Sunday, November 14, 2010

MISTER SALTY 2.0

by Sally Young
yo-sal@cox.net

If you¹re married to the wrong foods, consider a separation. Natural and minimally processed foods provide healthy amounts of nutrients that grace the body. But packaged and restaurant foods come with extra baggage, undoubtedly when the predominant flavoring is salt.

Strong evidence shows that a high intake of salt (sodium) leads to high blood pressure, the underlying cause of heart disease and stroke. It’s not just a problem in the US. It’s a topic of international interest.

The World Health Organization advocates a population-wide reduction of salt to combat the expense of health complications. And since 2005, World Action on Salt and Health, a consortium of 80 countries, has worked towards “a reduction in salt intake throughout the world by reducing the amount of salt in processed foods as well as salt added to cooking, and at the table.”

The food industry is responding. Major brands are implementing gradual changes over the next few years. This will enable consumers to comply with the American Heart Association¹s revision of limiting sodium to 2000mg/d by 2013, and 1500mg/d by 2020. Read labels - even fresh poultry, for instance, can be infused with 12% salt water, adding an unnecessary 550mg sodium/4 oz serving.

Go to http://nutritiondata.self.com for the sodium content in food, recipes, and restaurant fare.

Monday, November 8, 2010

Hard Run - 8K Cross Country Adventure


By Dr. Daniel Shaye, Chiropractic Physician
Warming up. Shuffle, then run... readying mind and body. Put on number, shoes... work the routine, get ready.

To the line, a white and deceptively quiet invitation painted on the grass. It will all begin here, in minutes. Striding out... feeling light and quick. But do I belong here? I've prepared... but THEY all look so quick, so at home here. Man kneeling on one knee, praying. It is time.

Runners take your marks... BAM! Fast! Obey the warnings, let them go. Field embracing us, now dipping down... and now, first uphill! Not so bad. FLYING down, hold form but let gravity do the work... more up... down, then STEEP up... getting the rhythm.

Girl chatting behind me. Am I really THAT slow?

First kilometer. OK, good work, but they're still pulling away. Hold on, keep the connection to the next runner... let him go and my day is over. I know that much.

2K. 3K. That girl is still chatting behind me, and I've finally realized she's the "sag wagon," riding a Gator just like the guy who's the lead vehicle. OK, I'm not a slug... yet there is so much Pain, and now I can hear the Doubt. Just do it, left, right, left... the body knows what to do. Listen to the rhythm, keep the intensity. Drop out, you say? Who is that? Ah, I know you-- you are Doubt, the cousin of Fear and Despair. No! Ignore the voice of Doubt... whether or not I remember why, and whether or not I can imagine a world in which He isn't so LOUD.

A little flat... that's even possible? A long down-- friend warns that a hill is coming. 4K, getting almost confused. Was that 3K, or 4K? What was the split? It doesn't matter-- work it...

Up. Up!! UP!!!! Working so hard, yet going SO slow... regroup. Lock on, now MOVE. Heard my name, that helped. 5K... only 3K to go, time to prove what I'm made of. Maybe no one else cares-- but I care, very much.

Small slip. Spikes were wise, or that could have been worse.

6K. I can hear the cheering-- the leaders nearing the finish. Irrelevant, I have work to do. Realization: This is really going to end, and I just need to keep on keeping on. Realization: the last kilometer was good, solid. The Despair is gone, the Doubt is gone. Just Pain left, and the faintest whisper of... no, not Joy, I must be remembering it wrong... just the realization of the remarkable reality of doing this thing, this day. Perhaps a sense that I belong here, now. Time to be tough, be here and now, overcome the hills, lock on to that guy in gold...

7K. Abandon all hope, all reason, and run. The body knows what to do. ½ mile to go now-- that's a hard lap around the Walsingham field, is all. I can do that, I absolutely know I can do that. Can actually feel the next runner-- he's human, after all. Over a shallow stream, no slowing, perfect strides, RUNNING FAST now... the finish, I can see it! Abandoning every restraint, maybe too soon but maybe not, running for pride and burning the memory into my soul with every stride... and it is over.

