Murphy's Law: Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.

     Our daughter flew to London yesterday for a conference/vacation.  Upon arriving at Heathrow Airport her wallet was stolen leaving her without cash, credit cards, or ATM-debit cards.  Luckily she still has her passport and cell phone, so was able to call us early this morning.
     With much difficulty we were able to wire her some money through Western Union, but they do not make it easy!  After an hour of trying we were unable to complete the transaction by phone, although their website states it is easy to do.  We had to wait for our local Western Union office to open for the day.  Then it went okay since we had a debit card and luckily had some extra cash in our checking account, something we normally do not have.
     Hopefully, she has picked up the cash by now and is on her way to her conference and hotel, and has been able to contact all her credit card companies to cancel the old cards and send new.

     This is what makes travel so very difficult.  Having to travel by air is irritating enough, but then theft is a real problem.  While in Chicago on a business trip, Dean's wallet was stolen by a professional gang of pickpockets.  One of my brothers had his wallet stolen in South America.  Our daughter had her wallet pick-pocketed while in Italy.  When Dean and I were in India we were constantly on guard with money divided between different pockets, some concealed inside our clothes, and I carried a slash-proof travel purse.

     Coincidentally, we watched the DVD, "The Way," last night.  In it, Martin Sheen goes to Europe after his son (Emilio Estivez) dies in an accident, to claim the body.  He proceeds to complete the historical pilgrimage, The Way of St. James, (Camino de Santiago), which his son had started.  He travels by foot across France and Spain, meeting some companions along the way, and staying in hostels, or large dormitories by night.  Watching that movie last night I noted that I would have had to sleep with all my belongings wrapped in my arms for fear of theft.  And a theft does occur in the movie.
     The world is a dangerous place, sometimes, and it has given me trust issues.
     "The Way" is an inspirational story and the cinematography is great....all in all, a nice movie.

Traveling is a brutality.  It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all the familiar comfort of home and friends.  You are constantly off balance.  Nothing is yours except the essential things--air, sleep, dreams, the sea, the sky--all things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it.  
                                                 Cesare Pavese


Travel is glamorous only in retrospect.     Paul Theroux



                                              

The Rise of the Power Vegans

     Some of America's most powerful CEOs and bosses are becoming vegan.  Steve Wynn, Mort Zuckerman, Bill Clinton, Russell Simmons, Bill Ford, Biz Stone, Mike Tyson, John Mackey, and Alec Baldwin are among them.  CEOs are smart and this gives them the opportunity to control their own health.  It also just makes good business sense, as health care costs are rising precipitously in this country.  
     See the article in Bloomburg Businessweek.
                     http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_46/b4203103862097.htm


     There is another kind of Power Vegan.  Timothy "Desert Storm" Bradley is an undefeated (28-0) vegan prize fighter.  On June 9 he will fight the defending welter-weight champion, Manny Pacquiao. He is among the growing number of vegan professional athletes.  Read the article from the Wall Street Journal here.
                     http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204520204577247533423440946.html



     Consider gradually transitioning to a plant-based diet;  if not for your health or your budget or your athletic prowess, do it because it is becoming the "in" thing to do.

                             

Cancer cells do not grow in a vacuum.

     Update time.....Dean's second chemotherapy went fine.  He feels so much better than his first go-round with chemotherapy a year ago.  Whether it is the fasting he is experimenting with, or the exercise he is trying to maintain, it is going pretty well.  He discovered, during week 2, that he can't fast and run, so he is walking more on fasting days.  Also, he learned that it is miserably hard to travel for business after chemo, and exercise, and try fasting.  Hopefully this is his last business trip for a few months.

     My bad....I haven't been doing my plank-a-days every day so have to start my streak of doing them for an entire year all over again.  Today will be day one.
                                           

     I have been keeping up with the jogging, however, but wish I was doing more.  My race looms just 11 weeks away.  At some point I have to really increase my long runs.   Hopefully, when the weather warms up.......spring cannot come too soon, for me.

     M.D. Anderson Cancer Center is finally going to start a clinical trial this summer to explore whether improving patients' diets and nutrition, levels of physical activity, stress management and social engagement can help them avoid a cancer recurrence and increase survival.  They will follow 120 breast cancer patients.  A control group will receive the standard care without the lifestyle interventions.  Both groups will be monitored for immune function, endocrine function, insulin and glucose metabolism and more.  Cancer cells do not grow in a vacuum.

