Hello, iRun nation !  It’s a very bright and beautiful Monday morning in Toronto but too cold compared to what we expect for this time of year.

Hopefully, spring is around the corner !

Being one of the iRun makeover contestants, one of the questions that I get asked by people is “How did you get started on this path” ? Or, “What made you start to run” ?  Well, I have been told that that is an interesting story and is very similar to alot of peoples’ life experience but unlike alot of people, I found a way to deal with the problem. You see, the problem was an over-stressed lifestyle.

About 4 years ago, I was in my early forties and employed with a fabulous company that satisfied my creative and professional bent but the job was long hours full of stressful phone calls with clients trying to close a sale; if the sale did not happen, I didn’t get paid; simple as that. What could be more stressfull ?  I was sitting on my duff and not exercising at all but not eating well either.  I had a sedentary job but I had always been naturally slim and had a small appetite and I thought that I could eat any food if it was once per day only (no breakfast or lunch – only dinner). But, I was steadily gaining weight and feeling more and more lathargic, tired and had noticed that I didn’t “bounce back” from an arduous day as easily as I once had. What the hell was wrong with me ? I knew that the stress factor of my job was the culprit and so I embarked on a campaign of “wellness” and “relaxation”. Candles and incense were purchased and used everynight after work, long hot baths in the tub were indulged in, wonderfull 9 hour sleeps every night as well.  I tried all of these alone and together to lower my stress levels and too regain my stamina. To no avail.  The results were temporary at best and at worst, made no difference at all. I thought of starting Yoga classes but decided to try a more frequent and enriched sex life as that was a great stress reliever too (unfortunately,  my husband benefited more from that than did I !)  No success …what was I going to do ? Did that really mean that I was going to have to try “gasp” exercise ?! OMG !! Not that ! hahha…I had never excersised a day in my life per se.  I mean, I had grown up on a farm up north and by its nature, farming is a very physical way of life but I had not been active in grade or high school sports or anything else after finishing highschool. My idea of exercise was running to the Holts sales rack or to my favorite shoe store to get the last pair of heels in my size !

One day, in January 2006, I was walking home from work and saw a stationary bicycle thrown out on the curb. It had two pedals and two handles and not much else; no speeds except ridiculously easy and hellishly hard but it was clean, white and best of all : free ! So I lugged it home and hauled it up the stairs to the master bedroom and the very next day (following some sort of imaginary New Years’ Eve resolution) got on that bike and pedalled for 5 minutes and promptly thought that I would die ! Right then and there ! I had never sucked air so hard or so fast ! Of course, I had had no cardiovascular exercise in about 25 years and my body was screaming at me ! But, I persevered : 5 minutes, 7 minutes, 9 minutes and more. I began to be aware of what I ate and how much;  I started to educate myself about calories, carbs, protein and fat intake. By God, I thought,  if I am going to work this hard, I’m not going to let it go to waste for stupid empty calories !  By the spring, I could pedal on my little bike for half an hour at a time and the pounds were melting away; ten down from January but mostly I think due to my strict diet of not eating anything that “my grandmother wouldn’t have recognized” diet. No processed foods – at all.  No cheese, no red meat, no pop, no white bread, rice, pasta, no desserts, no alcohol, no pre-prepared food. I made everything from scratch or ate it whole or fresh.

Spinach and brocolli were my best freinds as well as fresh fruit, chicken and fish.  By May, I was tired of the bike and looked around for something else to do and I realized that I could put on a pair of running shoes and go out the door at any time and run down the street.  So, I did that and ran from Broadview to Pape subway stations along the Danforth; I found out that the distance was 1.1 kilometres oneway; double that for 2.2 or triple it for 3.3….now I was interested but not hooked. It was hard running; much harder than I had thought.  I felt as if I was back to those first days on the bike….sucking air and managing only 1 or 2 Ks before I had to stop. But I am a very determined woman and I kept at it if only because I felt that this could be my last chance to “make a difference in my physical life” as it were.  Twice per week,  I would lace up my shoes and go out and run 2 to 4 K and once I ran 7 K all on my own, however, I knew that I could not go much further on my own (running by yourself is very boring if you have no idea what you are doing and have no clear goal to strive towards).  I needed help.

So, fast forward one more year during which I struggled with running;  I picked it up and let it go then picked it up and let it go again. Winter came and went (who runs in the wintertime ??!! ….only crazy people you know !)

