Treadmill weather.

It has been cold and blustery.  Treadmill weather.  Have a few chuckles watching these treadmill falls.
(Email subscribers, head to my blog to view.)

Facebook really ought to change their relationship status option from Single to Single and Awesome.

     This photo describes me.  I don't consider myself single.  I consider myself married, but technically I guess I am not.  So option 3 is the only way to go.
   

           I <3 to run

Silver sisters.

     I recently read an article suggesting that women are increasingly letting their hair grow naturally gray and  longer.  I loved it.  I love the ease of my long hair, but sometimes when I look in the mirror I do see Hansel and Gretel's witch. Society has brainwashed us all to expect women of a certain age to have blond cropped hair. It is nice to have choices. I can be a silver sister if I want.

  The New York Times profiled a group of women who organized a mini-demonstration that featured a "band of silver-haired marchers" 

A pocket full of cheese.

Gibson's Daily Running Quotes

‎"No one has any guarantee of being physically intact at this time tomorrow. So whining about a run is like whining about having too much money. Every drop of sweat from every run is a gift. Never complain about running."

-Matt Judge, Marathon & Beyond Magazine (Jan/Feb 2013)

     My dog Charleigh has been doing well jogging with me at home, so I took her with me to run group today.  She was so distracted and excited she didn't even know I was on the other end of her leash, despite my carrying hot dogs (the good stuff) for treats.  There were so many people to greet and try to jump on, and then they became running people. Next there were geese everywhere honking, walking on lake ice, and flying; plus acres of goose poop to try to sample.  Last, we went through prairie dog towns with prairie dog chirps and dares coming from all directions.  I thought her head would explode.

     We need to do this again next week.  Her good behavior at home does not translate to good behavior with distractions all around.  Next week,though, instead of hot dogs, maybe I'll bring a pocket full of cheese.  

“We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” ― George Bernard Shaw

    For proof that I am still jogging/running, here is a picture from last Saturday's run group.  I am the old-looking one in the pink jacket.






  i <3 to run



Run4Beer

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." Martin Luther King JR.

Today is Martin Luther King Day.  I just read these quotes of his on Facebook and wanted to share.

1. “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” 

2. “Faith is taking the first step even when you can't see the whole staircase.” 

3. “If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”

4. “Never, never be afraid to do what's right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Society's punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way.”

5. “If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michaelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, 'Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.”

6. “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

7. “Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy to a friend.”
                                                  Be the change you want to see in the world

Exercise and appetite

     Here is an interesting article published today in the Sportsgeezer Blog.  I have been trying to figure out why I have been uncontrollably ravenous and eating everything in sight on my days off from running. I obviously do not run every day as I need rest and recovery days.  On those days, I still walk the dog for a couple of miles, or we go to the dog park where I stroll the perimeter, plus I do some stretching and planks.  It isn't like I am doing nothing.
     I don't keep junk food in the house for this very reason, but even nuts, dried fruit, and peanut butter become junk when I eat tons of them.
     Maybe this explains my problem.  It doesn't solve it, but helps explain it.

The More You Run, The Less You Eat. Go Figure

JANUARY 21, 2013 9:09 AM 0 COMMENTS

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Author:

Art Jahnke

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dietexerciserunning

Exercise, which burns calories, should make you hungry, right? Not exactly. Writing in the New York Times, Gretchen Reynolds explains that exercise does in fact, boost the production of ghrelin, a hormone that tell us that we want food. But wait, here comes the strange part. Reynolds cites a 2012 study from the University of Wyoming, for which a group of women either ran or walked and, on alternate days, sat quietly for an hour. Yes, the researchers found that those who ran produced more ghrelin, but the same group also ate fewer calories than they burned. Why? Because, the researchers believe, exercise also boosts the production of other less understood hormones that tell the body that it doesn’t really need more food. Reyolds cites a second study published in December that found that after 12 weeks of jogging, formerly sedentary, overweight men and women began recognizing, without consciously knowing it, that they should not overeat. Reynolds quotes Catia Martins, study author and a professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, saying exercise “improves the body’s ability to judge the amount of calories consumed and to adjust for that afterward.” Running, says Martins, does that better than walking, and the longer you do it, the more better it works.

sportsgeezer.com

Holding the Universe Together

  I have a few more quotes to share, then I will stop.









