Exercise, Diet & Love for a Healthy Heart

115 runners & walkers line up for pre race instuctions for the Big Dog Valentine's Day Event

   Often, in the health and fitness world, the main focus is placed on exercise and diet as the key components to living a long and productive life.

   We all know the benefits of regular physical exercise and how it can keep at bay many of the ailments afflicting millions of Americans each year.

   Thirty minutes of moderate, prolonged exercise, in which your heart rate is elevated can help you reduce your chances of getting hypertension, diabetes, certain cancers, and it can control your waist line from increasing.

   Add a healthy diet rich in colorful fruits and vegetables and you have increased your chances of being productive well into your 80’s and 90’s.

   One thing often overlooked when considering overall health is love.  Yes, love! 

   How you feel about your spouse, your children and yourself play an important role in longevity. 

   Recent research into the subject of love have found that happily married people live longer and that relationship has a huge impact on their overall health.

   Research  into the positive effects of love by Dr. Dean Omish on 10 thousand married men who had high risk factors such as high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol and diabetes, found that the men who felt loved by their wives experienced half the amount of angina (chest pains) compared to men who didn’t feel loved by their wives.

   Another study done in 2007 found that simply putting your affectionate feelings down on paper can lower your cholesterol level.  The five week study had volunteers write about their feeling of loved ones in 20 minute sessions, three times per day.  At the end of the fifth week all were found to have significantly lowered their cholesterol levels.

   Love can be a magically tool that could add years to your life and is an important component that leads to better health.

   On Sunday Big Dog Productions hosted a Valentine’s Day 3.2-mile run/walk with special categories for couples which included husband/wife, boyfriend/girlfriend, father/daughter, and mother/son.

   With the theme being Valentine’s Day recognition was giving to those who brought their partner to spend some time exercising together.

Jason & Melissa Braswell

   Heading the list of couples during the morning run/walk were Jason and Melissa Braswell, owners of the Big Island Running Company in Kailua-Kona.

   The Braswell’s not only love to run, they love to be around runners and will often enter a variety of running and walking events throughout the Big Island.

   “We always love to get together in Hilo and meet old friend and to make new ones,” Jason Braswell said after finishing third overall.

   Wife Melissa, who finished second for the women and 14^th overall, enjoyed the large event hosted by Big Dog Productions and was complimentary of the volunteers.

   “This was a good race, well organized and with a great turnout,” she said.  “This was one of my better races as I didn’t go out too fast and I didn’t burn out at the end.”

The Sekiyas

Husband and wife, Josh and KC Stallsmith, was the second married couple to cross the finish line and gave the Braswell’s a run for their money as the couple finished 12^th and 13^th overall in a race with 115 participants.

  Also traveling over from the Kona side to do Big Dog’s Valentine Day 3.2-miler was the Sekiya family with husband and wife Dale and Sharon and their son DJ.

  “We came to Hilo for the weekend and wanted to watch the Vulcan’s play baseball,” Dale Sekiya said.  “We read about this event in the newspaper and thought it would be a good idea to come out and participate.”

   The Vulcan’s dropped the first game of a double header on Saturday and the Sekiya’s left during the 8^th inning of the second game with the score tied 2-2.

   “We were really hungry and wanted to grab something to eat,” Sharron Sekiya said.  “We don’t often get a chance to see UHH play and coming out today to do this run was a good way to end out weekend.

   The overall winner was Volcano resident, Billy Barnett, who clocking in with a time of 17 minutes 33 seconds and was followed by Honokaa cross country star Chris Mosch in 17:53.

   The top woman was KC Stallsmith, 23:01, with Melissa Braswell, 23:17, taking second and Dawn Velasquez claiming third in 23:20.

  In the boyfriend girlfriend category it was Nick Mildon and Katie Mennenga showing what love is all about by running together and finishing 20^th and 21^st respectively in an identical time of 24:02.

  Isabel and Rick Camp, along with James and Shauna Hank, won the father/daughter group while Micah Kanehailua and his mom Esther won the mother/son division.

   There was even an Aunt/nephew division which was won by Waiakea Athletic Trainer, Kalei Namohala and her nephew, Micah.

   The best part about Sunday’s run/walk was to see the many new people that came out on Valentine’s Day to have fun with family and friends while getting some great exercise in one of the most beautiful places in the world.

    Love alone can’t cure all that’s ailing you, but if you’re one of the very fortunate people in this world that can give and receive love; and when you include exercise and a healthy diet, you are reaping the benefits of a truly wonderful life.

