When my son ran high school cross country, the coach went to a certain amount of effort to not only get the runners in shape, but to also give them enough variety to keep their enthusiasm up. His senior year she found a place that the team always called, "the hill". I've heard it described many times not only by my son, but by his friends.

Last night my son said, "I think I'll go out tomorrow morning and see if I can still run the hill. Do you want to come?" It was too good a challenge to pass up, besides I was curious to see the hill. It's in an expensive residential neighborhood. The road starts out steep, as steep as any road I've seen in the mountains. About half way up it becomes a moderate grade. At the top there is a big cul-de-sac.

I looked up the incline and thought, "What am I doing here?" After some stretching, my son took off, digging in with each stride. I started with a jog. All too soon I was winded and my lungs were burning. I walked the rest of the steep part, and then began to run again. I took a lap around the cul-de-sac and started back down. The view going down was fabulous. My son was waiting for me at the bottom. "When we ran here for cross country," he said, "after we ran the hill, we took off down that road. It winds around but it's not too steep." I said, "Let's go!" It did not bother me that by the time I got to the car he had cooled down and wasn't even breathing hard. I had seen the hill, and I had run a respectable part of it.

If you are Type O, don't neglect the "intense physical exercise" part of this lifestyle. It is every bit as important to the way you feel as eating beneficials and avoiding avoids.

I once blogged about my frustration with finding whey listed as an ingredient in Kyolic garlic which I had used for years. Now I have good news! I saw an ad in a nutritional magazine that Kyolic was introducing new formulas and would send free samples. I called the toll free number (800-421-2998) and learned that there are now 3 formulas without whey. They have a vegetarian version of their original formula and a garlic/red yeast rice formula which look good for Os and As. There is also an immune formula which looks good for As, but has O avoids. They not only sent me samples of the new garlics, but also a sample of Kyo-Green, their wheat grass drink. Heidi has written positively about wheat grass, but I had not used it since I took wheat grass tablets years ago. The drink was very good.

I got off schedule yesterday, and am struggling this morning to get back on. I didn't eat any avoids. I just ate too much, and I ate at the wrong times. We went to Jason's Deli for lunch after church. There is plenty of beneficial food there; it's just not in convenient combinations. The salad bar has several good items that I normally don't have at home; but there is zero meat. I could get a prepared salad with chicken or tuna, but I would have to ask them to leave off ingredients (cheese, black olives, etc). I could get a roast beef sandwich, but after I threw away the bread, pickle, and chips, I wouldn't have much lunch left. I went with the salad bar and got 3 hard boiled eggs for protein. The nice thing about Jason's Deli salad bar is that they have extra virgin olive oil in the original bottle, so I know what I'm pouring on my salad.

By late afternoon I was really hungry. A snack would not do, I needed protein. So before I left for orchestra practice I ate the brisket I had planned to eat for dinner. It was delicious and so satisfying that I wasn't hungry when I fixed dinner for the family. I ate watermelon while the others ate dinner (watching the Olympics, of course). But by 10pm when I was helping my daughter review for an English test I was ready for another meal. After trying to ignore hunger pains, I settled on a bowl of almonds. They satisfied the hunger, but left me feeling too full at bedtime. Vicious cycle!!

Usually when I first get up, I have breakfasts and lunches to prepare for my family. By the time I get everyone out the door, I'm very hungry for my own breakfast. When I was at my parents' house, I wrote that I felt so good when I exercised first thing in the morning, then had breakfast. A few days later I read something that confirmed my feelings. It said that when you run before breakfast you force your body to break down fat for fuel. However, yesterday Debs wrote, "I used to run in the morning before breakfast but was told by a fitness instructor that it was ill advisable because I was burning glucose. Even though I had my brekky when I got back. Have you heard of this before?"

One thing about journalists, we are not afraid to ask questions. So, while I was at the gym today doing the 4th of my 5 free workouts, I asked the head personal trainer. Here is what he said.

