C'mon people now....

     Lately I've been reflecting on the word "hippie" and how it apparently has differing meanings for people. For me, it has a positive spin as it refers to a gentle generation with a mindset of peace, love, and doing what is best for the planet and every creature on it.......maybe that is because hippies are a part of my generation, even though I came to it late.  (I always will regret being too young for Woodstock).
     According to the Urban Dictionary:

A Hippie is a person who was raised under the ideological system that came out of the tumultuous 1960's in North America and western Europe. They are either of the flower-child/baby boomer generation or that generations' subsequent offspring. They possess a core belief set revolving around the values of peace and love as being essential in an increasingly globalized society, and they are oftentimes associated with non-violent anti-governmental groups...... "When we heard about the hippies, the barely more than boys and girls who decided to try something different... we laughed at them. We condemned them, our children, for seeking a different future. We hated them for their flowers, for their love, and for their unmistakable rejection of every hideous, mistaken compromise that we had made throughout our hollow, money-bitten, frightened, adult lives."  Author: June Jordan       Right on! Enjoy the music.  Wear some flowers in your hair. Enjoy the holiday weekend.   (email subscribers to the blog must go to the blog to view videos)

"Either you run the day or the day runs you." Jim Rohn

     I did an interval workout on Wed. eve.....a 1.4 mile jog to warm-up;  2 minute intervals alternating with 90 seconds of recovery (which I walked) x 18 minutes, then a 1 mile cool-down.  I am sore and will be taking it easy for a few days. I'm still the slowest, but am still lapping everyone at home on the couch.

That's me...white hair, wearing black, lower right corner

  

     I do have an interesting predicament....as I increase my training, I am constantly ravenous!  I eat non-stop. I am still eating "clean".....healthy, unprocessed, plant-based.....but am gaining weight.  I did some research and learned that this is a common problem.  You might guess that you'd lose weight as you train more, but that isn't the case for many people.  I'm hoping that I am gaining muscle.  I don't have a scale that measures body fat percentage, and don't plan on getting one as it is just another number to stress over.  I'll just keep on listening to my body and eating healthily whenever it tells me to feed it, as long as my clothes still fit.
     Thanks to Danny at Boulder Running Company for the pictures and for leading the runs.

"Let food be thy medicine, thy medicine shall be thy food." Hippocrates

     New research from the U.K. shows that eating broccoli, kale, brussels sprouts, and cabbage may slow or prevent osteoarthritis. The study was done on cells and in mice, and now research is being done to see if it can be replicated in humans. How great would that be!  In the meantime, it can't hurt to keep on eating your broccoli or kale.

 http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/265310.php

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-23847632




When diet is wrong, medicine is of no use. When diet is correct, medicine is of no need.” - Ancient Ayurvedic Proverb

“Let nothing which can be treated by diet be treated by other means.” - Maimonides

“He that takes medicine and neglects diet, wastes the skill of the physician.” - Chinese Proverb

The first step towards change is awareness.

     Here is the link to an excellent NY Times article on "The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food."  Read it to become aware of why today's food has become what it is, and of what you are eating.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/magazine/the-extraordinary-science-of-junk-food.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&

"Knowledge is power."   Francis Bacon

I love this because it is so true.

                         Shared from Favorite Run

Hill workout

     This is a picture of the Wednesday night Boulder Running Company speed workout group last night.  The group is free to anyone and is ever-changing. All ages and abilities are welcome, from the young man in front with his parents to me standing just behind them.

     This time we did a 1 mile warm up jog, then hill repeats running up the Columbine Memorial Hill at the park for 16 minutes (I managed 5 repeats), then a 1 mile cool down jog.  That's me, the slowest person out there, on the right hand in the 2nd row of pictures. I am doing the recovery jog back down the hill in the picture. But look at the guy in the photo to my left. He is running up the hill.  Look at his form.  He is a powerhouse; a real speed demon who runs circles around the rest of us.  Yet we are both out there.  

     Here is a picture of the Saturday morning BRC run group....also free to everyone.  There are runners, walkers, lots of kids and dogs.  The group has grown to around 60 people up early on a weekend exercising. Although not in the picture, I was there.  I have been taking my crazy dog Charleigh, who would have been trying to jump up on everyone in her vicinity in that crush of people, so we keep a little distance until she calms down towards the end. 

