Run DMZ

After a particularly taxing week, I appreciate Kovas tagging me so I could focus on something other than death and dysfunction. Here are the rules: 1. #1 Rule is..no rules! (Post these rules) 2. You must post 11 random things about yourself 3. Answer the questions set for you in their post 4. Create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer 5. Go to their blog and tell them you’ve tagged them 6. No stuff in the tagging section about you are tagged if you are reading this. You legitimately have to tag 11 people! And here are my 11 Random Things: 1. I just started using a night-time moisturizer for the first time ever. 2. I dream in color. I thought everyone did until I learned otherwise last week. 3. I was born with several birth defects, including a missing vertebra in my spine. 4. I just did some brain yoga exercise that said I am reserved, sentimental, loyal and overdramatic. Everyone also taking the test agreed with that assessment. 5. I won a UNICEF poster contest in the t...

My friend Tracy was the first to introduce me to an app called MyFitnessPal . It's a free calorie counter, diet and exercise tool to help you lose, maintain or gain weight. Since the start of the year, I've kept a relatively accurate account of how many calories I take in and expend. I say relatively accurate because, like most online calorie counters, the database is primarily self-reported foods and meals with caloric calculations all over the place. A piece of specialty brand sourdough bread, for instance, registers as 110 calories on the package but 300 on MyFitnessPal. And I'm having a hard time believing a couple handfuls of my beloved kumquats cost me as much as a chai tea latte with whole milk. We also tend to cook from scratch at my house, so trying to align our homemade veggie pizza with one in the database produces dubious results. Ditto restaurants. I'm more of a fine dining than fast food consumer, so I have to wing it when I enter those dishes. But MyFitne...

This looks like one fun (and messy) 5k . You basically start off with a clean white shirt and are sprayed with different colors per kilometer. The materials sprayed on runners by volunteers are said to be 100% safe and even edible (though taste is another issue). I wonder what happens as you sweat. Does it sting if it gets in your eyes? And do you have to go home with that mess or, like mud runs, do you get to shower it off before you hit the road? Would year wash the shirt with other clothes - or would you wash it at all? I've obviously not done a lot of reading on this one, which this year is coming to 18 different cities and regions. Here, the one representing all of SoCal is in Irvine - midpoint between San Diego and LA. Has anyone done one of these?

When you are exercising, what do you think of when you don't want to think of what you're doing in the moment? You most likely think of some aspect of your life, past present or future. You play out a story and the role you play in it. Now there's science to suggest that omniscient voice in your head may do more than distract you from physical discomfort. It may help give you a mental health boost. According to a new study's lead researcher, when we cast ourselves as the narrator of our life story, we actually can weather unpleasant events better than when we're convinced we are victims of circumstance with limited options. The experiment involved written expressions, but all words originate in thoughts, right? According to an article on the study, "a big takeaway is for people to realize that they are the main character in their story — but they are also the narrator. That means it’s possible to re-write the episode with a greater sense of agency.” Agency in t...