Charity Runners Sought for Marine Corps Marathon/10K
Homes for Our Troops, which builds homes for severely injured U.S. military troop members, has asked Charity Mile to spread the word that the organization is recruiting runners for this year’s Marine Corps Marathon and 10K run. Both events take place on Oct. 31 in Arlington, Virginia.
HFOT is a national non-profit, non-partisan 501(c)(3) organization, founded in 2004, that builds homes for needy veterans, free of cost. HFOT has 25 charity spots for the marathon and 10K. If you are already registered for either race and want to support this worthy cause, you can still join Team HFOT as a pre-registered runner.
Benefits for charity runners include:
• Race day uniquely designed HOFT singlet
• Free and easy fundraising web page
• Technical help and a fundraising idea packet
• Free HFOT brochures, lapel pins, magnets and DVDs to help with your fundraising
• HFOT Team Training Shirts
• Team jackets to be handed out at our pre-race day luncheon
For more information, go to: http://www.homesforourtroops.org/MCM10
Tension Resistance Exercise: Fitness to the Core
As a Sports Chiropractor who treats various athletes at all athletic levels and abilities, I have found that when looking at muscle imbalances a great tool has been incorporating the TRX into a sports-specific workout. TRX stands for “Tension Resistance Exercise” and is the newest piece of exercise equipment out there in the fitness industry. The TRX is the simplest piece of exercise equipment to enter the fitness world. All it requires is a stable anchor point and a willing body.
The concept behind the TRX is “core involvement” – my favorite term. As a chiropractor, this is my favorite term because when treating the non-athlete and the athlete, your core is the place from where your strength, power, and control resonate. For those of you who don’t know what your core is, it is made up of your deep abdominal muscles, spinal stabilizers, pelvic bowl muscles and hip flexors. You could be the most skilled athlete and have a weak core – or conversely, you could be an overweight individual and have a very strong core.
How does the TRX system actually work? Visualize a non-elastic strap that has two handles and hangs from one single anchor point. Using the TRX system, there are three positions from which you can train your body: supine, prone and transverse. Whichever position you are training in your core is consistently engaged – and that’s the true beauty of the TRX. The TRX enables the core development concept by helping anyone develop these muscles from the moment you put your hands in the straps.
I recently trained 10 triathletes for the Kids In Crisis Triathlon in Stamford, Connecticut, and each triathlete was amazed at how much harder their bodies had to work when training with the TRX. Training them in the TRX made it clear where their imbalances truly existed. No matter how much these athletes were running, swimming and cycling, their bodies were not properly equipped to handle the transition from one event to the next without compensating – thus creating imbalances that could lead to injury, or putting unnecessary stress on a joint. An important component that I incorporated into the triathletes’ one-hour training sessions was specifically recreating actions similar to running, swimming and cycling using the TRX, not just to strengthen each muscle but to also stretch them.
The TRX has proven to be a useful training tool when working with athletes and their imbalances. For information on how to use the TRX with athletes, contact me at Fitness Matters (my one-on-one personal training studio) and Head-To-Toe Chiropractic at heather@fitnessmatters.com or (203) 322-9299.
About the author: Dr. Gansel is a neuromusculoskeletal practitioner specializing in proper spinal/articular alignment, muscle imbalances and soft tissue injuries. Her degrees include: Doctor of Chiropractic and Athletic Training/ Sports Medicine. She has additional certifications in: Personal Training, BOSU Balance Training, Ergonomics, and Holistic Medicine. At graduation from Palmer West Chiropractic College, Dr. Gansel received the Clinical Excellence Award for outstanding achievement throughout the clinical system.
Dr. Gansel works closely with the fitness industry and was a faculty instructor for American Aerobic Association International and International Sports Medicine Association. She is the owner and sole practitioner of Head-To-Toe Chiropractic, LLC and Fitness Matters, Inc. in Stamford, Connecticut. In her practice, she works with a wide range of people and athletes who sole goal is to get better and to continue to function at optimal health and performance.
Dr. Gansel is also the CEO/President of CORE: The center for fitness and chiropractic care, a franchising company.
Keystrokes to Recovery
In my last (also my first) blog post, I talked about being an injured runner, thinking I’d learned lessons about slowing down and cross training, going back to running too fast and finding myself reinjured. This time, I vowed, I really have learned those lessons. Really?
Well, I found a lot of things that didn’t force me to slow down. Having to stop running for months didn’t work. Having to sit on the sidelines and not be out on the field with my soccer friends didn’t work. However, having to “face” people I’d never met and probably never would to tell them that the lessons I’d so self-righteously talked about learning were short lived and soon out the window? Oh, that worked!
