Category: Health and fitness

Transcript: Marathon Runner Talia Levine

Sandra McGill: If you would, please tell me your name and your title.

Talia Levine: Talia Levine, and I am a graduate assistant at the National Park Service. Is that the title you wanted?

SM: Sure! That’s fine.

TL: Okay.

SM: And you’re a second-year master’s student?

TL: I’m a first-year master’s student at the Odum School of Ecology.

SM: Okay. And how do I spell your name?

TL: T-A-L-I-A, and last name is Levine: L-E-V-I-N-E.

SM: Excellent. And you are running a marathon. Would you tell me about that?

TL: Yes. I am running the New York Marathon on November 6, and I’ve never run a marathon before. I’ve done half-marathons. I’m actually doing this one because my mother passed away just under two years ago, and had a very sudden heart attack. She was very healthy, and [this was] unexpected. So I am running with the American Heart Association team and fund raising for them, so that’s why I decided to run it.

SM: Excellent. And did you run half-marathons at all before she passed away?

TL: Yes. So I’ve been running—I’ve been doing races for the last 10 years. I did my first half-marathon 10 years ago. So I’ve done—I guess I’ve run about five or six half-marathons, but never a full.

SM: Okay. And what inspired you to initially start running?

TL: Um … that’s a good question. I think part—well, I think I started, you know, for weight loss and probably to get in shape—a lot of what initially motivates people. But I think I have kept doing it because it’s good for one’s sanity. (laughs)

SM: So first for weight; now for sanity.

TL: Yes. (laughs)

SM: Wow; neat. Tell me your training schedule.

TL: So right now I run three kind of shorter to moderate runs throughout the week, and then a long run on the weekend. And it kind of ramps up each week, so this past weekend I ran 10 on Saturday, and this upcoming weekend I’ll have to run 12.

SM: Miles or kilometers?

TL: Miles.

SM: Okay.

TL: And I’m trying to remember—I think—well, nevermind: I’m not going to say that because I don’t know if it’s accurate. But that’s about what the schedule is. And then you have another day or two where you can throw in some cross-training, if you want to do walking or swimming or biking or something, if you’re not exhausted, which generally I am. (laughs)

SM: And how long are your short runs, generally?

TL: Right now they are five and six miles.

SM: And at what time of day do you run those?

TL: It depends on my schedule with school, but anywhere from—um—sometimes, you know, seven in the morning; five in the morning, sometimes nine or 10 at night—it just depends on when I can get it in. So I don’t have a very patterned schedule! (laughs)

SM: Cool beans. What inspired you to run a full marathon this time?

TL: I think it’s been on my bucket list; I just wanted to see if I could do it. When I first started running halfs, I didn’t think that I could run a half. I just learned that, like anything else, you just have to work at it and train, and if you dedicate yourself to it, you can accomplish it. So I’ve wanted to kind of test myself with the full to see if I can do that without dying! (laughs) That’s my main goal.

SM: What do you expect?

TL: Uh, potentially to die! (laughs) I expect I’m going to—I’m prepared to walk/run, so I don’t think—it’s been a while since I’ve run. So this is really just to kind of get back into it. So I hope to finish: that is my goal, just to finish and try to enjoy [it]. [I’ll] get to run through the five villas of New York, so I’ll try to enjoy the experience and not be too hard on myself. So that is my expectation: just to walk across that finish line, or run. I guess run would be better. (laughs)

SM: And why did you choose one so far away?

TL: Um, I think just because it’s an iconic race. And I wanted something I would be excited about to motivate me to train for it and do it.

SM: Awesome. Tell me about the American Heart Association. Why are you specifically running for them?

TL: So I have lost two family members to heart-related conditions: my grandmother died when she was—when I was a baby—from a stroke, very suddenly, and then my mom of a heart attack. So, um, just kind of seeing how people’s lives can change somewhat dramatically: even when you think someone’s healthy and, you know, skinny and exercises and eats right, there are still underlying conditions that people can have. So I wanted to support their research and their health outreach programs to hopefully prevent that from happening in other people’s lives.

SM: And how have you found running and training is fitting in with your own health?

TL: I think it’s been really good. I think, you know—I’m sure you can relate: having started grad school, I probably would not be exercising right now if I were not, you know, afraid that I would be embarrassed (laughs) in three months’ time by not being able to finish the race. So I think it’s been a good motivator for me, and I find that when I have a schedule like that, that I’m a lot more likely to stick to it than when left to my own devices.

SM: Did you run for any charitable causes before your mom passed?