One must not forget that recovery is brought about not by the physician but by the sick man himself.  He heals himself, by his own power, exactly as he walks by means of his own power, or eats, or thinks, breaths, or sleeps.     Georg Groddeck, "The Book of the It" 1923

Are you into barefoot running?

     If you are, you will appreciate these funny videos on "The sh*t barefoot runners say" and "The sh*t runners say to barefoot runners."

     http://www.invisibleshoe.com/1304/

     http://www.invisibleshoe.com/1332/

                                     

                                                    reblogged form pinterest.com

Cholesterol

    Health-savvy consumer that you are, you know that blood cholesterol is an important marker for disease risk.  According to T. Colin Campbell, PhD, "Lower blood cholesterol levels are linked to lower rates of heart disease, cancer, and other Western diseases, even at levels far below those considered 'safe' in the West."  In his research, as blood cholesterol levels decreased, cancers of the liver, rectum, colon, lung, breast, leukemia, brain, stomach and esophagus decreased.  Most Americans know that high cholesterol affects your heart, but aren't aware of the cancer connection or the link to diabetes.
     Several prominent American heart disease researchers and physicians have stated that, in their long careers, they have never seen heart disease fatalities among patients with cholesterol levels below 150 mg/dl.  (Drs. Bill Castelli, Bill Roberts, and Caldwell Esselstyn, Jr.) Studies show that consuming animal-based protein increases blood cholesterol levels.
     That information gave me a goal--- to aim for a total cholesterol below 150 mg/dl.  I know that I am just an experiment of one.  What works for me may not work for everyone, but here are my results.  I have been vegetarian for eighteen years now. My last total cholesterol level, as a vegetarian, was 158 mg/dl.  I was very happy with that.  But my most recent blood cholesterol level, as a plant-strong, unprocessed food, vegan, who is now age 60, was 128 mg/dl.  This life style works just as advertised!  (according to my laboratory, norms for total cholesterol for Americans are 125-200 mg/dl, note that averages for people in other countries are lower).
     In addition, my fasting blood sugar 2 1/2 years ago as a vegetarian was 100 mg/dl.  (normal 65-99 mg/dl).  That was one point above normal, or prediabetic.  This time around, as a vegan, it was 89 mg/dl and well withing the normal range. I'm thrilled.....my labwork confirms that this life style works for me, for whatever reason.  Be it the diet, adding more consistent exercise, or losing a little weight--- I need to keep this up.

Life is the great experiment.  Each of us is an experiment of one---observer and subject---making choices, living with them, recording the effects.    George Sheehan



                            (source, www.be-healthy-happy-beautiful.tumblr.com)

Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler. Albert Einstein

      You may have read the news this week that the first artificial meat will be produced later this year.  It is called "in-vitro meat" and is created in a laboratory from thousands of animal stem cells.  The first pork sausage will be produced in about 6 months, the first hamburger in a year.  Scientiests think it is inevitable that the world will have to resort to in-vitro meat in the near future to feed the world's burgeoning population as livestock production methods are unsustainable.

               http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/8733576/First-artificial-burger-to-cost-250000.html

    Let's set the moral and ethical arguments aside for now, as they are far too complex for me.  Let's just consider the animal welfare and environmental effects.  Professor Mark Post of Maastricht University, who is leading the research,  says that using synthetic meat could reduce the environmental footprint of meat production by up to 60%.  Hey, lets reduce the environmental footprint of meat production by 100% by just not eating meat!  We will also solve many of our health woes in the process.
     This new form of meat production would also decrease the number of animals being slaughtered for food.  That is a good thing, but if we all just stop eating meat we would decrease the number of animals being slaughtered for food to zero.  That would be a great thing, and so much simpler and less costly than using stem-cell researchers to produce meat.  Remember Einstein....let's make everything as simple as possible.
     Albert Einstein was possibly the greatest scientist to date, and was a vegetarian in his later years, although he had supported the idea for a much longer time.  In a letter he wrote shortly before becoming vegetarian he said that he "had always eaten animal flesh with a somewhat guilty conscience."  He also stated that "Nothing will benefit health or increase chances of survival on earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet."  I believe him.
   