For Inspiration









Sometimes when one person is missing,
the whole world seems depopulated.
                                Lamartine


There is something in the pang of change
More than the heart can bear
Unhappiness remembering happiness.
                               Euripides

Goodbyes are only for those who love with their eyes.Because for those who love with heart and soul there is no such thing as separation! Rumi

Words to Live By


Quotes




words that go together well.




 My Quote Obsession...

What is the appropriate behavior for a man or woman in the midst of this world, where each person is clinging to his piece of debris? What’s the proper salutation between people as they pass each other in this flood?

—Buddha  
 The most important things are the hardest to say, because words diminish them.
                                                                           --Stephen King



I have been saving these quotes for a while and think it is time to share.  I will let them speak for me.

Seeking a friend for......

     A couple of weeks ago I watched the movie "Seeking a Friend for the End of the World."  An asteroid 100 miles across is nearing earth, efforts to stop it have failed, and humans have two weeks to live.  Some people choose to riot and loot, others drink and carouse.  Some commit suicide or take hits out on their own lives. A cop keeps on giving speeding tickets and locking people up for traffic violations.  A TV newsman stays on the air giving updates until 24 hours are left, when he, with great dignity, thanks his listeners and goes home to be with his family.  Steve Carell and Keira Knightly, neighbors, attempt to help each other.....she to get home to her family, he to find a long-lost love.  Of course, by the end, they have found love with each other.
     A strange question popped into my mind last night.  What about the hit men?  They only have 2 weeks to live, as well.  Do they do it for the money? Pride in their work? Because that is who they are and what they do?  Or do they think they are providing a service?
     Your thoughts, and what would you do?

Our healthcare system is broken.

I agree with this very simple rule:


                   source:  Free Your Mind and Think

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     Gotten from The Weighty Matters Blog at http://www.weightymatters.ca/

Coco Brooks Pizza has been granted permission from the Calgary Board of Education to take over cafeteria operations at 9 Calgary high schools in a move so staggeringly and mind numbingly stupid that according to this article from the CBC, even the students expressed shock,

"They’ve been promoting healthy food since junior high and then they open a pizza store; it’s weird"

Defending the move was Calgary Board of Education's Cathy Faber with the classic, "they also serve salads", argument. Ms Faber calls it a,

"turn around story for us, because we're starting to see with this increased traffic that there's actually a potential for a return on our investment"

Because apparently dollars matter more than nutrition and health for the Calgary Board of Education.

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     I am reading an enlightening and scary book called "Money-Driven Medicine" by Maggie Mahar.  Patient welfare and health are no longer central to healthcare in this country, but money is, which may come as no surprise to anyone.  Dollars apparently matter more than nutrition and health in Calgary high schools in the above article, but also more than patient welfare in American Health Care.   We spend more on healthcare than any other nation, but we are also the unhealthiest and live the shortest lives of any developed nation.  (Research summary via press release is here ),
     Every health care consumer needs to be aware of how healthcare decisions are being made. Caveat Emptor; let the buyer beware.

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     Here is a related subject from TED Talks on what doctors don't know about the drugs they prescribe.  Doctors really try, but the information is not there for them.

     

Don't be like the 92%

     This photo was shared from Boulder Running Company- Littleton.
     We are 12 days into this new year.  We can't give up our resolutions now.  The picture reminds me of a second goal for myself for this year.....to eventually be able to do one regular (not from my knees) push-up.





     It is 2 degrees with a chance of snow, and very dark and dismal out at 6 AM.  I am skipping run group but will use  my "dreadmill".  Discretion is the better part of valor, right?

“In my dreams, I never have an age.” ― Madeleine L'Engle

    This is an interesting article from www.runnersworld.com.   Telomere length is thought to be a marker of biological aging, longer being better.  .

Older Endurance Athletes Have Longer Telomere Lengths

One possible, though still speculative, explanation for exercise health benefits.

