Day One. 2024

Day One. 2024. Don't let this be just another day. Let it be an opportunity for you! I want to make some changes to my routine, starting tomorrow. Water before coffee. Yoga before writing. Writing before going anywhere near social media. Water. Yoga. Shower. Coffee. Writing. Then ideally a short walk before I start my work day. I think I can do it. I already get up at 4:00 am every morning and I do everything now except the yoga (currently 2x week). The key is to have a realistic plan!  #katyamills

the camel

I am the asana

holding my heels 

listening to Boards of Canada backwards arching 

diverting all thoughts 

from the chasm

 #katyamills

sy.nap.se

there are days

where i am so pulled so stretched

to the synapses

give me ten minutes of rest

sunk in those spaces

recharged by chemical

reactions

#katyamills

sav.asana

deep in dead body pose

you never felt so alive

letting the exhalations wander 

out into space

with compassion 

for all

#katyamills

journal. march seven

We hung on to the social medias lookin for compadres, someone who got us, who felt what we been through, so we could identify and reclaim our forgotten selves. our standard was downgraded to substandard. we were told our employ of social medias was a worthless trade and destined to further alienate us. why would we let them take us? why then let go, to fall on an easy clawed at chair of fake news? we held on tight, we lashed our wrists to the planks and spun around slow in electric current, just the same. we were hard-headed creatures not easily concussed. our hearts then soft, thawed into spring.

how to run a marathon - part 3

Nutrition. I decided on an ideal race weight based on my build, by comparing against a professional runner of similar build. Taking off pounds is important because it eases the incredible impact of your weight on your legs. I lost about 10lbs in 2 months and though it's not much, it made a really big difference. Gravity didn't hurt so bad.

My staple diet for the 4 months of training consisted of oatmeal, peanut butter & jelly, pan-fried tilapia in olive oil, garlic, shrimp, tunafish, honey, granola, fruit, fruit juice, wheat bread and pasta, lots of tomatoes, cup of noodles, all the V8 juice combinations, bananas, oranges, muscle milk (which i found tasted pretty good mixed with hot coffee), tea, broiled turkey/chicken with veggies, jamba juice, spinach, eggplant, salad, almonds, quinoa, almond milk, salads, eggs, sweet potatoes, soups. On weekends after long runs I often treated myself to the stuff I cut out: pizza (cheese), chicken wings, hamburgers, steak, butter, bacon. So I could get the cravings out of my system once in a while. I also took B-complex and multivitamins every single day, and sometimes those green tea extract pills.

I usually start my day with some oatmeal/granola and honey and fruit, maybe some brown sugar. And a thermos of coffee/tea mixed with almond milk. Then I will snack while I'm at work on apples and oranges and granola/protein bars. After work (I work a nightshift) I will fry eggs, sometimes a whole wheat muffin, garlic, onion, ketchup (sandwich). Rest for an hour or two before my daily run (unless it's summer when I have to get on the road/river early. After my run it's a good idea to have some protein of some kind within the first half hour, otherwise hydrate through the day, fruit juices, water, granola bar, jamba juice. When I wake up at night before work, I might broil chicken or fish with veggies, or pan fry in olive oil. I rarely do both the big breakfast (eggs) and the big dinner (fish/meat/pasta) on the same day when I am training. I don't need that much food unless I ran for over a couple of hours. I substitute something smaller, soup/salad/oatmeal/tunafish/pb&j, in lieu of one of those meals. This is what works for me.

The week leading up to a race, you wanna hydrate and carb-load religiously if you can. Meaning small meals several times a day, keep drinking water. I found that eating well makes me feel good, running makes me feel good, yoga makes me feel good, so I would just remind myself of this! It makes sacrifice and effort a whole lot easier when you see the bigger picture. You are a star! You are so healthy! You are the lean, mean, running machine!

ultrawriting and the swing-arm scorpion

Life is good getting better, all the running when mixed with yoga is another return to the moving current, out from the eddies where modern life traps us. I am also more involved than usual with a man who cares about me. The summer has gone quickly and quietly, a couple of heat waves and otherwise plain old lovely northern california sunshine. Yesterday morning I ran a half-marathon on my own along the river, for the first time ever and it felt great. I especially noticed falling into a sweet rhythm of breath and motion. I am hoping to use endurance running towards developing a discipline for endurance writing. There, the cat is out of the bag! I'm gonna start an ultrawriter craze. Writing entire novels at one sitting while choking down powerades and peanut butter! Think I won't? Watch me.

on a heli-tour

Last night I had a dream I was at work with a clipboard with a checklist of items had to be done on the shift. I was working with perfect strangers and asked them for help but they didn't want to help me. Turns out some woman with a big mouth who looked like a swing-arm lamp scorpion was in the hallway talking shit about me and some perceived hurt I caused her. I immediately confronted the scorpion and she blabbered this nonsense to my face and I didn't even have to look closely at her to know she was lying. After all, I have never before met a swing-arm lamp anyone! I told her to shut the hell up and she started inching up my leg, and I woke up terrified. If that doesn't get you out of bed, nothing will. I scrambled out and into the kitchen for some coffee, and worked up this joke:

What do you do when someone's telling lies on you?
Hang them by their toenails and feed them the truth!

TUMBLEWEEDS

© katya mills

i cannot be fragile anymore
'cause i will break!
i will lose it!
you won't know me!
pSychOtic

instead i am
a twig
a dancer
a yogi
a paperback

following my rituals
a turtle
an ascetic
a mailman

a homeless woman
recycling her cans before
dawn

can i live
any other way?

letting some in
and letting some go

some relationships
friends
ex-lovers and
others

fall away

and another
  and another
    and another

my heart wants to break
but can
only shed skins
like a white snake

leaving wax paper
shells in the dust
blown by the wind
as it must
  as it must

a-tumblin' on outta
here to god only knows!

god only knows
  god only knows