TL: This is—no. I mean, I think I’ve done races in the past that have supported charitable causes, but this is the first time I’ve kind of taken on fundraising as part of a racing experience.

SM: And I know your mom passed away two years ago, you said. Why wait until now?

TL: I was going to—so, it happened in December of 2014. I was actually supposed to run last year, [but] I hurt myself and couldn’t do it. So I deferred until this year, and I’m running with a team this year. So I’ve actually kind of been fundraising for two years! (laughs)

SM: Tell me about the fundraising aspect.

TL: So you have to raise $3,500 to run, and last year I raised $6,500! This year has not been as profitable, because I think most people donated last year. But luckily I don’t have a level I have to achieve this year; they’re letting me run because I already did my fundraising. But I’m still trying, and techniques I’m using—aside from peer pressure—are I have a dog who likes to sing. So every time someone donates, she and I sing a song together and post it to the person’s Facebook wall. (laughs) And I’ve even thought about trying to record something to send to Ellen DeGeneres, to see if she would feature it and maybe some. So that is in the works in the next couple of months. (laughs)

SM: That’s hilarious. That is very funny!

TL: You gotta get creative, you know?! [There are a lot of] people with a lot of causes. You have to do something to stand out a little.

SM: What are your other techniques for raising funds?

TL: Um, you know, the first time was really easy because there were a lot of people who really loved my mom, so I [reached out] to a lot of her friends and family members. Facebook has—I’m not a huge social-media person, but Facebook was definitely, you know, paramount in helping me to achieve that goal and kind of getting the message out. Honestly, it really was pretty easy last year because of that. This year I’m having more trouble and am needing to get a little more creative. I’m a group fitness instructor, and I’ve taught yoga in the past, so I’ve thought about maybe trying to organize some classes for donation, or things like that toward the end of things. If I’m not kind of at the level where I want to be, to see if I can maybe boost my donations generated a little bit.

SM: Is that because you don’t want to ask the same people again?

TL: Yeah—I mean, you know. People were pretty generous in their donations last year, and I know that people have a lot of things going on. So I’ll probably email some of the people who didn’t donate last year, who maybe, you know, might be interested in doing it this year. But I don’t like pressuring people too much. I want to make them feel like there’s something in it for them.

SM: You mentioned [the race benefits] the American Heart Association. Why that particular vascular association as opposed to another one that also does vascular research?

TL: Hmm; that’s a good question. I think they’re just kind of the primary one that comes to mind. I’ve been CPR certified and AED certified through them for many years. So I think people just kind of respect that organization, and think that they make a huge impact in people’s lives. So I guess they were kind of the first that came to mind, and since they do stroke and heart disease and heart attack, it seemed like it fit my situation well.

SM: Do you happen to know how much of the funds that are raised go toward research and that kind of thing, as opposed to operational expenses?

TL: That’s a good question. They send us emails about how they are going to use the funds, and they did send a communication out recently about (searches her phone for the email)—oh, I’m not going to be able to find it. But they sent something out about how much it takes for certain preventive education [and] things like that. I should have a better answer to that, and I don’t. but I can certainly follow up with you about that later.

SM: If you find that email, would you send it to me?

TL: Sure.

SM: My email address is sandralmcgill@gmail.com. Thank you!

TL: Sure. I’ll try to find that tonight.

SM: How long have you been training for this particular marathon?

TL: This one, I’ve been seriously [training] for about six weeks, and I’ve got about ten weeks to go. So I was kind of running a little bit off and on before that, but my schedule is a 16-week training schedule.

SM: What would you like people to know?

TL: I think that you can never judge a book by its cover, in a lot of different ways. My mom was someone who—she and I did not really resemble one another in body: she was very—she used to always tell me that she could never gain weight. That was her problem growing up, which I’ve never experienced! (laughs) But she also, you know, didn’t really—because of that—didn’t go to the doctor very much. She just always kind of assumed that she was in good health. I think that you can lead a very healthy lifestyle and [bad] things can still happen, so I think it’s good to get checked out and kind of stay on top of that. I think the flip side of that is, you know, I think a lot of people would look at me and probably think, “Oh, you’re going to run 13 miles?” Or “You’re going to run 26 miles?” and probably assume that’s not necessarily something I can do based on my body [type] (she is a bit heavy set), but I think that you kind of never know what people have going on, what kinds of hobbies they’re into, and what types of things they devote themselves to in life. I guess that would be my primary takeaway.

SM: What would you like people to do?

