Source: http://www.thefitbits.com/2015/10/race-report-bright-10.html

**WARNING** Euphoric, endorphin-filled Tess on the loose. Post may contain unhealthy levels of running love. 

We all know that running is awesome. But what makes running even more awesome? Running with friends, that’s what. 

Today’s inaugural Bright10 was an exciting new addition to the Brighton race calendar, drawing a huge crowd and lots of noise on social media. Mixed opinions have been aired about ‘yet another seafront run’, with some – me included – questioning why they’d pay to race a route they run in training almost daily.

That question got answered for me today, and I’m hoping it did for many others too.  

 Smells like team spirit
There are two reasons that make running in Brighton so special – the scenery, and the community. There really is nothing like running a race where every other person shouts your name, gives a thumbs up, screams ‘BOSH’, ‘come on’, or pushes you not to give up.

When every mile you pass is accompanied by the cheers and praise from your ‘team mates’, on the sidelines, and alongside you on the course.

When you’…

Source: http://www.niashanks.com/mcdonalds-diet/

photo: some rights reserved by JeepersMedia

Sometimes nothing will suffice more than a good rant.

Such is the case in regards to the experiment from a teacher who lived off nothing but McDonald’s for six months. There were some lessons to be gleaned from his experience, but some chose instead to respond with harsh criticism.

Many mistakenly claimed the point of the “McDonald’s Diet” experiment was to encourage bad eating habits and telling people it’s acceptable to subsist off fast food. That was not the point and no one thinks eating nothing but fast food is ideal.

Please listen to this 20 minute episode of The Nia Shanks Show for a much needed rant and valuable lessons we can learn from the McDonald’s experiment.

Use the audio player above to listen now or …

Download the MP3 file of this episode.

Download this episode from iTunes.

Download this episode from Stitcher.

Show Notes for Episode 7: The “McDonald’s Diet:”

This episode begins with the article A Teacher Lost 56 Pounds Eating Nothing but McDonald’s, and People are Pissed. That article includes the video referenced in the show.

Admittedly this episode features a rant on this topic, but there are valuable lesson…

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/yogadork/dwhv/~3/CULMtMfRUlE/

Next up in our YD Holiday Giveaway series… This one here is an annual tradition! We’re thrilled to be giving away this wonderful book, A Year of Living Your Yoga: Daily Practices to Shape Your Life by Judith Hanson Lasater. About A Year of Living Your Yoga: Featuring one thought for each day of the year, along with […]

You’re reading YD Giveaway: Win ‘A Year of Living Your Yoga’ by Judith Hanson Lasater – The Tradition Continues! by YogaDork. Follow YogaDork on Twitter and Facebook.

…

Source: http://www.thefitbits.com/2015/12/how-to-start-running-and-fall-in-love.html

My best friend wife went for her first ever run this week and I feel like a gushing proud parent. After years of laughing at me for totally getting off on running, getting up early to bosh out a seafront plod or even taking my running shoes to Glastonbury for a dose of festival endorphins, she’s finally dipped her toes in the water and downloaded the Couch to 5k app.

You have no idea how much this excites me.

She’s gonna get to experience so much. That first time she’ll run for 10minutes non-stop. Then 20. Then complete a full 5k. Then parkrun, her first race, and who knows what else. It’ll be hard, and sometimes she won’t want to run, but hopefully she still will, and every time she runs that little bit further she’ll feel invincible.

And one day, it’ll just click, like it did for me, (and you?) and she’ll be running and suddenly everything will be beautiful in the world, and her favourite track will come on, and the sun will come out (or heavens open), and a supermassive grin will creep over her face.

And right there, she’ll fall in love with running.

(Pretty please 🙂 )

<img alt="F…

Source: http://www.fannetasticfood.com/2015/12/17/recent-adventures-in-food-and-fitness/

Hi friends! It’s rainy in DC today but I had a fun morning – my friends Kathleen, Chelsea, Karen, and I all made it to the 7 a.m. boot camp class at Urban Athletic Club – PARTYYYY! Waking up at 6:10 sucks a lot less when you know you’ll be meeting up with a bunch of buddies.

I’m so lucky to have friends who are up for having early morning workout dates! Graham was teaching this morning’s class, which was fun since I hadn’t taken one of his classes in ages. We’re pictured above in the middle of a Turkish Get Up – have you guys tried that move before? We did it during “half time” as a skill building exercise and I had him take a picture of the 4 of us doing it again after class as a little reenactment!

As for the rest of the class, it was great, as always! A good mix of strength and cardio utilizing body weight, actual weights, kettle bells, TRX, etc.

<img title="urban athletic club georgetown" style="border-top: 0px;border-right: 0p…

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/tinybuddha/~3/YwteQ7__R70/

“The only person who can pull me down is myself, and I’m not going to let myself pull me down anymore.” ~ C. JoyBell C.

At a recent visit to the doctor’s office I had some routine checks done. Afterward, the doctor flipped through the findings and said, “Blood pressure, good. Pulse, good. Weight, okay.”

