Normally I assume yelling “NO!” will stop the approaching dog, but what happens in the rare instance when it doesn’t? When your assumption in this case is wrong, you don’t make an ass out of u and me, you might not have an ass to make anything out of!

If you’ve been running for a while, you’re quite aware that not all pet owners abide by the usual and commonly shared social graces – ie keep your mutt in your yard. At one point or another, most every runner has been or will be snarled at and chased down the block (though if you’ve got any common sense you know your chances of outrunning the dog are slim). And to clarify, I’ll use ran-at for the threatening end of the spectrum, and attacked for actual tooth-to-flesh contact.

I’ve been ran-at by every kind of dog; from a ping-pong ball looking rat dog who only stopped at his owner’s eventual demand to “Git back in tha yard Yoda!,” to a full-chested, black and white barreling pit-bull who changed his mind last second and veered off toward a tree. I’ve even had dogs run at me while the owner stood by and did absolutely nothing.  I’ve thrown cans, rocks and sticks, kicked air, kicked the dog (I love dogs, this was necessity), yelled and cursed to ward off an attack. Continue Reading →

I admit it! I did it in the kitchen. Some of you may not think twice about what I did – others of you will be skeptical about it (however, as you’ll later read, I’m not quite the culinary rebel I thought).

My sister got a new juicer, and as I watched her stuff ginger, celery, kale, carrots and green apples into the grinder, my wheels started turning. While she was starry-eyed over the resulting juice, I could already taste the bread I was going to make out of her waste (it’s ok to cringe a bit over that comment).

She hesitantly agreed to let me have the colorful slaw-looking mound she’d normally throw away, and I whip up my concoction, a little too excited that I just might be breaking some baking rules. The result is a delightful smelling loaf of this: ———————————>

It definitely doesn’t look pretty, but we all know good things come in sketchy packages. Have you ever seen meatloaf? (The food, not the singer – though both are questionable at first glance). Continue Reading →

There are few things that hit the spot after a long run* like chocolate milk. Aside from tasting like heaven, this frothy goodness has more than two times the carbs and proteins found in plain milk, water and most sports drinks.  Chocolate milk also has Vitamins A and D, which strengthen bone and build muscle – things neither water nor sports drinks can offer.

Long story short: opt for the lowfat version and you’re guzzling a drink packed with the perfect amount of water, protein, calcium, sodium and sugars your body needs to recover after an endurance run.

And if you want to get technical, here’s how it holds up to a few post-run options: Continue Reading →

Why some experts say that if you could pick where to have a heart attack you should pick a marathon.

Every time there’s news of a runner dying during a marathon, an automatic sense of comradery in the running world follows. We’re a tight-knit group in general and it’s hard to lose one of “our own” doing something we love. For me personally, the news creates a sneaky little “what if” that makes me wonder how safe pushing ourselves to the limits really is. Still, it’s easy to dismiss the possibility of heart failure during a race as something that “will never happen to me.” But could it?

Sporting is risk, and the longer the duration and intensity of your activity, obviously the higher your risk of injury, or in worst cases, fatality – but there’s ironic solace in the fact that you may have a better chance surviving cardiac catastrophe on the course compared to most other places.

According to a recent article in Runner’s World, New Study: Heart Risk ‘Low’ in Distance Races, the risk of running-induced heart attack or cardiac arrest is low (heart attack is damage to the heart; cardiac arrest is when the heart stops). That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be prepared for the worst, pay close attention to your own body’s warning signs or know what to do when someone else is in danger. Continue Reading →