Running in my undies in West Palm Beach

Inflatable colon was a highlight of last year's Undy 5000.

If you're looking for me on the morning of Saturday, Feb. 2, you can find me running in my boxers on Flagler Drive in West Palm Beach.

I signed up for the Undy 5000 as part of Team Clematis. The 5K Run/Walk  raises money for the Colon Cancer Alliance. The group provides hope, support and awareness to colon cancer patients and their families, while educating people about the need to be tested early. They are giving out boxers to 5K participants to call attention to the area that colon cancer affects. Hence the name, Undy 5000.

Healthy start to New Year in West Palm Beach

Patti Kadis and her dog Lily in the Run and Roll store

While many people were just crawling out of bed Tuesday morning, a dedicated group of about 70 met at the Run and Roll store in West Palm Beach.

The free, 3-mile family fun run/walk started precisely at 10 a.m. on New Year's Day with a countdown outside the fitness wear store in the 300 block of Clematis Street. The event was sponsored by the store and the Palm Beach RoadRunners group.

Store owner Patti Kadis says she also sponsors other fitness activities throughout the week. On Tuesday evenings, a group of power walkers meet at the store. Wednesday evenings are for runners, as are Saturday mornings. Kadis, who has been a runner for over 4 decades, recently moved her story from CityPlace, a shopping and entertainment complex about .5 mile southwest of downtown.

Surfing scientist checks Web for best waves in South Florida

Bob Taylor at North Jetty in Fort Pierce in summer 2012. (Photos provided)

Meet Bob Taylor, South Florida Water Management District scientist by day and surfing enthusiast by night and weekends.

Taylor, 55, grew up in Jupiter where his parents bought him a longboard at a yard sale and got him hooked on surfing. He and his buddies taught themselves how to surf and have been surfing since they were about 9 years old.

They used their surf boards to paddle across the Intracoastal Waterway back then, Taylor says, but he does not recommend doing that today -- presumably because of increased pollutants in the waterway.

He will follow the Pipe Masters tourney when the surfing competition starts Saturday in Oahu. Taylor will watch to see how Kelly Slater, 40, performs because he's one of the three top surfers in contention. And Slater is from Cocoa Beach.

Yoga for cancer patients in West Palm Beach

Rambling Ron at the Sari Center

Nestled on the eighth floor of a Flagler Drive medical office building, the Sari Asher Center oozes a peaceful feeling as soon as you enter its doors.

The West Palm Beach center offers complementary therapies to enhance the quality of life of cancer patients, regardless of where you had surgery and treatments. Among its offerings are yoga by-donation classes taught on Tuesday and Thursday mornings by famed instructor Priyanka Shanbag.

On a recent Tuesday morning, she has eight students, seven women, including one in wheelchair, and one man. The wheelchair user, a woman named Elba, eases out of her chair and onto a yoga mat before class starts.

Gentle introductions

Shanbag makes everyone feel comfortable by having each person put an adjective in front of their first name as a way of introducing each other. She goes first, and calls herself: Precious Priyanka. Elba is "Enthusiastic Elba," and Mary calls herself  "Merry Mary," adding that it's her first time here at the Sari Center. Amy dubs herself, "Annoyed Amy" because she is just feeling annoyed.

Wellington widow starts walking team to honor husband

The Herrera family: Crystal, Jorge and Isabella 

Crystal Ryan Herrera became a widow at age 29.

Her husband Jorge died in March 2011. He was clutching their 14-month-old daughter Isabella in his arms when he called out to Crystal. 

He never got to see the son she was carrying. Matthew was born a few months later.

Her husband's passing from sudden cardiac death rattled her soul. Her mom moved into the Wellington home she shared with her husband to help her. She went to grief counseling where she slowly learned to forge a separate identity. She also joined a club for widows to connect with like-minded people. And she found ways to keep Jorge's memory alive.