We are all Running People.

     Another thing I did over the Holiday Weekend was to re-read "Born to Run" by Christopher McDougall.  The first time I read it a few years ago, I enjoyed the plot and learning of the technical aspects of minimalist/barefoot running.  This time, however, in light of the recent death of Micah True, who was a major character in this book of non-fiction, I picked up more of the philosophy.  "Born to Run" serves as an excellent memorial for him.
     According to Christopher McDougall:
     We evolved to run.  When quadrupeds run they are stuck in one-breath-per locomotion cycle.  Humans can pick between a number of different breathing ratios. Humans stood up to access more air in their lungs and to run. We stood up to breathe.
     We are the only mammals that shed most of our heat by sweating.  Pelt-covered creatures cool off primarily by breathing which locks their heat regulation system to their lungs.
     Our ancestors existed at the same time as the mighty Neanderthals.  The Neanderthal were fierce hunters.  They only ate big meat.....bears, bison, elk, rhinos, mammoths.  They had to outfight and outsmart them.  The Neanderthals would lure them into ambushes.  They were fierce and brave, standing shoulder to shoulder in battle. They were clever warriors armored with muscle but refined enough to slow cook their meat in earth ovens and keep their women and children away from danger.  They ruled the world until the world started heating up. They were bigger, braver, and had larger brains than our ancestors.
     The forests shrank with the global warming.  Our ancestors, the skinny running men, flourished as the antelope herds and feasts of plump roots pushed up all over the savannas.   The Neanderthal didn't have it as easy....their long spears and canyon ambushes were useless against fleet prairie creatures, and their big game was retreating into the retreating forests.  Neanderthals were much larger and heavier than running men so could not compete in the heat.  Smothered in muscle, the Neanderthal followed the mastodons into the dying forest, and into oblivion.
     Humans ran, and they ran together as families.  Our sole defense was our solidarity.  The reason people race today is to be with each other.  They run marathons because running is rooted in our collective imagination.
     What a simple, elegant description of our running past and present. Thank you Christopher McDougall.  We are all running people.  We run for joy, for community, and to live; and just maybe.... it makes us better and smarter people.


Distance running was revered because it was indispensable; it was the way we survived and thrived and spread across the planet. You ran to eat and to avoid being eaten; you ran to find a mate and impress her, and with her you ran off to start a new life together. You had to love running, or you wouldn't live to love anything else. And like everything else we love--everything we sentimentally call our 'passions' and 'desires' it's really an encoded ancestral necessity. We were born to run; we were born because we run. We're all Running People, as the Tarahumara have always known.” 
― Christopher McDougall, Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen

“Perhaps all our troubles - all the violence, obesity, illness, depression, and greed we can't overcome - began when we stopped living as Running People. Deny your nature, and it will erupt in some other, uglier way.” ― Christopher McDougall, Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen

-The Hopis consider running a form of prayer; they offer every step as a sacrifice to a loved one, and in return ask the Great Spirit to match their strength with some of his own.”
― Christopher McDougall, Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen

**********************************************
Need inspiration?  Here is an awesome video from YouTube.  It shows how wonderful our young people can be.  Kleenex alert.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=o6Alt2DssYc

***********************************************
     Runners World has a Running Streak Challenge going on....a challenge to run at least one mile every day from Memorial Day to the 4th of July.  We are both taking up the challenge.  All Streakers Unite!
     I went to my running group Wednesday night.  We have new leaders who took us on a different warm-up route.  I somehow lost the group completely in the park and ended up doing a 45 min. jog by myself.  It turned out to be spectacular.....even joyful.  I ran behind the Columbine high school football field, baseball fields, and tennis courts.  I ran around the lake, twice.  I noticed all the prairie dogs chattering away in the dusk.  I ran up the hill behind the Columbine Memorial and took this picture with the mountains in the distance.  It was a glorious and peaceful evening.  I need to lose myself like this more often....both in the park, in running, and in the beauty surrounding me.

“I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.” — E.B. White

     I hope you had a great 3 day holiday weekend last weekend.  We did.  We did some yardwork, hiked at nearby Deercreek Canyon Park where we saw some deer, and got in a jog. Our daughter came over and took us out to eat for a belated Mother's Day gift to me.  It was fantastic.
 

To fast or not to fast, that is the question.