     What a great way for the BRC to sponsor fitness and fun, as well as growing a loyal customer base.  That store, although technically a running store, is really a running family and they are inclusive of everyone. 

                                  (pictures from BRC, facebook pages)

3 bored boys

     Here is an excellent blog-post from Run Like a Mother on the runner who was shot and killed by three bored boys.  Please read.
       http://www.runlikeamotherrace.com/threeboredboys

Today is Earth Overshoot Day

     As of today, humans have exhausted nature's budget for this year.  In 1993, Earth Overshoot Day fell on Oct. 21.  In 2003, it fell on Sept. 22.  We are spending our natural capital faster than it can be replenished.

According to Global Footprint Network’s calculations, our demand for renewable ecological resources and the services they provide is now equivalent to that of more than 1.5 Earths. The data shows us on track to require the resources of two planets well before mid-century.

http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/earth_overshoot_day

rappahannockwic.blogspot.com 

   

     

Is sugar toxic?

     This week you probably read about the new study results showing that sugar, even in moderate quantities, is toxic to mice.
 http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2013/130813/ncomms3245/full/ncomms3245.html

     Here is a link to a New York Times article titled "Is Sugar Toxic?"  It gives a good basic overview of the problem.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/magazine/mag-17Sugar-t.html?pagewanted=all

     The NY Times article referred to a video of a talk by Dr. Robert Lustig titled  "Sugar: the Bitter Truth." It is lengthy, but well worth the time to watch.  It does get pretty technical but I glossed over the biochemistry parts of the lecture and listened for the summaries. Some of my take-aways include that calories in do not necessarily equal calories out. A calorie is not a calorie. Quality matters!  There are good carbs and bad carbs, good fats and bad fats.
     Fiber is good for you, the more the better.  Eat your carbs with the fiber which naturally occurs with them.
     I learned that fructose does not stimulate insulin production.  Only the liver can metabolize fructose. Sugar intake causes an increase in uric acid production, which leads to hypertension....so why do we have a hypertension epidemic?  It's the sugar in our diets.
     High fructose corn syrup is in sports drinks.  That is great for athletes, as fructose goes straight to the liver for metabolism where it replaces stored glycogen.  But athletes are not the only ones drinking sports drinks. Kids drink them.
     There is an epidemic of obese 6 month olds.  Lustic thinks this could be because baby formula is 10.3% sugar.  For comparison, sodas are 10.5% sugar.  Americans are feeding their infants baby milk-shakes.
   
      (email subscribers, go to blog to view video)

     My agronomist brother Daniel alerted me to new study results from Wake Forest University showing that dietary fructose causes liver damage in the animal model.
 http://www.wakehealth.edu/News-Releases/2013/Dietary_Fructose_Causes_Liver_Damage_in_Animal_Model_Study_Finds.htm
   
     If you are at all interested in what you are eating and what these foods are doing to you, you might take a look at these articles.

Flowers for breakfast

     This is not a great picture, but it shows a couple of bucks just a few yards away from my dog and me.  They are calmly and placidly eating all my neighbor's flowers.  He spends hours on his flowerbeds and has been doing battle (and losing) with the deer for 19 years.  I have concluded that the deer are as ornamental as the flowers, if not more so.
      The picture also shows that their velveted antlers are getting to be something to be reckoned with, which might explain their lack of fear of me and my big doofus dog.

Would you want to know?

     Here are interesting studies being done on whether non-invasive inexpensive eye exams can predict Alzheimer's Disease ten or fifteen years into the future. That would be wonderful to have a diagnostic tool, however if there is no treatment to cure or slow the disease, would you want to know?  I don't think I would.

Is the eye key to predicting Alzheimer's?
http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/17/health/alzheimers-test-eye/index.html

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   On a lighter note, I went to a painting party last night.  Oh where did all my kindergarten art-skills go? This hobby would be a lesson in patience, something I have in short supply.

               Aug.18, 2013 Pearls Before Swine

Forward is a pace.

     I'm approaching a year on my plank-a-day streak so I loved this picture when I saw it on Facebook.


