Run DMZ

  I don’t remember the last time I tried to sit cross legged on the floor in what we the un-woke once called Indian style. It’s painful because I have very tight hip flexors. I even hate doing yoga on account of how we all start with legs tucked under. My quads don’t cooperate and my feet cramp – even with two blocks under my butt.   I shuffle when I run due to too-taut hamstrings, and wobble during walks thanks to arthritic hips. This is what happens when long-time runners give short shrift to stretching. I’m not light. I’m not lithe. And I’m certainly not limber.   With that as the setup, allow me to introduce my word for 2022: Stretch. I need the daily reminder as I near a milestone birthday and, well, feel my true age. That makes this year’s word as practical as it is multi-purpose and metaphorical.   Kids, jobs, school, pups, grandkids and a geriatric pit bull with bladder issues have all robbed me of the requisite warmup-exercise-cooldown ritual. I’ve long stri...

I’ll be honest: I’m not a fan of the winter holidays. I tend to see them as just more work, only unpaid. I wish I wasn’t such a Scrooge, but it takes a lot for me to get in the mood to buy and wrap and ship presents. To bake sugary treats and not give in to sampling. To sit through a sensory-friendly showing of   How The Grinch Stole Christmas at The Old Globe and not cry. To deal with indoor and outdoor lights. Babysit more than usual. To make one more library-book run to stock up for an anticipated work lull that somehow rarely happens. To find everything on grocery lists for special brunches and dinners. And, of course, nail all of my many work deadlines.       Not to mention, even with early morning temps finally requiring heavier jackets and sweaters, it doesn’t feel like Christmas. Never does here in San Diego.   But this is a great time to reflect on what worked and what didn’t this year, especially in keeping with this year’s theme:  Clean . In some...

I picked Labor Day to return to the gym because I knew everyone else preferred to do anything else but work out. There were a lot more signs on the door beyond the one I remembered warning to keep it closed. Now everyone entering was ordered to wear a mask and Department of Defense-approved athletic attire. A posted schedule showed the three times a day the facility closed for cleaning.    The check-in system was the same as it had been when I last used it March 2020. But the faces behind the desk were all new. I showed my ID and asked where the rowing machines were now located. Their previous location had been converted into an F45 studio – a gym within a gym and  the first on a military installation . The women’s locker room looked the same except for all the signs now prohibiting selfies, not just dying hair in the sinks.    When I first started attending  this gym  20 years ago, there was a lone rowing machine wedged between two pieces of Nautilus ...

This time a year ago I was in another city and without my phone when the school principal called to let us know the campus lost electric power. I was still out, and therefore unaware of the emergency, when the principal called again to ask parents to come get their children. By the time I arrived at a darkened main office lobby, most students had been united with their parents or guardians. My sixth-grader was both relieved and highly annoyed to see me.   Hours earlier, when the electricity shut down, a student with a history of violence took advantage of the initial chaos to chase our then-11-year-old around campus, intending to harm him. Someone in some official capacity intervened before an actual assault.   That was the last time the school held in-class instruction. It currently appears students will return in some capacity next month. And that makes me sad. Not for them—goodness, our children need each other’s company—but for me. I’m not ready to give up the dawnlight ru...

If you happen to follow folks from California on social media, then you know our Labor Day weekend hasn’t gone as anyone intended due to a massive, killer heatwave and series of wildfires punctuating this holiday with exclamation points for all the wrong reasons.    My official start began Friday morning with an early beach run at low tide as the sun turned up to make it safe for solo runners like me. Just me and the piping plovers and seagulls for the first mile. And just 75 degrees at 7 a.m., which is warm for here but still way doable for morning exercisers.   A day later, temps soared and forests roared, generating evacuations, energy “flex alerts” and poor air quality warnings every hour.  We also woke to find our fridge wasn’t working, which just seemed so on theme for this year given I splurged at Trader Joe’s the day prior. Of course, the refrigeration replacement part won’t arrive until the middle of next week. But we do have a functioning air condition...

