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Ultimate Fitness feature

By Norma Rubio, Producer, NBC News

While running a marathon used to be the ultimate way to push your body to the limit, there's a growing trend of pushing your body to more extreme levels of fitness-- such as obstacle racing.

These races combine trail running with tough physical and mental challenges such as crawling through mud under barbed wire, climbing over slippery walls, running with heavy objects, and even jumping over fiery hot coals.

The Spartan Race is one of several obstacle competitions around the world that have recently exploded in growth. "People like change and this is primal.

It's getting back to our roots of playing in the mud and being a kid again. So, it's different, it's fun," says Mike Morris, vice president of production at Spartan Race.

At a recent race in the desert of Fountain Hills, Ariz., Spartan racers trekked through nearly five miles of trails and 18 man-made obstacles.

 At the end of the race, runners fought one final battle with a Spartan before getting to the finish line.

But if you're thinking you're not cut out for this type of competition...think again. Spartan race organizers proudly pronounce it's an event for all people.

"We have a kids' race, we have grandmothers, 70-year-old grandmothers, we have people that this is the first race they've ever done and they've lost 50 pounds and they show up and they can't believe the accomplishment," says Morris.

And then there are professional athletes like 35-year-old Hobie Call from Utah who quit his job to pursue racing full-time and has become arguably the most famous obstacle racer.

"No matter how many times you do these races, like I said I've done over 30...and every time it's a unique race. You never run the same race over again."

For Angela Reynolds, a divorced morther of three, each race is an opportunity to overcome challenges. "When I first started I couldn't climb the rope and I had to learn to teach myself and set one up in my garage so I could learn how to do that."

Other extreme challenges include the Tough Mudder, where racers run through live wires or plunge into icy pools.

SealFit mimics elite Navy Seal training, including lifting massive logs.

And if you prefer a fear factor, Run For Your Lives, takes you on a 5K race from zombies -- well, people dressed up as zombies. 

For the artistic-minded, Cirque School offers training in acrobatics, aerial fabric tricks and trapeze. Aloysia Gavre, founder of Cirque School LA, insists this type of workout is for anyone.

To participate in any of these events, however, you'll likely need to sign a waiver indicating the risks. 

But it's clear that these days, many are more than willing to take on those risks and face the challenges that extreme fitness requires.

Wearable Technology (San Jose Mercury News)

You can wear your heart on your sleeve. Why not your electronics?

In a burgeoning trend that has captivated Silicon Valley, a mind-boggling array of "wearable electronics" has begun to arrive, not just at a website or clothing outlet near you, but on an arm, a face, a wrist and even a pinkie finger.

"Everyone's recognizing that tech's next great, innovating chapter is more practical and intimate use of computing power in our everyday lives," said Scot Herbst with San Jose-based design firm Herbst Produkt. "And that means not having to reach into your pocket, grab your phone and put in a password. It's all about making computers more organic in their interaction with you."

Hold on to your hats, which also happen to be undergoing digital makeovers of their own with things like snowboard helmets decked out with a pair of $599 Oakley Airwave goggles with GPS and streaming audio.

From Apple's (AAPL) rumored iWatch to Google's (GOOG) in-the-works eyeglass-like "Glass" ($1,500 for an early pilot version) to tech-embedded clothing from Uniqlo that uses the body's evaporating moisture to heat knee-high socks that cost $12.89 a pair, the wearable digital revolution is upon us.

"The trend is gaining momentum because the cost of chips, along with sensors like gyroscopes and heat- and light-sensing devices, has dropped dramatically," said analyst Avi Greengart, research director for consumer devices at Current Analysis.

He knows firsthand the wonderful allure of this wearable technology. Greengart uses it himself.
"Unlike a lot of bleeding-edge tech, these things work," he said. "I have a Fitbit, which is a little clip you put on your belt and it's a glorified pedometer.

But it does much more, and it makes it easy for me to see how much physical activity I've had during the day, for example, and that motivates me to exercise even more."

An army of engineers, fashion designers, futurists and gadget geeks, many of them clustered here in the Bay Area, is hard at work, trying to extend the reach of computing power along those precious few inches from pocket and purse to forearms and ears.

At Intel (INTC) Labs, user-experience researcher Cory Booth said his team is looking even beyond that, "past the near-term fascination with specific locations on the body, like the wrist, to a more long-term view. We see an entire new ecosystem of devices that will multiply over time and interact with one another."

Many of these gadgets will simply piggyback on the muscular computing prowess available in the cloud, said Mike Roberts, an engineer with PARC, a Xerox-founded research-and-development center in Palo Alto.

Computers take the mountain of input from your device, crunch it, and immediately suggest ways for you to, say, improve your athletic performance.

Roberts talked about one very human application of wearable technology, a beta version of a head-mounted computer that PARC worked on with Motorola Solutions.

 It connects a user in the field, say a sailor trying to fix a broken generator on a naval ship, with an expert thousands of miles away.