TL: I guess maybe two things. One would be to find something that you’re passionate about and support it in the way that you can, in the way that feels authentic to you, I guess. And then I think one really powerful lesson—a kind of takeaway for me from running—has been that, I don’t know that it’s true that you can do anything you set your mind to, because I know that there are places where you’ll have more natural skill. But I think that running is a good example of something where just showing up and being consistent, you notice that you get better. So I think that’s kind of 99 percent of life, they say, is showing up and trying. So if there’s something that you want to do and you want to try, try it, and even if it doesn’t go well the first time, continuing to show up and continuing to do it and looking at it six weeks, six months down the line, and kind of seeing where you are. And then if you’re terrible at it, you can quit! (laughs) But at least try it for about six months to a year before quitting. That’s my message! (laughs)

SM: What other health benefits have you noticed as a runner?

TL: I think, just, definitely reduced stress. I think it helps to manage times in your life where you know, you’re busy; you have emotional things going on; or whatever the case may be. I think it’s kind of cheap therapy. I think just feeling like I can keep up with my two-year-old nephew better when I’m running after him, and I think I just have a better quality of life when I’m running because I feel more energetic. I feel like I can go out and do things and have better energy when I’m doing it.

SM: What have I not asked that you’d like people to know?

TL: Well, I’d like them to know that if they’d like to donate to my campaign (laughs), I am happy to provide that information! (laughs) If you’d like to advertise that to UGA!

SM: Thanks so much! Is there anything else you’d like to add?

TL: No. Thank you for the interview; I appreciate it!

SM: You’re welcome!

Interview Transcript

Interviewee: Zixuan Wang, a clinical psychology P.h.D student at George Washington University, a licensed psychologist.

1. What are eating disorders?

Eating disorders are characterized by abnormal eating habits such as bulimia and anorexia. Eating disorders are mental illness but can also seriously damage physical health

2. What are causes of eating disorders?

There are lot of factors can cause eating disorders, and the factors cause bulimia and anorexia are different. The anorexia may be caused by excessive dieting, while the bulimia may be caused by excessive pressure. Also, if parents have eating disorders, their children are likely to have eating disorders as well.

3. Do you mean eating disorders are related to genes?

No, there is no scientific research prove that eating disorders are genic diseases. It just what

statistical data showed.

4. Can you explain more about anorexia and bulimia?

The fear of gaining weight and a strong desire to be thin is one of causes of the disease. In this case, people with anorexia refuse to eat anything or just eat only small amounts of food because they are afraid that if they eat food, they will be fat. In some cases, the patients force themselves to vomit if they eat food.

Bulimia is another kind of eating orders, characterized by eating a large amount of food in a short amount of time. It is often accompanied with anxiety disorder. When the patient feel anxiety, they may can’t help eating food and eating can help them to release the feel of anxiety. The anxiety can also caused by the worry of shape, the fear of being fat, and the desire to be thin.

Some people only have anorexia or bulimia but some people may have both.

5. From a psychological point, why some girls are not satisfied with their body and try to use excessive dieting to lose weight?

First, excessive dieting does not necessarily relate to lose weight. Some people go on diet just want to control their weight. It reflects their desire of control. In several cases, we found that if children have very powerful or controlling parents, they are likely to excessive dieting because they feel that the weight is thing they can control. They get satisfactions through excessive because they feel they finally can control something.

But you’re right, some people, especially girls, go on a diet in order to lose weight and get the ideal shape. Talking about why girls want to lose weight, peer pressure is one incentive. If a girl see another girl who is slim and popular, she may also want to be slim. She wants to get attention and she wants a close relationship.

The social idealization of thinness is another factor. Influenced by media, for example, the model and actress on TV, many women wrongfully think that they are beautiful only when they are thin.

Thus, because these and some other factors, many girls become feel upset, unsatisfied, shame or self-discrimination about their body.

6. If the desire of losing weight has caused mental illness, like eating disorders, how to treat it?

I will recommend a 1- on -1 psychotherapy. First, we need to know why the patients feel unsatisfied with their body, then use cognitive therapy to help patients to change the thinking model, to better know and accept themselves. We can help patients to analyze if they have a negative emotion, what outcome will produce while what if they have positive emotion. The basic idea is to lead them to establish a right view. The group therapy can also be a useful way, to gather patients together to share their experiences and encourage others.

7. Normally, how long the therapy will take?

It depends on patients’ situation. At least, it needs 2 or 3 months.

