Thanks!

This is a special Thank You to all the wonderful folks who came out to show us some love on Sunday afternoon!

And to those who couldn't make it, we promise that there will be other events to look forward to this summer.

Successful Advertising?

Yeah, this picture is real. You can check it out on the AdRANTS website, a newsblog that follows the state of the advertising and media industries. The publisher seems to think the ads were placed either by someone with a sense of humor, or by the oft-blamed error of human stupidity... It's hard to believe it's that innocent in a situation where money is changing hands.

But can you believe it? Of course you can. My first impulse was to laugh and think, "well, that's not very suprising at all." But think for a second about the implications of such a statement. Are we so accustomed to marketing as to ignore how blatantly ridiculous it is to have a McDonald's ad (paid for by the corporation) placed directly underneath a public service health awareness ad (most likely paid for by our tax dollars)? Let's take a moment to ponder its contents, shall we:

The smaller print on the 'childhood obesity' ad reads:

"EAT FRUITS AND VEGETABLES AND BE ACTIVE"

The woman, a doctor, is very serious about childhood obesity... the stern look, the white coat, the clever-yet-admonishing tagline: "don't take it lightly." How many of us like going to see the doctor? How many of us are made to feel bad when we do? The struggle towards self-improvement is rarely, if ever, accomplished by strong disapproval from authoritative figures (think about mom for a minute...). One's relationship to food is a harder habit to kick than most addictions. WE NEED FOOD TO LIVE. How useful is it then, to make one feel bad for the food that one eats? Don't get me wrong, I believe that people should eat better. In addition, I believe that it should be a universal right in a society of plenty for everyone to have access to affordable, good quality food. The message on the billboard to eat better is accompanied by a phone number for more information about FOOD STAMPS, acknowledging how difficult it is in our society to be able to afford to eat well and to make sure that our children do too. The image overall is one of consternation, a warning from the health care professionals to all of us gluttonous sloths to get off our asses and stop frivolously indulging in things not of the fruit and vegetable matter.

Conversely, the young woman depicted on the McDonald's ad is having a grand ol' time, with her bags full of goodies off the dollar menu. Her brightly smiling face and slim figure is set against a backdrop of vibrant, eye-catching green and larger-than-life images of ice cream, burgers, and those famous french fries. Who would you rather be friends with: the doctor or the McD's girl? And with food items that cost only a dollar apiece, where else can one go on a shopping spree these days? Certainly not at the supermarket, where a healthy, organic bell pepper can easily cost $5.99 a pound! Why, you can get 6 burgers at that price!! And, boy oh boy, doesn't a shopping spree sound fun??

The smaller print on the McDonald's ad reads:

"I'M LOVIN' IT"

Now, if you could feed a whole family for the price of just a pound of bellpeppers, which would you choose?

If you've been told all your life that you can consume your way out of misery, what would you do?

And if you were fed conflicting information every day through television, news, advertising, friends, family, co-workers, professionals, experts, charletons, sit-coms, and Oprah, how would you process this information?

I say smash your tv and join me for a run in the park.

Summer Kick-Off Barbecue!! May 27th

Like all things in the cycle of life, winter - though persistent this year - must also come to an end. We shed overcoats and undercoats, scarves and seasonal-affective disorder, in celebration of the warm days to come... and the promise of hot New Yorkers traipsing about in less and less clothing.

Come join us on our rooftop this coming Sunday, May 27th for some good food, good drink, and good times! Memorial Day weekend is upon us, and you don't want to be the only one in town without plans, do you??

The skinny:

What, you ask?
Barbecue. You come. We give you food.
When, you ask?
Sunday, May 27th. We light the coals and crack a beer at 4.
Why, you ask?
We're fundrasing for Team for Kids, duh!
How, you ask?
Send your RSVP to nini.wienie@gmail.com, and we send you our address.

We are asking for a suggested donation of $15, with a sliding scale of $10-$20 for all you students and hard-working folks out there to give what you can.