 

Think you've lost your mojo? Get inspired.

                              (source, www.pinterest.com)





                           (source, www.pinterest.com)


Watch the following video.  Get inspired.
               http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RU7w0Z35XEE

A Superhero!

                                  (source, Runners World magazine)
She has 1/4 of a century on me in age, but I can't do a fraction of what she can.  No excuses.

Determination.

     Dean is a determined guy.  We have been doing a lot of reading about chemotherapy and what things he can do to help it along or make it more tolerable.  The obvious thing is to continue exercising.  Exercise has been shown to lessen side effects, to maintain muscle mass, and to improve mood, immune function, and even survival during chemotherapy.  He intends to keep exercising as much as he can.  He jogged 3 miles Saturday, a little slower than usual, but still he did it without problem.  He jogged 4 miles today.
     Another thing he is trying is fasting.  It sounds counter-intuitive, but human case studies have shown that  fasting during chemotherapy decreases side effects.  Studies done on mice, and not yet done on humans, also show that fasting protects normal human cells but not cancer cells from high-dose chemotherapy.   He has discussed this with his doctors.  Neither had much to say about fasting, no recommendations at all other than that it is up to him and to take care.  They were interested in getting copies of the studies to read about the findings, however.  Interestingly enough, Dean wasn't queasy at all yesterday while fasting but felt a bit queasy after eating breakfast this morning. Hmmmm. Maybe the case studies are right and this really works.

                  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2815756/

                  http://uscnews.usc.edu/science_technology/fasting_weakens_cancer_in_mice.html


     Of course, when not fasting he will continue to aim for optimal nutrition in addition to the exercise.....the third prong in his plan of attack.  It is empowering to take action, to take your health into your own hands, to not just be a passive recipient of whatever chemicals someone is handing out.
     I have mentioned previously our disappointment that no doctors have ever mentioned diet or exercise or any adjuvant therapy he could try.  He goes to a large cancer center and we were expecting nutrition classes, weekly yoga and meditation classes for cancer patients, and maybe even weekly peer group sessions.  All have been shown to aid in cancer recovery.  Nope. No money in those.  The same with fasting...no money to be made so no one will pay to do the research.
     Health care should be holistic. People are wholes, and we are more than the sum of our parts.  I am probably showing my age, but back when I was in school we learned the systems approach to assessing and treating the human body. Don't they do than anymore?
     Everyone realizes that current cancer treatments are primitive, and will someday be looked on as being barbaric. Even Dean's cancer docs said that.  Treatments need to become targeted, and more ideally, preventative, and, the sooner the better.

The part can never be well unless the whole is well. -----Plato

It takes a village.

     As you can see by the new title, the focus of my blog is changing from me and my health journey to include my husband Dean.  I truly regret not learning of the disease preventing, cancer-preventing benefits of a plant-strong unprocessed diet decades ago, long before we had our children.  Cancer takes many years to develop.....at least ten....before it grows large enough to be detectable by modern medicine.  Many cancers are initiated in childhood, even in utero, and the goal must be to prevent them from promotion and progression in the first place rather than treating them after the fact.
     That being said, Dean's cancer has recurred.  The good news is that it is a small mass and that he is strong and otherwise healthy.  He has opted to go back on a chemotherapy regime.
     We have told a few people about this:  close family members and a couple of coworkers and friends.  A support system is important to being a healthy person.  It helps make the hard work fun.  Sometimes our life journeys become harder than at other times and all we can do is help each other.  It really does take a village.
     We invite you to join our village.  Just send good thoughts Dean's way periodically.  The universe will take note.  Thank you.


                           Us


                       Our village,


     Dean had his first chemo treatment yesterday.  He did great.  While there, a tall, bald teen-aged boy  went around handing out doughnuts to celebrate his very last chemo treatment.  He was accompanied by his less-tall father, who propelled the IV pole for him and carried additional boxes of doughnuts.  The Dad said of his son, "He is the superhero.....I'm just the short, dumpy sidekick."
     It was a full-house.  So many patients receiving treatment.  All of them are superheroes.  But I refuse to be a short dumpy sidekick.
   

Got beets?

