Summer is a tough time to stay true to running schedules.  Where I live, outside of Washington, DC, summer temperatures jump to the 90s too quickly after the sun rises, and the humidity only compounds running discomfort.  Travel schedules make training consistency difficult, and running buddies are more often away than available for weekend long runs.  Today the weather cooled.  Families are wrapping up summer vacations and heading to Target for new lunchboxes and backpacks.  It’s time for a change in mindset.

After four weeks apart, today I reunited with my neighbor-and-running-buddy, Kara.   Our mutually -full summer travel schedules contributed to a month long separation, during which time neither of us did a very admirable job keeping with our running schedules.  Today we faced the music.

8:45 a.m.  Kara texts me:  Want to run at 9:15?  I’m only gonna run for 20 minutes.

8:50 a.m.  I reply by text:  Yea – I’ll run. 

9:15 a.m.  Knock on the door and Kara comes in, ready to run.  I put down my lap top and we’re off on a familiar loop around the neighborhood.

9:20 – 9:50 a.m.  Jogging with non-stop chit chat.  (Still more to hear about Kara’s latest vacation; Both kids got sick and visited out-of-network physicians; Kara stung by jellyfish on 2^nd day at beach; Discussion about the progress of my living room redecoration; Progress of ZOOMA Denver; etc.) 

9:55 a.m.   I’m back to work for a call at 10 with the ZOOMA Austin charity partner and Kara’s back with her kids.

By all accounts, this morning’s run was NOT a great workout.  We walked at least twice, and during the periods we were running, our pace was admittedly slow.  As we turned off the running trail to head back home, Kara said, “Don’t worry.  We’ll get back in shape.”

Despite our less than stellar performance, the morning was perfect… Although August is still with us for one last day, it seems as if fall has already moved in.  The sky was overcast, and the temperatures hovered around 70 degrees.  All in all, perfect running weather, and a perfect day to renew my running spirit and to catch up with a good friend.

And to me, that’s all that really matters.  So, while school kids are sharpening pencils and carefully packing backpacks with markers and notebook paper, I’m gathering my best running intentions and focusing them on my running shoes. Fall is here… back to running. 

A series of articles published recently by the New York Times highlights the problems women face in developing counties.  Given my personal interest in development work (check out the group I work with: www.friendsofpenyem.com) and having worked with CARE as the ZOOMA Women’s Race Series charity partner in 2008, I was struck again by the different world that some of our poorer sisters inhabit.  For example:  (a few facts from The Women’s Crusade in the New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/23/magazine/23Women-t.html?pagewanted=1&em# )

·         The phenomenon of “missing girls” in countries like India and China exists because sons are more highly valued for various cultural reasons.  Basically, families chose to abort female fetuses, or don’t offer the same medical care to their young daughters, leading to somewhere between 60 and 107 million missing women in the world today (based on sex ratios).

·         The chance that a woman will die during childbirth in some poor countries is as high as 1 in 7. This is partly because maternal health is just not a priority for governments and aid programs.

·         Only one percent of the world’s landowners are women.

Every once in awhile I get a question (usually from a man) about why I started a race series for women – why not co-ed?  It has taken me some time to be able to clearly explain why I feel so strongly that we need these races, races that are all about women.  Women play a special role in society, and not just U.S. society.  Women and men are not exactly the same in every way.  Each has something unique and important that we add to our communities and our families.  To me, women are leaders.  Where women are fit and healthy, their families are fit and healthy.  Where women are confident and capable, so are their children.  Where women are balanced, so are those around them.  Not only is ZOOMA fun-as-can-be, it also serves an important purpose – it is helping women to help themselves (by living active lifestyles), which has the exponential effect of helping everyone.

There’s good news in women’s development work, too.  While the majority of aid dollars spent don’t lead to any real change, studies show that aid to women in poor countries is some of the most effective aid spent by donor governments and NGOs.  Microfinance programs, whereby women are offered low interest loans to start businesses, are changing families and communities.  Where women are educated, empowered, and given a chance to thrive, they do!  And they share their own success with their families and their communities.  It’s been proven over and over again.