If you are going to do weight training, you should eat breakfast before you work out. You are strenuously stretching your muscles, and if you do that without fuel being immediately available, your body will begin breaking down the muscle to provide energy. If you are going to do a cardio workout like running, you can do that before breakfast. A light to medium cardio workout on an empty stomach will force your body to break down fat for energy. However if you are going to do a long and very strenuous cardio workout, eat first, because again you run the risk of destroying muscle tissue. He said that when he works with clients doing cardio machines in the gym, he monitors the point at which they would begin breaking down muscle by checking their heart rate.

On another subject, since I started the Type O Diet, I've been careful to take a calcium supplement because almost all milk products are avoids. I came across a chart about calcium sources. It says

1 cup milk 291 mg calcium

3.5 oz almonds 266 mg calcium

1 can sardines 340 mg calcium

1 cup cooked collard greens 350 mg calcium

Somehow our culture tells us that you have to drink milk to get calcium, and that's not true. However it is true that 2 cups of milk a day is not unreasonable, where 2 cups or collards or 2 cans of sardines would seem excessive.

Today's main event was the first day teaching my fall journalism class. Though school started on Monday, electives did not start until today. Before and after class were lots of little events that related to the Blood Type Diet.

I walked into the kitchen this morning and on impulse decided to make pancakes. A friend had given me a wonderful multi grain recipe several years ago. I adjusted it for Os and As, and my kids said they were the best pancakes I've ever made. I posted the recipe on RECIbase. (Oat, spelt & flax pancakes)

Before my breakfast I went for a run. My son advised me not to do weight work on the same muscles two days in a row. I decided that today I would do a light run in the morning and do the machines at the gym related to shoulders and arms this afternoon. Tomorrow I will to the ab and leg machines and go for a light swim. If it gives you an idea of my upper body strength, I have never done a chin up. There is a machine that uses a hydraulic lift to aid you in chin ups and dips. I had to set it to support more than half my body weight in order to be able to do just five. If I joined this gym I wonder how long would it be before I could do a real chin up.

My son will be living in an apartment when he goes back to college. His roommate is bringing the TV and DVD. My son is equipping the kitchen. He has learned several new cooking skills this summer, but now that his return to school is drawing close, he is asking lots of questions. Earlier in the week I showed him how to grill onions. Tonight he wanted to learn to cook ground meat. We were having spaghetti, which in our family means one pan of ground beef and one pan of ground turkey. He and I got out two skillets and worked side by side. I cooked the turkey, and he cooked the beef. I wonder what his roommate's blood type is.

I walked into the kitchen this morning to find that my daughter had decorated with a birthday banner.

My breakfast was an experiment. I have had a rash on my eyelids for about two weeks. It is clearly related to makeup, because it is in exactly where eye shadow goes. But I stopped wearing makeup more than a week ago, so there has to be another component. It might be that the month of August has always been my worst month for allergies. It might be that I've been sleeping with a mask to make the room darker in the summer. Monday I was reading in Heidi's archives, and she describes two people who had a similar rash from flax seed. It might be that I eat flax seed for breakfast 6 out of 7 mornings. Tuesday I fixed eggs with onion and spinach for breakfast. Today I ground pecans to use instead of flax in my fruit and seed breakfast mix. The taste and texture were good, but flax is beneficial and pecans are neutral.

My son has really enjoyed working out at the gym all summer. Today he took me with him. They gave me a 5 day trial pass. My son showed me how to use the machines for muscle groups I am interested in improving. I have outgrown the little hand weights I have at home. However, I'm not sure whether I'm ready to join a gym. For now I will enjoy trying the equipment with my pass.

My husband and I agreed to postpone my birthday dinner for a week. Our son will only be home for a few more days, and we want to maximize family time while he is here. Part of family time this week is the Olympics. It didn't seem right to rush through a nice meal just to get home to the television. I baked salmon for dinner and it was delicious. I also baked a walnut torte for my birthday cake. I had made it once before, but it was even better this time.

I got many card and e-mail greetings. Some were funny, some were serious. Here is my favorite, "When we believe in God's plan for us, every age is the perfect age to be.