I thought about holiness on my run today. Pretty heavy duty for a Sunday morning. Ever since I was diagnosed with blood clots in my legs and lungs last month, I have been feeling an overwhelming sense of guilt and responsibility to live a more righteous life. I feel like if I do the wrong …
Happy Valentine’s Day! It’s only fitting to talk about my favorite body part on Valentine’s Day—the heart. From the time we’re teenagers scribbling cartoon hearts on our notebooks, we use the heart as a symbol of love. But it is also the most extraordinary muscle of our body. It is always working, from before we …
Valentine’s Day, Metaphors, and The Best Workout Read More »
I went to a friend’s birthday party tonight at a country music bar. I’ve never been a fan of country music. It was my first time in a few weeks to go out socially since I was in the hospital and diagnosed with blood clots in my legs and lungs. Admittedly, I’ve been a little …
As part of a recent routine physical, I got some blood work done and tested positive for a mutation of the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene, which encodes the enzyme of the same name. MTHFR is a key enzyme involved in the metabolism of folate, which is involved in the production of red blood cells. Genetic …
Blood Clots, Jim Fixx, and Outrunning Your Genes Read More »
People often say, “Everything happens for a reason,” or “When one door closes another opens,” or “It wasn’t meant to be,” or some other version of the same idea. I wonder if that‘s all really true, or if humans say things like that as a coping mechanism to make ourselves feel better when bad things …
On my 10-mile run today, I thought about distractions. Life is full of distractions that divert our attention away from what we’re doing and what we want to accomplish. Most situations that come up during the day are distractions. Even as I sit writing this paragraph in a coffee shop after my run, there …
Every time I watched Michael Jordan play basketball, I was amazed at how he moved his body over the court, got past defenders, and drove toward the basket. It was as if each of his individual movements were scripted, even though he was really making them up at that instant, his body knowing what to …
I just got back from the Footlocker National High School Cross Country Championships at Morley Field in Balboa Park in San Diego. The top 40 girls and top 40 boys from around the U.S. (top 10 from each of the country’s four regional championship races) earn a trip to San Diego, a stay in the …
I have a friend who thinks I have some philosophical aversion to strength training. Although I do choose to run as my daily workout, I keep promising her that I will one day incorporate some upper body strength training. The funny thing is that I really have no aversion, philosophical or otherwise, to strength training. …
Women’s nutritional needs are different than men’s, due in part to the menstrual cycle and differences in bone density between the sexes. Inadequate caloric consumption to match the caloric expenditure of running—a common problem among women runners—puts many female runners at risk of nutrient deficiencies that can affect their health and their running performance. Here …