About two days after I wrote that last blog post I went out for another 10-minute run. Just before hitting the 10-minute mark I was feeling good. “Maybe I’ll go another few minutes,” I thought. In the next millisecond I caught myself. Because I’d truly internalized those lessons about balance and listening to my body and coming back slowly, you ask? Well, I’d like to think that’s part of it. But really, my next thought was this: “If I hurt myself, I’ll have to admit to all those blog readers that I didn’t really learn any of those lessons I talked about.” And I immediately slowed to a walk.
Pride, people. It’s all about pride. I’m not sure I’m very proud of that.
I got home and sent Jo an e-mail to ask if I could do an ongoing blog to hold myself accountable to my recovery – slow and slogging as it may be. She said sure, and said that instead of “steps” to recovery, these could be my “keystrokes” to recovery. That Jo, she’s clever!
A few days after that 10-minute run, I did one more. But, that was the morning after I’d had physical therapy and apparently that was a bit too much too soon. Frustrated, I went back onto the shelf for a week, with lots of ice and stretching and a little bit of yoga.
I got back to some running a few days ago. Sixteen minutes this time, broken up by a few one-minute walk breaks. It’s a cliché, but that whole thing about not knowing what you have until it’s gone is true. The fear that running could be taken away from me for good has changed how I look at it. The other night I was coming home from a business trip. A couple of hours on the plane, a couple of hours in the car and all I wanted was to get out and move. So I went for a walk/run. Just feeling that my body was being used instead of being stationary was thrilling. The air was perfect and it was a gorgeous evening – everything I could ask for. Because my margin of error with this injury seems to be so narrow, whenever I’m on the roads I realize that this run right now might be the only one I do for a week or longer. So I have to squeeze every second of enjoyment out of it.
Recently, my physical therapist told me to run on the treadmill for 20 minutes. I hate running on treadmills, but I focused on my breathing and the fact that I was getting to RUN. And it was great. Instead of looking down and realizing I still had 9 minutes to go I thought, “I only get to run for 9 more minutes, how can I make those 9 minutes last? How can I really appreciate them?” I’m still amazed that worked!
That 20-minute treadmill run was a good omen. I had no pain or soreness, and in the days after that I did a 23-minute run outside. Almost like a real run! At my next appointment my physical therapist and I were thrilled, so we pushed pretty hard with exercises before I was sent for some treadmill time. But from the first few moments my leg felt “off.” I thought it might warm up a bit, but it didn’t. After a few minutes of internal hemming and hawing, at the six-minute mark, I hit the stop button and got off the treadmill. Who would have thought that NOT running would go on my list of top-five running accomplishments?
About the Author: Abby Anderson used to live by the code that one should only run when there was a ball in front or a bear behind. After realizing that running is a very cheap way to stay in shape when you’re a poor nonprofit employee who put on 25 pounds by eating like the athlete you no longer are, Abby took to the roads. Ten years, two marathons, five half marathons and tons of 5Ks later, she’s jealous of other people who are running when she isn’t. When not running, playing soccer or practicing yoga, Abby is usually reading, napping or fulfilling her duties as Executive Director of the Connecticut Juvenile Justice Alliance.
Slogans and Logos Part II: Leggo My Logo!
In my last post, I explained that the slogans that we philathletes frequently see on race Ts and event names can be trademarks that are protected under U.S. federal law. A New York federal court just recently reminded me of this fact when it held, in the case New York City Triathlon, LLC v. NYC Triathlon Club, Inc. (for those of you into research, the case can be found at 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 21757) that the organizers of the annual New York City Triathlon could prevent a race club from using the term “NYC Triathlon Club” because the use of that name would create confusion with the “New York City Triathlon” trademark.
As I stated before (see “Does Your Event Slogan Belong To You?”), when you think you have found the perfect catchy name or slogan for your club, cause, or event, you must first ask if someone else is already using it, or something confusingly similar. Do your homework. Call your attorney, or at least check out www.uspto.gov – the United States Patent and Trademark Office website – and do a quick search for the words and/or terms you want to use. Better safe than sorry.
Logos – eye catching or humorous pictures used either with or without words – are also very effective marketing tools, and like slogans can also be protected as trademarks. Most of us probably would recognize the “Hang Ten” feet, or the Nike “swoosh” on sight, and know to stay clear. These are easy ones, but there are many protected logos that might not be so famous or obvious. A client of my firm, for example, has a registered trademark for a certain shade of the color blue! Unfortunately, however, logos are more difficult to “clear” for use than slogans, because it is much more difficult to search for them on public databases to determine if they are being used by somebody else. For example, the trademark office website classifies logos as searchable “designs,” but the search mechanisms for designs are so complicated and archaic that even law firms typically use personnel specially trained to use them. Your attorney will be able to help you, but chances are, he or she will ask somebody else to do the search!
Logos are also protected by copyright law. Any original work of art, like a drawing, painting, or digital compilation, is a copyrightable “work” protected by federal law. So, if you copy someone else’s logo, or create something that is really similar to another logo, you may be infringing somebody’s copyright. Be careful, and be original, and you will probably be OK.