By

Amby Burfoot

Published

January 10, 2013

A Norwegian research team has found that older endurance athletes seem to have longer telomere lengths than less-active, age-matched controls. This is one speculative pathway by which exercise might confer many of its age-related benefits.

Telomeres are the end sections of human chromosomes, and they get shorter as we age. Some simple animal experiments (but none in humans) have shown that processes that maintain telomere length are capable of extending lifespan.

The Norwegians measured telomere length in 10 older men, aged 66-77. Five were endurance athletes, five engaged in “medium level” activity. Result: The endurance athletes had longer telomere lengths. A similar comparison between young men, 22-27, revealed no difference in telomere lengths.

“Long-term endurance exercise training may provide a protective effect on muscle telomere length in older people,” the researchers concluded.

For background reading, here’s a short Scientific American article on telomere lengths.

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     The US is Number 1 again.....we are the unhealthiest developed nation in the world.  This is according to a new report by The National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine.
     The report, which compared the U.S. to 16 other nations, including Japan, the U.K., and most of Western Europe, found that while Americans spend the most on health care by far, life expectancy and general health are actually significantly poorer than in other countries.

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Now,for a little humor to start off your weekend-----

Scary times..Records are being broken everywhere.

     So 2012 was the warmest on record.  Chicago has broken their record for snow-free days.  Australia is having record heat which is fueling widespread bush fires.  Wildfires in the US in 2012 set new devastation records. The record 2012 US drought may persist into 2013. Is anyone else as worried about these trends as I am?

The true meaning of 26.2

Dare to be different

For all those people who know the true meaning of the number 26.2

1. You know how many miles there are in a marathon.
...
2. Your weekly mileage is how much you run, not your commute to work.

3. You know how many miles you get out of a pair of running shoes.

4. You can convert Kilometers to Miles in your head.

5. You measure your running route in your car to get the exact mileage.

6. When someone tells you their age, you automatically know their Boston qualifying time.

7. You know Grandma's as the route from Two Harbors to Duluth, not the person.

8. You can drink, blow your nose and pee on the run.

9. The problem with the treadmill is there's no place to spit.

10. You have less than ten toenails and that's normal for you.

11. Body Glide is your friend. (IMPORTANT for Clydesdale's!!)

12. Ibuprofen is affectionately known as "Vitamin I". (It's advised not to take Ibuprofen now, no anti-inflammatories)~Dare to be different)

13. Navigating walkers, dogs and baby strollers annoys you because it interrupts your pace.

14. When you participate in an organized event, you know not to run in your race t-shirt.

15. You have a favorite energy gel and flavor.

16. The "Picasso" above your fireplace is last year's TCM poster.

17. You have pre and post race rituals.

18. The journal you keep is in miles and pace not feelings or thoughts.

19. When you look at the weather conditions, you calculate how many layers to wear.

20. The pride you feel after a good run is worth the pain it took to get there.

21. You have more t-shirts than you could possibly wear.

22. When you hear the word "bib", you think of race numbers not babies and Gerber food.

23. The "no carbohydrate diet" does not apply to you.

24. You know that Fartlek is not vulgar terminology.

25. A hill is an opportunity just waiting to be challenged.

26. You know the phrase "you're almost there" only applies when the finish line is in sight.

.2 Your vacation destination is determined by your race schedule.

"...a marathon is twenty miles of hope, six miles of truth...."

anonymous??

Am I the only one who noticed that Nate (the pirate) is a forefoot striker when he runs?  Go Nate.

                                  from the comic strip Overboard.

The biggest room in the world is the room for improvement.

     I braved the cold and went back to run group this morning.  I ran 2.7 miles with a friend I haven't seen for several months.  It was nice socializing with everyone as I haven't been there since mid December. There are some tough people who run in all kinds of weather. Me----I'm more of a fair-weather runner.
     Remember my minimalist goal to do planks daily?  I slacked off over the holidays, but since I have been home I have been doing them twice a day to catch back up.  Now I am even....there are no blank squares on my calendar.  Since I am setting my own rules, it sounds fair to me to play catch-up, but I will try to do better to be disciplined going forward.




