Social!

I took a nice run with PR on Sunday. He and his family swung by the house for a visit and we squeaked in a nice little trot. I think that it will be interesting to read his post about the run and compare them -- I see that it's up, but haven't read it. I guy I worked with when I was a kid used to say: "We're all going to the same place, but won't share the same experience . . . "

I totally enjoyed running with PR and talking along the route. It was a nice quiet Sunday. With the Pats just ending and the Sox just starting my town was fairly ghostly. I didn't get in a family run this weekend, but this was a great social experience. I really enjoy running with other folks, sharing the experience and connecting. We talked about work mostly, but it wasn't rancorous -- it was a good brainstorming talking about options and things that we do, could do, would like to do. It's been a while since we've been together and it was great to share a run -- something I don't think we've ever done. Remember PR, your next run is Tuesday -- shoot for another 30 minutes. It was very cool and I thank you for going out with me.

I'm working on a patio in my yard and moved so much dirt today and have so much more to do in the coming days I'm not sure how much running I'll get in this week -- 5 hours of digging sort of knock the run out of you. I may shoot for some shorter more mellow runs but we'll see -- I need to move like 5 more cubic yards of dirt tomorrow as well as spread a ton of gravel. I actually need to spread two tons, but I'll probably get the second ton down on Wednesday and then start spreading sand . . . maybe that counts as cross training?

LDT Validation?

The Wall Street Journal (hard-copy)had an interesting article in yesterday's Personal Journal Section about the effects of social networks on peoples' weight gain. The study found that weight gain in one individual within a socially linked network can lead to weight gain for other members of the same network. They found this to be true even among people who live one thousand miles apart and see each other but once a year. The researchers described this networked weight gain as a "social contagion."

The research team is considering exploring whether or not networks function in the same way for weight loss and healthy habits. They believe that there is a positive correlation as well, and cite Weight Watchers and an experiment in a county in North Carolina where 63% of the population is obese and 150 folks in one town lost weight, together -- 1,450 pounds in ten weeks (10lbs/person/week).

The article ended by stating that some of the people whom they interviewed who had become overweight together also lost weight together when one of the network members decided to do so. There is a powerful sociological impulse to look at connections and both model and then validate your behavior through them.

See, Long Distance Training is onto something and we didn't need to spend millions of dollars to prove a point. Keep running/riding, and keep blogging.