     It may sound unbelievable for athletes to legally dope with beet juice, but it is true!  Beet juice research in athletes shows a decreased  oxygen cost of exercise by 19%, while improving time to exhaustion by 16%.  There is increased energy extraction from the oxygen, improved oxygen delivery, and increased mitochondrial efficiency.
     I read an article quite a while ago where Deena Kastor, a professional endurance runner, mentioned drinking beet juice.  We have been eating beets lately, not juiced, but roasted and put on our salads.  Who knew that beets actually taste good, as well as being good for you.  Got beets?  If not, get  beets. Just be aware that there really is such a thing as "beeturia".
     Here are the links to learning more about beet juice research in athletes...

     http://nutritionfacts.org/videos/doping-with-beet-juice/

     http://nutritionfacts.org/videos/priming-the-proton-pump/

     http://nutritionfacts.org/videos/dont-use-antiseptic-mouthwash/

     http://nutritionfacts.org/videos/out-of-the-lab-onto-the-track/

     http://nutritionfacts.org/videos/asparagus-pee/

    http://nutritionfacts.org/videos/pretty-in-pee-nk/

    http://nutritionfacts.org/videos/hearts-shouldnt-skip-a-beet/

    http://nutritionfacts.org/videos/vegetables-rate-by-nitrate/

                                                                   

Exercise is therapy at the cellular level.

     Telomeres are found on the end of chromosomes.  They protect the genes near the ends of the chromosomes from degradation during replication. They are disposable buffers and do shorten during chromosome division.  It is thought that shortened telomeres may be responsible for aging at the cellular level.
     Shortened telomeres are associated with cancer, cardiovascular disease, heart attack, hypertension, aneurysm and heart failure.  So we want long telomeres.  How do we get them?
     People who are inactive have shorter telomeres than those who are very active.  So exercise....daily.  It can save your life.

  http://www.fudiet.com/2012/02/how-exercise-may-just-save-your-genes/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+WelcomeToFuDiet+%28Welcome+to+FU+Diet%29

                                             

Is your motivation flagging?

     It is the middle of February already.  How are you doing with your New Year's resolutions?  Are they flagging or forgotten?  Keeping motivated has always been a big issue for me as life always seems to get in the way.
     Maybe these photos will help.

 



                                         

Motivational Valentine's Day Poster

Source, www.runnersworld.com

Happy Healthy Heart Day.

      I wish you all the best for Valentine's Day.  I hope your heart is happy today and that you are taking good care of it...physically, nutritionally, and emotionally.

     We had company for several days, so we stocked up on a few food items we don't normally have on hand, but that our visitors didn't get around to eating....specifically Corn Chips.  I can't figure out why corn chips call my name if they are in my house.  I imagine it is all the salt and high fat.  We (Dean and I) did finish off an entire bag of corn chips over two days, and I paid the price.  I felt sooo ill afterwards.
     Just like building tolerances and resistances to drugs or medications, our bodies build up tolerances to the toxins from unhealthy foods.  But when you haven't eaten those bad foods for a while, your body can no longer tolerate them to the same degree.  This is a lesson I keep learning periodically, but never seem to recall.  Maybe this time, I will.  My body is used to eating real food and protests vigorously when I feed it much "pseudo-food."  I guess that is a good thing.

     According to family therapist Virginia Satir, we need four hugs a day for survival, eight hugs for maintenance, and a minimum of twelve hugs a day to thrive.  No wonder Americans are in such poor health!  Most of us aren't even surviving.  Hugs from me to you on Valentine's Day.

                                           

Have a wonderful life Rin!

     I just dropped Rin, our foster dog, off with her new adoptive forever family....a young couple with another dog.  Rin remembered them from two weeks ago and was all tail-wags as she went off with them.  They commented that dogs get really spoiled at their house. Have a wonderful life, Rinny.  You deserve a great home.

Sensible boundaries keep us safe.

