Diane Israel, ex-Boulder triathlete, confronts her athletic demons in Beauty Mark (VIDEO)

This week's cover story, "Running on Empty," profiles Diane Israel, a former endurance athlete who in the 1980s helped put the fledgling Boulder triathlete scene on the map -- but in the process nearly destroyed herself. Her road to recovery has taken years, and one of the steps along the...

By Joel Warner

August 24, 2011

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This week's cover story, "Running on Empty," profiles Diane Israel, a former endurance athlete who in the 1980s helped put the fledgling Boulder triathlete scene on the map -- but in the process nearly destroyed herself. Her road to recovery has taken years, and one of the steps along the way was her 2008 film Beauty Mark, a documentary that began as an examination of eating disorders but evolved into a personal examination of Israel's internal demons.

The film mixes raw moments of pain with flashes of upbeat humor as it tracks Israel's evolution from a successful but troubled young athlete to a confident woman who still struggles with her own body image. A preview of it can be watched below, and an educational version of the film, designed for classrooms, can be purchased at the Beauty Mark website.

It's an important watch for road runners and couch potatoes alike.

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Joel Warner is a former staff writer for Westword and International Business Times. He's also written for WIRED, Men's Journal, Men's Health, Bloomberg Businessweek, Popular Science, Slate, Grantland and many other publications. He's co-author of the 2014 book The Humor Code: A Global Search for What Makes Things Funny, published by Simon & Schuster.

Contact: Joel Warner