The Starting Line

Some young female athletes who are training hard to build strong bodies and be competitive in their sports could also be jeopardizing their health with their eating habits.

Young women training at a high level who don't eat enough calories lose body mass and bone density, putting them at risk for frail bones and fractures later in life.

Here’s your list of upcoming races and rides:

The weather has been wonderful, and this weekend looks like more of the same, so get out there!

Bonnie McElwee and Susan Evans biked 1,000 miles in two weeks in August, traveling from southern Ohio to Ontario. They struggled up hills, admired beautiful scenery and met new people along the way.

The Fit List took a rather lengthy summer vacation that has stretched into fall. But it’s time to get back to the races.

Cycling through the central Illinois countryside and enjoying fresh food produced by local farmers seems like a natural combination.

Olga Kotelko became an athlete late in life but she excelled, setting 37 track and field world records for her age group in her late 70s, 80s and 90s.

Kotelko, who died in 2014 at age 95, visited the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology in 2012 for a series of tests looking at her brain structure and function.

Two local adventurers traveled the Missouri River recently, paddling 340 miles from Kansas City to St. Charles, Mo. They were competing in the Missouri American Water MR 340 race, or the Missouri 340, which bills itself as the world's longest nonstop river race.

Steve Butler of Urbana and Nathan Willard of Mahomet completed the race, which started July 28.

Say you rolled your ankle playing basketball, or you have a chronically sore shoulder after a tennis match or softball game. Or maybe you strained a muscle during a run.

You know the prescribed treatment for minor aches and pains and injuries: RICE, or rest, ice, compression, elevation.

Don't reach for that ice pack just yet.

When Maria Byndom of Urbana began running last summer, she couldn't run more than a minute at a time.

"I had just had my second child, and I wanted to do something that would allow me to be in shape and allow me to meet other people. Something that I wouldn't need a gym membership for. Something I could just walk out my door and do," Byndom said. "I was looking for a challenge."