  For more than two years, I’ve lamented leaving Les Mills’ BodyPump, a group exercise class I took consistently every Tuesday and Friday early morning at a local 24-Hour Fitness. Then I abruptly  left both the class and the gym . When I finally returned to San Diego, I started back at my original gym on a nearby military base, having finally gotten over the issues that forced me to flee there.   Now it’s time to move on again. Due to the ongoing pandemic (and maybe well beyond it), all local military gyms are open only to active duty and their dependents, plus DoD civilians who work on base. I do not fit any of those categories. And returning to 24-Hour Fitness isn’t an option, being as they are in Chapter 11 bankruptcy and do not appear eager to reopen in my suburb.   I started looking into online exercise programs, especially free ones that a friend recommended from YouTube. But I just couldn’t connect with the format or instructors. My older daughter told me she’...

I’ve written numerous times about bathroom issues common among runners and probably anyone whose repetitive movements impact their  gastrointestinal organs ,  kidneys  and  bladder . Pre-exercise nutrition is a key factor; you need to make sure you eat foods and drink liquids that help prevent things like diarrhea and dehydration. But there’s another important factor that isn’t always within the runner’s control. I’m talking about restrooms. If you run or even walk long and far enough, especially if you pre-hydrate to ward off other dangers due to hot-weather workouts, then at some point you’ll need to make a pitstop. This typically isn’t an issue and may even predetermine a select route. But these are still not typical times, despite the relaxing of rules that now allow for more public interaction. Depending on where you work out outdoors, you may need to go and find a public restroom near a still-shuttered state or local park is closed. It’s also not as ea...

Now that more of us are out in the streets and parks (and beaches here in sunny San Diego), the rift between runners and walkers and cyclists is heating up too. No one is in a good headspace right now after months of forced quarantines, but the rudeness is really ramping up. Last Sunday I went on an hour’s walk at dawn and encountered at least 15 people exercising too.  Every runner lacked any type of face covering (as in there was nothing visible to suggest they even brought it with them) and every walker kept their noses and mouths protected. The cyclists were split, but most had a mask that they may or may not have put on when coming within six feet of someone (that would be me). Dirty looks at both offenders and the offended are easier to find than  a Wendy’s hamburger now . That good vibe we get after watching a new episode of the thoroughly uplifting  Some Good News  dissipates as soon as we head outdoors  and risk evil eyes and ...

Yes, things can change on a dime these days, but at this moment on a very hot, sunny Saturday here, it appears people finally turned off the mic on our President. For weeks he’s monopolized nationally broadcast briefings with rally-style rhetoric instead of data-driven updates on our battle with COVID-19. Thursday evening his rifting went from dangerous to deadly after  suggesting people ingest disinfectants (and somehow expose their innards to UV lights) . Among the first to publicly decry that advice were disinfectant makers who, as anyone who’s ever cleaned up after themselves already knows, have long warned their products are for external use only. Some states in the Deep South begin soft openings of businesses requiring human contact this weekend. I certainly understand the economic pressures these politicians are under and really, really, really hope employees and customers follow CDC guidelines so any spikes in infection and death rates aren’t severe. Fingers crosse...

Deborah is beating me! (And Diane's already finished.) Every now and then I like to mix it up. I am not one for the Stairmaster, but with hiking season well underway, I needed to get in a good leg workout. So I convinced some friends to join me this morning to do repeats on the San Diego Convention Center stairs .  There are 100 of them to get to a platform with stunning views of the bay, Coronado bridge and Embarcadero Park, home in the summers to the San Diego Pops outdoor concerts . Facing the other way are stunning views of downtown. During weekday afternoons, you’ll see people going up and down the stairs doing repeats. And then you’ll see tourists giving these stair-runners a strange look. Whether you walk slowing or try to run up them, your quads and calves will be angry with you for a little while. We went when it was cool and uncrowded, as in 6:30 a.m. If you chose to go later, bring water. You’ll need it. View at the top of the stairs I didn’t do...

I love the music of Kate Bush and Joan Armatrading . Both are longtime, UK-based artists – true, uncompromising, one-of-a-kind artists – whose careers greatly influenced my own. No, I can’t sing or play a musical instrument or carry a tune of any sort, but their lyrics and arrangements have inspired my own prose and poetry over the past 40-plus years. They dare to be different and both have been blessed with critical acclaim.  Here’s the thing, though: I can’t run or row to either of them. Other than Bush’s 1985 hit “ Running Up that Hill ,” I can’t maintain a nice rhythm while working out. It’s even harder with Armatrading’s music. Try as I might, I tend to mentally stop and ponder or instantly reconnect with an old memory whenever one of her songs is playing. The exception: “ Drop the Pilot .” Maybe this is why I’ve migrated in recent months from listening to music while exercising to podcasts, which require their own level of attention. Podcasts are very in, as y...

