gwennefarrell

This is my least favourite time of year to be running/walking early in the morning. Why? Cobwebs! I absolutely hate those things and even after I have brushed them off I still feel like they are clinging to me. Today I got nailed by at least 6 of them and it nearly drove me crazy! I so hope this part of the season goes away soon.

My dad used to have this saying, if you get tired of walking, run because a change is as good as a rest. Now trust me that as a kid this made absolutely no sense to me but right I am starting to get what it means. I’ve been getting a bit bored with my running lately. It’s not that I don’t have beautiful scenery to watch or that I haven’t downloaded some good books to listen to, it’s just I feel like I am in some sort of a rut. I feel like doing the same thing day in and day out has gotten extremely boring and I need something new.

I’ve been trying to figure out what I can do about this without losing all the momentum I have gained and then it hit meet, find a new focus. I know I talked about having the goal of increasing my speed but that has been happening extremely slowly. So, I decided to cut back the distance of my runs and focus on doing 6k runs more frequently but to really push the speed. Now on my runs I push myself through as many speed intervals as possible. I’ve noticed that the intervals are getting longer and my pace has at times been the best I’ve done in all of my running (note, the pace bottoms out that last kilometer running up the hill). I’ve done this several times and am surprised at how quickly things have improved.

What does it look like now? Well, I have shaved a total of 8 minutes of my 6k and my average pace is the lowest it has ever been. Quite frankly, because I am seeing the improvement it makes again makes me eager to go out for a run. Tomorrow my goal will be to shave another 2 minutes of my run and if I am successful at that then Saturday I am bumping the distance up to 8k but still doing as many speed intervals as possible. Moreover, I am heading to the trailer next week and instead of dreading doing the boring route up there, I have already planned in my head how I can get an hour of interval training in each day and I am excited about it.

I guess Dad was right, this change has been as good as a rest.

I just had one of the best weekends ever. Saturday started with a summer social for the seniors’ organization that I do volunteer work for. Saturday night it was the mayor’s annual BBQ (we’ve known each other since I was a kid). Sunday, however, was the best of all. My little brother and I headed downtown to see the musical Come From Away. We had both seen the Apple TV filmed version of the Broadway production and I hoped that I would enjoy this live version just as much. Nope, enjoyed it even more as the vibe of being in the theatre seeing a live performance just put it over the top.

Lately there have been people commenting on the weight I have gained since my husband retired and is home all the time. Yes, I have been trying but the weight seems to want to hang on. I am determined that by the end of the year I will be back to my ideal weight and I do continue to work hard at staying fit. Now don’t get me wrong, I am still a size small and I run 6 days a week and am in good shape. I just want to be at my best weight.

Anyways, 2 of the people noted I had put on a few pounds but did so as a compliment. Both claimed that before I was too thin and now I look so much better. Quite frankly, while I knew they said this with the best of intentions, I really wish they hadn’t said anything. My weight is my concern, not theirs. I never was down to an unhealthy weight and I liked how I looked. I really do intend to get back to where I was previously at and to stay there.

The reason I decided to write about this is to remind people, when it comes to a person’s weight, just don’t comment on it. Even the best of intentions can be detrimental to that person. Polite statements like, you look great, go much further. I mean seriously, how many reading this would feel good about themselves if someone pointed out you had gained weight. Yes, I do still struggle with my body image and yes I am thankful I have people around me who care about me but my weight and health is about me. I’ve been pretty open about all of my struggles and will continue to do so regardless but don’t compliment me for gaining weight, it just makes me feel worse.

Not to worry, I’ll get over it pretty quickly as I have some pretty good days ahead in the next few weeks.

Yesterday one of the walkers on the promenade passed by me and said, have a special day. I don’t know if that is what caused me to have such a great day but I did. I got a lot accomplished and had a fun time with my husband doing inane things like shopping. I think that shout out just put me into a really good mood.

Those of you who follow my posts know that the past year has been really tough. I had to deal with a husband who was often trapped in the States because of Covid, a brother who lost his leg, a sister who went through several health scares and has now been in hospital for 3 months and we even thought we had lost our trailer when the floods hit. It was a lot to take in and every time I thought it would get better something else hit. Now I was lucky, I had my training to take my mind off things when they got really challenging and I refused to let any of that take me off the path of being mentally strong.

