My daughter is a reader and some of our favorite books are those by Eric Carle.  I was delighted to discover several months ago that he has a blog.  He had a recent post about the inspiration for the book From Head to Toe. As a child he was never really physically active and suffered back pain as an adult.  A massage therapist gave him some exercises to do and they inspired him to write the book.   The cat pose above is a yoga pose which made me think, I need to get back into yoga.

I will go ahead and admit it right now, I don’t stretch.  You can find evidence to support either it works or it doesn’t work or it’s bad for you or not but I think you go with what works for you.  When I was doing a lot more races, I went to yoga a couple of times a week and that was much better for me than stretching after a run.   Yoga can be great not only for your flexibility but also for your all around well being.  It can be calming and centering.  I have fallen out of the habit and need to get back into it and I just came across this: 10 Best Poses for Runners. I’m going to challenge myself to do this at least twice a week.  My daughter loves doing the yoga poses I’ve taught her so I’m going to recruit her to join me.  Unless Max & Ruby is on, then I’m on my own.

If you are an Eric Carle fan as well, be sure to read The Very Hungry Caterpillar to a child you know and love on October 8 in conjunction with Read for the Record.  The goal is to set a record for people reading the same book.  You can sign up here.

Speaking of cats, how about a little Cat Power for your running mix.