Breath returning. Happy, satisfied, complete.

It's good to be a runner.

I'll see you on the roads and trails, my friends.

-Dr. Daniel A. Shaye
Certified Chiropractic Sports Physician
Fellow, International Academy of Medical Acupuncture


Do you have a question you’d like answered? Mail your questions c/o Performance Chiropractic1307 Jamestown Road, Ste. 103, Williamsburg, VA 23185; e-mail pchiro@performancechiropractic.com; or visit http://www.performancechiropractic.com/

Monday, October 25, 2010

2010 Crapolfest 5K Run/Walk

By Rick Platt

To quote Yogi Berra, “It was déjà vu all over again” last Saturday for W&M visiting history professor Gregor Kranjc at the second annual Crapolfest 2010 5K Run/Walk, starting and finishing at Albert-Daly Field, the College of William and Mary soccer stadium. Last year in a field of 195 runners Kranjc placed second to an out-of-town runner (Danny O’Callaghan of Houston, TX) in a time of 17:13. This year Kranjc, now 36, also in a field of 195 runners, placed second to an out-of-town runner (Todd Kessler of Newport News) in a near identical time of 17:11.

The race benefited the Andrew E. Crapol Soccer Scholarship, and was organized by the W&M Tribe Club, with assistance by the W&M men’s soccer team. Andy Crapol (1978-2009) was a Williamsburg native who played soccer for Lafayette High School, then at William and Mary under Coach Al Albert (the race director for the Crapolfest run). The 5K was a Colonial Road Runners Grand Prix event this year. Andy’s mother, Jeanne Zeidler, was on the Williamsburg City Council, and is the former mayor of Williamsburg. His father, Edward Crapol, is a professor emeritus in history at W&M.

Andy was diagnosed with esophageal cancer early in 2009, and died tragically within months. His widow, Allison Simmons Crapol, was at all the weekend events (which included a mini-golf tournament at Pirate’s Cove/Adventure Golf), including handing out the race awards. The weekend activities concluded with the W&M soccer game Saturday evening against CAA rival Virginia Commonwealth University, with the Tribe prevailing 1-0 on a second-half goal by Alan Koger.

Race winner Kessler, 27, the Smithfield High head cross-country coach, ran a time of 16:53 to better the previous course record of 17:04 by O’Callaghan. Kessler drafted off of Kranjc, more familiar with the course; which started with a loop of the W&M Dillard Complex dormitories, then a clockwise loop of the James City County Williamsburg recreational bike path along Longhill and Ironbound Roads; then pulled away for an 18-second win. Craig Carey, 30, of Arlington improved from 19:46 in 2009 to 17:40 this year to place third overall.

For the women, assistant Smithfield High cross-country coach Karen Terry, 21, of Hampton, smashed the previous course record of 20:53 by almost two minutes, winning in 19:01, with 2010 CRR Grand Prix leader (and 5-time champion) Jennifer Quarles, 38, second in 19:42, and W&M freshman Kelly O’Toole, 18, also under 20 minutes with a 19:54. O’Toole graduated last June from Osbourn Park High in Manassas, where she had bests of 19:32 (5K cross country), 5:37 (1,600 meters) and 2:28 (800 meters).

For the second year, Brooklyn’s Graham Albert, 29, the son of race director Al Albert, and who works for Frontpoint Partners, a hedge fund in New York City, dribbled a soccer ball the entire way, finishing in 26:24. Other former W&M varsity soccer players winning age-group plaques were Nathan Belcher (2nd, men 20-24, 24:24), Alex Brown (1st, 25-29, 19:04), Jeff Dominguez (1st, 30-34, 20:08), Garrett Chittum (2nd, 30-34, 23:38) and Rob Bryden (1st, 35-39, 20:10). Also running were Joe and Karen DiNuzzo of Woodbridge, parents of Mike DiNuzzo, the W&M team captain and the first recipient of the Crapol Scholarship; and Shane Emmett, one of Andy’s closest and oldest friends. Joe was 3rd for men 55-59 in 25:35, Karen was third for women 50-54 in 28:38, and Emmett was third for men 30-34 in 23:46.