     Yesterday was a cooking day for me.  I don't have a creative bone in my body, but once in a blue moon I do like to try new recipes;  for example I made peanut butter dog biscuits as a Christmas gift for my pet-sitters.
      Last month someone at the health-food store was giving out free samples of flavored hummus.....avocado hummus, and sweet potato hummus.  They were good but pricey.  I always make my own hummus as it is easy, cheap, and healthier. Now I add an avocado to the mix when I have one on hand.  It is fantastic!  Try it sometime. It makes it rich and creamy.
     I also made oven-baked sweet potato fries for myself, and some extras as sweet potato chews for my dog.  She absolutely loves them. 
     I tried making a tempeh chorizo sausage recipe which I give 2 thumbs down, but maple glazed marinated tempeh....2 thumbs up.
     That's it for my experimentation for the week.

     I was talking to another friend today who is a commercial artist and is going to start selling her work on Etsy.  When she retires, she will fill her time with art. I wish I had a marketable talent like that.  She asked if I did crafts....I've tried a few times, but never seem to finish anything. Nothing has grabbed hold of my attention for long other than reading, which is fun but not marketable.  Her junior-high age son runs with us sometimes.  He plans on being a physicist some day.  He is quite sure of his goals.  I still haven't figured out what I want to be when I grow up!

I love asking kids what they want to be when they grow up because I'm still looking for ideas.


Get this in mind early:  we never grow up.     Richard Bach
   

"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not." Dr. Seuss, The Lorax

     Mark Bittman, in his New Year's day NY Times article titled "Fixing Our Food Problem," describes our health, environmental, and sustainability problems.

Nothing affects public health in the United States more than food. Gun violence kills tens of thousands of Americans a year. Heart disease, cancer, stroke and diabetes kill more than a million people a year — nearly half of all deaths — and diet is a root cause of many of those diseases.

And the root of that dangerous diet is our system of hyper-industrial agriculture, the kind that uses 10 times as much energy as it produces. We must figure out a way to un-invent this food system. It’s been a major contributor to climate change, spawned the obesity crisis, poisoned countless volumes of land and water, wasted energy, tortured billions of animals… I could go on. The point is that “sustainability” is not only possible but essential: only by saving the earth can we save ourselves, and vice versa 

   Fixing Our Food Problem – NYTimes.com.

     This reminded me of the Barbara Kingsolver novel I read over the holidays, called "Flight Behavior."  Kingsolver has a background in biology and was initially a science writer.  Her book, albeit fictional, is ultimately about climate change.  Her view of our chances seems quite dim.  I enjoyed the book a lot once I got into it and realized that it wasn't just about the problems of a young Appalachian Mom but much more. I give it 4 stars out of 5.  

     Kingsolver's book and Bittman's article are reminders that we may well be beyond the canary in the coalmine scenario and onto an appointment in Samarra. 

     "The Appointment in Samarra" 

(as retold by W. Somerset Maugham [1933])The speaker is Death

There was a merchant in Bagdad who sent his servant to market to buy provisions and in a little while the servant came back, white and trembling, and said, Master, just now when I was in the marketplace I was jostled by a woman in the crowd and when I turned I saw it was Death that jostled me.  She looked at me and made a threatening gesture,  now, lend me your horse, and I will ride away from this city and avoid my fate.  I will go to Samarra and there Death will not find me.  The merchant lent him his horse, and the servant mounted it, and he dug his spurs in its flanks and as fast as the horse could gallop he went.  Then the merchant went down to the marketplace and he saw me standing in the crowd and he came to me and said, Why did you make a threating getsture to my servant when you saw him this morning?  That was not a threatening gesture, I said, it was only a start of surprise.  I was astonished to see him in Bagdad, for I had an appointment with him tonight in Samarra.

                                             www.k-state.edu/english/baker/english320/Maugham-AS.htm

   

  

    

Medical news I find interesting

Here is research shared by Dr. John McDougall in his December, 2012 newsletter.  I have been reading that fat intake is as important, or more so, than carb intake in diabetes control.  This article explains that dietary fat decreases insulin activity/efficiency, that diabetics should be fat-counting rather than carb counting, and that most type-II diabetics could be cured by following a strict low fat diet with it's associated weight loss.

