About Talia Whyte

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How to Jog During Extreme Weather: Summer Edition

street-marathon-1149220_640Last Sunday I ran a 5K race in the middle of a rainstorm. At the beginning of the race it was just sprinkling, but the rain came down progressively harder during the course. Although I brought a light raincoat with me, I opted at the last minute to not wear it during the race to test out my endurance, and I am glad I did that.

When I first started to do recreational jogging over 10 years ago, I almost always went to the gym or even didn’t exercise at all because I worried about the weather interfering with my workout.

It’s too hot… It’s too cold… There is too much snow and ice… It’s rainy…

Excuses, excuses, excuses…

Over the years I have had to overcome these so-called barriers designed by Mother Nature in order to become a better runner. Nonetheless, with trying weather patterns, one has to change their running habits to acclimate to the situation. For instance, during this race I ran at a slower than usual pace mainly to avoid slipping and falling. Also, because I wear prescription glasses full time, the rain made it a little harder to see in front of me, so a slower run to wipe down my glasses and not bump into other runners was necessary.

Some of my friends thought I was crazy to even do the rainy race, especially a couple of my black female friends who are worried about my “hair situation.” I didn’t have a “situation” with my hair, as water is the best moisture black hair can get, thank you very much!

But even on a non-rainy day in the summer, there are still things runners have to do differently to avoid other problems. Here are some tried-and-true suggestions I have learned from my years of running during hot weather months.

Get up really early to run – I usually start my jogs in the summertime around 5AM. Mornings are usually the coolest parts of the day. During heatwaves I will go to bed early the night before and get up at 3 or 4 in the mornings to get my runs in for the day. If it is still too hot that early in the morning and if I am having a hard time breathing during my runs outside, then I head to my nicely air-conditioned gym! If you can’t run in the mornings, late evenings are okay too.

Watch where you run – A lot of us urbanites have to run in a concrete and asphalt jungle of brick buildings, sidewalks and streets that tend to retain more heat during the hot months. This is another reason to run in early mornings because sidewalks and streets are a little cooler during that time of the day. If you live near a park or a hiking trail, running on dirt or grass can be a better alternative. Also, if you are lucky to live near water – river, lake, pond, ocean, pothole with water puddle (just kidding), you can usually get a cooler breeze while running. Water can be really meditative. Running along a path where there are drinking water fountains along the route is a good idea to stay hydrated. Jogging into the wind also has a cooling effect if there happens to be wind when you are running, especially if you run against it.

Wear light clothing – Don’t wear bulking clothes. Less is more! Lightweight, moisture-wicking clothing will help your body breathe during those warm runs. Also, wearing dark colors will actually attract heat, so stick with light colors. If you do runs during the day, wear a baseball cap, sunglasses and sunscreen and run in or near the shade.

Drink water – You should always drink water before, during and after runs. This becomes even more important during hot weather as your body is more prone to dehydration and heat stroke.

Eat something – I usually run 3 or 4 miles in 30 minutes so I might eat half of a Clif Bar 20 minutes before my run. But usually because it is such a short run and it is early morning run, you don’t need to really eat anything beforehand, since your body will be using the natural energy that was stored in your body during your sleep the night before. When I get home then I make sure I have a good protein and iron rich breakfast, like oatmeal or Wheaties with soy milk and a slice of Ezekiel bread. If you are doing longer runs, you might need to do more pre-run eating.

Run slower – There is no shame in running at a slower pace in hot weather, especially at the beginning of your run. It’s better to be somewhat physically active than to not be active at all!

Understand your body – While it is good to practice endurance running, if your body is saying “not today,” then heed to your natural instincts and not run if the weather is too much for you. Do an alternative indoor activity instead, like pool running.

A Taste of Tajine Cooking

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garden-vegetable-tagine-plated-660x440Last weekend we hosted an international potluck with some friends.  I asked everyone to pick a country and bring a dish representing its cuisine.  My guests picked Jamaica, Tibet, Greece, Senegal, and Argentina. I picked Morocco because I have traveled there before and fell in love with tajine cooking; so much so that I purchased a tajine pot while I was there.

Tajine is the name of both the pot and dish originating from North Africa.  The dish is generally made with meat, especially lamb or chicken.  I usually make the meat versions whenever I attend Ramadan dinners.  However, since most of my guests were vegetarians, I made a version with vegetables, and my dish also included dried dates, chickpeas and almonds.

Suffice to say, the dish was a hit with everyone.  I was asked to post my recipe.  It’s not really my recipe; I found it on YouTube.  So, without further ado…

I even had time to make a Spanish tortilla Moroccan style! Enjoy!

