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You are here: Home / Archives for activity

My Dog Doesn’t Understand Why We’re Jogging

September 5, 2012 by Scott "Q" Marcus

Fret not; that thumping, rhythmic, heavy pulsing sound behind you is not the noise of Heaven and Earth colliding.

Rather, ‘tis the pounding of my sneakers as they hit the pavement while I jog. Yes, you read that correctly. I am now jogging. (Well, not this minute of course; it’s difficult to type while running.)

I had more excuses than a double bacon cheeseburger has calories to avoid huffing and puffing down the street. They ran the gamut from “I might pass out,” to “I’ll look silly.” (Of course the latter pre-supposes that I don’t naturally look “silly,” which might be up for debate.) Yet, recently, my walks have — at times — become my jogs.

What pray tell, you might ask, has caused this transformation on par with the changing of the earth’s axis?

I am the recipient of a neat-o, boss, whiz-bang, plaything that plugs into my computer called an accelerometer. As I understand, an accelerometer “knows” where it is in space. Don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t know it is in Eureka or Portland, but it is able to discern when it moves from one location to another, and at what velocity. Therefore, while it is on my person; should I go to and fro, hither and yon, nigh and far, or up and down; it measures that movement and speed. After an initial multi-day “assessment,” it computes my baseline activity level and sets up a 12-week challenge, gradually increasing my activity level. The result is I become more active, and hence, healthier — and hopefully thinner.

Each evening (as well as an obsessive number of times per day), I place it still on a flat surface to watch the ring of green LEDs glow. Should at least four of the six do so, I’m at 100% of my daily goal. Oh happy day! On the contrary, should I receive less than four, I better get moving.

At day’s end, I realized I forgot to check my progress.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Excuses, Exercise, humor, Newspaper Column Tagged With: accelerometer, activity, exercise, exercise plan, jogging, running, Weight Watchers Active Link

Are We Having Fun Yet?

April 28, 2011 by Featured Author Leave a Comment

First, allow me to apologize for not posting recently!  No excuses, just a new goal to post at least two times per week.  Now for this week’s post…

“He who laughs, lasts!”
~Mary Pettibone Poole

“I cannot believe that the inscrutable universe turns on an axis of suffering; surely the strange beauty of the world must somewhere rest on pure joy!”
~Louise Bogan

I began running about 2 1/2 years ago.  I never, ever thought of myself as a runner.  I walked everyday, and I loved it.  An online friend turned me on to fast walking and I got fantastic results from it.  It was low impact and easy and fun to do, so that was my exercise of choice.  Then, one day as I was walking my six-mile course, something snapped like an over-stretched rubber band.  I’d torn a hip flexor muscle and it hurt – a lot.  The short of it is, walking was never the same again.  It hurt, and that sucked all the fun out of it.  In addition, before the injury, I noticed that I had to walk further and further to work up a sweat and get my heart rate up.  I was already walking for 75 minutes a day, and didn’t know how I was going to keep carving more and more time out for my walks.  I started looking around for something else to do.  Someone suggested running, and my first thought was, “Only masochists run.”

Me Before Race Time

After all, running is painful, and it’s really, really hard.  Why would anyone do it unless they are being chased by large, carnivorous animals?  But as I continued to search for a new activity to replace walking, I kept coming back around to running.  I loved my bicycle, but the bike path in this town is fairly short so I was bored with the scenery already, and taking to the streets means taking your life in your hands (please, motorists, be kind to cyclists).  Aerobics?  Please.  Workout tapes and treadmills and ellipticals were out, because I longed to be outdoors and quickly got bored with them.  And suddenly I asked myself, “Just what are you afraid of?”  I immediately came up with a list: I was afraid of injury, of how much pain I’d be in from the impact on my joints, the burning in my lungs, the cramps in my side (I clearly remembered these from gym classes past), the blisters on my feet.  And then, once the list of fears was out there, I decided that none of them was really so terrible, and I was intrigued by the challenge of it.  I was determined not to let fear dictate what I would and wouldn’t attempt.  So, I strapped on some shoes and decided to run a mile.

The first time I did it, I hated it.  It took me longer to jog than to fast-walk a mile!  And I was hot and sweaty, my feet hurt, and I felt really out of shape – huffing and puffing down the bike bath like a 100 year-old steam engine.  It took me a while to even attempt it again.  But boredom and a plateau in my weight loss got me pounding the pavement.  When I re-visited running I did it with a goal in mind – a friend had invited me to run a 5K for charity – that’s 3.12 miles.  I felt it was do-able with a little training, so I set out to train.  I had 12 weeks, and was determined to do it.  I got myself an iPod, some proper running gear – including cheap, new shoes; I caution you against this.  If you are seriously considering becoming a runner, make shoes your first priority, not your last.  Anyway, in 12 weeks, I learned to love running.  The first 2-3 minutes are miserable, but then your body warms up and gets used to the pace, and you’re off!  With my favorite music in my ears, and the endorphins coursing through my veins, I am never happier than when I’m running and I’m in ‘the Zone.’  It’s bliss.  The only thing to top it is running in a new locale and taking in spectacular scenery.

(More great pictures & inspiration  follow the jump… ) [Read more…]

Filed Under: Exercise, goals, Guest Author, Inspiration, Motivation Tagged With: activity, Ashlyn Dyer Foundation, Chrissy field, exercise, golden gate bridge, Presidio10, running

Video: No More Complaining About Exercise, OK?

January 26, 2011 by Scott "Q" Marcus

The next time you feel disinclined to do your exercise program, take a cue from this walrus and his (or her?) trainer. It made me take my walk today. (The walrus is probably thinking, “YOU want to get fit so I have to exercise? How bogus is that?”) Either way, enjoy the video.

Filed Under: Asking for help, Excuses, Exercise, humor, Power of Attitude, Video Tagged With: activity, animals, exercise program, fun, humor, trainer, video, walrus

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