The good news is that the universe of possible original logos is nearly infinite, making it much more difficult to create a new logo that does infringe someone’s trademark or copyright than it is not to. So don’t sweat it too much. But if you think you may have seen the logo you are planning to use somewhere else, stop and call a lawyer. Or, if you see the logo on someone else’s t-shirt, or at another event, maybe just stop. You will undoubtedly learn to like the next design you come up with just as much.
Keep running, keep going, and keep giving!
- Jeffrey Rollings, Charity Mile Board of Advisors
Jeffrey Rollings is a senior attorney at the intellectual property law firm of Lackenbach Siegel LLP, located in Scarsdale, New York, specializing in trademark, copyright, and Internet law.
PLEASE NOTE: While the foregoing post provides information concerning legal issues, it does not constitute or contain legal advice, and is intended for general information purposes only. This post is not intended to substitute for legal advice from qualified counsel. By using CharityMile.com, you agree and understand that neither the author nor Lackenbach Siegel LLP through this post is engaged in rendering legal services or advice and your use of this Site and this blog does not create an attorney-client relationship between you and the author or Lackenbach Siegel LLP. Neither the author nor Lackenbach Siegel LLP may be held responsible for any actions or inactions taken in reliance upon anything described therein. While the author takes reasonable measures to keep the information provided in his posts accurate, complete and up-to-date, neither he nor Lackenbach Siegel LLP will be responsible for any damage or loss related to the inaccuracy, incompleteness, or lack of timeliness of the information provided. Lackenbach Siegel LLP is neither associated nor affiliated with CharityMile.com.
When A Charity Race Hits You Where You Breathe
Races come in all different flavors, and a well-run charity race often leaves a distinctive taste that can stay with you for a long, long time. When I say “well-run,” I’m not referring to races where earth-shattering finish times are clocked, or even events that are really big, or spectacularly organized. I’m talking about events that make a powerful statement about for whom, and why you are there, and leave you proud to have been involved.
The "Breathe for a Cause" T-shirts
My husband and I recently ran in just such a race in Westport, Connecticut: The Breathe for Cystic Fibrosis 4-Mile Run. A local resident, Beth Sweeney, single-handedly organized the event to raise money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and promote awareness of the disease. But the true significance of the race was apparent when Beth tearfully hugged the event’s honoree: her husband, Tim Sweeney, as he crossed the race’s finish line. Tim was one of the last of the 119 participants to cross the line, with a time of just over 55 minutes. But Tim’s finish was truly a milestone accomplishment, because just six months earlier, this lifelong cystic fibrosis sufferer had been forced to undergo the physically, emotionally and financially trying experience of a double-lung transplant.
The Sweeneys’ story is an incredible and inspiring “keep running, keep going, keep giving” story. Both Tim and Beth are longtime fitness enthusiasts — they actually met each other at Equinox Fitness Clubs in Darien, where both are personal trainers, and Tim even won a “Mr. Connecticut” bodybuilding title in 2003. But by 2008, cystic fibrosis was wasting away Tim’s body, and by Fall 2009, doctors said his only chance for survival was a double-lung transplant.
You often hear that trying times can bring out the best in some people, and fortunately for the Sweeneys, this proved true for them: Many individuals and organizations (notably, the Sweeneys’ employer, Equinox, as well as the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation) stepped up with donations and fundraisers to help out the couple and their young son. In between trips to the hospital with Tim, Beth decided to give back and raise awareness for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. This led to her launching a foundation she named Breathe for a Cause.
The four-mile “Breathe” run – which will be an annual event with a different honoree each year — is just one component of Beth’s efforts with Breathe for a Cause. She has also produced a line of premium-quality long- and short-sleeve T-shirts (trust me: you have to see and touch the shirts to appreciate just how nice they are) imprinted with a logo she created from the American Sign Language symbol for the word “Breathe.” Check them out here, and to the right, you can see the explanation of the logo that is imprinted inside each T-shirt. Twenty percent of the proceeds from sales go to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and Beth is open to making the shirts become an official symbol and ongoing fundraising vehicle for the Foundation.
As for Tim, his plans for 2010 include completing a modest race known as the New York City Marathon. Finishing the Breathe for Cystic Fibrosis 4-Mile Run was a critical first step. “It meant a lot to us, and I was bawling when he finished,” said Beth. “Before, it was like he was slowly dying, and the moment he crossed the finish line solidified the fact that he was back, he was here, he was alive.”
We are absolutely thrilled Tim is back, and hopefully he will hear us cheering for him every mile of the way at NYC. As for me and Jeff and, we will be back in Westport next year, to run and cheer on Tim’s successor. We hope some of our Charity Mile friends can join us!
- Jo
“Keep running, keep going, keep giving.”
