my ideal climate is a dc summer.  since i live here and i can't live in a greenhouse, i invested in the best thing i've ever bought: this waterproof down-filled trench from patagonia.  waterproof, warm and guaranteed for life.  

i don't know if this is the thing for you, but there are a few indoor dog playtimes around for those days when walking around the neighborhood is miserable.  ahimsa has an indoor playtime for adult dogs under twenty pounds on thursdays for $10, and petapoluza in fremont has a small dog playtime for free on wednesdays.  great dog in northgate has big adult dog playtime on saturdays for $10 and k9 fun zone has playtime for $10 on wednesdays and sundays.  

I'd say go to REI and get outfitted with rain gear, you can do some window shopping on their website.

An audio book on your mp3 player would help a lot though. I get the music ADD if I have control over the playlist. A book though really takes my mind off things.

That video. Whoa.

I've definitely seen people using the foam roller at the gym - men and women - and never once thought of it as sexual. Pretty sure that the standard pelvic thrust exercise is waaaaaay more sexual.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDAVQcreQ6g

I never would have thought of this, unless you had shared the link with us. Now that you've planted the seed in my mind, I watched the whole video with an eye to provocative moves, and think a lot has to do with the intent, surroundings and if more than one is doing it in a class.

I understand your reluctance to "put on a show" if you're the only one, however, I think you could modify your routine to avoid those exercises that you think might appear "suggestive"... for lack of a better word.

Can you ask the clerk at the gym what their policy is, and share why you're concerned. I imagine they'd appreciate your candor and give you helpful feedback if they allowed it.

Not at all.

Not at all.

...

What gym, and what time?

Yes I do. But not in Seattle so no worries there. Membership is 45$ a month but dropped down to 37$ if you go 8 times or more but only because I work for the hospital that runs the gym. Starting up cost me 100$.

I'm locked in for 12 months and I can only leave if I move and I have to pay for that. I've never heard of upgrade fees or anything like that so no. But I can only compare it the Y which I think I liked better.

I didn't know that gyms were gutter nature but I can believe it.

I joined the Y, and its somewhere in the range of 30 per month. the downtown one is nice, though the branches tend to be a little smaller, and only open until 9pm.

still, it feels good to be supporting the Y

24 hour fitness

Plan, but can cancel at any time

No upgrade fees

$30 a month, but it varies. They have different sizes of clubs. You can also get memberships for multiple locations (near work and near home).

The equipment is standard where I go. It's large, and has a lot of variety. There's a 3-lane pool.

Best part is that its open 24 hours, so if you have a late day you can always go there. Workout and watch sports on the big screen tvs.

Samarya Center in the Central District is absolutely fantastic. I took a 6 week course last year with RW who is "plus" sized and such an ass kicker. By far my favorite instructor and yoga studio.

I'm in.

The YMCA on 50th is probably pretty affordable.

Do you have any way of getting into Hec Ed? Kinda far...

Other than that, the only place I've been is the Community Center at Greenlake which has (had?) a weight room and a pool and was pretty cheap.

Pretty close to 65th and Rav plus you can do a lap around the lake. If you do I'm the big bald red bearded mick with a big black dog. I'm often distracted by birds.

Cardio isn't best for shaping. Use weight and endurance to do your toning. Get a personal trainer -one experienced in toning and sculpting- if a particular silhouette is more important to you than the other benefits. Overall your engine running well is more important than the surface condition of the body anyway: good health is VERY sexy.

Oh- you don't mention nutrition-- have you made a change here also?
maybe important - the coffee and cigs are drugs, and coming off those addictions your body has a number of reactions that could be at play too. Just about any smoker who's quit will tell you that you gain weight when you quit - the fact you're losing anyway is amazing.
Keep it up -! - when you get close to the ideal BMI you'll likely look great. In the meantime, think of the extra weight and sloppy fat like a bad haircut -- you gotta wait for it to grow out sometimes.

Are you doing weight training? A good weight training routine is really important to replace some of that fat you're losing with muscle.

A 14-lb weight loss is also really fast for just one month. If you're not doing weight training, I recommend you start doing that while cutting down on high intensity cardio; my totally amateur opinion is that 30 minutes of intense cardio per workout is just about right, unless you're training for a sport.

Warm up, stretch, and build up to the distance over time.
This may seem like common sense, but so many just set the date of the run as their target, and then fail to get into condition...and have a misserable experience as a result.

You need to train for it, and built up to it... not only will it make the experience better...but you'll get into shape over time...and feel better afterwards also.

Dress in layers, so you can peel off unwanted clothing during the run. (Try to drop them at recognised locations, so you can retrive after the run, if you want.) Some wear old shirts with the intent that they will be donated to charity after the run by race clean-up people!

Carry a band-aid or two to cover your nipples. Many men wear a harsh, mess top, and find their nipples get rubbed raw or bloody. (This bothers some folks, others not...)

