women showed up from all over the city. She grouped us by level of experience and in heats. For each level, there was a male trainer there to spot you.  Here was the work out:

WORKOUT (these weights are for Level 1):

• 400m walk/run/jog
• 24 step ups onto a 12′ box
• 24 push press with a 25lb bar
• 24 dumbbell swings with a 15lb dumbbell
• 24 burpees
• 24 walking lunges with a 10lb plate held overhead
• 400m walk/jog/run

I know it doesn’t look difficult but you’re going for a time. I was coming out of my winter hibernation so I have to say, I was a bit out of shape. They took photos and here is one of me being super dramatic:

Emily was so awesome and I commend her for a job well done. She had t-shirts made, had branded water bottles and everything was super organized. Emily is actually from northern California, but has been living in San Antonio since 2004. She came to UIW for synchronized swimming and was team captain, All-American and three-time member of the USA National Team. She is currently the Assistant Coach of Synchronized Swimming at UIW. You can read more about her here: http://elitecoaches.blogspot.com/

I just received an email from her about a Summer Boot Camp she will be running. It sounds super awesome. Here are the details:

UIW Summer Bootcamp Program

Learn how to truly gain a level of fitness you have never experienced before. You will perform skills and exercises that will improve the 10 areas of fitness: AEROBIC ENDURANCE, STAMINA, STRENGTH, FLEXIBILITY, SPEED, POWER, COORDINATION, AGILITY, BALANCE and ACCURACY!

Class Times:

May 17, 2010- August 13, 2010

Monday- Wednesday-Friday

6:00am-7:00am, or

12:00pm-1:00pm

Monday-Tuesday-Thursday

5:00pm-6:00pm

UIW Summer Bootcamp Program Fee: $275.  A savings of $175!!!

Click here to sign up: https://clients.mindbodyonline.com/asp/home.asp?studioid=6898

This is a killer deal! I highly recommend going to Emily. It’s things like this that will help transition San Antonio into a healthier city.

Last week I went to a “Girls” happy hour – I don’t do this often but need to! This happy hour was different. It involved a paintbrush and canvas and, yes, of course, wine. We started out at Bin555 Restaurant and Wine Bar located at the Shops of Artisan’s Alley. This was my first time visiting this area. They have cute little shops and restaurants. After a glass of wine, we went next door to  “Painting with a Twist.” It is an art studio with two classrooms.  The idea is simple: bring your girlfriends, some wine and get ready to paint. It is $35 per person and you are provided with an instructor and all the materials needed to make a piece of artwork. They allow you to bring in a picnic – we brought wine!

My cousin organized this girl’s night out and there were about ten of us ladies. We each had a place setting with a blank canvas, paint and paintbrushes. Our project was The Starry Night. Please note, you don’t have to be an artist! I don’t paint so I was a bit intimidated at first, however, the instructor takes you step by step and encourages you to make it your own. The Starry Night sounded like a project way over my head but after a glass of wine (and the understanding that this is not going to be graded), I became more comfortable. We of course had lots of laughs! I think it’s healthy to allow yourself to be creative whether it’s writing, painting, drawing, making pottery. Mine is writing and I usually keep my stuff very private.  So painting with friends over a glass of wine was definitely liberating.

I highly recommend Painting with a Twist for a night out with your girlfriends. I will certainly being going again. Here’s a photo I took on my iPhone.

One of the coolest things about working in my industry and doing what I do for the Rackspace Cloud is that I get to see all the innovative things people are doing on the Internet. The entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well in America and since everyone needs a place to a host their website, I am fortunate enough to work with many of these passionate and talented people, including San Antonian, Magaly Chocano.

Back in August, I came across a TIME article titled “New Ways to Create iPhone Apps on the Cheap.” I had just purchased my iPhone so any iPhone app article interested me. The company was SwebApps. After reading through the article, I noticed that they were a San Antonio based startup. I was instantly proud that we had a tech start up right here in San Antonio. Then I thought, “I wonder where they are hosted?”  Turns out they were a Rackspace Cloud customer. I invited Magaly, CEO and Founder of SwebApps, to the Rackspace Cloud office. What a treat! I had the opportunity to interview her and do a blog posting. Turns out, we knew many of the same people through various connections.

Just recently, she entered in our Super Bowl Contest and submitted an extremely cool video. Magaly is not only a successful businesswoman but a talented musician. The contest asked customers to submit a video on why they have the coolest business on the Rackspace Cloud and this is what we received from SwebApps:

Happy New Year!

So what’s new for 2010? I am coaching my first volleyball team! This is something I have always wanted to do but never ran into the opportunity. When my aunt contacted me about a volleyball club needing a volleyball coach for a 12 & under team, I jumped on it. I’m passionate about the sport and passionate about working with our youth so I felt this was my calling.

I can’t tell you how nervous I was meeting the parents. I have been in business for 7 years and have had to present to high profile clients and executive leadership numerous of times but never was I this nervous. These parents were meeting someone for the first time that would be working with their daughter for the next 6 months. I needed to earn their trust. Talking a bit about my experience helped. The next step was proving myself.

I outlined what I was going to go over in my first practice and reviewed it over and over and over and over in my head. Once practice came and I started running the drills, I realized that I was way ahead of myself. These girls are only 9 and 10 years old! I needed to teach them the fundamentals of just passing the ball and controlling the ball. I had to go back and re-outline my practices. I now have the hang of it.

Our first tournament was this past weekend. We are in the 12 & under division so I knew we were going up against girls that were older than my girls and had 1 year under their belt in club volleyball. Mentally, I was prepared for this. Was I prepared for our opposing team to be twice the size of my team? No! I showed up at 7:30am to see a bunch of mammoths warming up. I only had a few girls there and we were scheduled to play at 8am, against the mammoths! My poor parents were so freaked out. I kept my composure. I got my girls warmed up and ready to play. We had to play them so there was no use in freaking out. And although we lost, we took the mammoths to 3 games. Not bad.

We went on to lose 1 more match but won our last match, yeah! I was so exhausted by the end of our last match. I had such a blast and left with an amazing feeling inside. We are only going to get better and now, I actually want to play some more mammoths.

This year, it’s not about my success. For me, it’s about helping my girls succeed.

If you read my last post, you’ll notice that #3 of the memories of our old office space at the Weston Centre was Lula’s. It’s a family owned and operated Mexican restaurant, a Racker favorite. Kens5 visited The Castle and reported on the new developments around The Castle (old Windsor park mall). Because Lula’s received so much business from Rackspace, they went ahead and opened a Lula’s right across the street from The Castle. Genius!  In this video, you’ll see Cloud Racker and good friend of Jason and I, Mike Ortiz. He is the enjoying some food at Lula’s. Neat.