     Boy, this week really got away from me!  I only got two runs in, but still have the possibility of tomorrow evening, if my motivation lasts until day's end.
     Our plumbing leak is fixed.  Now we are drying out the floor, walls, and basement ceiling to prevent mold formation.  Next week will come drywall replacement and possibly replacement of some floorboards.  What a pain home-ownership can be sometimes.
     Our company is here for a couple of more days....YAY! 
     We continue to eat plant-based, unprocessed, and I do my planks daily (my daily minimum exercise).  According to Dr. Joel Fuhrman, "optimal health requires sensible boundaries to safeguard oneself from past ingrained habits, depending upon one's former lifestyle.  Sensible boundaries keep us safe."  Eating plant-strong and unprocessed, and exercising, do that for me....they help keep me safe, and sane by providing sensible boundaries.
     You know those old adages, "there are no bad foods" and "everything in moderation?"  They are lies for people who want to justify their actions.  There definitely are bad foods, and eating them in moderation does not make them good foods, or even qualify them as real food.  As Michael Pollan advises:  "Eat food. Not too much.  Mostly plants."

                            

Famous vegetarians

                                                                              2-8-12


                                                                                 2-9-12
 I've mentioned famous vegetarians and vegans in past blogs.  I thought this was a humorous reminder.

Memo to self:

     Stand up straight.  Take a deep breath.  Smile.  You look better already.  Have a great day.
(P.S., I am a Leo).

      
                                        (source, www.lovethepain.tumblr.com)

The Face of February.

     Another four to six inches of snow.  More scooping to be done.  It is getting old, fast!  February is always the bleakest month.  My impatience for spring, sunshine, warmth, and longer days equals our rapidly rising piled-up snow.

"Why, what's the matter,
That you have such a February face,
So full of frost, of storm and cloudiness?"
                                     William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing


     This is when I want to go into hibernation, to curl up with a good book, bundle up with a comforter, and sip hot tea....I want to be in denial.  Instead, I will walk the Rin-dog, scoop snow for an hour or two, walk our neighbor's dog (he doesn't get along with other dogs, so I can't walk both dogs at the same time), maybe do some yoga, and start cleaning the house for upcoming company.  Cleaning for company is so much more than my usual swipe, wipe, and neaten.  It is the only time the entire house is cleaned all at one time, and actually done half-way well.  No one has ever complimented my housekeeping, and that's a good thing....life is too short to be known for that.  Our house is well lived-in, and looks it.
     Plus we have water dripping slowly, but continually, from our basement ceiling and have no idea where it is coming from. Our basement is adorned with buckets under the light fixtures, and the plumber can't come till Thursday (groan).
     But I will get going and get active and feel more energetic as soon as I get out into the cold, crisp air.


                                        (reblogged from www.lovethepain.tumblr.com)

Michelle Obama and Ellen DeGeneres in a pushup contest!

These are two strong women, and wonderful role models for everyone.  Wish I could do that!  Please watch.

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20566569,00.html?xid=rss-topheadlines&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+people%2Fheadlines+%28PEOPLE.com%3A+Top+Headlines%29

It's Monday. Here we go again.

                                                (source:  www.lovethepain.tumblr.com)

     A busy week is planned at our house.  We will try to get a little running in, and have no choice but to eat healthy, as I stocked up on produce at the stores yesterday. Have a great Monday.

Snow Angels

     We had maybe 3 feet of snow.  It is a pretty day.  After completing our scooping chores, we decided to make snow angels for our Grandkids.  We evidently need practice!
     We may be adults, but in name only. We refuse to grow up.

Picture 1,  Rin-dog on Dean who is buried in the snow.
Picture 2,  Rin-dog on me, now.  I am also buried in the snow.
Picture 3,  Now you can see me to the right of Rin.
Picture 4,  We're cold and laughing.  You can sort-of make out our snow angels.
     There is nothing like having a dog licking snow off of your face after getting it there in the first place.

Few things are as democratic as a snowstorm. Bern Williams

     What a difference a day makes.  We have maybe a foot of snow already, and could have two feet by tomorrow morning.  It is windy and snow is piled in beautiful drifts, misleading your feet as to what lies beneath.
     Today's and tomorrow's exercise?  Just guess.

Live out loud.

