Although this was the 12th year for TriUtah's Jordanelle triathlon, this was my first year as a participant. I showed up the week before the event to check out the course — although I came early and left before all the preview festivities began, I still got a good feel for the swim and the bike. The morning of the race was clear and temperate. After getting my bike set up in the transition area and making sure the women around me had their bikes set up the right way (with the front tire pointing towards you, so you can still read your name/number tag on the bar while standing in front of your bike), I slipped into my wetsuit and wondered out loud if I should have remembered sunscreen. I warmed up in the water while the three waves sta ...

The kids are out of school and looking to be entertained.  The temperatures are creeping up into the mid 90s.  We’re staying up late enjoying the long, light summer evenings.  Between the heat, late nights and kid chaos, I’ve lost all motivation.  I’ve been way too lethargic to lift fingers to keyboard.  All this laziness has been the perfect excuse to enjoy some great books, though.  I’m pulling myself (very briefly) out of summer slacking mode to reveal how my reading hours have been spent.   Like drama and intrigue?  Get yourself a fix by reading a book set in Tudor England.  Phillipa Gregory’s The Other Boleyn Girl has been out long enough to have been made ...

So I'm expired with eHarmony. My favorite Bachelor #2 is MIA. A hopeful Bachelor #3, whom I nicknamed the Urban Redneck, has devotedly texted me for more than a month of mornings with increasingly "ewww" messages (e.g. Have a SUPERlicious day!) that are very sweet, but just not my flavor. After too much life and too much work and too many reschedules of our first "let's get drinks" (all but one my fault) arrangements, I decided I had to cut him loose. I know he's not right for me (I present: SUPERlicious, gages in his ears, and a midlife infatuation with tats) and while I'm trying to be open-minded, I know that meeting in person will not turn this into a blissfully happy eHarmony commercial.But, sometimes, the idea that I will be on my own ...

The day after my last blog post I had a bike accident. The dumbest thing happened. I put my foot in the cage (it’s literally a cage for your foot) and pushed my body weight onto the pedal. The pedal didn’t budge, I lost my balance and toppled over landing on my right elbow. I passed out. For the next two and a half hours, I passed out about seven more times. Waiting for my husband to come check on my condition — I passed out. My neighbor and training partner loaded me in her car.  I passed out. Checking into the ER — out. Blood drawn in the ER — out. X-rays on my injured elbow — out. And on and on. The doctor was so worried about my passing out, the elbow was almost a secondary concern. My heart rate ...

I read this today on the Avenues Yoga website. It was attributed to "anonymous." It made me think...a lot. Do you have any idea who you really are? Do you have any idea of your effect on others? Do you know what it is like to be touched by you? To be held in your glance? To be smiled upon by you? Do you even know what it’s like to brush up along side you in the streets? To see you from a distance? Up close? Do you know what it’s like to see you approaching? Do you know what it’s like to watch you walk away? Do you know what it does for someone when they realize you’ve been thinking of them? No, you don’t. Your insights, beauty, strength, courage and humility change lives every day, and you don&rsqu ...

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right? I'm proof of that the past few weeks. I don't know what I was thinking trying to train for a triathlon while recovering from having my fourth baby and running a magazine. Am I insane? Even more insane, I'm utilizing one of the top triathletes in the state as my trainer.I met Wes Johnson a few weeks ago...at a bakery. I thought it was my first test of will power. It turned out, he just wanted to have access to the free wi-fi to show me the online training tool he set me up to use. This tool is where he inputs my training schedule and where (gulp) I log what I actually did that day.Wes has been doing triathlons for a long time. He is part of a group of experts who run WinterTriCamps.com and ...

Hello Ladies,

I don't have much to say this week, but I do have a question that I'd like to ask and get other perspectives--

 

How much do you value alternative medicine? What types of alternative medicine appeal to you most and why?

 

I've been looking at other modalities such as nutriceuticals, massage, homeopathy, master herbalism, naturopathy, and such.

 

Hugs,

Dr. Kara : )

  If the last two selections from my neighborhood book club were pitted against each other in a smack down based on reader response, there would be a definite knockout.  Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather would be flat on its back, with The Help by Kathryn Stockett standing victoriously at center ring.    When we met to discuss The Help in March, we had our biggest crowd ever.  We packed ourselves into every available seat, all eager to talk about the relationship between privileged white women and their African-American “help” in the segregation-era south.  Not only did all of us enjoy reading the book, it inspired us to open our mouths and enthusiastically share our opinions ...