Living Well

Resolve to Have Fun in 2012

We want to be fit and healthy adults, but that doesn't mean we can't have fun in the process.

Did you have fun in 2011? When I ask my friends this question I get queer looks and sometimes a giggle as though I must be joking.  “We are adults,” I can almost hear them think. “Fun is not part of the equation.” But it should be. I have come to believe that the importance of having fun is underestimated. I have come to believe that fun may indeed be the key to a happy life. I decided this by watching my 5-year-old son and his three best friends as they run through my house, going from one activity to the next with absolutely no care in the world except where they’ll find the next bit of fun. Yes, I realize we are all adults. I understand there are going to be worries in our lives. There are responsibilities. But that doesn’t mean there …

• Photos (3)

Mom's Corner

Joining the Over-Stressed Sorority

Parenting can be exhausting, but it offers new opportunities for community and connection.

Recently, Petula Dvorak of The Washington Post wrote two columns addressing the busy lives of parents. The author compared a mom’s work to Santa’s, with the exception that while Santa takes it easy on Dec. 26, a mom’s work continues 365 days a year.  What resonated with me most from her articles was how mothers today keep very odd hours, often with little sleep. She described sending e-mails related to PTA matters in the wee hours of the morning, only to get immediate responses from other mothers who were also online. (Been there, done that.) As she talked about gardening at 1 a.m., I thought about the time I caulked the shower at midnight and was at Home Depot by 6 a.m. to get the supplies I needed to fix the tile I broke in my delirium. …

•  1 Comment
• Photos (1)

Living Well

Fighting the Wintertime Blues

Cold winter days do not have to mean dealing with the depression that comes with seasonal affective disorder. Columnist Ann Brennan shares how she fought back and now enjoys Maryland winters.

It is cold outside. It is the kind of cold that has many of us avoiding the outdoors at all costs, moving from car to house or office as quickly as possible. And if we are exercising at all, it is in our homes or at a gym.  For most of us, the winter months can mean putting on weight and losing the conditioning we have built up over the rest of the year. Worse still it can mean depression and moodiness brought on by seasonal affective disorder (SAD).  According to Medicine Net, “your mood is influenced by a complex web of relationships between sunlight, melatonin (the sleep hormone) and serotonin (the hormone associated with wakefulness and elevated mood). As darkness falls, your melatonin levels naturally increase. And as the morning …

• Photos (2)

Living Well

Staying Mentally Fit Through Exercise, and Reaching Out for Help

Staying fit and healthy does not always refer to our bodies. Our mental health is just as important.

As a fitness writer I have the opportunity each week to speak to dozens of athletes. One of the questions I ask most often is why, “Why do you run?”  Though I sometimes receive something along the lines of, “to fit into my skinny jeans,” more often than not the answer is some variation of, “I run for my sanity.” This is the answer that is most true for me as well. Just this morning, after reading the Grand Jury Report about Jerry Sandusky, I had to go for a run. I had to run the stress and sadness out.  An hour on the roads did that for me.  I came home still not happy that children have been the victims of such horrible acts, but able to cope with it. Whether it is the endorphins that are produced when we run or the ability to spend an …

• Photos (1)

Variety in Training

Adding variety in the off season is a great way to add fun to a fitness routine.

Since July, most local runners have followed a training program.  Each day, the workout is set out for us.  Although sticking to a program is the key to the success of any marathon or triathlon season, the routine can quickly stifle our love of the sport. But with the final big marathon of the season behind us and the shorter distance race season wrapping up in the next few weeks, we can find that joy again.  One of the best ways I have found to bring the fun back into training during the off season is to add variety. Most of us will not give up running all together during the off season.  If we continue to run at least three days a week we will be able to come back into the racing season ready to go. But adding variety to our routines can…

• Photos (3)

Living Well

Juggling a Fitness Routine with a Full Schedule

The biggest obstacle to a fitness routine is almost always time. Columnist Ann Brennan gives five tips for adding more time in your day.

Exercising at least thirty minutes every day can lead to better sleep, more energy, looking better, having a better sex life and avoiding high cholesterol, diabetes, osteoporosis and depression, according to the Mayo Clinic. Most Americans have come to understand the benefits. So, what is stopping them from becoming more active? Time. How many times have you heard, “I would love to exercise but I just don’t have enough time.”  I hear this excuse almost daily from readers and believe me, I understand.  As an editor at Beyond Limits Magazine, a fitness columnist for Patch.com and a mom to three busy kids I am constantly trying to bribe somebody for an extra hour in my day. Unfortunately I have had to accept that buying an extra hour is just …

•  1 Comment
• Photos (3)

Jenni Pompi

3:55 pm on Thursday, November 3, 2011

Running while the kids are at practice - what a great idea!!   more ›

Ann in Motion

Running Away From Breast Cancer

After watching her mom battle cancer, columnist Ann Brennan took a different approach to health and fitness.

I was a junior in high school when my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. I held her hand while her surgeon performed the needle biopsy. I sat beside her taking notes as the doctor told her it was indeed cancer.  I was in the waiting room with my grandmother, brother and sister as she had the radical mastectomy. And I was there when the doctors returned several days later to tell us that the cancer had progressed much further than they had expected, and she should set her affairs in order. It wasn’t until the following year that I realized how scared I was of facing the same fate. I had gone in for my annual checkup and realized something I had denied for several years. I was fat, overweight, obese.  But as I stood on that scale, I didn’…

• Photos (1)

Crime Victims 5K Run and 1-mile Walk Takes Place Saturday

Send Patch your photos from the event.

Locals will come together this weekend to support crime victims at the eighth Crime Victims Fund 5K race and one-mile walk at Lake Artemesia. Not only will participants enjoy the scenery at one of the most beautiful locations in College Park, but also meet State’s Attorney Angela Alsobrooks, who will address the crowd before the race and distribute awards afterward. Be sure to bring your camera and upload photos to Patch afterward. Online pre-registration closes by 11 p.m. Thursday, but race-day registration will be available. Registrants will receive a race T-shirt. The event, co-sponsored by the Maryland Crime Victims Resource Center and the state’s attorney’s office, raises funds for crime victims who face emergency costs, including …

•  1 Comment
• Photos (1)

Get Out: A Few Fun Things For the Weekend

Including running, riding and healing.

Saturday:   Sunday:  

• Photos (1)

Half the Distance

A mom’s personal goal.

It seams the only goals and achievements I’m concerned about these days is anything that revolves around my daughter and her well-being and development. But a few months ago, I decided to set a very lofty goal for myself--to run my first half marathon. For some of you out there, this may not seem like a big deal, but for me, a gal who has never been the athletic type, accept a very tortoise-like jogger from college to present, this was a really big goal for me. This past weekend, I achieved it. I had a few reasons for setting such a goal. I know that she is only 19 months old, but some day when I tell her how hard I worked and how I was able to cross the finish line. It didn’t matter when I finished, just that I finished. It’s a metaphor …

•  1 Comment
• Photos (1)