What do boxing, running, and cooking have in common?

My cute friend Brenda and I watched "Julie and Julia" yesterday, having already seen it once before. I love the part where Julie has the bad day at work and then comes home to blog that what she loves about cooking is that even after a bad day, you can come home, mix egg yolks, cream and chocolate together and get something wonderful.

I love that about cooking, too. It is predictable.

But what I love even more about cooking is what I also realized that I love about boxing, running, biking, flying and The Flylady.

Are you ready?

It's the pre-flight ritual.

WAY back when I first got out of high school, I spent a summer flying small airplanes. Mostly Cessna 152's. Before each flight, you have to do a pre-flight inspection. There is a checklist and you walk around the plane checking the pitot tubes and tires and fuel tanks and the like. After you've done it 10 or 20 times, you have your own little routine and rhythm established. And while you are going through that little routine you get your head ready, too. You have to be present when you fly - and a good pilot in a small plane uses her kinesthetics and intuition together with the know-how in her head to have a succesful flight. The pre-flight inspection becomes the little bubble where you leave the world waiting and step into the possibility of the flight ahead.

As I was untangling (yes, Damien, I know I'm supposed to wash them in a pillowcase so they don't tangle up that bad!) my handwraps and getting them rolled up, I was thinking about the ritual of wrapping one's hands. While there isn't a lot of variability in the how-to of hand wrapping, it is still a very unique and individual ritual that gets you out of your everyday life and into the physical present-ness of your upcoming workout.

It's the same with having your run/walking gear all laid out and getting it on and getting your shoes laced just right. I mean, there's really not a lot TO putting on your shoes, but when you are going to be run/walking for 5+ hours, you really do need to get it exactly right for you.

Another thing that cooking, boxing, running, flying, etc. all have in common is that there is always a feeling of accomplishment when you are done. This is not to say that there can't be burnt food, bad workouts and scary flights. Of course there can. But there is still the "war story" that you get from that and there is still an incredible satisfaction (and learning) in that.