It’s hard to paddle this time of year if you don’t have a boat. Only a handful of boat rentals are open year-round (Lake Johnson and Lake Wheeler in Raleigh come to mind), and most of those only open when the 100-degree rule applies (when the combined air and water temperature top 100). Thus, the joys of winter paddling go unappreciated by the masses.
Survive the holiday nuttiness with a weekend escape
It’s a stellar weekend for escaping from the insanity of the holiday season. The coast offers a unique glimpse at a waterfowl wonderland, there’s a hike into history in the Piedmont, and in the mountains you’ll find a flatlander’s paradise. Intrigued? Read on.
The mystery of fat
Does obesity breed obesity? A 2007 study out of Harvard University found that hanging out with fat people increase your chances of being fat. Now, based on the result of that study comes a new study from the Harvard-Massachusetts Institute of Technology Division of Health Sciences and Technology predicting obesity rates in the U.S. will slowly climb for another 40 years, at which point 42 percent of the population will be obese. Not just overweight, but obese. That finding contradicts previous predictions that the obesity rate has topped at its current rate of 32 percent of the U.S. population.
Arthritis: A pain in the joints or a ‘friendly reminder’?
I’d been referring to this injury that had been dogging me for three weeks a hamstring pull, but I knew that wasn’t right. For one, the pain was at the front of my leg, nearly to my groin; wouldn’t I feel hamstring in the back of my leg? And the more I worked it, the less it hurt. Seemed a hamstring would continue hurting, hurt even more, the more I worked out. So when the physician’s assistant returned to the exam room with the results of an X-ray, I was pretty sure I knew the diagnosis: stress fracture.
Cheap fun: Free fitness
It was the day after Thanksgiving and the 12-year-old asked the question I’d been dreading. “So,” she inquired, “what are we doing today?”
Dreading for two reasons. One, I’d tweaked a nagging leg injury at the Inside Out Turkey Trot the day before and my mobility was limited. (“Limited” meaning I could barely walk. Oddly, I could ride a bike pain free. Trouble was, the weather wasn’t supportive of a body-friendly bike ride.) That left going somewhere inside and likely spending money, a commodity in short supply going into the holidays. After explaining this limitation, Kate resorted to her fallback on such occasions.