This week I think I finally felt like life was pretty good. It actually started several weeks ago when my sister received a message via Ancestry from someone in Sweden claiming to be a distant cousin. While our paternal grandfather was from Sweden we of course were a bit leery about this contact so my sister referred him to me. What happened next was truly amazing culminating into this week.

I should explain, the so called cousin and I started some email correspondence. It became apparent pretty quickly that he was on the up and up based not just on the information he provided about the family but also some wonderful pictures he sent including one of my great grandparents. He clinched it when he provided a picture of my aunt, uncle, grandfather and my dad. It turned out my grandfather had kept in touch with some of his family sending letters and pictures. I found it incredible that suddenly we were getting to know a part of the family that we had never been included in.

So what happened this week? Well, my cousin and I met via Zoom. We were on that call for over an hour primarily getting to know each other but also talking about family history. Turns out a decade ago when I did a day trip from Copenhagen to Malmo, Sweden I was withing 100km of where my grandfather was born and were many of the family still live. I also got to view the family tree that my cousin has created which includes both my parents. In the end we decided we would do another Zoom call when my sister is out of hospital. Also, there is an upcoming family reunion which will have many people who are my distant cousins and he will be doing a power point presentation on everything he has learned about the family. I will be providing him with a video introducing them to one of their Canadian relatives that they didn’t know about. All I can say is what a great connection.

I guess ultimately it has been nice to be having a really good experience after everything that has gone on especially in the past year. I just so look forward to seeing where this relationship goes in the future and if we get the chance to connect to more of our relatives. Yes, definitely a good week.

I’m getting a little tired of these heat waves we keep having. Mostly I am tired of getting up at 4am to get my runs/walks in by mid morning. Last night my house didn’t even cool down and the living room was 26C at 4am. Fortunately I have a/c so was able to bring the temperature back to a decent level.

Yesterday I was out for a run when an elderly gentleman stopped me. I see him and his partner pretty much every morning and have done for a long time. He told my how he had watched my runs progress over the past year and he was impressed at how much I had improved over the last year as well as by the fact that I run pretty much everyday. Well that certainly lifted my spirits and quite frankly made me pick up my pace because I felt so good.

I know I’ve talked about it before but I try and connect with everyone I pass when I am running/walking. I smile, I acknowledge them, I say hello. If I am passing someone for a 2nd time I wish them a good day. The vast majority of the people I greet respond positively and there are a few who didn’t want to respond previously who now seem to have realized that I am not going to be deterred so they too have started to smile and wave back. I just hope it makes them as happy as it makes me.

Based on yesterday’s encounter I decided I needed to up my game and start paying it forward. Maybe if I could make one person feel good they may want to do the same for someone else. I’ve started with the people I see most days and am just reaching out a little more. I’ve am now saying things like, you look nice today, that colour really suits you, please keep hydrated in this heat or watch out for the raccoon hanging off the pole up ahead (ok, that one may be more of a warning). I can see people pause for a second to take in what I have said before their face lights up. I can tell it is working.

This morning I went a step further. An older woman that I have exchanged a few words with as I run by her hasn’t been on the promenade for the past week. I was a bit worried about her as she had fallen a few weeks ago and broken her arm and I know even in the sling it was bothering her as she walked each day. Today when I saw her I stopped and asked how her arm was doing. She told me it was slowly getting better then, with a smile, thanked me for caring. I’m pretty sure that I made her feel good today.

Paying compassion and compliments forward is not difficult. However, when you do it you may have just made their day go a little bit better.

I got up this morning and realized I was having some tummy issues. I had some breakfast and things weren’t quite settling down. I decided to wait awhile and maybe skip the run and just go for a walk. Eventually I realized this just wasn’t going to happen today, I needed to listen to my body. So no run/walk and laying off the extra fibre for today.

Yesterday I got an excellent text from the friend I am mentoring. She had invested in a Fitbit and much to her surprise she managed to run 7.5k. She said she was so close to doing a 10k she could feel it. I told her if she keeps this up we will be doing that 1/2 marathon together again next year. I also reminder her to be patient and build up slowly.

