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Snow and Charming know what’s up…
Love this.
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The final Stefon sketch from Saturday Night Live.
The Stefon bit was one of my favorites. I’m gonna miss him
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Me for the past three days!
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Paleo Banana Bread
After starting the paleo diet, I started craving the exact foods I wasn’t allowed to eat. This is my first...
Paralyzed woman finishes marathon 16 days after start
A 32-year-old paraplegic woman using a robotic walking suit has completed the London Marathon, 16 days after the event began.
Hundreds of onlookers cheered a tearful Claire Lomas on Tuesday afternoon as she crossed the finish line on The Mall in central London, The Sun reported. Lomas, who was paralyzed from the chest down in a 2007 horse-riding accident, walked the 26.2-mile course using crutches and a £43,000 ($69,500) suit that uses motion sensors to help her move her legs. When Lomas shifts her balance, the ReWalk machine moves her joints forward, allowing her to take a step, the BBC reported.
Lomas, of Eye Kettleby, England, averaged more than 1.5 miles per day since the marathon began on April 22, following the official route. She stayed at a hotel at night and was driven to the spot where she stopped the day before, according to the BBC. Her husband, Dan Spicer, accompanied her the whole way, and her parents and 1-year-old daughter also were with her for parts of the walk.
“The support has been breathtaking and it feels fantastic to finally finish,” she said, according to The Sun. “I really didn’t expect this and I can’t quite believe it’s all for me. Everyone has been so supportive and I couldn’t have done it without them.”
When you think of the word ‘marathon’, yoga doesn’t usually come to mind. But believe it or not, it does have its own equivalent.
108 Sun Salutations is the yogi’s ultimate endurance test. According to Shiva Rhea, the number 108 is symbolic.
The number’s significance is open to interpretation. But 108 has long been considered a sacred number in Hinduism and yoga. Traditionally, malas, or garlands of prayer beads, come as a string of 108 beads (plus one for the “guru bead,” around which the other 108 beads turn like the planets around the sun). A mala is used for counting as you repeat a mantra—much like the Catholic rosary.
Renowned mathematicians of Vedic culture viewed 108 as a number of the wholeness of existence. This number also connects the Sun, Moon, and Earth: The average distance of the Sun and the Moon to Earth is 108 times their respective diameters. Such phenomena have given rise to many examples of ritual significance.
According to yogic tradition, there are 108 pithas, or sacred sites, throughout India. And there are also 108 Upanishads and 108 marma points, or sacred places of the body.
In most cases, the ‘marathon’ can last anywhere from 2 1/2 to 4 hours. That’s a LOT of yoga!
Like races for runners, 108 Sun Salutation marathons are sometimes organized as fundraisers for various charities or sometimes used to ring in the winter and spring equinoxes. Check out your local yoga spaces for deets in your area and get your practice on to build your endurance.
Psst - Instructors, this might be a good idea for your next fundraising event!
Marathon Runner Moons Reporter
If you can’t beat ‘em, get naked!
Via WellAndGoodNYC.com (Photo: Thewire.sheknows.com)
How to sound like a smartypants at the ING New York City Marathon
To help you sound like a New York City marathon savant, we put together this handy cheat sheet of fun marathon facts. Offer them up like off-the-cuff remarks as the estimated 47,000 runners fly by.
1. First marathon ever. It happened in 1970 with 127 runners, each of whom paid a one dollar entrance fee. The entire course was inside Central Park, so runners had to loop several times. We’re guessing some got dizzy, because in the end, only 55 runners crossed the finish line.
2. Motivating Moolah. The marathon will give away more than $650,000 in prize money this year. The male and female winners will get $130,000 each.
3. Oldest and youngest runners. Wesley Paul completed the race in three hours and 31 seconds in 1977, at age 8. This year Joy Johnson, age 84, will try to be the oldest female runner to ever finish the course.
4. She knows victory. The record for the most NYC Marathon victories goes to a female Norwegian runner (woot!), Grete Waitz. She finished in first place nine times.
Whew! Did anyone check to make sure she doesn’t have super powers or anything?
Amber Miller had two very big things on her mind recently; finishing the Chicago Marathon and having a baby. I just don’t think she expected to do both on the same day!
A nearly full term Amber finished the marathon in just over six hours, drinking and eating along the way to keep her energy up. Although the marathon was brutal, she said it was NOTHING compared to the labor afterwards.
Her healthy baby girl was born with no complications later that evening.
There’s been a lot of flack towards Amber for doing such strenuous activity so close to her due date, but ‘healthy’ is between a lady & her doctor. While it’s advised that most pregnant women avoid strenuous activity towards the end of their pregnancy, some women (specifically athletes) can maintain their training schedules up to delivery… with an all clear from a doctor of course. Because symptoms don’t always come in the form of pain or discomfort, it’s important not only to gauge how you feel - but get the tests to back it up.
Medical guidelines generally say that if a woman was a runner and healthy before she got pregnant, running is fine. However, medical experts agree that pregnancy is not the time to begin any exercise endeavors, such as starting marathon training for the first time. For pregnant runners, close monitoring by a doctor is recommended.
Everyone’s body is different & she was carefully monitored by a doctor (and cleared). What do you think? Awesome or nutso?