Some recommend eating a high carb meal the night before, or carry a granola bar... but I leave that to more experienced runners to advise.

You will lose visceral fat, that fat that surrounds your internal organs as well as subcutaneous fat, that which pads your entire body between your muscle and skin. The visceral fat loss is much more important to your overall health and allowing your internal organs to function better with less strain. You can be losing weight internally and not really show the overall physical effects as much as you might expect. The overall health effects, though, are hugely important.

With your internal body cavity slimming down you start to lose that "well rounded fat look". With additional calorie expenditure you will also be losing that subcutaneous fat and will see the physical changes you expect. It is true that it will take time for your skin to tighten up and adjust. Take periodic looks at yourself by measuring circumference of your upper arms, thighs, waist, etc. at weekly (or other) intervals so you can detect the real changes that are occurring. When losing visceral fat those measurements can actually not change much initially, even though you see the scale weight going down. Remember if you build muscle mass through exercise this may even show as an increase measurement to your limbs that will reduce as caloric expenditure goes up with increased muscle tissue and you burn that subcutaneous fat.

BTW, good for you! Keep up your efforts and bravo on the lifestyle changes.

When you lose weight fast like that, it takes some time to redistribute. Skin has to tighten up a bit, stuff has to move around. Gaining weight it's pretty even, losing it is a bit of a shit shoot. The changes in muscle mass are probably making you look a little extra lumpy. Don't worry about it, keep on doing the healthy stuff and your body will work itself out. It's a different process for everyone (and it's been different for me every time I've lost weight).

RM's answer is very thorough and she obviously has a wealth of knowledge beyond mine in running techniques. Additionally I have not been able to view the video she referenced.

But some points:

First, as I understand it the difference between typical running shoes and barefoot shoes is the way your foot makes contact with the ground - heel strike versus ball strike, and of course this greatly changes the way the forces of impact travel through the structures of your foot and also to joints higher up your leg.

I would not expect that changing to this kind of shoe would be of any benefit in returning to running before your achilles tendon is fully healed and back up to 100%. Even then, learning any new techniques will require you to go slow and easy in the process.

Second, let the healing process occur fully and pay attention to your doctor's advice about when running can resume. Investigate recommended methods for further increasing strength to it when appropriate. Gentle longitudinal massage can help to reorganize the tangle nature of healing and healed fibers to more pre-injury and normal structure. Your doctor can make a referral for you to get physical therapy services for other modalities that can promote healing and strengthening of the tendon such as ultrasound.

Third, a healing/healed achilles tendon may show some shortening and thus set you up for a repeat injury. This is why appropriate exercise for strengthening the calf muscles, movement regimens, stretching and massage are important when you can return to such activity. You want to heal from this injury appropriately and not get in a cycle of re-injury.

Firstly- it's the technique over shoes- hands down, 100%. If you really research barefoot running it's entirely about how you run, not what you have on your feet. NY Times just published a really great article that has a video showing technique - check it out here: http://nyti.ms/u3BW3o

That being said- I just bought a pair of Vivobarefoot shoes and they're the best thing to ever happen to me.

I completely screwed up my knees training for my first half marathon. I was running in a pair of "fancy" running shoes and didn't know anything about running form. I was a heel striker and an over-pronator, but was told that my fancy shoes would help fix that. Nope.

December of last year, after said first half marathon and not being able to run for almost a full month afterward- I researched and started incorporating Chi Running (which incorporates much of the same form as barefoot running) into my training runs. WORLD OF DIFFERENCE. Everything that had been bothering me completely disappeared. My pace increased, my enjoyment of running increased, and every single ache and pain that I had been experiencing went away.

Three months later I ran my second, very very hilly half marathon and cut 15 minutes off my previous time. This was still while running in my fancy shoes.

I recently really screwed up my foot- still in my fancy shoes, still Chi Running. Or at least trying to. Most running shoes are made to accommodate heel striking and thus actually make it really difficult to take on any other form. While it hadn't bothered me previously- combined with training for another half and my newly changed routine of walking to and from work every day (adding three miles to my day- walking in shitty work shoes) my podiatrist told me that I apparently "overused" my foot. Not cool.

I've been in a walking boot for just short of two weeks and luckily my foot has done a lot of healing in that time. I put on my barefoot shoes last night and ran around my apartment a few times, then did a round of the exercises shown in the NY Times video. It was almost a little bit mind blowing. Heel striking actually felt like it would be impossible, and combined with the fact that I've been using the Chi Running method for 10 months- it felt so insanely good.

So, yes and no on barefoot running. No the shoes won't magically make all of your injuries go away- but yes, combined with proper and intentional form they are a really wonderful tool.

"Read a lot on Yelp, but at least in this category, am beginning to think many of their reviewers are confused, crazy, or just plain lying"

Possibly all of the above with any review site, but yoga tends to be fairly subjective in what you get out of it. If you don't push yourself, the instructors aren't going to force you like a personal trainer would.