If I go back and look at my posts it was only a little over a year ago that I was in the same position. I had successfully run 5k and figured that meant coach was going to have me keep doing it as well as increasing the distance, she did not. Instead we continued to work on increasing my running intervals which I found frustrating. I so wanted to keep pushing it as I knew I was close to my goal of doing a 10k by last summer that I could taste it. I had to remind myself that I had committed to always following my coach’s instructions so I did as she said.

Really, it was only a few weeks after that when I did actually run 10k for the first time though it did feel like an eternity before that happened. After each run I had to remind myself that part of this training was to develop patience. My coach had set a goal that I would build up to a 10k without ever sustaining an injury. That patience paid off because the only ‘injury’ I had was developing a corn (I still can’t believe how painful that sucker was) and even that didn’t happen until I was well past running 10k.

If I sit back an reflect on all of this now I realize that part of improving my mental health was finding that patience. I now know that it was having that patience that helped me successfully get to the fitness level I am at today. Maybe tomorrow on my run I’ll be able to ponder how patience has made the difference and how I can apply it elsewhere.

Got up early this morning fully intending to do a 12k run. However, for the 2nd day in a row my Fitbit was demanding I do a recovery day. Sigh, ok maybe I pushed a bit hard this week so decided a 10k walk was in order. As I was leaving the promenade at kilometer 8 there was a woman talking to a man about how great it was walking the promenade each day. She saw me and said to the gentleman, this lady jogs pretty much every day. I told her I had to do a recovery day so was just doing a 10k walk today. Her response, you put me to shame. Made me feel good because I’ve got about 20 years on her.

I’m a bit of a Twitter addict (reading, not tweeting) and sometimes the things I read on there just makes me want to scream. This past week a young activist in Texas posted her disappointment that the legislation that would cap the cost of her insulin had not passed. Right away several people felt the need to tweet that maybe if she lost weight then she wouldn’t need insulin. Huh? She’s a type 1 diabetic so no amount of weight loss is going to change the fact that her pancreas doesn’t secrete insulin! Regardless, no one other than a medical professional should be advising people about their weight.

There were further tweets along the lines of type 2 diabetics on insulin and the fact they should change their lifestyles, start exercising more and lose weight. I got very frustrated and tweeted that it is estimated that diabetes is hereditary in 20% of cases and that race can also play a role in the likelihood of developing diabetes. This led to a bunch of replies telling me how any type 2 diabetic can get rid of the disease by losing weight (you really can’t get rid of diabetes, only put it in remission) and that basically if you have diabetes it is your fault. Silence only fell when I gave the example of my brother who was diagnosed in his mid thirties, was not overweight and worked in a very physical job. I also noted the disease was trying its best to kill him.

Diabetes aside, why do people feel the need to fat shame? Better yet, why does fat shaming seem to be more accepted than other forms of discrimination? How is it any of my business what anyone else weighs? I remember being on a vacation in Mexico and seeing a woman who I would say was about 250lbs and she was absolutely comfortable wearing a 2 piece bathing suit, something I would never have even considered doing when I was obese but she obviously had far more self-esteem than I have so I said, good for her.

Look, I’ll be honest, I am happy I have lost all the weight and that my health is so much better. Having said that, I also know how hard I had to work to do this and how hard I continue to work to try and maintain it. Pretty sure not many who read this blog spend at least 2 hours a day, at 6 days a week working out (note most days it is 3+ hours). I’m happy for all the people who don’t gain weight just by looking at a cookie, but I and many others do.

Just stop the fat shaming. The only shoes you walk in are your own so focus on your own life. Oh, and before you think making your behind the back comments don’t hurt, you are wrong, they can be life destroying. Instead maybe find a way to be supportive and inclusive.

End of rant.

I was having a conversation one day about how rats along the promenade freak me out. This time of year in particular they are in abundance but I should note I have not seen that albino rat again (and I really would like to see it). The person I was chatting with said no, it’s the bunnies that scare me. Seriously, those really small, adorable, wild bunnies. Yes she said because I keep thinking about the killer bunnies (if you don’t get her reference you need to watch more Monty Python). So the other day I am out on my run and I see a seagull on the railway tracks. Up comes one of the wild bunnies who starts chasing the seagull. That seagull was running in terror of that tiny bunny. Just made me think of ‘run away’ again from Monty Python.