"This remote collaboration enables the expert to help someone in the field solve a complicated problem in real time," Roberts said. "The helmet's video camera captures the generator, then the expert takes stills from the video and annotates them to show the guy which bolts to remove to fix the generator. This gives you expert advice anywhere in the world, and it's all hands-free."

Over time, experts say, consumers will be dazzled by an assortment of electronic gear woven into their clothing, strapped to their limbs, wrapped as thin membranes over their fingers, or hung from their belts.

Challenges with wearable tech abound, from harnessing enough computing power onto ultrathin devices like pieces of tape to persuading average consumers to wear silly-looking glasses and bulky watches without "nerding them out" too much.

As futurist Paul Saffo puts it, "I'm convinced the Segway failed because no matter who drove it, they looked like a dork."

Cool tech toys are one thing, but merging them with fashion raises all sorts of issues for designers. Said Saffo, "Wearable technology is absolutely the way we're heading, but the secret is how designers work out the details.

The genius of Apple is that it's a fashion company that also does tech. Look at the iPhone -- it's a beautiful polished talisman, even when it's just sitting there."

John Edson, president of San Francisco-based design firm Lunar, said that with the proliferation of these devices, "my smartphone becomes just the collector of all the data coming from the sensors I've got on me. Like the swipe and pinch features on the iPad, we're just starting to scratch the surface of things we can do with gestures."

Edson said test audiences seem to love wearing the devices his firm has worked on with BodyMedia.

 "Some of these tools help users achieve weight loss through a wearable sensor," he said. "They have really proven algorithms that can clearly and accurately tell you about your calorie burn, just by wearing a device that tracks a few different body metrics."

The road ahead will undoubtedly be littered with the detritus of wearable electronics that consumers will refuse to wear. But engineers and designers will keep throwing ideas against the wall until something sticks.

"You got the iPhone," said PARC's Mike Kuniavsky, "then you got the apps, and now the apps are jumping off the screen and becoming devices you can wear."

Personality profile from Los Angeles Times

He runs with a cellphone pressed tightly against his hip, but she never calls, so for 26.2 miles he runs with his memories.

In the first hour, she is walking again through the German countryside. By the middle of the race, she is dancing again to their classical favorites.

At the finish line, she is strolling with their two children into the best years of her life.

Then John Creel, 77, towels off, catches his breath, and returns to the marathon that is his life as a full-time caregiver for wife Ingrid, whose body has been rendered helpless by the evils of multiple sclerosis.

"My life is pretty simple," Creel said. "It's all about taking the next step … just take the next step."

The Brea man's next official step will be taken in the Dodger Stadium parking lot Sunday as one of 24,000 runners in the 28th L.A. Marathon. In what is annually trumpeted as the human race, Creel will be one of the most human of runners.

When his wife's degenerative illness confined her to a wheelchair in 1995, Creel made the decision that he would be her primary caretaker.

When the stress from that decision became overwhelming, he began running for relief.

That was 59 marathons ago. He has run at least one marathon in each state. He transports her in her wheelchair to most of his races, twice even making sure somebody pushed her to the finish line.

She doesn't understand running, but she likes the company. He sometimes weeps over her losses, but he still loves her smile.

He feeds, bathes and clothes her. Yet after 53 years of marriage, he says she is his strength.

"Honestly, I don't know what I would do without her," he said.

And he doesn't know what she would do without him. If he dies first, she probably will have to go into an assisted-living facility, and he can barely tolerate even the thought, so he keeps running, for her, for him, for them.

Said Ingrid with a grin: "Sometimes I don't understand why he has to run so much, but it makes him happy, so let him run, let him run."

Said John with tears: "She's the best thing that ever happened to me."

You can glimpse strands of their enduring affection in a back room of their Brea home, the place where Ingrid spends her days watching television, the channel tuned to episodes of "Little House on the Prairie" and "Bonanza."

All around the room there are vases with purple orchids, some blooming, some decaying, gifts from weekly visits to Trader Joe's.

"I love orchids," said Ingrid. "He still brings me orchids."

She still calls him "Johnny." He sometimes calls her "Mom."

During a recent weeknight interview they giggled at each other from across the modest living room, he in his shiny running shoes, she in her black wheelchair, their lives having taken them to different worlds, their spirit forever connected

"When you get older in a marriage, things change, but the caring just gets deeper," John said.

They still laugh about how they met in 1958 on a snowy night in a small town in Germany. She didn't speak English, he barely spoke German, yet a year later they were married.

At the time he was a member of the U.S. Army's Green Berets. Today he runs his marathons with the actual green beret atop his balding head.

It reeks of sweat and has been tattered by moths, but, like his devotion, it is unmoving.

"He is an amazing man, so determined, so faithful," said former longtime running partner Denis Paez. "On a daily basis, it's hard to imagine doing the things he does."

The former systems engineer for Kaiser Permanente awakens with Ingrid every day at 4:30 a.m. He spends the next 90 minutes dressing and feeding her.

