I have written before about energy and about people who never seem to slow down. This is about one such person, our daughter-in-law Amy. I am proud of her and admire her relentless energy and accomplishments.

Amy is, first and foremost, a devoted wife and mother. But like many moms these days, she is employed outside the home. As Director of Communications for Team Ortho Foundation, an organization that raises funds for Orthopedic Research, she uses her PR skills to promote athletic events in Minnesota. The mother of two daughters, Amy is a soccer mom, active in her daughter’s school and sings in the church choir. Last school year, she and our son Joel, hosted a Foreign Exchange Student from Norway.

For most women, that would be a full plate. Not Amy. Since our oldest granddaughter was diagnosed with Celiac Disease as an infant 10 years ago, Amy has been a prime mover in raising Celiac Disease awareness and money for research.

Celiac Disease is an intolerance of Gluten. The disease is well controlled by a Gluten Free diet. Gluten is found in wheat, oats, barley and rye and is present in thousands of consumer products from bread to toothpaste. Celiac Disease is much more than a food allergy, however. So Amy has written articles, done interviews, taught classes and taken on the daunting task of educating school district lunch managers about the need to provide for children who cannot tolerate even a “crumb” of gluten. Amy is fast becoming the “go to” non-medical person for Celiac Disease in Minnesota.

Enough? For the last 9 years Amy has been involved in managing “Making Tracks for Celiacs” a walk/run event and gluten free food fair, that raises tens of thousands of dollars for Celiac research.

Amy also maintains a web site called “The Savvy Celiac” to help educate adults with Celiac Disease and parents of Celiac children about a healthy Gluten Free lifestyle. http://www.thesavvyceliac.com

Don’t be surprised, Amy became a runner a couple of years ago. As a runner, she is a partner with her sister-in-law, our youngest daughter Danielle in http://www.runningmoms.com a website dedicated to running mom’s and women who would like to become runners.

And this is just the Amy I see. A very busy lifestyle with two young girls, a husband, two dogs and a cat gives her little time to “kick back”. So to our daughter-in-law Amy I say, take a short break. Remember how much we admire your efforts and energy.

I KNOW I SHOULD BE WORKING OUT, BUT I NEED ALL MY ENERGY…
for my job, to keep my life going, just to get up in the morning, to make a living, to raise my family, to clean house…. It goes on and on. We all need energy, everyday.

But have you ever known someone who seems to have an excess of energy? They get everything done and you still see them going to the health club or on the tennis court or running down the road. Where do they get all that energy?

Here’s the secret. Physical activity, working out, uses energy but it grows energy too. Tired after a run? Of course, yet you have built stamina and endurance into your system. With each succeeding work-out you become stronger and more energetic. What an amazing pay-off for the investment of a few hours a week!

In a few weeks you will begin to see an increase in your energy level. Try it!

That spring night, my friend Bill parked on the tracks in front of a speeding freight train.
He was a sweet and sensitive man who chose to end his pain and the life that had betrayed him. Bill was the 6th grade teacher at Marine Elementary School during the 1970s and 1980s, a magic time for the school.

Days of gladness
Years of glee
Like torrents of spring
They flee, they flee. …Russian poet

Have you ever wished you could freeze a time and place? Keep at least the memory of it ever alive? I mean the colors, sounds and events, but mostly the people from a certain time in your life? If only we could have sprinkled some golden dust to keep the world as it was then, when it was in perfect balance. ……..Read more……

READ MORE AT http://www.scribd.com/doc/28827426/In-Praise-Of-Teachers

The Crabby Old Runner celebrates ONE YEAR of posts today.

BEYOND BEYOND ©Dennis Leger
-I want to see beyond beyond
-The things I’ve never seen
-In the misty distance
-Where I have never been.
—-I long to go beyond beyond
—-Over the far horizon
—-To a land of wonder
—-Where I have never gone
——-I need to know beyond beyond
——-The dark mysterious fear
——-In the dangerous unknown
——-Past the last frontier.

Still free downloads of “The Milk Market” (a thriller) for military personnel deployed overseas.

It’s called Operation ebook drop. At http://www.smashwords.com

I like this short video called “Runners Creed–The Road to Peace.” It’s from New Balance, but it’s not an ad. It says what I know a lot of runners feel. Well done. http://www.newbalance.com/?cmpid=07620100308

After your run, READ. I recommend a thriller: The Milk Market at
http:www.themilkmarket.com

“Life is action and passion. It is required that you share the action and passion of your time, lest you be judged not to have lived.” Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., Civil War Hero and Chief Justice of Supreme Court.

Clearly life is both. Passion without action is wasted. Action without passion is aimless wandering.

We don’t run because it is the passion of our time. We run because we find joy in using our bodies, we find solitude on the road and we get the benefits of more fitness and less fatness.

In my 20’s my friends and I spent as much time as possible at the beach. Lake Calhoun, in Minneapolis, is about 3 miles around. An elderly gentleman in great shape used to run around the lake. He was tan and healthy, but so old. Now, I estimate he was in his fifties. Back in those days, there were few recreational runners. If there were running events available to the general population, they were not publicized.