So my husband said I should talk a little bit more about the mentoring that I do. Seriously, I struggle to think of myself as a mentor but rather to me it is just helping someone develop the skills that I have. I admit this actually started in 2015 when a former co-worker was retiring and asked me to mentor her replacement. The problem was I didn’t like her replacement but to honor our friendship I said I would do it. Turns out I got a lot out of mentoring that young woman and we ended up becoming the best of friends. I guess that was the start of things to come.

A few posts ago I talked about a friend who I have been mentoring on her journey with getting fit. This week marks week 5 of my friend running 3 times a week (Monday, Wednesday and Friday). She has done awesome and texts me after each run. She started out working on doing a 5k and each time she would reduce the number of times she had to stop and walk a bit during the run (she has done some running before). Now, she is looking at increasing her distance on her runs (though I do encourage her to do increases slowly). My role, according to her, is to keep her accountable to her goals. I disagree, my role is to give her the encouragement she needs to just keep going. I know how hard this can be and I was so lucky to have a coach that never criticized, encouraged me at every goal and challenged me to do even more. That is what I want to do for my friend.

Last week my friend had had a tough week and by Friday was tired and just didn’t want to do her run. However, she sucked it up and did it anyways. I was jumping for joy at the fact that like me she threw away the excuses and just kept going. As I said to her, the best feeling is when you finish a run that you really didn’t want to do because you muted those voices in your head giving you the excuses.

Why do I do this, because like my volunteer work it really makes me feel good. The fact that I now have the opportunity to pay it forward is pretty amazing to me. I joke with my friend that maybe next year she too will be doing a 1/2 marathon however, I also let her know it is ok if she doesn’t. I also keep telling her, it is just one step at a time.

Ok, so this is not the intro I had planned to write today (it was going to be about killer bunnies but I will save that for a later date). I was out bright and early this morning for my 8k run and then of course after resting for a bit I went out to do my 8k walk. I was down to the last few blocks of my walk when I realized a woman walking towards me was a long time friend who I haven’t seen since last November. We of course had to stand there in the middle of the sidewalk catching up on both of our families. It is just so great when you have been friends with someone for over 30 years and even if you don’t see them very often when you do get together it is like you spoke to each other just yesterday. It also really gave my day a huge boost.

I know I have been offline for a week but as I mentioned my husband and I went to our trailer. We have had the property that the trailer is on for about 20 years and going there has always been the place I go to relax and just kind of regroup. It has often been hard for us as when I was working I would always head up there for extended long weekends but those weekends didn’t match the long weekends my husband would get from his job. I would usually go up to the trailer on Wednesday afternoons and stay until Monday morning while he would come up late on Friday afternoon and leave early on Sunday morning. This was made even more difficult when the pandemic hit and my husband couldn’t come home at all which sometimes meant it was just me at the trailer.

But this year is different. For the 2nd time this year we went to the trailer together and spent 4 nights there just the 2 of us (well ok, and the dogs). This past week we did a lot of puttering around completing small projects that we have been meaning to get to for quite a while. We also spent time learning how to cook on the new charcoal BBQ which I think we are beginning to master. Given the fact that the weather was close to being perfect, it was such a nice time together.

Despite my best intentions I didn’t really workout while I was there. I decided that it was my time to relax with my husband and enjoy the things that we have worked hard to have. But I have to admit it took some time for me to give myself permission to relax. I reminded myself of the work I had done in July and the fact that I did get 1 workout in so it was only 2 days I missed from my normal schedule. Let’s see, 2 days after how many consecutive weeks of hard workouts 6 days a week? I realized I really can’t beat myself up over this. Instead, I relaxed and then I was back at it again yesterday.

It’s ok to give yourself permission to relax for a few days (you just don’t make it a habit). Quite frankly I think it makes you come back even stronger.

Out early for my 8k run this morning and I was a bit stunned at the difference in temperature compared to the last week. There was a bit of cloud cover and I never really got overly warm running today (do not in any way equate this to me not sweating). It was actually a nice change to be more comfortable doing the run though apparently the heat will return for the weekend. I did do the smart thing and when I went for my walk a bit later in the morning I made sure to bring a light jacket.

