It's been a good week … for women in sport
Talk about a lump in the throat. Seeing Kathrine Switzer finish the Boston Marathon last week – at the age of 70 – was the stuff of goosebumps.
Her achievement was all the more momentous as it marked 50 years since Switzer first became a trailblazer of the women's rights movement after challenging convention to run the then all-male race.
In 1967, furious officials tried to pull her off the course but Switzer managed to evade their clutches to finish in 4hr 20min.
This time around she clocked a slightly slower – but no less impressive – 4hr 44min and 31sec. Afterwards organisers retired Switzer's race number 261 in her honour.
Her accomplishment shows how far gender parity in sport has come ... and how much progress must still be made.
Only seven per cent of UK sports media coverage is devoted to women and a mere 0.4 per cent of commercial investment. Something to ponder during today's London Marathon.
As Switzer says: "We have come a light year. But we have a long way to go."
It's been a bad week … for dining al desko
Picture the scene: it's lunchtime in the office and you're shoving a sandwich into your mouth with one hand, while typing with the other and cradling the phone under your chin catching up on calls.
New research reveals that more than a third of workers eat lunch at their desk four or more times a week.
According to a report by London-based venture partners Lendlease and LCR, three-quarters of workers regularly sit in one place for more than an hour at a time, while a quarter never use the stairs at work.
The phenomenon has spawned a website, Sad Desk Lunch, where people share snaps of their lacklustre desk-ridden fare including limp salads, soggy sandwiches and congealed microwave-heated ready meals.
Yet, employees who view themselves as heroically dedicated and efficient multitaskers as they eat at their work stations could be damaging their health.
Not only can "dining al desko" contribute to weight gain and obesity, studies have linked prolonged sitting to an increased risk of developing cancer, heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
Oh, and your desk has more bacteria than a toilet seat. Yummy.
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