I would definitely sample classes from studios in your area (don't worry too much about being stuck with them, you should be able to finagle a free class) and get recommendations from friends, see which you work out best with.

"- am sensitive to strong odor. A strong mildew smell would make me nauseous, so . . . best avoid that for everyone's sake."

This should be fairly obvious, the wide variation in reviews from the same studio might just be from people who bring in their dirty towels, mats, and gym clothes.

Cardiovascular exercise and a healthy diet are the key to a long and healthy
life for the things you have control over. Genetics can't be changed but
habits can. So good on you for taking the first step, I am not even going to
ask why you want to jog in a cemetery :).

Hamstring stretches, quadriceps stretches and calf stretches will do you the
most good running. Here is a link to a good article that covers a bunch of
the basics -
http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/runningworkouts/tp/BestRunningStretches.h
tm

Run 1 mile the first day. If you are not sore or have muscular stiffness
then try increasing it each day. It is best to build up slowly rather than
get hurt - Rome was not built in a day.

Get a heart rate monitor so you can know how hard you are pushing yourself.
Without one most people will tend to not push themselves as much and a very
few will push to hard. This helps regulate your training and get you in the
proper zones to improve your fitness. The best place to buy a heart rate
monitor is at the Heart Rate Watch Company of course.

Happy Training,
Rusty Squire

Lambert House

Well, other than just getting out there and running, here's a couple tips that you might not hear elsewhere:

1. Your skin might get chafed and scratched... repetitive rubbing of the clothes against the skin for a couple hours. When doing practice runs, be sure to run in the outfit you plan to wear on the half-marathon to see if it irritates your skin in any particular location. Then be sure to use vaseline or something on the actual day of the run. I didn't know about this when I ran a full marathon and afterwards my, er... nipples... looked like someone rubbed sandpaper over them all day. Ouch.

2. Take some of those energy gel packs with you (they're available at most sports stores). You can get fancy carriers, or just do what I did and saftey pin them to your waistband. Practice taking some and eating them on your practice runs so you know which ones you like best and how many you want to bring. If you bring any caffeinated ones with you, save them for the end of the marathon... they'll dehydrate you a little.

3. If you normally run on a treadmill, be sure to do some random uphills/downhills so you're prepped when you do the actual run.

That's about all I've got. Have a great time!

Use a present running plan like this:

http://www.halhigdon.com/halfmarathon/novice.htm

Get a good pair of running shoes from Super Jock n Jill, where they watch how you run to see what type of shoes work best for you.

I'm running my first 5K, 10K, and half and full marathon with his training plans and they are *awesome! The trick is to just put in the miles, and you'll be fine.

Good luck!

Are you running at all right now? First you need to start getting yourself into a regular running routine. My half marathon training has always involved running three days a week. Two shorter runs during the week (good time to work on speed/stride/etc.) and my long run on Sunday. Go check out runnersworld.com and click around- they have TONS of information on training for a half, as well as free guides that you can download to get you through the mileage.

Half marathons are my absolute favorite distance, but it takes some serious work. Having someone to do your long runs with will make a tremendous difference, and don't be afraid to WALK when you need to. Your first half is not the time to focus on your finish time. Just get the miles in and feel amazing that you're doing it. Better slow than injured.

http://www.halhigdon.com/

LOVE HIM!!

YouthCare is your best bet. While they don't specialize in LGBTQ youth exclusively, they do serve lots of kids that fit that demographic. Their Orion Center is technically in the Denny Triangle, but if it was a few hundred feet east it would be in Capitol Hill.

You can read an interview with their ED Melinda Giovengo about their service to LGBTQ kids on Seattle Gay News here: http://www.sgn.org/sgnnews38_52/page5.cfm

Their website: http://www.youthcare.org/

I would hyperlink this stuff, but apparently Qland doesn't like IE9 or something.

The old All Star Fitness location on Queen Anne's pool uses bromine but I am not sure if that is even still open or around.

Not to claim to be an expert but I run 25 to 30 miles a week and have been running for nearly 30 years. And I have dealt with back injuries and knee injuries etc.

The website idea is a good place to start but the most important thing to do is LISTEN TO YOUR BODY WHEN YOU START TO RUN!!!!

I don't care how great a website claims to be or how "expert" it is; a website doesn't know your body...you know your body so listen to it. And many of those websites will either push you too hard or not hard enough so take them with a grain of salt.

You mention stretching which is very important but much like your start in running don't over do it and don't rush through it.

Then we get to the run it's self and for a beginner thing BBQ. Yeah BBQ...slow and low. That means a slow pace and low intensity. I would suggest running a few blocks and then walk a block or two then pick it up again. As you progress you will find that you will be able to build more distance in your run and finally more speed.

The most imporant part is to listen to your body and don't push it. If you need to take a break do so but at the same time realize that to be a strong runner takes a commitment of time and effort. It isn't something that you are going to be great at in just a few weeks.

So go out there and get going!!