skipping and playing
Mr. Brogan’s post from yesterday really spoke to me – for a couple of reasons.
First, Chris mentioned rope skipping and it reminded me that I wrote about skipping and said I was gonna try it a long time ago. Well I did not follow-through (hangs head in shame) and, to make a long story short, I now own a skipping rope and am gonna follow-through this time!
The second thing Chris talked about was how children exercise through play. He couldn’t have said it better and it really reminded me of my post-secondary roots. I spent my university years obtaining a Bachelor of Arts in Recreation Administration where I learned that PLAY is the root of many many good things (incidentally, this RBF member and I share this background). Study after study has been done on this subject showing that we homosapiens learn, grow and integrate best when we are involved in child-like play.
I’m pretty good at maintaining my sense of play when it comes to running, but I think I often lose it when doing other stuff such as drills and strength training – those things often just seem like WORK to me.
What Chris did was to remind me that play is the way. It got me thinking about injecting more playfulness into places where I haven’t seen it before.
I find core work to be…well, WORK but skipping rope is fun and is a great core workout! I LOVE basketball – a sport requiring tremendous agility and core strength and it is SO much fun. I haven’t played b-ball in SO long so it’s definitely on my list of playful things to do.
Let’s see, what else? Hmmm…
I can’t wait to figure out some more playful things to do with my fitness.
Thanks for the reminder Chris! I’d play dodgeball with ya. (but MAN, would I ever kick your ass!) 
Have FUN everyone!
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) Oh, and Dave Mitsui would be soooo proud of this post, Mark! 
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Thursday March 17, 2005 @
I love training through play. Biking, hiking, blading, and playing any game are some of the things I enjoy most.
Skipping rope is hard work but great fun. I don’t know how I used to skip rope for so long when I was younger.
P.S. I agree that I might be misinformed about my percpetions of the drawbacks of barefoot running. That’s why I’m so intrigued to hear more about your experiences (when it gets warmer, of course).