     I have been doing some research on fasting and health.  As I have mentioned previously, Dean fasts on the day prior to and day of his chemo treatments.  There is some medical research showing that fasting is protective of normal body cells against the chemotherapy but not protective of cancer cells, also that it can potentiate cancer cell death even without the chemo. These are preliminary research studies and more and longer term human studies need to be done.  Dean's doctor is well aware of his fasting.  She even obtained a copy of the research article for us. Here is more info on fasting and cancer.....  http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/241518.php

     Fasting has been practiced by humans for many centuries.  Most religions incorporate some type of fasting.  Mormons (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) have a Fast Sunday the beginning of each month.  Muslims fast during Ramadan, which is the 9th month of the Islamic calendar. Fasting also has a long history of being used as medical treatment.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fasting

     Preliminary research shows that it can be good for your heart and your health, and may help with weight loss and diabetes prevention.   http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/221081.php

     This blog by Mark Sisson gives a good overview of fasting.  One caveat....Mark believes in a primal or paleolithic type of diet.  I disagree.  Early humans may have killed and eaten the rare woolly mammoth, but that does not equal the frequent Big Macs available today.  I believe that early humans were more often prey than predators and more often gatherers than hunters.  They ate what they could scavenge to survive, probably stealing  the kill of other predators when possible, and gathering whatever they could find....fruits, nuts, seeds, tubers, greens, grains, mushrooms, etc.  In feast times, they feasted.  In times of famine, they fasted.  Civilizations didn't take off until farming was practiced, food was stored, and our ancestors could venture away from equatorial areas.  I did find Mark's blogs on fasting informative and well researched.
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/fasting-weight-loss/#axzz1w4Rn7JtA
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/fasting-cancer/#axzz1w4Rn7JtA
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/fasting-longevity-lifespan/#axzz1w4Rn7JtA
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/fasting-brain-function/#axzz1w4Rn7JtA
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/fasting-exercise-workout-recovery/#axzz1w4Rn7JtA
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/why-fast-part-six-choosing-a-method/#axzz1w4Rn7JtA
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/fasting-questions-answers/#axzz1w4Rn7JtA

     The gist of all this is that I am going to try fasting along with Dean.  If it is healthy for him, it will be for me.  I'm not sure how often we will do this.  As Mark Sisson's blog discussed, there are various methods available.  We are doing a one day fast this week.....water, green and herbal teas only are allowed.  We will see how it goes and keep you apprised.  Also, I have requested a library book on fasting which was authored by a well-respected physician, so that I can learn more.

     Addendum:  The one day fast went well.  I was hungry at times, but that is all.  We fasted from bedtime Thursday night through breakfast on Saturday.  Actually, I wasn't hungry when I woke up on Saturday.  I had expected to be famished.  We'll do this again in a week or two.

  “To Lengthen thy life, lessen thy meals. The best of all medicines is rest and fasting.”
       -Benjamin Franklin. 

"Fasting is the greatest remedy–the physician within!”
       -Philippus Paracelsus- famed Swiss physician and one of three Fathers of Western Medicine who all practiced fasting  

“Everyone has a doctor in him or her; we just have to help it in its work.  The natural healing force within each of us is the greatest force in getting well.  Our food should be our medicine.  Our medicine should be our food.  But to eat when you are sick, is to feed your sickness.”
     -Hippocrates, MD  Father of Western Medicine.  

“I fast for greater physical and mental efficiency”
       -Plato  

     Hippocrates, Aristotle, Galen, Paracelsus, Plato, Socrates, Gandhi, and other great scientists and physicians have used fasting as a method of healing for centuries.

Disclaimer......this is not a medical recommendation for anyone to try without notifying their doctor!  We are experimenting with this in a safe manner.  We are an experiment of two.  We hope this will be the start of our own long-term human study on fasting as researchers won't get around to it anytime soon....there is no money in it.  Dean is under medical supervision, and I am being supportive of him.  I have no medical conditions that might be affected adversely.  Please note that I am not suggesting anyone else try this. 


                                 from Evolve Campaigns

If you don't like where you are, then change it. You are not a tree.

     Diabetes/pre-diabetes in American teenagers has risen from 9% in the year 1999-2000, to 23% in 2007-2008.  That is almost one in every four teens!  Those are really scary numbers, especially since all those teens are at risk of developing heart disease, renal disease, blindness, and all the other complications from diabetes.
     Incidentally, Chinese doctors are coming to the United States to learn how to treat diabetes, as the incidence of diabetes there has risen to 10% thanks to the importation of our American diet. Thank you SAD (standard American diet)..