The Crapolfest 5K became a CRR Grand Prix event this year, and the competition reflected that upgrade. Besides the two course records, 22 of the race’s five-year age-group records were broken, with only eight remaining from 2009.

2010 Run for Breast Health/Williamsburg 10K

By Rick Platt

Saturday’s Run for Breast Health/Williamsburg 10K was the third debut race on the Colonial Road Runners Grand Prix schedule for 2010, and all three have been a huge success. Like the Run the D.O.G. Street 5K in April, the Breast Health race had over 400 entrants between the 10K run/walk and 1 mile fun run/walk, with 315 finishing the feature 10K event, the only 10K in Williamsburg. The other inaugural CRR event for 2010 was June’s Icelandic Seafood 8K, with 935 entrants, including the fun run, and with 573 finishers in the 8K, the largest turnout in the history of the CRR.

And it was at that Icelandic event that the idea of the Breast Health race came about. Race director Brian Freer of the Health Journal publications wanted to put on a race to support Beyond Boobs!, the Williamsburg-based non-profit organization dedicated to saving lives by providing support for young women diagnosed with breast cancer, and breast health education for all; and during the month of October, National Breast Cancer Month. Conveniently, at the same time, an established CRR event, the Heritage Humane Society 5K Run at Ford’s Colony, informed the CRR that they were not able to continue their event in 2010, leaving an opening in the busy fall race schedule.

Since Williamsburg has an excess of 5K races, a 10K course was designed at the Warhill Sports Complex, starting and finishing at the Sanford B. Wanner Stadium. It started with an out-and-back segment to Warhill High School, then used the service road connecting the stadium side of the sports complex with the WISC side, then down the bike path to a full 3.7-mile counterclockwise loop of the scenic Warhill Nature Trail, returning the same route up the bike path and service road to a finish at the 20-yard line of the stadium.

In the 10K former William and Mary runner William Tarantino, 27, a student at VIMS just back from California, ran his first CRR race since winning the 2008 New Quarter Park 6K, and won easily in 34:22, with Greg Dawson (37:26), Daniel Shaye (37:44), Stephen Chantry (37:56), Steve Menzies (38:00) and Paul Pelletier (38:31), the only other runners able to break the 40-minute barrier on the hilly, challenging course.

For the women Marie Domin, 32, came from behind to catch leader Suzanne Lesnowski in the final mile for a nine-second win, 41:17 to 41:26. Lesnowski, from Toronto, Ontario, was visiting her parents in Williamsburg. Third for the women was 2010 Lafayette High graduate Becky Dobosy, now a freshman at North Carolina State, close behind in 41:44. Completing the women’s top ten were five-time CRR Grand Prix champion and Domin’s sister-in-law Jennifer Quarles (42:58), Nicole Baxter Brown (43:26), Jill Grano, a former Williamsburg resident now living in Boulder, CO (43:35), Amber Lewis (44:10), Connie Glueck (45:21), Karen Kovacs (45:29) and Heather Craddock (45:53). For the men, completing the top ten were Rick Platt (41:34), Brian Dollyhigh (41:43), Timothy Loomis (42:17) and Bill Bustin (42:47).

In the CRR Grand Prix, Dawson’s runner-up finish gave him 69 points and a commanding lead over Chantry (62) and Mark Tompkins (57). For the women the top three are Quarles (81), Glueck (61) and Lewis (51), with four races remaining.

Shaye and Dawson have been the biggest surprises for the CRR in 2010, with Dawson running lifetime PRs like the 17:07 he did the week before in Syracuse, and Shaye running his best times in at least five years, harking back to his glory years of a 15:36 for 5K and 32:35 for 10K.

Race director Brian Freer said he “was not surprised at the immense support our community gave to the Run for Breast Health/Williamsburg 10K. The success of this event would not have been possible without our generous sponsors, volunteers, local media and the logistical support from James City County staff. We are looking forward to making next year's race even better.”