did y'all watch the super bowl??  i don't think i watched one bit of the game or the commercials...i'm not going to lie, football's not really my cup of tea but i do enjoy the social aspect of it!! hope y'all have a great start to your week!

*images found here

I should be so lucky to dream this big.

So there we were, running with Iris Cooper and I asked what she had planned for her next big ultra event.

Well she said this year she was putting the Badwater 135 off till next year, so she can visit her parents in Switzerland. But she noticed a new ultra event just listed in Switzerland and she will probably do this while making the visit with her family.

The Swiss Iron Trail is a 201 Km trail race, is a new event that takes you over numerous mountains and each aid station has a cut off time you must meet to proceed. With a maximum time allowed of 56 hours.

(pictured above L-R: Monica, Iris and Veronique)

So after finishing Monica's February 20 / 40 Km Fun Run, we headed back to Casa Del Scholz for veggie chili , cold beverages and tall tails.

It was here that Monica, ever to casually said, "you know I think I may just do that Swiss Iron Trail Race".

Now how does a person take in information like: 201km and 56 hour maximum time, let alone the numerous big piles of rock called the Swiss Alps and think this is something to sign up for over a bowl of chili???

I have to do a weeks planning just to get my ass in gear to show up at her 20k fun run for wimps!

But as Bill Wheeler, Danny Murphy and I were driving home, we thought ' hey wouldn't it be neat if we went to crew for them'.

That may be all well and fine for those two, as they are speed demons and would have no problem doing any pacing requirements with either Monica or Iris, but I would be afraid they would kick the sh%t out of me if I tried to pace them as I would be holding them back.

But maybe they need someone to look after a beer cooler or something, then I am all in.

An Interview with Dr. C. Vicky Beer, Paleo-friendly MD

As I was preparing my recent article on the Paleo diet (1), I interviewed a local Paleo-friendly MD named C. Vicky Beer.  I was only able to include a snippet of the interview in the article, but I thought WHS readers would be interested to read the rest of the interview with Dr. Beer:

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Bloggo Science ~ FIRKO-ized!

I have long since ceased reading Peter/Hyperlipid's blog for meaningful information.  There are too many examples of him openly manipulating data and misrepresenting science for me to take him seriously anymore.  Still, our blogs share a certain readership and his readers do participate in other internet realms where I linger or participate.   As such, his blog remains on my feed reader.  Peter has been on a FIRKO mouse kick lately and it has caused me to dust off a few posts from the draft bin where this mouse fits into the discussion.  But his latest latest offering on FIRKO (Fat Insulin-Receptor Knock Out) just tripped my epigenetic BSA* gene switch.  *BSA = Bull Sh!t Alert

In FIRKO-ise, Peter actually compares a genetically modified mouse to putting a mouse on a ketogenic diet.  Really!  To review, the FIRKO mouse lacks insulin receptors.  As a result, this mouse is resistant to obesity on the usual obesogenic diet for rodents (high fat).  This mouse's fat cells do not "see" insulin and this is the low carbers favorite gen mod rodent because it so *clearly* shows that it's all about insulin signaling in fat tissue, and Taubes is right.   I'll have at the various IRKO's in an upcoming post, but the case is hardly airtight for TWICHOO.  

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Weight loss, low carb?, aging, chefs and bikers

Ahh ... a little something for everyone in this post.  I was thinking on the whole biker doc in the kitchen fiasco, the "who looks older" crap on Jimmy's blog, and whatnot ... and one Alton Brown popped into my mind.   You see, a few years back, Alton had a miniseries of sorts on Food Network called Feasting on Asphalt.   Wow ... looking at that link it was six years ago - 2006!   Basically Alton took a bike trip up the Mississippi stopping along the way to culinary landmarks to sample local cuisines.  I love this sort of stuff, I confess.  Still, he was carrying quite a bit of extra weight on his frame at the time.  

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