     It has been one year since I started this blog for health and self-motivation.  I have read many nutrition, health, and fitness books and articles; shared a few, and plan on continuing.  I thought this one-year mark would be a good time for a bit of self-evaluation.
     I am feeling more fit and toned.  There isn't a huge difference, but it is there.  I have been doing plank-a-days since September and am up to two minutes for the forearm plank, and one minute for the side planks, daily.  I am still jogging three times a week. I am extremely slow, but believe that no matter how slow I go, I am still lapping everyone sitting on the couch.
     More importantly, it is winter and I haven't gained any weight.  I can't wait for spring and getting outside to hike more and feel the sunshine.  Dean introduced me to the joys of hiking in the high country, as he moved to Colorado a year before I did.  We regret that we don't get out to do it more often.
     I often wonder about the philosophical question, "if a tree falls in the forest, does it make a sound?"  You can apply that same question to blogging, or to life.  Does my blogging, or my life, or any of our lives, have an effect?  I believe they do.  We all make a sound.  Emile Zola said, "I am here to live out loud."  We all are.
     I also believe in the butterfly effect.  In chaos theory, the butterfly effect states that a small change at one place can result in large differences to a later state.  The theoretical example is of a hurricane formation based on whether or not a distant butterfly had flapped its wings several weeks before. (source, Wikipedia).  Hopefully my blog is like that....it is contributing in a small way to reaching the tipping point, the critical mass or threshold, of a healthier America, a healthier world.
     My hope is that you are living out loud.  Flap your butterfly wings.


                      The journey is the reward.     Chinese proverb.

2-2-12 update

forearm plank

Great news....

     Our sweet foster-dog Rin has been adopted!  Her new family can't take her until the 13th though, so we will be keeping her for another couple of weeks.  I am so happy for her.  We love her dearly.  She is the sweetest, smartest, cuddliest dog ever, but we don't think we want a permanent dog at this time of our lives.  We will really miss her when the 13th arrives. She deserves the best family all of her own.

Find yourself a cup; the teapot is behind you. Now tell me about hundreds of things. (Saki)

     I read an interesting article last week.  There is a positive link between golfers and cancer, and even between non-golfers who live near a golf course and cancer.  The culprit is apparently 2-4,D, an herbicide.  2-4,D was an ingredient in the notorious Agent Orange from the Vietnam War era.  You might think twice before considering living near or on a golf course.  If you are an avid golfer, you may want to discuss this with your golf club, or talk to your city council about the use of chemicals on public courses.
        http://www.goodhealthwellnessblog.com/283/play-golf-and-get-cancer/

Polly, put the kettle on.....
The 5 best reasons to drink green tea, other than the fantastic taste:
     1.  It can help you lose weight--an extra 45-50 calories per day burned.
     2.  It can keep you calm and focused.
     3.  It can help repair cancerous cell damage.
     4.  It may ward off post-menopausal bone loss.
     5.  It protects your teeth and gums.
We love green tea.  It is our beverage of choice, winter and summer, hot or iced.  There are wonderful flavored varieties available, too.  Give it a try sometime.
     http://health.msn.com/healthy-living/5-best-reasons-to-drink-tea

     Another reason to work on getting healthy:  There is a clear link between obesity and pain....the higher the level of obesity, the higher the reported pain experienced.  This just makes sense, as body fat is a cause of inflammation, which is a cause of pain.     http://commcgi.cc.stonybrook.edu/am2/publish/Medical_Center_Health_Care_4/Study_of_One_Million_Americans_Shows_Obesity_and_Pain_Linked.shtml

     Our trial of being wheat-free, gluten-free has lasted a month.  I do feel good this way.  Barley has gluten.  Yesterday a made a big pot of barley-mushroom soup with beans and greens, because we love it and have missed it.  I made enough to last us a few days, so we will see if there is any change in how we feel after adding  barley (gluten) back into our diets.  Maybe later on we will try adding some wheat, as well, to see how we feel.

     We watched a great DVD, "Unbreakable:  The Western States 100".  The Western States 100 is a 100 mile annual event taking place in late June in California.  It covers a cumulative 18,000 feet of climbing and 23,000 feet of descent, all on mountain trails, some of it snow-covered.  The cut-off time is 30 hours.  This documentary follows 4 of the lead runners in the 2010 race....Hal Koerner, Geoff Roes, Anton Krupicka (a Boulder, CO resident), and Killian Jornet from Spain.  If you are at all interested in running or in amazing feats of athleticism, you will enjoy this.  Two of the runners do end up breaking the course record.

Make tea, not war.  (from Monty Python's Flying Circus)




                                         (source, www.lovethepain.tumblr.com)