Blog Action Day 2010: WATER

Posted by On Filed under Health, Marketing, Pause for Reflection
Blog Action Day 2010: WATER

Since my mid-teens, I’ve been a volunteer and activist. I’ve worked on all kinds of issues and in all kinds of communities, from senior citizens to youth, from hunger and poverty to symphonies, from politics and gay rights to education and inner transformation.

In recent years, I’ve struggled with where I should put my time, energy and money, in order to have the largest impact possible. The more I take apart every issue and dig deeper and deeper, the more I realize: it all comes down to water.

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Concept2 Holiday Rowing Challenge: Complete!

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Concept2 Holiday Rowing Challenge: Complete!

Just a quick post here: I completed the Concept2 Holiday Rowing Challenge! I rowed 100,100 meters to be exact. It was not easy, but now it is done.

And I will not return to the gym until Monday!

The Concept2 Challenge

This Challenge has been great, though. If rowers make it past the 100,000 meter mark, Concept2 will make a donation to the Center for an Agricultural Economy here in Vermont. Mission accomplished.

Challenges like this keep my gym routine fresh, link me to a healthy community and push my capabilities and effort physically. I haven’t seen other gym equipment companies rally their users quite like this, but if they did, I’d be excited to participate.

 

Photo credit: Garage Gyms

Challenged by the Concept2 Holiday Rowing Challenge

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Challenged by the Concept2 Holiday Rowing Challenge

Hopefully, next Friday, I’ll be able to post a blog saying I’ve achieved complete success in this Concept2 Holiday Rowing Challenge. To do so, I’ll have to row a whopping 100,000 meters at my local gym, First in Fitness.

Right now, though, this Challenge is kicking my butt. I’ve increased my speed and decreased the time it takes me to row 5,000 meters, which is my goal for each session. But there was one day this week when my muscles needed a break and then another when all the rowing machines were being used. I have five days left that I can make it to the gym, in which I’ll have to row 5,831 meters each day to achieve the goal. Ugh.

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Concept2 Holiday Rowing Challenge: 74,855 Meters Left

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Concept2 Holiday Rowing Challenge: 74,855 Meters Left

Last week I committed to the Concept2 Holiday Rowing Challenge. My goal is to row 100,000 meters between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I’m glad to report that I made it to the gym every day I needed to and that I’m totally on target!

There are two great things about this Challenge. The more personal is that it is really pushing me in my workouts. I’ve realized that my past visits to the gym, while regular, have not really extended my physical limitations. Being on the rowing machine and having a distance I need to row every day really makes me push my speed and time.

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Concept2 Holiday Challenge – 100,000 meters to go!

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Concept2 Holiday Challenge – 100,000 meters to go!

Just as I was getting sick and tired of the elliptical machine, I found out about the Concept2 Holiday Challenge!  (Talk about good marketing – their message showed up in just the right physical, mental, and emotional space for me to hear it loud and clear.)

Between November 26th and December 24th, I’m going to attempt to row 100,000 meters on a Concept2 machine at First in Fitness in Montpelier. Every day that I row, I’ll log onto my free personal log book and try to rack up the meters. With my normal workout schedule, I’ll have to row about 5000 meters per session (I go to the gym 4-5 days per week). I’m definitely shooting for this goal and envisioning myself rowing, rowing, rowing, but those 100,000 meters are going to be quite a stretch for me!

But that’s the best part of a challenge, right?

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Simplify the Holidays

Posted by On Filed under Health, Voluntary Simplicity / Minimalism
Simplify the Holidays

Local radio stations started playing Christmas music today. It inspired me to blog about how to simplify the holidays.

The Center for a New American Dream releases an annual brochure on celebrating the holidays with “more joy, less stuff.” You can download the brochure or visit the website for more helpful tips. I’m a fan of the edible decorations and I also plan to make a photo album of pictures for my grandmother – shh, don’t tell her!

About.com has a whole entry on a Holiday Survival Guide. It’s filed under the stress management section, which makes me wonder about the trade-offs between health and the holiday hoopla.

On Facebook, check out the Simplify the Holidays discussion from the Kokua Hawaii Foundation. Their website is pretty cool and I’m jazzed about their Facebook widget.

When it comes to gifts, I have three options I always choose from. I either shop local, shop handmade at Etsy, or go the really altruistic route and shop at Alternative Gifts International or Oxfam International. Instead of heading out to the mall, I like supporting my local shops, galleries, and any store that will sell a gift certificate or Capitol Cash. Etsy is a marketplace for all things handmade and just blows my mind at the amount of amazingly unique, well-crafted, individualized gifts I could give myself…er, I mean, friends and family!

AGI supports humanitarian and environmental causes with the donation(s) you make in the name of relatives, colleagues, family, etc. Oxfam America is a large relief organization and it’s Unwrapped program has a wide array of charitable gifts. I love these services because there’s nothing that says Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa,  or Happy Hanukkah like giving a solar water boiler or manure or a flock of ducks. It’s serious fun to give these gifts to loved ones and it makes a huge impact on the communities the gifts go to.

When it comes to Thanksgiving celebration, I usually try to fast if I don’t have plans with friends. This year I’ll likely be observing a day of fasting and reflection. The Boston Globe ran an article on how these actions might more closely reflect the original Thanksgiving celebrations. Fasting is not something to take lightly, so talk to your doctor before attempting this, and research articles on how to enter and break a fast.

For me, fasting and reflecting definitely simplify the holidays and make me more, well, thankful. And isn’t that the point of this week?

 

Photo credit: Horla Varlan