Fat Paralyzes Insulin, Making Diabetes Worse

Dietary fat acutely increases glucose concentrations and insulin requirements in patients with type 1 diabetes: Implications for carbohydrate-based bolus dose calculation and intensive diabetes management by Howard A. Wolpert, published November 2012 in the online issue of Diabetes Care, found that “this evidence that dietary fat increases glucose levels and insulin requirements highlights the limitations of the current carbohydrate-based approach to bolus dose calculation…and suggest(s) that dietary fat intake is an important nutritional consideration for glycemic control in individuals with type 1 diabetes.”

Comment: In most people’s minds (including medical doctors), carbohydrate (sugar and starch) is the cause of diabetes. One result is that diabetics manage their disease and medications by “carbohydrate counting.” According the American Diabetic Association this meal planning technique is used to keep your blood sugar in control by keeping track of how many carbohydrates are consumed. Although carbohydrate calories do count in the sense that the blood sugar goes up right after eating a meal, this effect does not make the underlying disease of diabetes worse.

Diabetes (both type-1 and type-2) is due to the reduction of the metabolic effects of the hormone, insulin. Insulin is released from the pancreas after eating and causes body cells to take up carbohydrate and fat cells to take up fat (triglycerides). When the actions of insulin become insufficient the blood sugar rises and diabetes is diagnosed. This ineffectiveness is caused by lack of insulin production (as in classic type-1 diabetes) or is due to insulin resistance (as in type-2 diabetes). This study shows that dietary fat reduces insulin activity. (In this case the insulin injected by a person with type-1 diabetes, but the same is true for insulin produced by the pancreas, as in a person with type-2 diabetes.)

Contrary to popular belief, refined sugars actually make the body’s insulin work more efficiently. When the refined sugar content of an experimental diet of people with mild diabetes was doubled from 45 percent sugar to 85 percent sugar, every measurement of their diabetic condition, including fasting blood sugar, fasting insulin levels, and the oral glucose tolerance, showed that their diabetes improved.² The researchers concluded, “These data suggest that the high-carbohydrate diet increased the sensitivity of peripheral tissues to insulin.” The increase in insulin’s sensitivity (efficiency) counteracted any blood sugar-raising effects from consuming more carbohydrates and calories.

Therefore, diabetics should be “fat-counting,” not “carbohydrate counting” in order to improve their underlying disease. Almost all type-2 diabetics can be cured of their disease by strictly avoiding fat (and the weight loss that follows eating starches, vegetables and fruits). Type-1 diabetics will find their insulin needs decreasing by about 30% when they avoid the fat and add the carbohydrate. All people, with or without diabetes, will find great improvements in their health from this simple dietary change.

1) Wolpert HA, Atakov-Castillo A, Smith SA, Steil GM. Dietary Fat Acutely Increases Glucose Concentrations and Insulin Requirements in Patients With Type 1 Diabetes: Implications for carbohydrate-based bolus dose calculation and intensive diabetes management. Diabetes Care. 2012 Nov 27

2) Brunzell JD, Lerner RL, Hazzard WR, Porte D Jr, Bierman EL. Improved glucose tolerance with high carbohydrate feeding in mild diabetes. N Engl J Med. 1971 Mar 11;284(10):521-4.

The New Year, Day 1

I relaxed and vacationed over Christmas. I did the same over Thanksgiving.  Unfortunately, I also relaxed my exercise and eating.  Sometimes you have to cut loose, pig out and take a break from all exercise to avoid burnout and live a little.  But the sensible person doesn't take too many days off...it is too easy for it to turn into weeks off, months off, and to never get re-started.  I'm anything but a sensible person, but I am trying....so today is the day for me to start back up. Unfortunately, I've always been an all or nothing kind of person.  It is time to get back to being in "all" mode rather than "nothing."

So what are your goals for this year?  My first specific goal is to jog an extra 5 miles per week on average this year.  Baby steps.





George Takei





”Whatever you believe you can do, begin it; boldness has genius, power and magic in it.”  Goethe