1. He Raced Against Great-Grandson During his 85th Birthday Event for Viral Community Running Club
A pioneering Welsh running athlete has helped organize hundreds of community running events around the country, and recently celebrated his 85th birthday by racing his great-grandson who takes part in them.
“I intended on walking it, but when I got there with my great-grandson, I decided to run it,” 85-year-old Eric Hughes told the BBC. “He beat me by seven minutes.”
Some things never die, and Hughes’ competitive spirit which has seen him medal at 18 consecutive British Masters Championships at various distances, is certainly one of them. But as he ran through life’s race, his drive to succeed has morphed into the drive to see others succeed. He is one of the most prolific organizers and volunteers of Britain’s “ParkRuns” a community running event that started originally as a simple club that ran a 5K in London three times a week in 2004.
It has exploded in popularity since then, and with 20 days until ParkRun’s 20th anniversary, there are now more than 1,200 ParkRuns around the world according to the BBC, including countries as diverse as Estwani, Malaysia, Japan, and Austria.
2. Your Next Vacation May Be a Lifesaver, Say Researchers Studying Travel, Aging and Health
As July and August come around after a hard, half-year of work, the thought may arise that you need a vacation. A team of scientists has proposed that this is actually true—and that your life may very well depend on it.
Their paper investigates how travel and tourism positively affects human health through the movement of the body into a “low entropy state”.
Entropy: a fundamental law of physics, and one rarely seen in travel literature, promotional material, or blog posts. Originating from thermodynamics, this principle describes the natural tendency of systems to move towards disorder or chaos, a process that is irreversible but can be mitigated.
A team of Chinese scientists publishing through Australia’s Edith Cowan University proposes that health is defined as a state of good order in four key systems of the body. These include the system of self-organization, self-defense, self-repair, and the anti-wear-and-tear system. If one or more of these systems are disrupted or disorganized, the others tend towards the same—in other words, a high-entropy state.
3. When She Was Stopped for Speeding, Officer Gave Life-Changing Advice That Saw Her Graduate Nursing School
Two years ago, Alabama’s Abbie Rutledge was driving on her way to work when she saw the blue lights flashing behind her.
But what she didn’t know as she pulled over to the side of the road, heart beating up in her ears with anxiety, is that it would be one of the best things that ever happened to her.
Alabama state trooper J.T. Brown noted that Rutledge was speeding. The 20-year-old replied that she was sorry, didn’t have the money to pay a speeding ticket, and was stuck in a dead-end job.
Most people have a story about talking their way out of a ticket, and Trooper Brown has probably heard it all before. His response?
“How about we talk about it then?” he asked.
Rutledge told Steve Hartman of CBS News that the ‘talk’ went on for about 10 to 15 minutes, just sitting in the car talking about different career choices.
The conclusion, if one can believe it, was that the state trooper convinced Rutledge to enroll in nursing school.