     Additional interesting information....did you ever wonder how many calories you burn running vs walking? It used to be thought to be approximately 100 calories per mile for either.  Not so according to this article from Amby Burfoot at Runners World.
 http://peakperformance.runnersworld.com/2012/05/running-vs-walking-how-many-calories-will-you-burn/



(seen in Runnersworld.com)

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
         (hmmmm....was St. Patrick a runner?)

     Have a great 3 day weekend.  Remember, weekends don't count unless you spend them doing something pointless.


   

"The important thing is not to stop questioning."---Albert Einstein

     We have 2 nephews graduating from high school this weekend.  They are intelligent, accomplished young men and will both be attending the University of Nebraska at Lincoln next year.  Their names are Sam and Grant.
     We also have a niece graduating from college this month.  She graduated in just 2 years!
     Additionally, on the other side of the family, we have a nephew, a former flight nurse, who graduated with his CRNA.
     We wish them an awesome journey.  We hope they have lots of fun on the way and that they never lose their sense of wonder.  Congratulations to Sam, Mara, Grant, and Brian.  We are proud of you and wish you the best always.

"Benedicto:  May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view.  May your mountains rise into and above the clouds.  May your rivers flow without end, meandering through pastoral valleys tinkling with bells, past temples and castles and poets towers into a dark primevil forest where tigers belch and monkeys howl, through miasmal and mysterious swamps and down into a desert of red rock, blue mesas, domes and pinnacles and grottos of endless stone, and down again into a deep vast ancient unknown chasm where bars of sunlight blaze on profiled cliffs, where deer walk across the white sand beaches, where storms come and go as lightning clangs upon the high crags, where something strange and more beautiful and more full of wonder than your deepest dreams waits for you---beyond that next turning of the canyon walls."-----Edward Abbey

The Micah True story.

     This article was published in the New York Times yesterday.  It is an excellent overview of  Caballo Blanco's  life and story.  I enjoyed reading it and being reminded of why people found him, a self-proclaimed ordinary man, to be  so extraordinary.
      http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/21/sports/caballo-blancos-last-run-the-micah-true-story.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp

Standing on the starting line we're all cowards.---Alberto Salazar

     The Kaiser Permanente Colfax 1/2 Marathon that I've been training for and dreading for 6+ months took place this morning.  By my watch, I finished in 2 hours 50 minutes, or 13 minutes per mile.  This is now  my baseline going forward and I am thrilled with it.  I ran the first 2 miles with my friend Ellen, then I started to do a run 3 minutes, walk 1 minute ratio and Ellen took off.  Go Ellen.  She finished a good half hour before me.
     It was a gorgeous day for a run.  Dean was there at the start and finish.  It helps soooo much to have someone cheering you on.  Thank you Dean.
     I ran to support the charity Freedom Service Dogs.  Go Freedom.
     I actually feel really good after the run, but will probably soon be stiff and achy for a couple of days.  It was worth it.
     An additional anecdote:  I took great joy in passing a 30 something year old male runner wearing an "Eat Beef" shirt.  I realize it was a purely symbolic action for a 60 year old plant-based whole food eating woman to pass a much younger man who happened to be wearing an "eat beef" shirt.  I'm sure many of the people who passed me were meat eaters, although runners, in general, are much more likely to eat a healthy diet than the general populace.  But I'll take my symbolism where I can find it, and please note that once I passed him, he stayed passed!

Before the race waiting in the starting corral:

Me, second from the right, near the finish line.

 Home again, sweaty, but with my medal.  Now I have to find another race to keep me motivated.

The world would be a poorer place without bears.

    We've done our best but can't find the bears in the neighborhood.  Others have seen a Mama and 2 cubs around and about.  This sign is the closest we could come to a bear. It really is exciting to think that they could be around any corner or up in any nearby tree.

     Another rainy and chilly weekend here.  We went to my race expo at Mile High Stadium to pick up my shirt and race packet.  I am still in denial that tomorrow is the big day.  I can't be nervous about something that I don't even think about, though.  What happens, happens.
     The race starts at 6am, and parking is next to non-existent.  The race packet suggested being there well before 4:45am if you hope to find a parking space.  That means I must be up by 3 am.  Oh what fun is in store.
   

   

Everything's coming up roses.

     I mentioned yesterday that something demolished our bird feeders the first night we had them out and that we were guessing it was elk.  Guess again.  This bear was seen at our community center that same evening.  He/she is a beauty!

