Friday Five - things from the internet

Happy Friday everyone!  I hope that everyone had a great week :) And of course, since it's Friday, it's time for the Friday Five link up with Courtney, Mar and Cynthia.  Today, I'm sharing 5 interesting things I've seen recently from various places online.

1. Body Positivity - I loved this blog post from Mirna Valerio (aka Fat Girl Running) where she talks about how ridiculous it is when people concern troll and gasp about "promoting obesity."  I believe in living a healthy lifestyle but I believe what that means is different for everyone, and you also can't tell how healthy or not someone is just be looking at them.  I especially love the last bit where she states "I am making a pledge to myself of love, respect and honor for the sacred space that my body is. It is MY temple. Not yours."

2.  Heart Health for Runners - Speaking of being healthy, here is an interesting article about improving heart health for runners, because running alone isn't necessarily going to do it.  

3.  No more stretching after running (?) - Sigh.  There is so much conflicting information out there on so many things and it seems new research is always casting doubt on things I thought were established.  Apparently there is now research out there saying it's better not to stretch right after a long run and instead wait for an hour or two?  I'll probably keep stretching right after my run for now since it works for me but it was interesting to see this new information.

4.  Caffeine and running - I love this blog post on Tina Muir's site where she has a guest writer who talks about managing her caffeine intake in order to improve her running (and life).  It's really interesting, and I like that it's not just about cutting it out completely but instead managing it in a measured way.

5. Taking care of your calves - And since my calves are sore today, I thought I'd share this article from Runner's World about taking care of your calves and some strength training exercises to help. 

I hope everyone has a great weekend ahead of them!  I'm running the Shape Diva Dash tomorrow which is a 5k obstacle race.  Fingers crossed that the rain holds off until the afternoon. And Sunday Mike and I are both volunteering at the finish line of the Parks Half Marathon so hopefully they have a rain free morning as well :)