I began by thinking if that old man could run, so could I. Then, every fall I went into a hell bent program to get in shape for the downhill ski season. And if I wanted to be hired as a city firefighter I would have to pass an agility test. So my first runs, off and on, were around the beautiful city lakes in Minneapolis.

The hook was set a few years later in a citizen’s cross-country ski race. A local girl, about 14 years old, kicked snow in my face. That spring I started a running habit that I’ve never regretted.

I suppose I appreciate James Brooks because I am a Grandfather, a runner and a pilot.

Brooks is a WWII fighter pilot, double Ace, who flew 55 combat missions in a P-51 Mustang. Still running in his late eighties he and the P-51 are the subject of a great video, a Gray Eagles film by Chris Woods. View it at http://www.asb.tv/videos/view.php?v=1bf99434&br=500 (It is narrated by Peter Coyote)

This is a touching video about one of the remaining members of what has been called “the greatest generation.” It is about Brook’s relationship with his grandchildren, a reunion with other P-51 pilots and a his chance to fly “the greatest fighter aircraft” again, in his eighties.

It is easy for me to identify with flight footage shot over eastern Idaho in view of the Tetons. It’s where we recently enjoyed seven winters.

What is clear from the video is that, at his age, Major Brooks is still physically active and mentally sharp. We should all hope, as we age, to do as well.

Wanted—readers! Visit http://www.themilkmarket.com

—Jack Rabbit Johannsen was a skier. He can be credited, in fact, for bringing the sport to the U.S. and Canada. As a boy in Norway he competed in downhill, cross-country and jumping. His lifetime of skiing accomplishments put him in the Canadian Ski Hall of Fame.
—Although he was a pioneer in downhill skiing as well, his strong preference was for what we now call Nordic skiing. He pioneered hundreds of miles of trails in eastern Canada. Most remarkable, he kept doing it almost until his death at age 111. At 92 he completed a 190k cross country ski marathon with his family. I first saw a picture of him skiing at the age of 106.
—His genes accounted for his longevity, certainly. But his long miles of trail skiing, even at an advanced age, must have left his heart and lungs in great condition. I don’t know how he stayed in shape in the summer. I would like to think he was a runner, but the truth is, there were very few recreational runners only a few decades ago.
—There is little doubt that cross-country skiing, which uses the legs and the upper body, is better aerobic exercise than running. Unfortunately, it requires snow, and compared to running it is equipment intensive.
—We can run whether it snows or not, and just about any time and place. That’s an advantage. What Jack Rabbit teaches us though, is that age is no excuse for not working out. In fact if we desire longer lives with better quality of life as we age, we should keep cross-country skiing. Or running.

—A great article about Jack Rabbit Johannsen (1875-1987) is at
http://laurentian.quebecheritageweb.com/article_details.aspx?

And remember, take a break read “The Milk Market” See reviews, a short summary, buy in print or ebook at http://www.themilkmarket.com

Your comments are always welcome. Email dennis@themilkmarket.com

—Let’s see: You ate like a pig—-You drank like a fish—You smoked like a chimney!
Exercise? You said “Sounds like work to me!” By the way, what happened to your health?

—It’s hard to understand why so many people can’t see how important it is to exercise. I don’t care what you do, but run, bike, walk, yoga, jazzercise or aerobics. Do anything that gets the blood moving, the heart pumping and the lungs expanded.

—The news today is of a study done at Duke University, reported by the American Heart Assn. Heart attack survivors who stayed in rehab (exercise) had a dramatically reduced risk of stroke or heart attack compared to those who quit.

—The body is made to work. Runners know. Beginning runners, feeling the aches and pains, might have a harder time but they will soon enough feel the benefits.
—Anyway, the message seems clear. Hit the road!

Comments are welcome. Email dennis@themilkmarket.com

Tired of the “same old, same old?” Read a thriller, “The Milk Market”
See Reviews at http://www.themilkmarket.com“

—I didn’t want to go. I didn’t feel like it. I wasn’t ready!
—I was not up for a run mentally or physically.
There were pressures. It was my day to run but there were too many things going on around me. Because time was short, there just wouldn’t be the freedom of an open-ended run. Not open to the time or distance of my choosing. Still, I had to go.
—Then I remembered. Attitude is everything!
The way I start a run determines what kind of run it will be. I have to get cranked up. To do that, I have to remember what it feels like NOT to run. And I have to remember all those who can’t run, even if they want to. My friend Jerry with his oxygen tank and COPD, for example.
—I have to remember driving along the freeway east of Livingston Montana, in the middle of nowhere, seeing a runner alone out on the road in the cold and wind. Free. I remember wishing I could trade places, if just for a few miles.
—It’s about the freedom. Being able to run in any direction, no one holding me back, no one pushing me. No restrictions. I love running for the freedom it gives me.
—So I have to remember to start with a “joyful” attitude. I am lucky. Even when I don’t have much time, I still have legs and lungs and a heart. Joy!