There’s much more to the Transitions Championship than the game of golf. From lining up that 20 foot putt for par to searching the woods for a lost ball to save a stroke, your eyesight is one of the most important “clubs” in your bag, and The Healthy Sight Village at the Transitions Championship will bridge your understanding of how critical sight is to your performance on and off the course. The Healthy Sight Village, and more specifically the Live Your Vision Pavilion, will guide attendees through several hands-on activities focused on proper eyecare and how to best take advantage of some of the latest innovations in eyewear.

Have you ever wondered which eye is your dominant? Or, what it is like to putt with cataracts? How about taking a test drive of the latest in lens technology to help you improve your golf game or, enjoy a more comfortable everyday vision experience? There’s no question that this week golf will be the topic of conversation as several of the PGA Tour’s finest battle their way through the Copperhead course and Snake Pit to add a win to their scorecard early in the season. However, as attendees follow their favorite golfers from hole to hole, their attention will change focus as they enter the Healthy Sight Village behind the 18^th green. It is in this Village where we have teamed up with several of our industry partners to educate spectators about the importance of healthy sight and its connection to overall, healthy lifestyles.

There are four main stops within the Village – the  Competitive Advantage tent, Kids’ Zone, Mobile Eyes Clinic and, the 4,000 square foot cornerstone of the Village, the Live Your Vision Pavilion.

It is in the Live Your Vision Pavilion where attendees of all ages and interests will be entertained and educated by industry associations and leaders to produce a comprehensive visual and health experience.

Inside the Pavilion, the American Optometric Association (AOA) will test visual memory, reaction time and eye/hand coordination. In connection with the AOA, Optos will provide attendees with an optomap retinal examination. The Vision Council has several eye activities and quizzes on sports vision protection and the dangers of UV light. OneSight has vision simulator goggles that create an experience of how poor vision affects every day life. Carl Zeiss invites attendees to view golf tips through their Cinemizer glasses. Essilor and adidas eyewear will be showcasing their latest in performance products.

The Pavilion will feature a different themed special event focused on healthy sight and healthy lifestyles each day tournament week.

Thursday: Healthy Lifestyles – attendees will learn fitness and yoga tips, as well as healthy cooking demonstrations.

Friday: Improve Your Vision, Improve Your Game – sports vision expert Dr. Larry Lampert and pro swing coach Matt Killen will coach attendees on how healthy vision impacts athletic performance, while Erik Estrada will be issuing “Sightations” to spectators who are not properly protecting their eyes

Saturday: Protect Your Skin, Protect Your Sight – celebrity doctors from BeWell.com will be on site to discuss the importance of protecting both the eyes and skin.

Sunday: Healthy Lifestyles in Sight – attendees will have the opportunity to receive free diabetes screenings and healthy snack demonstrations and tastings.

 As you can see, the Transitions Championship extends beyond tournament play.  If you’re unable to join us this week, check out our Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr sites where we’ll be reporting from the tournament and sharing many of the exiting tips and experiences throughout the week.

As you know, much of what we’re doing as a company as part of the Transitions Championship has to do with making a difference in our local community and around the world in support of healthy sight.  

There are many ways in which we are fulfilling this goal, such as bringing nearly 2,000 school children to the event to participate in eye health and wellness activities and hosting more than 300 attendees for the Live Your Vision Family Walk benefitting Prevent Blindness Florida.

This effort continues throughout the tournament through our partnership with OneSight, a non-profit organization focused on providing free exams and recycled eyewear to thousands of people in need throughout the world.  

Please join me by bringing your used/unwanted prescription eyewear to donate to this worthy cause. OneSight collection boxes will be positioned at each spectator entrance as well as in the Kids’ Zone and the OneSight booth in the Transitions Pavilion and will collect the eyewear through Sunday, March 21. 

To learn more about One Sight, please visit www.onesight.org.

Looking forward to seeing you at the Championship this week!

It’s finally here!  The 2010 Transitions Championship has arrived. This year we’re not only featuring the best field in the Championship’s history, but we also have an expanded spectator experience as part of the Healthy Sight Village, with even more industry partners who will be on-hand throughout the week.  

On Sunday, we launched championship week with our Live Your Vision Family Walk which attracted more than 300 participants – all benefitting Prevent Blindness Florida. It was a fantastic way to start the week!

Yesterday marked the first of two Youth Wellness Days. Local elementary students came to Innisbrook to participate in vision screenings, swing clinics, activities in the Live Your Vision Pavilion, and a chance to watch the celebrity Pro-Am.  Wednesday will mark our second Youth Wellness Day and in total we are proud to welcome more than 2,000 area students to help them better understand the connection between eye health and an overall healthy lifestyle.   

