Posted in middle age on Sep 24th, 2009
All rites of passage involve three stages: separation, transition and re-incorporation.
In the case of marathon running at middle age, these three stages are evident.
During their rigorous training, people who train to run a marathon separate from the rest of the group by changing their regular eating and sleeping habits, by shifting mentally and by dedicating [...]
Posted in middle age on Sep 20th, 2009
In the third and fourth decades of life, training for a marathon race becomes the lighting rod that ignites us and shifts our focus from a bleak future into one full of possibilities and potentials. Women get to this point a little earlier than men. This could explain way the largest group of marathoners in [...]
Posted in middle age on Sep 16th, 2009
According to the traditional view of middle age, the most important losses of this life transition are:
Changes in body image. No explanation is needed here, as we are all well aware of them.
Changes in sex drive. Possible diminished sex drive and sexual dysfunctions can be problematic for men. Menopause and all that comes with it [...]
Posted in middle age on Sep 11th, 2009
The marathon race takes its name from Marathon, a city 42.195 kilometers or 26 and 7/32 miles from Athens. Historical accounts tell us that, over two thousand years ago, a furious battle was fought there against the invading Persia army. When the battle was over, Pheidippides, a Greek soldier, is said to have run the [...]
Posted in stress management on Sep 4th, 2009
We are all in this together
What are the changes that we are starting to see in our society, in the midst of the current economic downturn?
A shift in the value of money. Some of us seem to have changed the way we deal with money. We are saving more; we are looking for bargains; we [...]
Posted in stress management on Sep 2nd, 2009
We are all familiar by now with the most evident repercussions of this economic recession: loss of jobs, foreclosures, loss of savings, increased debt, and panic on Wall Street and Main Street.
Aside from these evident effects, there are others, more hidden but more insidious, which affect people caught in this economic downturn. These make up [...]