He then puts a cellphone near the left hand that she can still use for dialing and leaves the house for his morning workout.

Except for a brief return home to check on her, he is running or lifting weights or simply exercising for the next couple of hours.

"Running is the only time he's completely relaxed," said daughter Karola. "He goes to another place."

Sometimes that place is filled with anger, the slap of steps along the pavement punctuated by screams to the sky.

"I get mad at God a lot. I yell and scream," Creel said. "What has Ingrid ever done to anybody? It doesn't seem right that she has to suffer."

But mostly that place is filled with calm, and by the time he returns home for good, his mind is clear and his body is amazingly untaxed.

He will spend the rest of the day pulling his wife's wheelchair up and down the several steps in the house — a 150-pound task — yet he says he never feels it.

"You know that 'He ain't heavy, he's my brother' thing?'" he said. "It might be a little bit of that."

When they attend an out-of-town race, he will arrange for a caregiver to watch her in the hotel room during the race. Then there were those four glorious moments when they actually raced together.

Yes, for four 5K races in the area, Creel pushed her through the course. She said it felt as if she were flying. He said he was most happy about the ending.

"She always finished ahead of me," he said with a grin.

On Sunday Ingrid will not attend the marathon, remaining at home with her son Greg and his family. But after her husband finishes his 5 1/2-hour run, sits in a cold bath, and rejoins her late Sunday night, she will again feel like a winner.

Before they fall asleep, John will lean over and hold her hand. Ingrid will stare at the ceiling and, in a voice softened by age and slowed by disease, give thanks that she married a man who will finish the race.

"God, you know what you are doing," she will say. "I don't know why I am sick, but you know what you are doing."

Proper format for J61 students

Attention J61 students:

You must write in the inverted pyramid style using one-sentence paragraphs for your blog posts. Some students do not use the inverted pyramid style on their blogs. They use long, 6-8 sentence paragraphs that are not in keeping with the style of media writing we're learning.
You will not receive credit for the assignment unless you write in the inverted pyramid style for your blog posts. AP style should also be followed when writing blog posts or hard-copy assignments.

Below is an example of the one-sentence format you should use for your blog posts:

Cinequest director John Burgess' movie "One Small Hitch" indulged us on what it was like to be a USC graduate student and what it took to get a movie into Cinequest.

"The Powderpuff Principle" was Burgess' feature film as a graduate student in USC.

It depicts the story of a high school nerd that grows up to become the principal and decides to get revenge on his students that remind him so much of his past tormentors.

I have not seen his Cinequest film "One Small Hitch" but I really enjoyed his student film.

What I found interesting was how many known actors were used.

The star of the film was Clint Howard and it had an appearance by Linda Blair as well.

According to Burgess, it was not easy to get known actors to appear in a film directed by a student. He had to lie in order to get what he wanted.

The sacrifices that he had to make like selling his condo in order to produce his first Cinequest film seem to be paying off.

"One Small Hitch" will be shown on international flights and Burgess was even asked to direct a film.

French Fries

Facts:

Eight boys ordered $250 worth of french fries at a Tokyo McDonald's Restaurant. The McDonald's was having a sale on french fries so the boys were inspired to order as many fries as they could afford.

The larger than usual order of french fries was part of a trend sweeping Asia known as "potato parties.'' According to the Japan Daily Press, teenage boys descend on different McDonald's and order as many french fries as they can afford. Apparently, french fries are cheaper at McDonald's restaurants in Asia than at McDonald's in the United States. The only requirement is that the boys eat all of the french fries before they leave the restaurant.

For the $250 order the eight teenagers pushed several tables together and then poured all of the fries out on the tables and started eating. The teenagers made such as mess and made so much noise they annoyed others in the restaurant prompting McDonald's to ask them to leave before they finished eating the fries.

In another potato party in Tokyo, a group of teenage boys ordered 60 large orders of french fries, approximately 30,000 calories if you're counting, according to the Japan Daily Press.

Study Guide Chapters 3 and 4

Understand the definition of news and the difference between news that is interesting and news that impacts our lives such as the price of gas.

What is the difference between hard news and soft news?

Know what the five W's are and why most leads are What leads. Know the characteristics of news such as timeliness, proximity, consequence, uniqueness, etc. 

Which one of the W's are rarely known for a news story and why?

Understand the role of a lead to summarize the news and capture the reader's interest.

Know the differences between the different types of lead outlined in the textbook such as the summary lead, anecdotal lead, direct-address, wordplay lead, etc.

Know the basics of interviewing. What is the difference between a direct quote, indirect quote and paraphrasing? When should you do each one?

What does the term attribution mean? Why is said the preferred verb of attribution?

What is the benefits and downside of tape recording an interview? What are the benefits of taking notes during an interview?

What should a reporter do before an interview to prepare, during the interview and after the interview?

What is the correct way to punctuate a quotation? Does punctuation go inside or outside of the quotation marks?