                                     shared from  Life in the day of a runner


          As I have mentioned frequently in the past, I am a turtle.  I am a slow jogger/runner/walker, plus I am a grad of the U. of Md.......the Terrapins.  "Fear the Turtle". Plus, turtles symbolize longevity.  Here is a picture of the cute birthday gift I received from my parents.  I love it.

     Above is the turtle cookie jar generously given to me by my brother and sister-in-law.  I love it, too.

     Live long and prosper.

“An object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion”. ~Isaac Newton

     The above quote rules my life.  Last weekend I spent 2 full days in the car, and a day visiting family.After 3 days of not getting in a run, it was very difficult to start up again.  After 5 full days off, yesterday I managed to run a single mile before having to shower and leave for the day.  Today, though, I made myself get back to running: it was not easy and I was very slow.  Each time I do this, it is like starting over again. You'd think I'd learn.
     It is a good thing that I am slow, though, because my dog Charleigh stopped to sniff something good and tripped me up.  I landed in gravel and got my hand, elbow, and knee. If I had been going fast, I could have really done some damage.(Force=Mass x Acceleration). Of course, once I was flat on the ground, she was standing on top of me licking my face like the doofus-dog she is.  It took a couple of minutes to get her 80 pounds off of me and rise to my feet. Darn Doofus Dog!  At least she seemed apologetic to my anthropomorphic mind.

Running may actually protect you against osteoarthritis.

     Here is a link to an article in the Denver Post which discusses how running may be protective to our joints. Here is a quote from the article responding to the idea that running causes wear and tear on joints.

No — if anything, running probably offers protection from osteoarthritis, says Paul Williams, an exercise scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory who leads the National Runners' Health Study and the National Walkers' Health Study. These projects have enlisted almost 90,000 runners and walkers and followed them since the studies began, in 1991 and 1997, respectively. In an analysis recently published in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, Williams calculated rates of osteoarthritis and hip replacement among participants in his studies and found that runners were approximately half as likely as walkers to develop osteoarthritis or need a hip replacement. Furthermore, runners who ran the most had the lowest risk of osteoarthritis.

The notion that running causes osteoarthritis arises from a misperception about how joints work, says Alex Hutchinson, a science journalist who is author of the Sweat Science blog at Runner's World and the book "Which Comes First, Cardio or Weights? Fitness Myths, Training Truths, and Other Surprising Discoveries from the Science of Exercise." "People think the joint is just a static, inert hinge that wears down, but it's actually a dynamic, living thing that can respond to stress and adapt and get stronger," he says. Rather than wear down cartilage and other joint tissue, running appears to strengthen them, Hutchinson says.

Click on the link to read the entire very informative article.
http://www.denverpost.com/entertainment/ci_23852288/running-may-actually-protect-you-against-osteoarthritis

Be sure to Google "the National Animal of Scotland"

     It was a busy weekend with a full day of driving Friday and Sunday, and a family wedding and birthday party on Saturday.  It was absolutely wonderful seeing everyone. The wedding was beautiful, as they all are. It was youthful and creative.

Superhero wedding cake

Grandpa and the beautiful bride

My very youthful parents at the reception



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     Since they were brought to my attention last week, I am starting to search out Google Doodles. Here is today's.  I love them.
  
 http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/comic-riffs/post/erwin-schrodinger-googles-cat-doodle-honors-physicist-and-his-legacys-many-lives/2013/08/12/06897984-02fe-11e3-a07f-49ddc7417125_blog.html


P.S.  Don't forget to Google "the National Animal of Scotland".  Have you guessed what it is?

Have you ever done this?

     This happened to one of my husband's co-workers.  He inadvertently hit "reply all" to a sensitive email, and the I.T. department was unable to retrieve it before most of the company employees throughout the U.S. were buzzing about it.  Word of mouth did the rest of the damage.  My husband's co-worker was promptly fired.


          shared from Off the Mark, 8-8-13

     

Running Doodles

     I'm sorry I missed this earlier.  On August 8 Abeba Bikila got a Google Doodle on what would have been his 81st birthday.  He was a two-time Olympic marathon champion from Ethiopia.