I believe that, as human beings, we should feel solidarity with humans around the world.  And, as women, we should feel a special link with women around the world.  As women lucky enough to have been born citizens of a safe and secure nation, I believe we have a responsibility to educate ourselves about what is happening with our sisters born in other parts of the world, and we have a responsibility to tell others and to do what we can to raise them up.

What can we do?  Here are a few groups that I personally support and that are doing great things for women:

CARE  (www.care.org) is a leading global poverty-fighting organization, placing “special focus on working alongside poor women because, equipped with the proper resources, women have the power to help whole families and entire communities escape poverty.”  I am always moved by the amazing videos on CARE’s site: http://www.care.org/features/videogallery.asp

Kiva (www.kiva.org) is a funding organization for microfinance groups around the world.  You put in a set amount of money (as little as $25) and you can choose the individual or group you would like your money to go to.  When the loan has been repaid, you can take your money out of Kiva or you can loan it to a new individual or group.  Most of the loan recipients are women, and microfinance is an awesome and empowering vehicle for change.  This is a super-fun, hands on way to do philanthropy, and could be fun for kids, too, I think.

There are plenty of ways to get involved helping women around the world.  If you have other groups you support, please leave their names and contact info in the comment section below.

As the saying goes, “Women hold up half the sky.”  Sometimes we may have to stand a little taller to hold up our half until our poorer sisters can reach on their own.

As defined: “n.  A way of life or style of living that reflects the attitudes and values of a person or group.”

I’ve been hearing a lot of talk lately about lifestyle… lifestyle as the key to healthy living.  It makes sense to me that dieting or sporadic bouts of exercise are not the best recipe for being happy and healthy.  I know from experience that, in order to eat well and exercise, it’s got to be part of what I do every day… or “way of life” to use the definition above.  And it’s got to be fun, too.

This week, I traveled to Tampa for a meeting with Women’s Running magazine at their headquarters in St. Petersburg. My friends Matt and Andrea Baldwin were kind enough to put me up the night before the meeting.  After taking me to a yummy Mexican restaurant and giving me the dime tour of their neighborhood, we stood around chatting in their kitchen. 

“You know the Baldwins go to bed early,” Matt said, very matter-of-factly and moving towards the bedroom.  I looked at the clock… 9:30 p.m.!

Matt and Andrea aren’t lazy – far from it.  This is part of their lifestyle, which I came to realize the following morning.  As I stumbled out of bed to the bathroom to get dressed for my meeting around 7:00 a.m., a respectable waking-hour in my mind, I heard…

“Brae – you up?  Time to get up!” Matt shouted at me through the door.  I answered in a groggy voice as best I could as upbeat music bounced loudly throughout the house.  Matt and Andrea buzzed around the kitchen, packing a healthy lunch to take to work, and generally exhibiting much more energy than I can usually muster at that hour.

As we sat around the table eating breakfast (healthy, low fat, high protein foods), I heard about Matt’s 5:45 a.m. rowing workout on Tampa Bay with friends, and Andrea’s 45-minute run with a running group… all before I had even thought about stirring from my deep slumber.

As I said goodbye and drove to St Pete later that morning, I thought about Matt and Andrea.  I left their house feeling upbeat and optimistic, and I tried to figure out why.  Here’s what I surmised:

1.     To me, they are a perfect example of a LIFESTYLE.  Working out with friends and eating healthy is their “style of living” – and believe me, it is a style.  On the weekends, they run or swim or bike with their friends.  At night, they cook healthy dinners. (Andrea even shared with me about her idea for a healthy-eating cookbook.)  For vacations, they travel to fun destinations to participate in triathlons or marathons.  Active living is definitely a LIFESTYLE for these guys, and seeing how happy they are in an incredibly healthy way of living was inspiring to me.

2.     They do it together. Matt and Andrea are best friends, and they obviously love being together. They are both passionate about sports and being active, and they push and challenge each other.  I think it’s important to have a partner in your healthy “play” – maybe it’s a spouse, a sister or a neighbor.  The important part is that working out becomes more fun because it’s more than just a sweat fest – it’s a social outing.

My trip to Tampa only confirmed my belief that enjoying healthy living is the only way to truly be happy and healthy.  Finding some way to “play” that keeps us moving and keeps us coming back for more.  There is nothing more “stylish” than that!