Another springtime and another oppurtunity. Whatever cardiovascular benefits I had gained from running have surely been wasted by now…I have to start from the beginning ! I had seen a yoga place that offered running clinics in the neighbourhood and had wondered about them. But surely this is a place were “runners” and “athletes” go;  not people like me.  If I were to go there, I would get laughed at;  wouldn’t everybody realize that I couldn’t run more than 4 K without getting winded ?

Stay tuned …for the next part of this personal journey……

My baby, or more accurately, my youngest, is almost three. In June, 2008, when she was six weeks old, I buckled her up in her car seat and lugged her to our first Weight Watchers meeting. I had no idea that “trying to lose my baby weight” would evolve into a profound journey of self discovery.

As required, I set myself a short-term and a long-term goal. I diligently counted points and measured my servings. I balanced the delicate art of losing weight and maintaining a good enough milk supply for my voracious eater. I jogged, around our neighbourhood and eventually farther. And when my girl was four months old, I ran a 10k.

I lost all the extra weight I had gained by the time she was seven months and scored myself a lifetime membership to Weight Watchers. I even ran a half marathon. I had achieved my goals! Except for one problem. I still wasn’t satisfied.

The number on the scale hadn’t magically made my stretch marks or that crazy wrinkly skin on my stomach disappear. My mid-section was still squishy. When I looked at my body, I didn’t really like what I saw. But how was this possible? I weighed what I wanted! I’ve never been great at math, but I had obviously miscalculated this equation. 138lbs did not equal happiness. And it was supposed to.

Fast forward two years and I’m here to tell you: Throw out your scale.

There will be no one single achievement that will make you happy or like yourself more if you can’t love yourself today.

My husband is the strongest, fastest man I know (and if you’re questioning my objectivity right now, you should, because my unabashed love and pride of him completely blinds me. But! He does run an 18 minutes 5k and can do 40 pull up, so he’s pretty awesome). He was looking at himself in the mirror last night and commented that he could see parts of his body he’d like to change. I shouldn’t think those things, he said, It’s not fair to myself.

Easy to rationalize for a guy who has about 8% body fat, right? Except that statement is applicable to everyone. I’d love for the skin on my stomach to magically snap back to the firmness it had pre-children. I’d like to be one of those people that complains about how it’s soooo haaaard to gain weight. You’d probably like to run faster or have more dedication or to be thinner or stronger or smarter or better at balancing your demanding job with everything else in your life.

When you look at your body and think about what you’d like to change, ask yourself why you feel that way. I’m here to tell you (and I will preach it for the rest of my life) that losing 10lbs (or 20 or 100) is not going to solve your problems. Losing 10lbs is not going to fix your relationship. It is not going to get you promoted. Realistically, it will get you a new pair of pants and that’s it.

I’m not saying that it’s not ok to lose weight in a healthy way or even to want to. I’m saying that you need to love yourself. You need strip off and look at yourself naked in the mirror. You need to look at every scar and mole and stretch mark and accept it as part of who you are – part of a beautiful and strong and determined person.

The road to self-acceptance and self-love is not an easy one (trust me, I’m on it). It’s full of bumps and set backs and times when you’re tired of trying to be right with yourself. It’s ok to cry, to lay on your bed and sob. But you can get back up. You can get out for a run. You can let go of that magic number on the scale that you think will bring you happiness. You can learn to believe in yourself.

You can learn to believe in yourself.

Let me tell you about my week.

I started a new job as the Director of Planning with a private corporation, and the hours are longer than my previous job when I worked for government.  To be specific, five hours more a week, without the expected overtime.    Oh, how I miss the 35 hour work week of government and those extra five hours of personal time.

My new job has a commute of about 45 -50 minutes each way.  So there goes another almost 2 hours a day.

My mum was diagnosed with a serious, likely terminal illness about a week ago.  Doctors appointments, visits with her, conversations with family members, and generally the time worrying about the future rose to the top of my must do list.

I also play soccer on a wonderful team with great woman, and that was something I definitely wanted to continue to do, along with my boot camp that assisted me in my recent weight loss.

So I had a little panic attack when I remembered this great contest I won,(Thanks again iRun) and then I was suppose to run 4-5 times a week, including a longer run and a 2 hour slot during the week for a speed/interval/non-tortoise type workout.  How was I going to fit it all in?

So here is my new philosphy of life for the next little bit.

1. Hire a house cleaner so that my time is freed up to do some of the important stuff in my life.

2. Get my runs in during my work day as much as I can, specifically at lunch time.  That is a whole hour and I need to get from my desk and move.  Its hard to leave work sometimes but I am doing to try and be disiplined about it.