                   Image from Facebook

"In a world older and more complete than ours, animals move finished and complete, gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear.  They are not underlings;  they are other nations, caught up with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendor and travail of the earth." ---Henry Beston in Outermost House

"One may live without bread, not without roses."---Jean Richepin

Don't judge the day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.---Robert Louis Stevenson

     It is finally gardening time.  I have put a few annuals out in pots.  I am trying new ones this year as the deer always ate all the geranium flower heads off.  Gardening is always trial and error here what with the deer, elk, rabbits, heavy clay soil, and little rain.  I also grow rhubarb (I got my first cutting this week), chives, peppermint, sage, and am trying thyme.  I hope to buy a rosemary plant soon. I grow broccoli sprouts in my kitchen.  That is the extent of my edible garden.
     I am envious hearing about my Mom's big Nebraska garden that is going in.  She can grow just about anything there, plus she has a green thumb.
     We put out our bird feeders two nights ago, but of course yesterday they were demolished and on the ground with the shepherd's crook poles bent to the ground.  We assume it was elk, but it might have been bears.  We will try again in a few weeks.  We really miss watching all the birds flocking around the feeders.
     Is it my imagination, but are the days and weeks going much faster than before?


                                                                    pinterest.com

It is a beautiful Monday. Be happy.

     We had a nice weekend with family visiting from Omaha.  We always enjoy their visits.  The weather wasn't cooperative, though, and was cool and damp. My brother did go out for a run and got to see two elk strolling through the neighborhood.  The elk should be up in the mountains by now, but I think they like the easy pickings they find around here. They reached right over the 4' fence we have around our lilacs and ate all the flowers and new growth once again, as they do every year. We keep hoping, though, that someday the lilacs will be too tall to be devoured.
     Even our many wild bunnies were tired of having wet feet this weekend and found higher ground.

     Dean had his last scheduled chemo treatment on Friday.  They will repeat scans in a couple of weeks and we will go from there, so please keep fingers crossed for him.  He is looking fantastic.  He has lost a lot of weight due to exercise, eating healthy, and fasting for 48 hours around every chemo treatment.  He plans on staying at this weight.
     As far as his cancer is concerned, it seems like we are in the eye of the hurricane, if not yet on the other side.  He feels good.  All is calm and stable. The shock of  his diagnosis has become part of life.  We try not to think about it too much because everyday life goes on and we have to experience every minute.  Hopefully this period of calm will last decades!

     My half-marathon is only one week away.  I do not feel adequately prepared for the distance....maybe for half this distance....but I will do my best and I WILL FINISH.  Last week and this week have been tapering weeks.....cutting mileage and workouts to rest and recover.  I like tapers.


     I will not be the gal that gave up, and does not finish.


FYI:  Here is a great inspirational transformation video.
          http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=qX9FSZJu448

You are my mother. I would have no other.

                                                                        Pinterest


Happy Mother's Day to my Mom... Mom of six and Grandmother of twelve.


I am Mom to three and Grandmother to two.


                       Pinterest

"The moment a child is born, the mother is also born.  She never existed before.  The woman existed, but the mother, never.  The mother is something absolutely  new."---Rajneesh 


Being a Mom is the best part of my life.  Thank you to my children.

We all need some cuddling.

Update...Micah True

     Recall that in late March of this year Micah True (aka Caballo Blanco) disappeared on a training run in the Gila Wilderness, and was found dead on March 31.  He  was made famous by Christopher McDougall's book "Born to Run," a book I highly recommend.  He was a legend among runners.
     His autopsy results were released yesterday.  He died of cardiomyopathy, or enlarged heart.  His left ventricle was thickened and dilated.  Medical examiners could not pinpoint the cause of the heart disease.
     He is a person I would have liked to meet or to hear speak....an inspiring individualist who followed his heart.  His death seems less tragic as he died doing something he loved.

Here is an article from the NY Daily News with more information.
http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/running_dialogue/2012/05/ultra-marathon-runner-micah-true-called-caballo-blanco-died-from-heart-dise

Increase your longevity by 6 years.