     Greta Weitz was honored with a Google Doodle on October 1, 2011 on what would have been her 58th birthday.  She was a famous Norwegian marathoner and I was fortunate enough to meet her and hear her speak.


     Here is a Google Doodle from 10-31, 2010 on the 2500 anniversary of the marathon.


http://www.runnersworld.com/fun/abebe-bikila-gets-google-doodle


     What is a Google Doodle?  They are fun changes to the Google logo to celebrate special events.

Plod, plod, plod, occasional zoom....

                                         Overboard, 8-8-13


    I have to run today as I won't get any running in this upcoming weekend.  Plod, Plod, Plod, occasional Zoom.

     Here is a link to a RunnersWorld article that reports that masters athletes (older, aging athletes) have superior brain function.  It is another reason to get out the door.....that and trying to wear out my wild and crazy dog.
http://www.runnersworld.com/health/masters-athletes-have-superior-brain-function

   
And I will remember the sunscreen this time.  That's me in the pink last night.....

Interesting news bits....

     I suffer from really cold, painful fingers when outside in the winter, so I found this information helpful.  It is called "Keeping your hands warm with citrus."

 (email subscribers must go to blog to view video)

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shared from Live Love Fruit

                                                    *******************************************

     There is a telomere theory of aging, as you probably are aware.  At the ends of our chromosomes are protective strips of DNA called telomeres.  They have been compared to the plastic tips on shoelaces and help keep the chromosomes from fraying and breaking. Each time a cell divides, the telomeres get shorter, When they get too short, the cell dies or becomes inactive.  This process is associated with aging, cancer, and a higher risk of death.  http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/begin/traits/telomeres/
     An Australian study showed that ultrarunners have telomeres that are 11% longer than those of sedentary people.  The ultrarunners have a biological age that is 16 years less than their chronological age.  This is great news for those of us who want to control our aging (or deny that it exists).

http://www.runnersworld.com/health/ultrarunners-have-longer-telomeres-which-is-good


                                                      **********************************************

     Lastly, here is a blog on the ag-gag laws.  I was surprised to learn that most people are not aware of them. I hope the lawsuits help return our first amendment rights to free speech, and to know what is really going on.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ocean-robbins/whats-the-real-price-of-a_b_3705201.html

Just when you thnk you can't run another step....

Just when you think you can't run another step....
You remember you're still 4 miles from home.
So you suck it up, because that's where the food is.

And the water and most importantly, the bathroom!

Did you ever wonder how much time you have left?

     This post is sort-of birthday related.  As I mentioned yesterday, birthdays make me think a bit about where I'm at in my journey and if I'm headed in the right direction.
      According to deathclock.com, (click below for link), I've got 28 years (actually 895,662,000 seconds and counting) left to live if all goes well.  Of course, I plan on making that 38+ more healthy years, but I'm an optimist, if not an outright dreamer.
                deathclock.com
     The point, though, is how to not waste those valuable seconds and what to do with them.  I read a great short speech given by Wil Wheaton at a Sci Fi convention----advice to a newborn.  He ended it with this:

      "This is really important: I want you to be honest, honorable, kind. I want you to work hard. Because everything worth doing is hard. And I want you to be awesome, and I will do my very best to leave you a planet that you can still live on."


     We could all benefit from following this advice.
     Work hard
     Be awesome
     Do your best to leave behind a planet where people can still live
     

                                   (email subscribers must go to blog to view video)

I am a force of nature.

     Yesterday was my birthday.  Thanks for all the birthday wishes from family and friends. I had a fantastic day and week.
      Birthdays, like new years, are a time for reflection, re-evaluation, and goal setting.  I think I'm on the right track but need to just keep on keeping-on.

      I like the following motivational quotes:

"I am in charge of this body.  And through training, I choose to control how it ages." ---Debra Morrow, Runners World.

"They think I'm too old to cause trouble,"  Stella says.
"Old age," she says, "is a powerful disguise."
                                  Katherine Applegate, "The One and Only Ivan"

"You look like a natural athlete," said no one to me ever.
                            Denver Post

"One cannot be prepared for something while secretly believing it will not happen." ---Nelson Mandela

Maybe some women aren't meant to be tamed.  Maybe they just need to run free until they find someone just as wild to run with them.