Concerning Violence & Other Issues

wretched of the earthFollowing up on last week’s post about black radicalism versus pacifism, I was reminded of The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon.  This landmark work has become the handbook for black radicalism in the United States and anti-colonial movements worldwide.

“The colonized man finds his freedom in and through violence,” says Fanon in his book.  But are his words still relevant today, and how have social movements really benefited from this rhetoric?  I plan to reread this book in the next few weeks, and give a more thorough analysis.  I hope you will want to read the book too and follow along in the discussion.

In the meantime, you should check out this 2014 documentary called Concerning Violence, which is based on the book.  Narrated by Lauryn Hill, the film uses archival footage from notable anti-colonial campaigns in Africa, and features interviews with Robert Mugabe, Amilcar Cabral and Tom Sankara.

Unfortunately, the full movie was just taken off of YouTube for free viewing, but you can still watch it in other places like Netflix.  For now, check out the trailer here and an interview with the director below:

Retro Book Club: Waiting ‘Til the Midnight Hour

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waitingIf one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all. – Oscar Wilde

I want to start a new feature here where I not only discuss new books, but also not so new books.  The point of this is to revisit older, classic books and look at their context through today’s political, social and cultural perspective.  Sometimes when you reread a book you come away with different insight.

The first book in this series is Peniel Joseph’s 2007 book Waiting ‘Til the Midnight Hour: A Narrative History of Black Power in America, which is a chronology of black radical movers and shakers, such as Malcolm X, Stokely Carmichael, Amiri Baraka, the Nation of Islam, the Black Panthers, amongst many others.  When I first read this book nine years ago, America was in a different place racially.  Barack Obama wasn’t president yet and the Black Lives Matter movement hadn’t begun.

I was inspired to reread this book because I recently attended a cocktail reception for young entrepreneurs of color, where I had a colorful conversation with an older black man named Morris about the role of black radicals in social movements of yesterday and today.  We started talking about the new Jackie Robinson documentary and his civil right work.  Like I said a few weeks ago, the baseball legend became a Republican activist, and even campaigned for Richard Nixon and Nelson Rockefeller.  There is a part in the documentary where Robinson feuded with other black nationalists of that time who thought he was an “Uncle Tom.”

“Jackie Robinson and Martin Luther King are the true black leaders we should be looking up to today, not the Panthers,” Morris said.  

Morris told me that he lived through the civil rights movement in Georgia and has always been a supporter of non-violent activism. He also said that the Black Lives Matter movement would be better off taking lessons from the southern civil rights movement than from the black power movement.

After rereading the book, I came to the realization that both movements continue to be valuable for supporting civil rights objectives today.  The book does a good job of not only highlighting the well-known players, but also lesser known, but equally important figures, like maverick journalist William Worthy, who openly defied the U.S. State Department by traveling to Cuba and China, and Jimmy and Grace Lee Boggs, an interracial couple that used their Detroit home to organize other local black radicals.  

I also enjoyed the discussion in the book about connecting American racism and other social justice and anti-colonial movements throughout the Third World.  Sometimes we forget that racism isn’t just an American problem, and many black power activists joined forces with other international activists.

While it wasn’t discussed a lot in the book, I really appreciated the discussion about the role of women in the black power movement, most notably Katharine Cleaver, Elaine Brown and Angela Davis, and much of the misogyny they may have experienced.       

Not surprisingly, many of the issues people of color faced in the 1960s, such as economic equality, education and the criminal justice system are still relevant today.

I also concluded that both movements bounced off each other, as both served a purpose and supported the larger scope of moving civil rights forward.  Even other activists during that time recognized both of their contributions equally.  For instance, while he was publically a supporter of Martin Luther King and many of the civil rights actions in the South, actor Harry Belafonte also financed a trip for Malcolm X to travel to Africa to discuss his Pan-Africanist views.

Black Lives Matter and other social movements today can learn a lot from both movements, especially the Black Panther Party, who also fought against police brutality.  Like BLM, the Panthers were a grassroots organization of young people who felt that they needed to take action in their communities.  Both groups understood the importance of mass communication to mobilize their followers; the Black Panthers had their new newspaper The Panther, while Black Lives Matter thrives on social media.

In conclusion, I would have to respectfully disagree with Morris.  I don’t think we should discount Black Power.  All of our past civil rights leaders, whether they were mainstream or more radical, have contributed greatly to moving our race forward.     

Other retro books:

Black Power:The Politics of Liberation in America by Stokely Carmichael and Charles Hamilton

The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X

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