This is our first official fundraising event, so we're starting small. (Those of you who attended last year's Pho-raiser for Typhoon Xangsane Relief know how decadent we can get....) Please come out and support if you can! As always, friends and family are more than welcome to come and share the love.

Roadwork

Here's a little bit of runner's history for your procrastinate-while-working pleasure:

Jogging is a vaguely-defined term which generally refers to a type of slow running, previously called "roadwork" when athletes in training, such as boxers, customarily ran several miles each day as part of their conditioning. In the 1960s to 1970s the word "roadwork" was mostly supplanted by the word "jogging" and this form of running became quite popular among many people at that time, mainly throughout the Western world. (Taken from the only reliable source of truth and honesty in this world: Wikipedia)

Victories and Defeats

This weekend was one of both triumph and despair... After an 8-mile run yesterday through the streets of Brooklyn, over the bridge into Manhattan and back, our team suffered a casualty: the retirement of LoAnn's shoes. Let us take a moment to pay homage...
A women's size 5 discounted pair of shoes, purchased over 5 years ago, finally ended their term of service today. We bid them farewell, and a happy return to that shoe palace in the sky.

LoAnn has moved on and is now finding comfort in the arch supports of a shiny new pair of women's size 8 New Balances, matched perfectly for her stride by those wonderful folks at JackRabbit on 14th Street. Hopefully now her right knee can recover from yesterday's run.

We now turn to our weekend's highlight!

"Mighty Mouse" Yen ran her first half-marathon this last Saturday in New Hampshire, the Big Lake 2007. Here she is in all her post-run glory on our oversized living room chair:
Doesn't she look fabulous in her victory medal? Congratulations, Yen!! You deserve a good nap, even if you've already been sleeping for hours and hours...

and... they're OFF!!!

Hello World!! and welcome to the first post ever by us, the Turtles of Myrtle Avenue. We hail from all four corners of the states - Minnesota, Texas, Connecticut, and California to be exact - but have come together here in Brooklyn with one goal in mind: to help children in danger!!!

Well, they're not in any sort of real immediate danger... at least not the kind you generally think of when you think of danger. No darts flying from walls, no swordfights in close proximity, not even a giant rolling boulder chasing them down some dark, dank tunnel. Rather, we have all pledged to fight the good fight against one of the most deadly of silent dangers: childhood obesity.

Here are some statistics taken from the Team for Kids website:

New York City More than 43 percent of the city's children are overweight or obese. Overall, the percentage of overweight and obese children in New York's public elementary schools exceeds the alarming national levels by more than 100 percent. Student-teacher ratios for physical education are an estimated 730 to 1 in New York City elementary schools. In two out of three middle schools, most of the physical education classes have more than 50 students. Two out of five New York City public schools (all levels) offer no after-school sports and fitness activities at all. United States Obesity now kills 300,000 Americans per year The World Bank has estimated that 12 percent of the U.S. health care budget is spent treating obesity-related medical issues more than $100 billion annually The percentage of young people who are overweight or obese has more than tripled since 1980 Diabetes is expected to afflict one in three American children born in 2000 unless they begin to eat better and exercise more. Worldwide 300 million people worldwide are obese and 750 million more are overweight. At least 155 million school-age children worldwide are overweight or obese, according to the latest estimates from the International Obesity Taskforce. Research indicates that in some parts of Africa, fatness and obesity afflicts more children than malnutrition does - sometimes four times as many. In Egypt more than 25 percent of 4-year-olds are overweight. Obesity rates are also more than 25 percent among children aged between 4 to 10 in Chile, Peru, Mexico.

As proof of our dedication to the cause, and our commitment to good health, we are all running the ING New York City Marathon on November 4, 2007. We are now accepting tax-deductible donations to help us reach our goal of $10,000!!

For more information on how to donate, please contact nini (for now): nini.wienie@gmail.com

Keep checking our site as we will be keeping you updated on our training, our fundraising efforts, and our progress towards the goal of $10,000 and 26.2 miles!