You can add the 2010 Winter Olympics schedule to your calendar by going to this page on MarkThisDate.com. I added it to my Google Calendar and now I can keep track of all the events. If you use another calendar program, such as Outlook or iCal, you can find an appropriate schedule there as well. Very handy! Opening Ceremony is tonight, BTW!!!

Saw this video on Yahoo! Sports “Top 10 Feel-Good Moments” today. Mo Cheeks: good guy.

Went down to New Braunfels to meet my uncle and cousin to do a little fishing. We caught only one trout and three perch, but it was lots of fun. Must do it again soon! Fishing is so fun.

For the past few weeks, I’ve been going to my gym (the YMCA) on Sundays. It’s great because it’s nearly empty so I can use any of the machines without wait. But even better is that I know I can hop on the treadmill and just run without a time limit. On Tuesdays when I run, I have a max of about 45 minutes before Koa gets out of his gymnastics class. So Sundays (and sometimes Friday after work) I can pop on the headphones and listen to podcasts or music, or watch the tv’s while I run at a leisurely pace, without a care in the world. These days I run pretty slow, at about an 11:30/mile pace, which is fine. I’m not training or anything, but just running to keep fit and relax. The only problem was that this Sunday as I was running, my foot started to hurt a bit. I was going to stop at 5.5 miles, but at 5.35, I had a sharp pain in my foot, and had to stop immediately. Today the foot feels a little better, but I might have to switch to the bicycle machine for a week or so.

By the way, I recommend the site RunningAhead.com to track your exercise routine. It’s got some cool graphs and stats, plus you can map out your different routes using google maps. Here’s a link to my page in case you want to see.

A little late, but “Yay!” for Guo Jingjing for winning the gold medal in the women’s 3m springboard last Saturday!

[pics from nbcolympics.com]

I’ve been “playing” Wii Fit a bit more regularly lately, and have been enjoying it a lot. What’s really cool is that it’s got a good mix of activities for the entire family. The kids love the balance games, especially the ski jumping and the running, while I like the yoga training the best. I try to do a few yoga poses mixed in with some strength training, and then maybe a balance game to try to break a record. Speaking of records, the leaderboard is pretty cool. Koa loves to see his name at the top in some of the activities, and I am hanging on to first place in the Short Run, at 104%. Mariko is leading the Hula Hoop activities, and Bay is really good at the tightrope walking.

My favorite yoga poses are the Sun Salutation and the Tree Pose. The Sun Salutation really stretches my legs and gets the blood flowing. The Tree Pose is difficult for me, but it feels satisfying to stand in that position for a while. My left leg is so much more stable than my right leg, for some reason, although my right leg is getting stronger. In most of the yoga poses, the Wii shows you how your balance is doing in real time. This is kind of cool, but also distracting. I find that I do better if I don’t focus on the balance indicator too much.

I still have a bunch of activities yet to unlock, but I am getting there. It’s fun to keep up with the body test too, to see how my BMI and weight are changing. I set a goal to lose five pounds in a couple months, and I am getting there. I haven’t been so diligent about doing Wii Fit consistently, but now that the school year is starting and the family routine will be more predictable, I think I can work it in to an everyday thing. Even if I don’t lose weight, the morning yoga poses really get me ready for the day. If you can find Wii Fit in the stores, I highly recommend it!

Of course the opening ceremonies were amazing (even considering the controversies surrounding the production), but I have been really getting into events that I didn’t really think much about. The one event that I have enjoyed the most has been Archery. I guess it’s kind of geeky, but the bows look so cool, and the archers get to wear some cool outfits. They all wear a protective covering over the left half of their chest (or right half if they shoot lefty) which often has a cute design. The S. Korean archer Yun Ok-Hee had a cute panda on hers (see pic), and I saw Garfield on a Polish competitor. Plus, they get to wear some cool hats as well. The archery stadium is really neat too. It’s just three sets of huge bleachers, with the target range in the center. It reminds me of the stands in the Harry Potter quiddich tournaments.

The competition itself is pretty basic. They just take turns shooting at the target, with the bulls eye being worth ten points, and going down from there the farther you miss the center. The one who finishes with the highest score at the end of four rounds of three shots each wins. If there is a tie, then they just keep shooting until one of the archers gets a better shot than the other. What is amazing to me is that there is an incredible arc the arrow travels in its flight to the target. The camera angle from behind the archer shows how much they have to compensate to make sure the arrow hits the target. It’s crazy that the can be dialed in immediately for the first shot! As usual, the S. Koreans dominated this Olympics, although China did take gold in the women’s individual competition, breaking an incredible undefeated string held by the S. Koreans.

The Archery competition is now over, but I’d recommend catching some of the highlights. It’s pretty neat.

Photos are of Najme Habtin of Iran and Yun Ok-Hee of S. Korea from nbcolympics.com

3.67 miles in 43:20. After a 4-month layoff, it’s back to running. I felt great, although my usual route took me past some new development. :( They are clearing part of the wooded area to build some new houses it looks like.