   Here’s wishing all of you a Happy Valentine’s Day everyday!

For complete results from the Big Dog’s Valentine’s Day event go to: https://waynejoseph.wordpress.com/2010/02/14/big-dogs-valentines-day-runwalk-results/

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Runners & Walkers Make their New Year’s Resolutions

Isabel Camp, winner of the stroller division, was awarded the Big Dog perpetual trophy

Happy New Year!  Hope all of you are off to a great start on having a happy and healthy new year.

To start the year out right Big Dog Productions hosted the Resolution 5K (3.1-mile) run/walk on New Year’s morning.

I can’t think of a better way of celebrating the birth of a new year than to have 100 of your friends and acquaintances meet you for a jog along scenic Hilo Bayfront on a spectacularly beautiful Friday morning.

People of various ages, from toddlers to octogenarians, and physical abilities took part in the event as all wanted to get off to a healthy start on 2010.

Hilo Medical Center pharmacist, Gregg Davis, was on hand with his wife Wendy to take part in the morning event.  “Wendy and I want to get healthy and stay healthy for 2010,” he said.  “I’d like to also be able to lose 20 pounds and that’s my goal.”

Matthias, Ella and Malia

Matthias Kusch, a captain at the Honokaa Fire Department, showed up with his entire family which included infant Malia who was pushed in a stroller the entire way.

“I’d like to simmer down and take on fewer projects in 2010,” Kusch said.  “I need to concentrate on my family and on sports.  This past year was a big hectic year and in this New Year I’d like to spend more time recreating.”

Missy Keenan, who works as a skills trainer in Honokaa, would like to give up smoking this year.  “I smoked my last cigarette on New Year’s Eve and I plan on giving it up for good in 2010,” she said.

The half-pack a day smoker plans on making the New Year and all future years to come a smoke free one as she will take better care of her health by also increasing the amount of exercise she gets.  “I came here this morning to start the year out right.  I had fun and look forward to doing more events like this throughout the year,” Keenan said.

Big rig CDL driver, James Hank, was also hoping to get a jump start on the New Year by completing the 3.1 mile run with his family.  “We wanted to participate in something different,” Hank said.  “My family started walking about five months ago and a month later my wife, Marla, and I began running.”

For 2010 Marla Hank is hoping to be able to run 10-miles and husband, James, would also like to increase his distance and integrate some biking into his routine.

“This is the first time for Marla and me to take part in an organized running event and we had a lot of fun and look forward to doing it again soon.”

During the race it was former Christian Liberty harrier Justin Pang taking the early lead with former Pahoa High standout Louie Perry close behind.

Alan Ryan

Laupahoehoe resident, Alan Ryan, showed up two minutes before the start of the race and used the first mile as a warm up staying behind former Waiakea, Bryce Harada, and Keaau star Shannon White.

“I need time to get warmed up so I clocked the first mile in 6:14 and was in fifth place at that point,” Ryan said.

Between mile one and mile two Ryan ran at sizzling 5:33 pace and moved into third behind Pang and Perry.  “I passed Louie (Perry) and then ran down Justin (Pang) near the end,” Ryan said.  

Ryan’s became the first Big Island resident to win a race in 2010 and his winning time was 18 minutes and 25 seconds, with Pang, Perry, Harada and White rounding out the top five men.

“My New Year Resolution is to run more mileage and to cross train.  I’d like to increase my aerobic work in order to gain strength,” Ryan said.

For the women it was a battle between Hilo’s Lory Hunter and Kona’s Melissa Braswell.  Braswell, the co-owner of the Big Island Running Company with her husband Jason, took the early lead before being passed by Hunter during the second mile.

Hunter finished seventh overall in 22:25 with Braswell taking tenth overall and second for the women in 22:58.

“It wasn’t easy (winning), but it was a good day and it was nice that we started later in the morning,” Hunter said of the 9:30 am start.  “My fitness goal this New Year is to run my first marathon (26.2-miles) as I’ve registered for the Hilo Marathon in March.  I want to be able to finally say that I ran a marathon.”

At the end of the race Big Dog Productions presented Isabel Camp with the perpetual Big Dog stuffed animal trophy.  Isabel, 2-years old, was pushed the entire way by her father, Rick Camp, as the duo won the stroller division.

Several key volunteers made the Resolution Run/Walk possible.  A big mahalo goes out to Paul Okubo, Randee Arkin, Dano Banks, and Keith Aoki who make up the Big Dog Productions crew.