Social Workout

Newslinks

The Iditarod Gets a Little Friendlier

The Iditarod is underway! The mushers and their dogs left Anchorage yesterday, and as the Iditarod news staff puts it, they're now on their way "into the teeth of North America's largest mountain range, The Alaska Range." The teams have 1150 frozen miles to cover in roughly the next ten days.

The race is harder to follow than in years past because national television distributors have dropped their coverage, but you can follow everything on Iditarod.com. Race fans, however, may note some shifts in coverage from previous years. In 2008, the Discovery Channel followed the race. In a voiceover that sounds like Batman at his most cartoonishly threatening, their promos asked, "How do you survive [dramatic pause] over eleven hundred miles [dramatic pause] of frozen hell? You run for your life." This year, Iditarod.com has taken a much sunnier position toward the race. The new promo video has a peppy Sarah Palin smiling and saying, "The Iditarod is the event that brings all Alaskans together."

Grassroots Challenges

California vs. Alaska Fitness Deathmatch

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sarah Palin are currently exchanging heated Facebook posts regarding climate change. Where to begin on this? Facebook trash talking is sort of low rent for these two. We'd like more hardcore Arnold vs. Sarah showdowns. Both are, like, way into fitness. Mr. Universe vs. the Run-a-holic? Or how about California vs. Alaska. We ran the numbers:

Politics

Of Fitness and Governors

In England, "fit" means sexy, as in "hot." In America, it's a painfully dry term, used most naturally by gym teachers and politicians....

• Ironies abound: Sarah Palin encouraging Alaskans to sign up for the National President's Challenge, (which is alot like our B.O.W.C., but different.) Apparently, Alaska somehow won the challenge last year, though "recent surveys show that about 65% of Alaska adults are overweight or obese."
• Meanwhile, Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue (Republican, no relation to the chicken) signed legistlation requiring all Georgia students to take a yearly fitness test. Apparently, an earlier version of the bill requiring a twice yearly weigh-in was shot down. "Critics complained the weigh-ins could be humiliating for overweight students," writes the AP. Doh!