     Jogging at a slow or moderate pace for one to 2 1/2 hours per week increases the life expectancy of men by 6.2 years and of women by 5.6 years.  This is according to a Danish study released by the European Society of Cardiology.
        http://consumer.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=664404

        http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/245011.php


     Of course there are the added benefits of sexiness as reported by Runnersworld.com:




     Whether this is sexy, or maybe just a badge of honor is subjective.  It does constitute proof of being a jogger.  I choose sexy. My own proof:

We are all equal here. ---The Dalai Lama

Dear children, I would love to talk to you about this beautiful world of ours, about flowers, trees, birds, animals, stars, mountains, glaciers and all the other beautiful things that surround us in the world. We have all this beauty all around us and yet we, who are grown-ups, often forget about it... We sit in our offices and imagine that we are doing very important work. I hope you will be more sensible and open your eyes and ears to this beauty and life that surrounds you. Can you recognize the flowers by their names and the birds by their singing? How easy it is to make friends with them and with everything in nature, if you go to them affectionately and with friendship. ~Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964) 









    All it takes is for one to walk away and the rest to follow.

     Ethical?  Moral?  Are you?  I've been thinking about this a lot lately.  People just don't stop and think about their actions....ever.  Everyone else is doing it so it must be okay, right?  Peer pressure for grown-ups.  Or money is involved.  Money always trumps ethics in our country.
     Please consider the environment and the future of humanity, if not the suffering of animals. Or if you are part of the me-me-me generation, at least try to consider the future of your own children and your own grandchildren. It isn't looking good for them.  Try living a life of compassion.

Vegans do too have a sense of humor!

                          (Bizarro comics)





Happy National Star Wars Day.
     "May the Fourth be With You!"





     Today is a chemo day for Dean, so our day will be spent there.  Have a nice weekend.  We need to start doing some yard work as the weeds are up and taking over.

Texas is a state of mind.

"I have said that Texas is a state of mind, but I think it is more than that.  It is a mystique closely approximating a religion.  And this is true to the extent that people either passionately love Texas or passionately hate it and, as in other religions, few people dare to inspect it for fear of losing their bearings in mystery or paradox.  But I think there will be little quarrel with my feeling that Texas is one thing.  For all its enormous range of space, climate, and physical appearance, and for all the internal squabbles, contentions, and strivings, Texas has a tight cohesiveness perhaps stronger than any other section of America.  Rich, poor, Panhandle, Gulf, city, country, Texas is the obsession, the proper study and the passionate possession of all Texans."  ---John Steinbeck


  For a few days this past week, we were fortunate to be in the Northern suburbs of San Antonio, Texas in the Texas hill country.  I love the Texas hill country and find it very beautiful. It runs from northern San Antonio up to west of Austin, Texas.  There are rolling hills with a thin layer of soil over limestone.  The hills are covered with vegetation ranging from Texas live oaks (evergreen oak trees) to yucca, prickly pear cactus, and many wildflowers.
     It was constantly windy there.  Is that why Texans always choose to wear those ten gallon hats?
     Our Austin family came down to stay for a couple of days.  We got in some tennis, swimming, and a guided nature hike.  We learned about feral pigs and the problems they can cause, katydids, fossils, limestone and the aquifer beneath, turkey and black vultures which are always flying overhead, and Mexican free-tailed bats. We enjoyed all the Mariposa lilies, the rosemary shrubs, the yucca and flowering sage plants.
     Dean then attended a 3 day seminar.  I just relaxed at the hotel.  It was wonderful.  Finding vegan food was difficult, as at most places, so I ended up eating a lot of trail mix and fresh fruit gotten from a nearby Super-Target, and supplementing them with salads. When will restaurants learn that Americans really are trying to eat healthier.  They, the restaurants, will make more money providing menu options that reflect this change.
     The last night of the seminar had entertainment....ice fighting.  Two contestants had 3 short rounds in which to use chainsaws and other electric tools to carve 300 lbs. of ice and sculpt it into art.  We, the audience, chose the winner, who received a championship belt.  It was fascinating to watch.
     The winner carved a gryphon, which if you read the Harry Potter series, you know is a majestic creature with the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle.....the king of animals meets the king of the birds. The other contestant carved a magnificent butterfly....la mariposa in Spanish.  What transient beauty is ice sculpture.  (Alex, we know you love gryphons so we took these pictures to show you.  We hope you enjoy them, too, Syd).

Evolve!

Today I would like to share some "Evolve! Campaigns" posters.  I hope they make you think and strengthen your resolve.  Whether or not you believe all creatures have souls, we all have lives. We all feel. We are all sentient. Don't be guilty of speciesism.  Think about your actions. Please.