Running and spinning in Palm Beach Gardens

Aimee Lucas

Meet Aimee Lucas, a customer consultant who often travels for work but still finds time for her fitness routine. 

She's actually a "customer experience analyst" for the Boston area Temkin Group. That means she researches and consults with companies to improve their customers' experience to increase customer loyalty.

Lucas, of Palm Beach Gardens, took some time from her busy schedule to answer questions about staying fit while keeping a demanding job. 

How does your job affect your running schedule?

The only time my job affects my running is when I am on the road (between 25-40 percent of the time). Often, business travel days are booked from morning to night -- which can limit time to run. Sometimes I'll get up early to squeeze a workout in before the day starts.

But every destination typically has a hotel fitness center -- and sometimes great outdoor locations to run when the weather cooperates. Other times, I just plan ahead and use travel days as rest days.

Surfer app under development in West Palm Beach

When Internet entrepreneur Nick Mohnacky was talking with his surfing buddies about prior sessions, they had a hard time remembering the surfing details. They debated the height of swells, the date, the location and even who was there.

He reasoned it was 2013, and there should be an iPhone app for this. He wanted to record that surfing info in data and photos, but he also wanted alerts when the waves were kicking up at his favorite surfing locations.

As a member of the Pixil Agency in West Palm Beach, Mohnacky was able to call on app designer Noe Ruiz. He created a wireframe, tech talk for a visual representation, of what Mohnacky wanted in the surfing app, including wave height, swell direction, wind speed and direction, and air and water temperature.

The Surfr app uses social media to check surf reports, allow
check-ins, share photos and update a Facebook status.

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.

Learning how to reduce holiday stress in Palm Beach

Kimberly LaRue in the King Library

In the tranquil setting of the Society for the Four Arts campus, a group of women mostly older than a certain age gathered for a free talk on how to reduce holiday stress. They came to the Palm Beach campus to hear instructor Kimberly LaRue present her techniques for practicing mindfulness.

After gathering on the second floor of the King Library amidst the hardcover books and waiting for the session to start, they bantered with each other. One woman told her talkative friend, "You stress the rest of us."

"I know," replied the woman to whom that comment was directed, "that helps keep me de-stressed."

Surfing scientist talks about riding waves in South Florida

Bob Taylor in Fort Pierce, summer 2012 (photos  provided)

The soft-spoken scientist at the South Florida Water Management District has distinct ideas about how he wants to spend his spare time -- either walking on water or on land.

To Bob Taylor, environmental engineer, walking on water means surfing.

"Surfing can be a wonderful way to relax and de-stress," he says. "You are very focused on the wave; you are not worrying about other life problems."

That sounds like the main reason I like yoga. When I focus on my breathing, I forget about my worries.

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.