Tag: BU

Try a Tri

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photo 1This past weekend, the Boston University Triathlon Team hosted an abbreviated, indoor triathlon event called “Try-A-Triathlon”. The purpose was to introduce people to the sport and to get a feel for transitioning between the various events.

The race consisted of a 200M swim (that’s 8 lengths of the pool), followed by a 15 minute ride on a stationary bike, followed by a 1 mile run around the indoor track. The bike could be set at any resistance that you were comfortable with, and since everyone had to bike for 15 minutes, the swimming and running are were the places to focus your efforts if you were looking to make good time. The race was staggered into 7 heats of about 10 people each, and most swimmers shared a lane (as there were only 5 lanes). In the photo above, you can see the pool to the left and the bikes to the right.

I am not really a swimmer (or a runner, or a cyclist), but the length looked manageable so I signed up willingly. Additionally, I was excited that I could try all of these events in the temperature controlled paradise that is the BU gym. After all, Boston winters don’t make for great triathlon conditions.

“Try-A-Triathalon” seems to be an annual event at BU, so if I’m in the Boston area next year I definitely want to give it another try. Have you ever finished a triathlon?

– Kelly

 

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Gastronomy Course Spotlight: Food Activism

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This class sold me on the name alone. However, many friends and acquaintances I encountered throughout the semester didn’t have the slightest idea what food activism was or what I was studying. For our final paper, we had to come up with our own definition of food activism, so this is what I came up with…

Food activism: engaging in an action or adopting a behavior or set of behaviors that challenges a perceived wrong in the current food system, with the intent to create or be a part of positive structural change.

Readings covered all sorts of alternative food systems, from CSAs and farmers markets, to urban homesteading, food access projects, and cooperatives. While food activism is an area of interest of mine, this was no doubt one of the most time consuming classes I have taken in the gastronomy program thus far. The main assignment was to conduct an ethnographic research project studying food activism, and much to my surprise, the guidelines for the project were even more rigorous than that of  the food anthropology class.grasseni

The class was taught by Cristina Grasseni, a visiting lecturer (from Italy!) for the Gastronomy program. For anyone looking to learn more about food activism, I highly recommend any and all of the books pictured above.

– Kelly

Photo by Tony Rinaldo, image via Radcliffe Institute