In the loopy world of blogs, this is the first post you'll see. For us, it's the last.

From the time this blog launched with several contributors, it has always been in a bit of a gerrymandered space between the sports and health worlds, with some transportation and food thrown in.

We've lost some voices in the year since then, so it's with some relief that those of us still active move to Picture of Health this month. We hope you'll come with us so we won't have to miss you.

It's been fun. Thanks for all the comments!

Photo credit: Getty Images

Posted by Patrick Maynard at 6:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
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Kirstie Alley is well known for a weight that goes up ... and down ... and up ... you get the idea.

That continued today with news that the comedian had dropped 100 pounds. Good for her. Conveniently, it involved several products she was marketing. If that helps other people stay healthy, more power to her.

Before she was widely known as the Amazing Self-Vending Yo Yo, however, Alley had already waged a slightly different type of public health campaign. Here's Alley as the Tooth Fairy in 1997:

I remember my sister watching this around the time I got my wisdom teeth removed. The writers' noir script for this scene won't unseat Dashiell Hammett anytime soon on my list of favorites, but it brought a nice bit of levity to an otherwise painful situation.

For what it's worth, I consider Alley's real-life attitude toward her weight to be healthier than many celebrities' way of approaching things. I've never seen her fall below what I would consider a health threshold, and there's something to be said for that.

Posted by Patrick Maynard at 10:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Diet, General Fitness, Media, Nutrition
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According to the NY Daily News, a TV weather woman there made a report of being attacked by a stalker in Central Park. Reportedly, she told police that a Hispanic man attacked her and dragged her into a wooded area in September, and that he recently was menaced by the same man.

Scary story, except that police are saying that the story is entirely made up. The woman is now facing charges.

I really don't understand why someone would make up such a story, and I won't speculate, but I wonder whether any other Central Park runners decided to take extra precautions -- or stayed away from the park completely -- because of the false reports. Although, I guess, most of us know we need to be careful all the time.

Posted by Anica Butler at 1:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Media, Safety
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For those willing to take a short trip this weekend, there's an interesting-looking presentation up north that looks at the way we see our bodies.

Whether it's a binge-purge cycle, chronic self-starvation or exercise taken to a negative extreme, people find all sorts of ways to punish themselves for perceived flaws.

One guy I knew in high school insisted that everything was ok, even as he took up to 1200 milligrams per day of prescription-strength painkillers in order to keep running on a knee that his embattled nervous system was trying frantically to protect. A physical problem? Absolutely, but more than that, it was a destructive attempt by a young teen to cling to a previously created perception of his own body, even after that goal had ceased to be an asset*. (He ultimately was unable to finish the season.)

Continue reading "On body image and obsessive exercise" »

Posted by Patrick Maynard at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Media
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The expo for the Philadelphia Marathon was pretty packed this morning, but I'm happy to say my packet pickup went smoothly.

Ironically, the presence of a not-so-smooth commuting obstacle for Philadelphia drivers may contribute to an equally fluid experience for those of us racing tomorrow, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. The paper quotes the race's executive director, who says that construction work has eliminated Lemon Hill from the route. That theoretically should make the race easier for me and the other 11,000 runners expected on the marathon course.

I've never run this race before, so while I can safely say that the route is a bit flatter this year, I don't really know the details of what that means -- and to be frank, I'm not going to dwell on it, since I signed up for the purpose of running this race rather than covering it.

Update: Searchable results for this year's events are available here.

Continue reading "Hoping my Philly Marathon time benefits from construction" »

Posted by Patrick Maynard at 10:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Events, Media, Philadelphia, Running, Weekend, Working
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A study published this week in the British Journal of Sports Medicine suggests that my penchant for exercise may have a lot to do with me making it to work on a daily basis.

Dr. David Nieman, a professor in the College of Health Sciences at Appalachian State University, says, "Exercise is probably the most powerful thing you can do to reduce your sick days this winter.”

According to a news release from ASU, Nieman and his colleagues have spent more than 20 years studying the effects of exercise, diet, weight, gender and education levels on one's health. Regular exercise was shown to have the greatest influence.

Posted by Jerry Jackson at 7:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: Bicycling, Media, Running, Swimming, Walking
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... but Portland, which is famous specifically for walkability, came in at number nine. That means I treat this compilation with even more skepticism than the healthy dose usually allotted for this type of ranking. (Laura Vozzella writes a bit more about the frequently shaky nature of these lists in this classic post.)

See some perspective from our sister papers in L.A. and Chicago (ranked 13th and 5th, respectively) here. Full results here.

What do you think they got right? What was off-target? Leave a comment.

Posted by Patrick Maynard at 4:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: City of Baltimore, Media, Walking
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