A good week (50 miles) and more on fasting

This was a good week of running: (Mon. 8 miles, Tues. 5 miles inc. 6 X 800m between 2:51 and 2:55 at indoor track -felt great, Wed. 8 miles, Thurs. 8 miles. Fri 0 miles, Sat. 8 miles, Sun 13 miles-longest run this year). Total for the week = 50 miles.

I am continuing to play around with intermittent fasting. I won't call it a diet as it is more like an eating plan. I have completed 2 daily fasts a week for about 5 weeks now. I find it an easy way to cut down on calories, control eating, lose some weight, and feel good. I have found a few ways that people do intermittent fasting. There is not a lot to read or study if you want to try it, but here are some resources if you are worried that it may not be healthy.

The Fast-5 diet is a form of intermittent fasting with a daily short fasting period (19 hours, including sleeping) followed by an unrestricted eating window of 5 hours. You can download the book for free here. On this plan the book advocates doing this diet daily.

Eat, Stop, Eat is another plan where you fast for about 24 hours twice a week usually dinner to dinner. This is closest to what I do. I find it easier to not eat before dinner time, than to cut down food like on a diet. The hunger goes away quickly and you feel real good when on the fast. It does not interrupt my running at all. I have run many times while on the fast stage and notice no difference.

Nolan Shaheed is a world class 50 year old runner. I wrote about him here. He only eats dinner every day. One month a year he doesn't run and eats only one meal every other day. It seems to work for him as he has been doing it for years. Nolan Shaheed is even more well known as a world class jazz musician despite holding masters running records.

Emmanual Jal is a guy with a very compelling story. Born in Sudan. He became a lost boy and then a child soldier. He escaped through a desperate journey filled with starvation and death. Then he was rescued by aid worker Emma McCune. When she died in a car accident, be was sent to school in Kenya and eventually became a singer. His songs have achieved notice throughout the world. His story is told in the best-selling book War Child: A Child Soldier's Story. There is also a wonderful movie, also called War Child,  about Emmanual Jal. You can also download his new single free on his website here. I earlier wrote about Emmanuel Jal here. I mention him again because he too is on a fasting program. In order to help raise money for Gua Africa to build a school named Emma Academy in Sudan. Today, Emmanuel Jal is on day 457 of a fast where he only eats one meal a day. He plans to continue this fast until he raises all the money for Emma Academy. He has about $30,000 to go. You can donate here. I am a teacher and am amazed and saddened to learn that only 2% of all children in Southern Sudan complete elementary school. I think that Emmanuel Jal has the most important motivation for fasting. Here is the Gua Africa appeal for help for building Emma Academy featuring Emmanuel Jal's song "We Fall".



Here is Emmanuel Jal singing "Emma" live Nelson Mandela's 80th birthday celebration.

Recovering Children in Africa: Great Stories of Survival and Giving Back

I have always interested in the continent of Africa. All children enjoy the animals that grace that continent. My parents visited Africa when I was a child and I still have the African hat they brought back for me from that visit. As a runner I admire the great runners of Kenya and Ethiopia and consider Halie Gebreselasie to be my favorite athlete. Getting to know some of Sudan's "Lost Boys" through my sister's family taking in four boys has only heightened my interests in the stories and troubles affecting many people and countries in Africa. Recent news articles that I have read and music that I have been listening to tell the story of how some have escaped their horrendous pasts and achieved a new life full of achievements. They are also giving back to the children in home countries trying to make a better world for them to survive and live in. So here are some of the best stories possible from some of the worst childhood experiences imaginable.


Lopez Lomong ran the 1500 meters in the 2008 Olympics for the United States. He was also selected by the United States athletes to carry the USA flag into the opening ceremonies. Lopez Lomong is one of the Sudanese "lost boys" who escaped the fighting in his own country by walking with other children to a refuge camp in Kenya. He came to America with other "lost boys" in 2001. My sister's family took in four of these Sudanese boys which was well chronicled in the Boston Globe. Their stories of survival, meager rations and little hope to escape their situation, and then the trip to America where they had to learn about a completely different culture and way of life are fascintating.

These "lost boys' embraced getting the opportunity to get an education and to work. Many of them are starting to make a mark in this country and on the world. Some even became exceptional collegiate runners: like Macharia Yuot and Lopez Lomong. A recent article on ESPN.com explains how Lopez Lomong recently opened a school in Sudan. According to the article only a shockingly small number of students complete primary school in Sudan,

"The primary school he opened in his village of Kimotong will increase access to education, something sorely lacking in Sudan. Only 2,500 children in the country of more than 7 million people complete primary school each year, according to
the New Sudan Education Initiative. Of that number, only 500 are girls."

"To be able to see a young girl showing up in the morning to go to
school, that just opened my heart," Lomong said. "I'd like to be able to do more
things and be able to get my people, my fellow Americans, to get involved."

Here is the video of Lopez Lomong making the USA 1500 meters team at the 2008 Olypic Trials.





Julius Achon is a two time Olympian for his native country of Uganda. He is also the 1996 NCAA champion in the 1500 meter race. He currently works with Alberto Salazar's Elite Nike Project in Portland, Oregon. He uses his salary to support orphans back in Uganda as well as his family. His uncle, John Akii-Bua, was the 1972 Olympic Gold Medalist in the 400 meter hurdles.

When Julius was 12 years old he was abducted from his home and forced to become a child soldier by a rebel group called the Lord’s Resistance Army. The rebels drugged the children and forced them to kill, steal, and torture. Julius escaped after three months and rejoined his family. His running prowess enabled him to get a full scholarship to George Mason University in Virginia. His story is told here. Julius has a website achonacademy.com that descibes his charity, history, and career as a runner.

Here is a video where Julius tells his story.



Emmanuel Jal is not a runner (as far as I know) but he is an international hip hop singer. At the age of eight he became a child soldier in Sudan. Three years later he escaped and wandered for three months with about 400 other child soldiers to reach safety. Only less than 20 of these "lost boys" survived the journey. He was later rescued by a British aide worker named Emma McCune, who smuggled him into Kenya but died in a car accident less than a year later. Friends helped pay for him to continue his schooling. He now sings about his life and the world he lives in from the peculiar point of view of his own history as a child soldier. I have been listening to his music the past two weeks and greatly enjoy his cd "War Child".

Here Emmanuel Jal is singing his tribute song to Emma McCune "Emma" at Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday celebration. Peter Gabriel introduces Emmanuel Jal.



If you want to learn more about what I have learned about Emmanuel Jal and his music you can check out my music blog Sing-a-long Songs as Scriptures" right here. Emmanuel Jal is also setting up a school for children in Sudan. You can find out about Emma's Academy here.