I am trying to remember the last time I went to BodyPump. It had to be about a year ago. Did I set up my equipment in my favorite spot? Or was I forced to the other side because that woman with auburn hair got there first? Was I wearing my favorite workout outfit? Or did I dress in the dark again and arrive with mismatched clothes? Did we have Amy as our instructor? Or was it that young woman who loved hard rock songs?  By the time my daughter convinced me to go to a group class, I’d been rowing and running at that gym for about four years. I’d always wanted to return to BodyPump after (gulp) 20 years. But I’d come to dislike crowded rooms and especially ones encased in glass walls so anyone could watch your workouts. I got over it and went. And I got hooked. Within minutes I was breathing heavy; within a few more sets, I was soaked in sweat. I only went to the Tuesday and Friday 5:30 a.m. sessions because of my work schedule. But I started to think of those days as...

While we were all coming down from our food comas this weekend, researchers were gathered in Chicago to discuss the latest studies on the aging brain. One study that stood out (to me, at least) was one that showed Alzheimer's Disease progresses differently in women and men. I always knew Alzheimer's was more prevalent in women and assumed it was because there are more women and especially more women who live into their 80s and 90s. But it seems the disease actually may attack more gray matter (which you need) in women sooner, while men show signs of cognitive decline from Alzheimer's sooner. That's based on a small sample - a little more than 100 people recently diagnosed with the disease. The other study of note reinforces something that's been discussed repeatedly on this blog: staying active and exercising regularly can stave off non-genetic dementia. This time it is a UCLA study of 876 seniors, average age 78. Those who maintained an active lifestyle - wal...

Shorter workouts may help you lose more weight than longer ones, according to an article in yesterday's New York Times. A Danish research group took three groups of sedentary, overweight men in their 20s and 30s and assigned each a level of structured exercise to perform for 13 weeks. They also were required to keep detailed food logs. The group that didn't add exercise to their regime, didn't lose any weight. No surprise there. The group that worked out daily for 60 minutes lost an aveage of 5 pounds. But the group that worked out 30 minutes daily (burning 300 calories jogging, compared to 600) actually lost more weight, an average of 7 pounds. Researchers think the 60-minutes group actually ate more and were less active other hours of the day to compensate for the fatigue from running or cycling for an hour that day. So if weight loss is your goal with running or cycling or swimming ... or whatever aerobic activity you choose, shorter workouts may be the way to go...

Imagine you are on a sinking boat, surrounded by sharks. What do you do? Think about that for a minute, then read on. We all spend so much time keeping our bodies healthy, that we sometimes forget the brain needs to work out too. Just as a new routine or class can engage muscles you rarely used, so too do we need to daily work the brain to keep it in fit form. The other week I had the pleasure of sitting in on a presentation* to seniors on brain fitness. I thought I'd share what I learned, so here are some tips to keep you mentally alert into your golden years as they relate to running. 1. Eat a Mediterranean diet . That means plenty of fresh, lightly seasoned vegetables and fruits in their natural form, along with nuts and grains and lean cuts of meat and fish. If you're vegetarian or vegan, there are other ways to get protein, but try to avoid all of the fake food that passes for vegan fare. Kinda defeats the purpose of eating healthfully if you are basically ingest...

We went to get our taxes done this morning and now, of course, I'm consumed with all things financial after getting some very bad news. I like to complain about the expenses associated with running: the not-cheap technology that is suddenly a "must have"; the never-on-sale running shoes; the exorbitant race fees just to earn a technical t-shirt (that serves as free marketing for the organizations you overpaid!); and the visits to health care providers to fix us when we go too far for too long. But apparently running (and many other forms of exercise) may actually keep us from overspending. So while I figure out how to take out a McMansion-sized mortgage and adopt three children before the next tax bill is due, consider listening at your leisure to this Marketplace Money report: Sweating out bad spending habits .