And, we’re just getting started! This week, we invite you to bring your families to check out the Healthy Sight Village, which includes the Live Your Vision Pavilion, LensCrafters Kids’ Zone, and the Competitive Advantage Experience (courtesy Nike Vision, Transitions, and VSP). We also have quite a few special guests, including (back by popular demand) Erik Estrada who will be interacting with spectators and issuing “Sightations” to anyone who is found not protecting their eyes

All this, plus a fantastic week of golf with many of the world’s top players – Garcia, Stricker, Poulter, Harrington and our own Healthy Sight ambassadors Kenny Perry and Trevor Immelman! We are also thrilled to announce that two of Japan’s top players Ryo Ishikawa and Yuta Ikeda will compete for the first time in a U.S stroke-play event here on the Copperhead.

We’re looking forward to seeing you all at the Transitions Championship this week!

As we gear up for Super Bowl XLIV – one of the greatest spectator experiences of the year – I had the opportunity to spend time with my friends at Transitions, along with Dr. Larry Lampert, at Radio Row.  The media center was buzzing with excitement and anticipation for this weekend’s big match up and filled with the game’s greatest athletes and media personalities.
 
Amidst all the sports talk and predictions, Transitions® lenses and my experience wearing them were the focus of much of our discussion with radio stations across the country.  After spending years on the field battling intense glare and the sun’s UV rays, I was unaware of the damage this was causing to my eyes.  I wish I had known then what I know now about protecting my eyes and taking better care of what has allowed me to experience so many wonderful things and share with others my up close and personal experience.

Wearing Transitions lenses has truly changed my life. They are a great complement to my busy lifestyle.  As someone who spends a significant amount of time outdoors – whether I’m working in the bright sunlight or on the field during a cloudy afternoon – Transitions automatically adapt to provide just the right amount of darkness to allow me to see comfortably, while protecting my eyes from UV damage.
 
As the countdown to kick-off begins here in sunny Miami, I encourage everyone – athletes and spectators alike and those tuning in from around the world – it’s never too early or too late to begin protecting your precious eyesight and be sure to visit your eye doctor regularly.

It’s tough to beat the excitement and pageantry of the Olympic Winter Games, which get underway in a couple of weeks.  I always look forward to the inspirational stories, and few are more captivating this year than the story of U.S. cross-country skier Kris Freeman.

As a marathon runner, I can appreciate the physical and mental demand of endurance sports.  And cross-country skiing takes the demand for stamina to a whole new level.  While it is certainly amazing that Kris has worked to become one of the most elite, international competitors in this very demanding sport, the fact that he has done this while managing Type 1 Diabetes makes his story even that much more inspiring.

Let’s put this in perspective.  There have been few other athletes diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes who have ever competed in endurance sports at an Olympic level, and Kris is believed to be one of the only such athletes who will compete at the Vancouver Winter Games.  Not only does Kris have to train to effectively manage energy and exertion over the course of a cross-country competition, but he also must be mindful of certain foods, continuously monitor blood glucose levels and administer insulin as needed.

Beyond the awe-inspiring passion that Kris brings to this sport, I’m looking forward to the awareness that his story will bring to the importance of effective diabetes management.  The World Health Organization projects 366 million cases of diabetes by 2030, and as an eye care professional, I’m well aware of the devastating effects diabetes can have on the eyes, sometimes leading to a loss in vision.

Unfortunately, the correlation between diabetes and eye health is not widely known.  A survey conducted by Transitions Optical, Inc. recently revealed that less than 40 percent of the population correctly identifies vision issues as possible complications of diabetes.  That is a startling figure.

If Kris Freeman has the time and ability to manage his Type 1 Diabetes amidst the endless, demanding hours of training, his story should be one of inspiration.  Anyone can more effectively manage the disease, lead a healthier life and protect their healthy vision.  As we watch Kris excel in spite of this disease, we should ask ourselves what obstacles we can overcome in our own fitness quest.

I hope Kris brings home a gold, and I hope you enjoy the sights and sounds of Kris’s inspirational story (and many more) from Vancouver!

Getting to the Baton Rouge Beach Marathon last month was an adventure.  Once I got to the event, all was well.  The race organizers were incredibly personable.  They went out of their way to make sure that everyone was well taken care of and got enough food at the pre-race expo the night before the event.  

The temperature at the start of the race was in the low 30’s and reached the high 40’s by the finish.  We started in the dim early morning at 7:00 AM.  Soon the day was clear and sunny – and thankfully with the help of my Transitions lenses adjusting to a comfortable level of darkness and working to reduce glare, they kept my eyes from getting fatigued.   The fall colors were still hanging around and reflected against the many miles of lakeshore on the course, which seemed to trigger some sort of brain chemistry that allowed me to forget how tired I was becoming.  