I had committed to training hard the month of July in the hopes of starting to whittle away at the few pounds I have gained as well as working on my new goal for mastering running up a hill at the end of my run as well as getting my speed up. I admit, I have been working hard trying to accomplish this. 6 days a week for all of July I averaged running/walking 30,000+ steps a day which is 20+km (note Saturday was my best day ever where I pushed it to 40,000 steps and 26km). That is an awful lot of mileage to put on my running shoes which I think I am going to change out before they start to wear. I can say that by the end of the week my legs would often be questioning my sanity but I kept moving which is what I need to do.

So how is it going? Well the speed issue is interesting. I know it is not possible for me to push myself on every run, that is just going to lead to an injury. Instead I pick a couple runs during the week to do some intense intervals. What I have started to notice is that my pace is slowly picking up. It hasn’t been necessarily a huge difference but I am steadily getting fasted. As a matter of fact, when I did my 10k last week I had shaved 7 minutes off compared to my previous 10k run. I figure that is progress. I know I have plenty of time to get to my peak condition before I try another 1/2 marathon so I am just going to be thankful for slow and steady progress.

As for the hill, that thing just kills me. It doesn’t matter if I am running up it during k5, 7 or 9 it is just hard every time. Still, I do everything I can to try and improve my speed. I did a little test of my fitness level this week. My husband had pointed out a really steep hill and asked if I had tried walking up it. Unlike the dreaded Oxford Hill this one lasted only 4 blocks but has a nasty grade. Yesterday I tried that hill and surprised myself when I got home and told him it wasn’t bad at all and while he looked at me like I was crazy I said, nope, didn’t even get to my peak heart rate. Ok, it may be a stretch to see how that relates to me struggling to run up a hill during my last kilometer of a run but it tells me that I just need to keep at it and I will eventually get there. In the meantime I think I might do a little more work on walking up the really steep hills to see if that helps.

Tomorrow I am heading up to my trailer for a much needed break. I’ve decided a few days of only doing 5-6k runs (along with walking the dogs of course) is just what I need. As I have mentioned I don’t like typing out my blog on my phone or iPad so you may not see another post for a week. That is of course unless I make some stupendous breakthrough in training, that I will post right away.

Yesterday I did a really hard 8k run (more about that next week). This morning I went out early to do my 10k run and my legs were tired. Usually when this happens within a kilometer or so they are feeling better. Not today so I decided to do an easy 10k (seriously, what kind of oxymoron is that?). It wasn’t until I hit about the 6k mark that I finally was feeling better. Good thing tomorrow is my full recovery day and I won’t be doing any workouts.

This is our BC Day long weekend and after a bit of an absence our Sea Festival celebration is back. Ok, it is not quite at the level it used to be (i.e. no parade or waiter races) but there is still a lot going on. My husband and I decided we needed to get out and celebrate our community as normally we are at our trailer for all summer long weekends but we had opted to head up there next week instead. So, this is the first time in about 2 decades that we have been home for our civic holiday.

We had originally thought we would walk down to the beach where the celebrations were going on but I admit my legs were tired after my run/walk this morning so we got a ride there. Unfortunately the activities at the park didn’t start until 11:30am so we opted to walk to the other end of the beach where there were all sorts of vendors/organizations with displays. This is when I learned that my husband really likes to collect swag. The highlight was our discussion with a local search and rescue organization that my husband actually help found. We then went for lunch at one of our favourite places down at the beach before deciding to walk the 1.5k back to the park (yes, this is how I opt to take it easy when my legs are worn out).

Now the park is important, it is the Semiahmoo Park which is owned by the Semiahmoo First Nation (I want to acknowledge that we live on their unceded territory). This, I believe, is the first time our city has done their Sea Festival in conjunction with the Semiahmoo Days. What a fabulous celebration the Semiahmoo were putting on. It was geared towards kids an families and was based on a pirate theme including having a pirate bouncy castle. They had clowns (including my friend Mr Bubbles doing balloon animals), stories, pirate competitions, giant bubbles and a traditional first nation salmon bbq. What a fantastic way for us to celebrate an indigenous community that is so important to us. And I have to say, they did an amazing job. The celebrations will continue tomorrow and we hope to get back to the park to see what else they have in store.

So this weekend is about celebrating our community whether that be our city or the Semiahmoo First Nation. It is great to see both working together to spread some fun and happiness after everything the world has seen in the past couple of years. A special thanks goes to SFN for welcoming our community back into their beautiful park.