I admit it. Even though I love sports and have been a bit of a tomboy most of my life, I don’t care about the Super Bowl. Maybe I would if my hometown team the Atlanta Falcons was playing.

Actually, no. Probably not. If it’s not college football, I don’t really care. (It’s ok, you can judge me if you want.)

But no matter how you rate the importance of the Super Bowl, everybody likes a good Super Bowl party right? Right. And I should be at one, right? Right. Except there’s just one nagging little detail … today is the last official day of my 28-Day Transformation Challenge, and I can’t consume any alcohol, dairy, grains, beans or sugar until the clock strikes midnight. That includes nachos and cheese dip, potato skins, beer and pretty much everything else associated with the Super Bowl. Are you starting to see my dilemma???

So instead of getting ready to drink beer with friends and stuff my face with football comfort foods, I’m going to yoga. I just discovered an amazing new yoga class from Tough Love Yoga that’s designed for athletes, those recovering from injury and yoga newbies. It’s called deep stretch yoga, and it’s a gentle class where you work into deep postures with long holds to release tension and tightness. It’s the perfect ingredient to round out a hard week of running and cross-training.

I’m not the stretchy bendy yoga type. Not even close. I’m the runner who is attempting to do yoga. Emphasis on “attempting.” I’m the one who is grunting in pain when I’m in a pose stretching my hips, quads, IT bands, hamstrings … ok, pretty much everything.

But just like we take our cars in for an oil change every few thousand miles, we’ve got to do some basic maintenance on our bodies. We can’t run them into the ground and expect them to keep performing at their best. Every day can’t be a fast run. Every cross-training day can’t be a hard bike, swim or weight-lifting session. Stretching and rest must factor in there somewhere. After all, those days are just as critical as the hard workout days for overall success. Find the time to take it easier on your body.

The good folks over at Runner’s World have written about the benefits of yoga for runners. Some notable benefits include:

• Increases passive and dynamic flexibility
• Improves balance and coordination
• Alleviates anxiety and stress
• Relieves tight hamstrings
• Reduces or heals knee pain
• Helps you recover from a long run
• Speeds up recovery time

Perhaps I’ll make it back in time to see Beyonce though. Hmmm. Namaste y’all!

Are you watching the Super Bowl? Have you ever missed the Super Bowl to work out? Is yoga part of your regular training schedule?