He then continued talking about other things, but my mind was still on his previous words. “Weight, okay.”

Why wasn’t my weight “good” like my pulse and blood pressure? 

I had managed to completely skim over the fact that my vital signs were absolutely fine. I immediately fixated on the physical aspect—and added my own negative slant to it. 

There is so much that is so deeply ingrained within us that even when we are self-assured, we still get caught off guard sometimes.

A few weeks before the doctors appointment I’d gone shopping for a winter coat. I found one I liked, grabbed two sizes for comparison, and went through to the fitting room. One size was slightly too snug under the arms and the other gave me more freedom to move.

But the better fitting coat had a label that read “large.” And I had a problem with it.

I tried both coats on again, as though somehow expecting a different result. I t…

Source: http://summertomato.com/for-the-love-of-food-271/

For the Love of Food

Welcome to Friday’s For The Love of Food, Summer Tomato’s weekly link roundup.

I’m back! I’ve had a lot of catching up to do after my two weeks off the grid at a silent meditation retreat, but it’s nice to be back in the real world. I’ll write more about my retreat experience next week. In the meantime I’ll say it was amazing and illuminating and really hard.

This week happiness is overrated, low-fat diets are pointless, and red meat may or may not be worse than smoking.

Too busy to read them all? Try this awesome free speed reading app I just discovered to read at 300+ wpm. So neat!

Want to see all my favorite links? (There’s lots more). Be sure to follow me on Delicious. I also share links on Twitter @summertomato and the Summer Tomato Facebook page. I’m very active on all these sites and would love to connect with you.

Links of the week

There’s More to Life Than Being Happy There’s More to Life Than Being Happy <<There’s a big difference between a happy life and a meaningful life. What makes your life meaningful? (The Atlantic)
What Does the WHO Report Mean for Your Meat-Eat…

Source: http://www.sonima.com/meditation/connect-with-your-true-self/

Watch video on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEfQtFYuf9g

We are over 70% water, so when we are in water, we feel at home and amongst family.  We feel like ourselves. This meditation reminds you of your true nature, of who you truly are. When you say to yourself “I am”, the mind asks “I am what?” It is often followed by emotions or descriptive words, such as, happy, tall, sad, a mother, a wife, etc.  This meditation replaces common, mundane identifications with a powerful statement that helps you build your true identity by reminding you of your infinite qualities.

Related: A Water Meditation for Releasing Stress

This guided session is led by Anne Koller, a Kundalini yoga instructor and water healer at AQUA in New York City, and was created by Hari Kaur Khalsa, author of A Woman’s Book of Meditation: Discovering the Power of a Peaceful Mind.

The post A Water Meditation to Connect with Your True Self appeared first on Sonima.

…

Source: http://summertomato.com/limiting-beliefs/

Photo by Steve Rhodes

When I first went to college the last thing I cared about was learning to cook. Neither of my parents had a degree, and by the time I was in middle school it was clear to me that higher education was my only ticket to salvation.

I remember running errands with my mom one afternoon and seeing her bump into an old classmate she knew from high school. “Oh, hi! Wow, I haven’t seen you in 20 years.”

They exchanged pleasantries and parted ways. It was obvious the two of them had no real desire to keep up with each other and that they were just being polite for etiquette’s sake. We were all glad when it was over.

The school they both attended was only a few blocks down the street and I knew it would be my fate to go there as well. Class of ’97. Go Vanguards.

Oh shit.

It didn’t take much for my brain to leap forward 24 years and imagine myself in her position, shopping at the same Albertson’s with my own children in tow, casually running into one of the mean kids who called me names and harassed me all year long when I was 14.

At the time I couldn’t imagine anything worse.

My fear of ending up in the same unhappy environment I grew up in became the driving …

Source: http://tonygentilcore.com/2015/12/3-ways-the-kettlebell-deadlift-can-improve-your-barbell-deadlift/

Today’s guest post comes courtesy of Providence, RI based strength coach, Joe DeLeo. He discusses the kettlebell deadlift and why it can have a lot of influence on one’s performance with the barbell deadlift.

Enjoy!

3 Ways the Kettlebell Deadlift Can Improve Your Barbell Deadlift

The kettlebell deadlift can help you improve your barbell deadlift and the hip hinge.

I know what you are thinking…. “There can be only one!”

Hopefully by the end of this article I will have convinced you of the value of both and how you can improve your barbell deadlift with the kettlebell deadlift.

Key Benefits & Differences

Deadlifts can be performed two ways: conventional and sumo. A conventional deadlift has the feet placed inside the grip and a sumo deadlift has the feet placed outside the grip.

If this is confusing, I highly encourage you to go back and read Tony’s blog “The Deadlift: Beginner Basics” as well as his E-Book Pick Heavy Things Up which can you get for FREE by subscribing at the bottom of this article.

Note from TG: I agree. They’re both life changing. And come with a lifetime supply of hugs….