Girl enters roller rink, turns 90
If you’ve been following my home blog for a while, you might remember a while back when NBC Universal offered me my own video series. They called it “Big Life,” but we never shot any episodes beyond the pilot.
I was supposed to be scripting my own episodes for the show, but it didn’t take long for NBCU to start nudging me in the direction of things that didn’t ring true for me. When it came time to talk about Episode 2, I was encouraged to write a script that took me into a Crunch gym for a workout with one of the network’s preferred fitness experts — a personal trainer.
I wanted nothing to do with the idea, because there was nothing about it that felt organic or true to me. I never did enjoy going to a gym. Historically, I’ve found gyms mind-numbingly boring. I’m much more interested in finding engaging activities — like biking and swimming and fencing and tennis – that make fitness feel more like fun than drudgery.
In fact, one physical activity I’ve loved since childhood is roller-skating. As a teenager I frequented roller rinks the way oily hustlers flocked to discos. Rinks were underage nightclubs with cardboard pizza and flat soda, where controversial romances took wing during “slow skates” and where New Wave girls like Dina Adams and me begged Flock of Seagulls requests at the DJ booth. (more…)
Death by exercise
Reposted from Men’s Health: Hundreds of guys — including some of the world’s fittest men — have taken their final breaths while wearing running shoes. Here’s how to outsmart the reaper –
Guy goes out for a run. It’s just a 4-miler–nothing, really, to a seasoned marathoner who usually runs 10 miles a day, 7 days a week. Nobody knows why he stops 40 or 50 yards short of his front door–maybe he’s checking his pulse, maybe he’s tying a shoe–but everybody knows what happens next to Jim Fixx, the 52-year-old patron saint of running: He dies. (more…)
A new liver. A new life. A triathlete is born.
My education regarding organ donation came fast and furiously, and after I had received the gift of life. The pink dot has always been on my driver’s license; it seemed like “the right thing to do”. I had no idea the implications of that simple dot. I had no idea of the size of the transplant waiting list. I had no idea of the nature of the decision that would be made by a family faced with honoring the profound vision behind the dot. (more…)
Do You Exercise to Look Good or Feel Better?
Recently, I had the pleasure of speaking to an undergraduate class of business students about SheerBalance.com. Being back on campus was fantastic in many ways: the intellectual stimulation, the clean air of Ithaca, the beautiful fall weather, and of course, the youthful atmosphere—it just doesn’t get better.
During my presentation, I became 
distinctly aware of how different one’s mindset is when one is in school, specifically about health. I looked around the class and I would venture to guess that a good 80 percent of the class looked healthy and fit (yeah, I know they were fifteen years my junior, but that isn’t the point). (more…)
What REALLY Happens When You Exercise
I want to revisit the subject of exercise. I’ve made a few observations and feel they’re worthy of recording.
1. No one ever wants to start exercising after enjoying a lifestyle of sloth.
2. “Because it’s good for you” will never convince a person they should start exercising. You have to appeal to their vanity or remind them that one day they’re going to die and if they don’t get on the wagon, they’ll get run down by it. (more…)