Health and Fitness Interview

Interview with Marshall Mosher, CEO and Co-founder of Vestigo

Background: Vestigo Adventures, LLC. is a local start-up whose primary mission is to empower those seeking outdoor adventures by providing them with a guide who knows the way. Vestigo serves as a platform for guides to host trips, whether they be yoga classes, kayaking adventures, or hiking excursions, and allows those interested to sign up for said trips.

Me: Hey Marshall, how are you doing this afternoon?

Mosher: Doing great! Just enjoying the nice weather today. How about you?

Me: I’m doing good, you know, looking forward to the weekend and whatnot – mind if we get started?

Mosher: Yeah of course.

Me: Okay, so tell me a little bit about Vestigo.

Mosher: Well, Vestigo is an adventure-sharing platform. Guides and local experts from anywhere in the world can host a trip and others can sign up for it. It’s kind of like the Air BnB for outdoor experiences. Have you heard of Air BnB?

Me: Yes I have! I’ve stayed in a few actually. That sounds really cool though – what kind of trips are being hosted?

Mosher: Well, right now we’re based out of the Southeast. Mainly running trips in Athens and Asheville. But trips could be anything from hiking to rappelling to kayaking. Eventually we want to expand and be all over.

Me: That sounds really cool, I would love to go on a trip sometime!

Mosher: Haha, yeah you should definitely sign up for one!

Me: I’ll look into it! Okay, but as far as your mission goes, what are you aiming to do? What inspired you to start Vestigo?

Mosher: Well, we really want to get as many people outdoors as possible. I’ve always loved the outdoors and I’ve loved showing people how to do new things. I used to be a trip leader for UGA’s Outdoor Rec Program, so I would lead kayaking, rock climbing, caving, trips like that, and it was always great to see someone try something new.

Me: I agree, I’ve always loved the outdoors too. I think its great, what yall are doing.

Mosher: Yeah, thanks! It’s a work in progress, but hopefully it’ll be big one day.

Me: I’m sure it will! So as far as a health and fitness angle.. are you guys trying to incorporate that into Vestigo at all?

Mosher: Definitely! I always have thought that being outside, hiking or doing whatever, is the best way to get exercise. We’ve started pairing with Fit Bit and use their technology on our trips to see how many calories are burned on a hike, how many steps or flights of stairs are climbed. That sort of thing. I’d like to do more with it eventually.

Mosher: Oh, we also have a lot of yoga instructors as guides. We give them a platform to host classes on, so I think that has a really big fitness and health component as well.

Me: Yeah for sure! You know I have been wanting to try yoga so I’ll definitely have to check that out!

Me: But I totally agree with the whole outdoors thing – I’ve always thought working out outside is the best not just for your physical health, but mental and emotional health too.

Mosher: Absolutely.

Me: Well, Marshall, thanks so much for meeting with me, it was great getting to talk to you and learn more about Vestigo.

Mosher: Of course! Thank you too – always love getting to talk about what we’re doing. Have a good weekend!

Vertical

I came across The Huffington Post’s “Health and Fitness Healthy Living” page (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/health-fitness/). It’s got a little bit on health (including mental health), a little bit on fitness, and occasionally the two together. One of the more humorous featured blog posts I found on August 24 was antisocial Nicholas Miriello’s “No, I Don’t Want to Work Out with You” (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nicholas-miriello/work-out-alone_b_4282236.html?utm_hp_ref=health-and-fitness&ir=Health%20and%20Fitness). However, they also included some material I thought was poorly placed, such as “This Bengaluru Engineer Decided to Drive a Car Without a Horn. Best Decision Ever” by Rituparna Chatterjee (http://www.huffingtonpost.in/2016/07/05/mansoor-ali-sharif-car-ho_n_10811096.html?utm_hp_ref=health-fitness&ir=Health+and+Fitness). The article touted better mental health (which is health-related) and better time management (which is not), but I still think it would go better in a different section of the paper.

Where I’m At

My beat is Health and Fitness. With a solid background in biology and firm interest in health and medicine, I thankfully know a good little bit about this subject. I find myself attracted to health magazines like WebMD when I sit in doctors’ offices, and I like to know how I can improve my health.

Fitness is a bit different, however. Although I practiced martial arts for eleven years and hold Black Belts in two styles (a first degree in American Kenpo and a second degree in Korean Tang Soo Do), I don’t have the time or money to practice currently, and consequently, I have gained weight. I tried running for a while, training for an obstacle-course 5K race, and although I loved how it made me feel, it’s hard to keep up with because I don’t enjoy the running process itself. I had hoped to become more involved in sports here at UGA, but I’ve generally had too many demands on my time and energy keeping up with classes and my graduate assistantships. I know what it takes to be healthy, and I’m capable of conveying that knowledge to an audience, but the practice itself is difficult.

