Road to Health - #6 V8

The first thing I listed on my Road to Health was how I stopped drinking pop. When that happened I needed to come up with an alternative beverage to drink with meals. Of course, just plain water is a fine alternative, and I often do drink water with meals - especially at restaurants. But, at some point I discovered V8.

Thankfully, unlike some people, I like the flavor of V8, so it has worked out well for me. 

Now, V8's marketing claims that each serving provides two servings of vegetables. Does that mean it's a perfect substitute for eating vegetables? Absolutely not. But, I do believe it is a healthy choice for people who may not be getting as many servings of vegetables in their meals as they should.

V8 is high in sodium. If that's a concern, drink the low sodium version. Another concern with any juiced product is that they're losing the fiber. For me - I drink the high fiber version. And, of course, I recognize it's still not as good as eating vegetables, but it sure beats drinking pop with my lunch.

Here's a link to a video listing 5 reasons V8 is healthy.

Road to Health - #5 Bulging Disc

Back in the early days, two issues nearly nipped my running career in the bud. One, I already talked about: plantar fasciitis. The other was a bulging disc. 

One day, after a very hard sprint, I developed serious pain in my lower back. Looking back, I suspect my mistake was not warming up properly. It was serious pain that ran down my leg. It persisted. 

I finally decided to go to a chiropractor for the first time in my life. I'm thankful that he was able to diagnose the problem as a bulging disc. Unfortunately, he didn't seem sure of what to do about the problem. He did suggest that, perhaps, an incline table might help. But he didn't have any exercises or physical therapy to recommend. I looked up info on incline tables, and it seemed that the jury was still out on them.

I was concerned that this might be the end of my running career and that I may be dealing with serious pain for the rest of my life. Fortunately, when discussing the issue with my friend Dwight, he recommended a book titled "Treat Your Own Back" by Robin McKenzie, a specialist in spinal disorders from New Zealand. 

The book provided me with some exercises I could do for a couple minutes every morning. Very soon I had relief. I still have the bulging disc, but 99% of the time it doesn't bother me. I still do the exercises every day and plan to for the rest of my life. And, thankfully, I am still running.

Road to Health - #4 Motivators

When one first begins running, it's really tough to get up off the couch and put on the miles. And then, if issues come up, like the plantar fasciitis I discussed earlier, the temptation is to just throw in the towel. I discovered early on, I need some external motivator.

The first motivator - the thing that got me started running in the first place - was a 5K race. And then I discovered other races, and as long as I had a race to look forward to, I had that motivation. 

And then I read an article about a couple running every single street of their town. What a great idea! I decided that was something I could do. So I did it. And then, to make it even more interesting, I decided to make it a fund raiser - get other people involved, create a blog, show my current run and mileage on a map every day. And, of course, that's what this blog is all about.

In the early years, I would finish running every street and the 5K season would end in northern Minnesota and I would just stop running for a few months. My new motivation is to achieve a personal best. I run as much as I can in colder weather, before there's snow on the ground, and then switch to a treadmill when it's accessible. 

Then, we started going to Florida for a couple months in the winter, so now I'm able to run pretty much year-round.