I ran the bulk of the race with my new friend Soph.  We spoke of a great variety of subjects that seemed monumental at the time.  Fatigue does that.  Over a couple of hours we struck up a friendship that I will value indefinitely, whether or not we meet again.  I appreciate his kindness, his candor, his drive, and the peaceful way he deals with conflict.  Not only that, the miles flew by as we visited.

During the run I had a minor problem with a calf muscle that I will share in the future.  I’m not getting old.  I just need to do more stretching – something critical for runners of all levels to keep in mind.

At the finish we were treated to alligator, gumbo, catfish, lots of other choices, and beverages.  I can’t quite do it justice, but the food was tremendous.  All the warm dishes you could want, seasoned to perfection in Louisiana style.

I am thankful that I ended up in Baton Rouge that day.  I enjoyed getting to know Soph.  The race was beautifully organized and the people were friendly and hospitable.    My wife and I truly had another adventure – one that will remain vivid in my mind.

Another state bites the dust in my quest to run a marathon in all 50 states - but not the one I intended. 

Things have an uncanny way of working out. Months ago I made plans to run the Memphis Marathon on December 5. Plane tickets, check. Hotel reservations, check. Rental car, check. The days passed and training was progressing just fine. Two weeks to the marathon, just one more detail to take care of, registration for the event. Go to the web site, navigate to the online registration section, oh no! It's full! Call the race director and he tells me "no chance" - he has already turned away 100 other slackers like me.

For a second it pops into my mind that I could run the course without being registered. This is a bad idea and would be like stealing. I would have no aid stations and no official finish. I could go as a a tourist and not run the race, which would be another bad idea and total waste of my training. My friends know that I'm going to Memphis to run a marathon and I would have nothing to report in the blog. So I check an online marathon schedule and luckily there is a marathon in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The drive is 370 miles from Memphis, should take six hours each way.

Painfully, I sit down with my wife and spill the beans, telling her something she knows all too well. I'm a slacker. Took care of so many details, but missed a small one - registering for the race. "Honey, how would you like to drive with me from Memphis to Baton Rouge, six hours? We can drive back to Memphis Saturday afternoon, do Graceland Sunday as planned."

I guess the years being married to me have paid off. She didn't even seemed surprised. She was up for the adventure, so we went and had a blast. Too bad in a way it probably serves to reinforce the slacker in me. 

I will tell you more about the weekend and the marathon itself in my next post. Until then, I look forward to hearing from any of you who have the same slackerly tendencies I have. I would love to hear of good results that have come in unpredictable ways, and also if you are an ex-slacker who has seen the light.

I wish you well in your fitness quest.  

We are into the second day of competition at the Chevron World Challenge at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks.  The course is beautiful, and I’m beginning to get comfortable with my new V-groove irons.  I’ve only had them for a few days, but thought I might as well go ahead put them in play.   

This is also my first tournament with my new eyewear – which has been a great experience for me.  As most of you know, I’ve struggled with vision-related complications throughout my career, and I’m grateful that my partners, Transitions Optical and adidas Eyewear, have come together to find the right solution for me.  I’ll now be competing in adidas Eyewear fitted with prescription Transitions lenses.  

No matter if I’m reading the greens or following the ball through the air, Transitions allow me to see clearly and more comfortably than I ever have before.  This new eyewear really has made a difference for me and will continue to be essential to my game.

Continue to follow the action from the Chevron at www.pgatour.com this week.  Please feel free to share your comments, and I’ll be back in touch again shortly.

For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, the next three months may be our greatest fitness challenge. They are full of big meals for the major holidays, devoid of early morning and evening sunlight, and in many parts of the country - frigid. 

A clear plan of attack will be needed for each of us to the start of  spring in good shape. I like to start with seasonal activities like snow shoveling, snowmobiling, and playing hockey with my boys. My sons play hockey five or six days a week, but there are only a few outings a year that include parents.  If I total up the number of days of exercise that I will get in those three categories, it will be somewhere around 30 and that will not be enough to get me to spring ready to run. 

Has anyone else noticed that in the process of having children there is a natural shift that occurs in athletics from participant to spectator? That has definitely happened to me. The other thing I have observed is that the caloric burn as a spectator is much lower.

I enjoy getting to their games to show support, but it takes a huge bite out of the day. What that means is that I will have to use a skill that I tend to shun - time management. I thought that time management ended when I finished Optometry school, but I guess not. I will need to carve out chunks of time early in the day, over lunch, and later in the evening for exercise if I hope to hit the warm days of spring in close to top shape. 

My workout plan for the winter months is to squeeze in a short run or weight lifting rather than wasting time on less valuable pursuits. 

My next step towards my marathon goal is a race in mid-December in North Carolina. I will let you know how it goes.

Keep warm.