Health and Fitness Verticals

EatingWell is a page on Facebook that I follow. They post tons of awesome, creative recipes that are healthy and (supposedly) delicious! I really enjoy following pages and sites like this because they help to spark a new idea for a recipe I would want to try, and most of the stuff they suggest is easy enough for a college student to do, but still intricate enough to have fun with. As I mentioned in a previous post, I don’t usually like sites or pages centered around fad diets and counting calories, so I think things like this are a great and happy medium. It helps people, or me at least, get excited about eating healthy foods, and excited to cook. You can check out the site here.

Eat-Fit-Fuel is a similar page to EatingWell, however, on top of healthy recipes, this page also posts work out plans that target specific body parts, advice from health and fitness professionals, general stories about people trying to get healthier or lose weight, and things of that nature.

I think that using Facebook for these verticals is really useful and a modern way to stay up to date on fitness ideas and a great way to get new recipes. The fast-paced recipe videos are especially helpful and much easier to understand than a regular cook book or written recipe. Its important for people to have easy access to this kind of information, to make it a part of a daily habit or routine, so that people can constantly get new ideas and new inspiration for themselves. While I do have some reservations about fitness trainer and diet pages, these kind outlets are ultimately a good thing.

The Fitness Magazine

BY XIRUI DAI

Launched in 1992, Fitness is a United States-based women’s magazine, focusing on health, exercise, and nutrition. In 2005, Fitness launched its official website. There are rich resources, including articles and videos, focused on workouts, diet, healthy tips and beauty on its website.

http://www.fitnessmagazine.com

Where I’m At

BY XIRUI DAI

I used to be a very active person. My father always told me how important it is to have a healthy body and he required me to do exercises every day, like running, swimming, and playing badminton. Swimming is what I enjoyed most. I learned swimming when I was 5 years old and I went to swimming every day in the hot summer. I was good at running as well. When I was 12, I won the first prize in women’s 800 meters and 1500 meters race in school sports meeting.

However, things changed when I went to high school. The lack of sleep caused by heavy homework made me feel exhausted every day. Also, as I entered puberty and developed physically, I felt shy when wearing the swimming suit.

When I went to college, I began to care about my appearance and I wanted to be skinny. I tried to do slimming exercises for 1 month but it didn’t work, so I gave up and chose fast and eating diet pills. Totally I lost over 20 pounds in 1 months.

I finally got the shape I want, but things went wrong with my body: I started to get sick frequently; sometimes I felt dizzy when I stood up; even walking and climbing up stairs could make me out of breath; my heart beat over 120 times per minute.

One of my friends knew my situation and she warned me that I had to stop this unhealthy lifestyle. She recommended me a lot of articles and books about how to built a healthy weight loss plan. These articles helped me to know how to do exercises effectively and how to eat less but eat nourished. Now, I find myself fell in love with exercises and fitness.

I know there are lots of girls worrying about their figure and may use wrong way to lose weight,  just like what I did. Thus, I hope I can help these girls by writing healthy and fitness articles.

Where I’m At

Health and Fitness

By Sarah Walls

I have always been a fairly active person. Ever since I was a little kid, my hobbies included things like hiking, kayaking, rock climbing, and swimming. I’ve always enjoyed being outside as much as possible. I am at my happiest when I’m in nature; whether it’s a forest or a lake or a mountain or an ocean, I feel the most connected to the world and to myself when I’m in an environment like that. I’m excited for being assigned the health and fitness beat because I think combining my love for the outdoors with a health and fitness aspect will be something I really enjoy writing about. I think that’s what I would be the biggest advocate for: leading a healthy lifestyle by finding an outdoor activity you are passionate about.

As far as writing goes, however, I’ve never really covered a story specifically about health and fitness. I’ve done plenty of pieces regarding the outdoors and activities or adventures I’ve had, but I think targeting that health and fitness angle will add a new challenge for me. I’m not the kind of person who wants to write about counting calories or fad diets. I’d rather try to inspire people by highlighting exciting events, new activities one could try, or through interesting stories about other outdoor advocates. I believe that one shouldn’t just say “I want to be healthy. I want to be fit”. I think the real success and lifestyle change comes from saying “I want to find a new passion. I want to find something I enjoy that will also help me live a healthier and fitter lifestyle”. Those are the kind of stories I would want to cover; people trying to find the balance between healthiness and happiness.