Fitness

Sara Rue Achieves New Goal: Finishes San Luis Obispo Half Marathon!

Courtesy Jenny Craig

In the past year, actress Sara Rue has learned a lot about setting goals and working hard to achieve them. The Jenny Craig spokesperson, who lost 50 pounds on the weight loss program, accomplished her latest goal by running her first half marathon on Sunday—and completing it in a remarkable two hours and 27 minutes. “I feel so happy! It’s awesome!” Rue told PEOPLE at the finish line. “Now I understand what people have been saying about having a runner’s high. I’m in the best shape of my life. Less than seven, eight months ago I couldn’t even run a mile. This has been really empowering.” Rue, 32, ran the City to Sea half marathon, which started in downtown San Luis Obispo, Calif. and ended in Shell Beach, Calif., with her personal trainer, Christopher Lane. “When the race started we were being passed by hundreds of people,” Rue said. “I was a little discouraged and I tried to joke with Christopher by saying ‘hey, I don’t think we’re going to win this thing!’” But she didn’t let herself get psyched out and instead, focused on keeping the 12-minute mile pace she trained for during the summer. “Once we settled into our pace, I just started enjoying the run,” said Rue. Following her every step of the way was fiancé Kevin Price, who filmed Rue along the route, and even ran alongside her “for about two-tenths of a mile,” she said, laughing. After the race, Rue celebrated by going out the lunch (she had a healthy grilled chicken salad!) with Price and friends. “I wore my medal to lunch,” she said. “I had to. I didn’t think I’d enjoy [the run] as much as I did. It was empowering and fun – fun!” –Monica Rizzo

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50 Lbs. Thinner, ‘Inspired’ Kirstie Alley Looks to Drop 40 More

Courtesy Troy Plota

Take note, Jamie Foxx. Kirstie Alley, who is playfully unabashed in her ongoing quest for Foxx, is even more “shag-ready”. In fact, after tipping the scales at 228 lbs. last year, the actress has dropped 50 lbs.–and isn’t looking back. “THE GOOD NEWS….I’ve lost 50 lbs!!! THE BAD NEWS…I have 40 more to go!!! …lol…..at least I’m more than half the way there!!,” she Tweeted on Oct. 4. What’s her secret? Staying faithful to Organic Liaison, the weight-loss program she launched in March, as well as finding support and inspiration from fans who took the dieting plunge with her. “Thousands have now had huge success with my new weight loss program,” Alley, 59, tells PEOPLE. “Nothing makes me happier than reading about their extraordinary triumphs…They inspire me to continue on my own journey and I am grateful for them.”  As the country’s first USDA-approved organic weight loss plan that specifically targets cravings, curbs appetites and boosts energy, Organic Liaisons will soon be available at GNC stores, the first time its been available outside of the company website, www.organicliaison.com. Two years in the making, Alley says she wanted to create a weight-loss system that doesn’t include “meals that I can keep in my closet,” she says on the Organic Liaison site. “Also one that would actually improve mine and my kids health along with shrinking my awesomely ample bottom.” As for her gradually shrinking body, Alley has perspective. Tweeting on Oct. 6: “I’m far from SKINNY….but I’m at least far from Shamu …no insult to Shamu intended.” –Elizabeth Leonard

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Dana Delany Recalls Her Botox and Eating-Disorder Nightmares

Courtesy Prevention

Think getting Botox is just a silly little procedure with no potential long-term downside? Listen to actress Dana Delany’s story. “Seven years ago, I had never heard of Botox,” the former Desperate Housewives star tells Prevention magazine in its November issue. “My dermatologist was saying, ‘You should try it.’ He injected my forehead, hit a nerve, and created a huge hematoma. The nerve has been dead ever since. It affected the muscle in my right eye, so my eye has started to droop a little bit.” The experience left Delany, 54, wary of plastic surgery, and impressed by women in Hollywood who shun it. “I won’t do it, no,” she says. “My hat’s off to Jamie Lee Curtis. She’s so smart, and she doesn’t dye her hair or anything. And Meryl Streep still looks like herself. Diane Keaton, too. I think the really great actresses don’t worry about that kind of thing.” Delany, who stars in the new ABC medical drama Body of Proof, also relates her struggles as a young woman with an eating disorder. “When I was a teenager and in my twenties, I had eating issues,” she says. “I binged. I starved. I was one step from anorexia — a piece of toast and an apple would be all I would eat in a day.” But despite her misadventures with Botox and food, Delany says she has a healthy outlook when it comes to the heaviest issue of all — her own mortality. “I think I have a pretty good relationship with death,” she says. “Ever since I was a little kid, it wasn’t something I feared.” To hear more from Dana’s interview visit prevention.com, or pick up the November issue of Prevention magazine, on newsstands tomorrow. –Tim Nudd

Courtesy Prevention

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Mia Hamm’s Modified Mommy-Fitness Regimen

Vince Bucci/AP

There was a time when soccer star Mia Hamm would work out for seven hours a day. “That was my life,” she says, “everything was geared around playing soccer, about being healthy. I would literally be active all day long.” Flash forward to today: The 38-year-old mother of three-year-old twin girls has new priorities–and they don’t include seven-hour workouts. “Things have changed,” she says. “I spend a lot of time with my kids, so I can’t dedicate as much time [to exercise].” When she does work out, Hamm says she spends an hour at the gym. “I like to be toned and fit, which is harder for two reasons. First, I’m older. Second, I like to eat. I never thought about my caloric intake when I was playing soccer. Now I have to pay attention to it.” Her guilty pleasure? “If I had to choose one food that is my weakness, it would be chips and salsa,” she says. “I don’t know what it is, but I love them. But other than that, I try to eat healthy, fresh food. Or at least in moderation.” These days, Hamm is a spokesperson for Give Your Health A Shot, a public awareness campaign to educate adults about vaccinations and total body wellness. It’s a message that hits close to home. “I’m like every other parent,” she says. “My health often takes a backseat to my kids.” But now more than ever, Hamm says, her health is important to her. “I don’t want to have a negative impact on their lives,” she says of her daughters, Grace and Ava. “I want them to be happy and successful, and the best way is making sure the entire family is healthy.” And her advice for parents struggling to find time to get to the gym? “You’re worth it,” she says, before rethinking her answer. “No, your family is worth it.” –Steve Helling

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