3. Got to work earlier so that I get home earlier and can actually do things I enjoy during the evening.  I want to play soccer,  so when I negotiated my job conditions, a modified work day was necessary for me.

4. As much as it pained me, I dropped back on the number of boot camp classes that I was taking.  I am trying to take take 1-2 a week, instead of the 3-4 a week I was doing before.  I love boot camp and the whole body workout it gives me but I will go back to it when life permits.

5. Enjoy the time as best I can, and let the future take care of itself.  My runs are now part of my thinking, debriefing, stress relieving time.

I’ll let you know how it works out.

There are weeks when you wonder if you’re doing the right thing, the right way. Generally speaking, this is applicable to all aspects of your life, but right now I’m talking about my training.

Tired legs, slower runs, less motivation. I ran on Sunday, legs still tired from my long run on Friday. I ran on Monday, legs slow and heavy. And I ran again on Wednesday. I thought long and hard about not going, because the wind and the snow and the ice and just, ugh, you know? But anyway I did and while it may have been the run that shook away my frumpiness, I’ve put off my 26k today by a couple of hours in hopes that the mercury will at least get above -10C (it’s not looking good).

Anyway! So with all my negativity, I figured I’d try to focus on some positive things. This will both kill some time while the sun creeps higher in the sky and help get me excited about running today.

One of the biggest things I’ve learned this winter-running season is that I had been overdressing. This was actually the first year that I invested in winter running tights. This negated the need for long underwear. Sure my legs got cold sometimes (keep in mind, Halifax winters aren’t the same as prairie winters), but even on my long runs, I never felt the need for a second layer on my legs. I also kept it lighter up top this winter, too. I wore a tank, a t-shirt and my winter running jacket. On a couple of very cold days, I wore a long sleeve technical t-shirt.

Of course, I’ve been wearing a toque and mitts all season, as well as a balaclava for a few weeks. Also, two pairs of socks. One very thin pair and one thicker (Smart Wool, I think) pair on top. Those meshy holes in the tops of sneakers are the nemesis of all winter runners!

On the whole, less clothes left me feeling lighter and more free. Without a second layer on my legs, they felt easier to move. Without a heavy shirt on my torso, I didn’t overheat or feel like I was being slowed down at all. I’ve heard for years and years the rule of thumb to dress as though it’s 10 degrees warmer, but this was the first year I actually bothered to heed. Turns out, there’s validity in it!

This marathon training has enough people thinking I’m crazy. If they start hearing that I’m wearing less clothes and taking ice baths in winter, they’ll really believe that I’ve lost it!

What about you guys? Any lessons you’ve learned the hard way? And old/bad habits you’ve managed to break?

I participated in the ‘First Half” Half Marathon for the first time on Feb 13th. I’ve wanted to run this race for several years now, because it is a Mizuno sponsored event and because when I lived in Ontario I would look for any excuse to get out to the west coast, especially in the winter. Now that I am living in Vancouver it was very convenient and I made sure to fit the race into my schedule this year.

We (myself and the 2,000 or so other participants) got lucky with some very good weather on the day; about 6 degrees, with very little wind, and no rain! The race went well for me. From the gun I was in the lead. I tried to set a reasonable but really aggressive pace. I wanted to see what my competitors would do in the early going. When it seemed that they weren’t going to try to run my pace I put my head down and charged on. I built up a bit of a lead by the 2 mile marker and things would remain that way for the entire 21.1 kilometers. But, it wasn’t easy going as I was pushing the pace the whole way, running against the clock in an effort to break the course record (of 1:04:44, held by Ryan Hayden of Richmond). I was pretty familiar with the course as I’ve done a lot of running around Stanley Park the past 5-6 months. But, usually I don’t have two policemen on motorcycles driving ahead of me! For awhile it looked like I was well ahead of record pace, but I knew things would get tough after about 7 miles. Going along the north side of the park and under Lion’s Gate bridge I still felt really good and thought I would be able to get the win and the record. But, over the final miles I started to slow down and had to work very very hard to maintain my pace. In the end, with a last ditch sprint effort over the final 400m, I managed to squeak in just under the record in 1:04:39!

Afterwards there were some fantastic post-race food/refreshments and awards. There was a mad sprint between men to make it to the stage first to claim one of the draw prize. It was very funny. I think they ran harder at that moment than they did in the race! And everyone got to check out some of the great new shoes and gear Mizuno is coming out with too. I am very excited for the new Wave Ronins!

All in all it was a great day.
Dylan Wykes

Now its important to understand before you read this that I am a planner.  That is not a description of my personality but it is my profession.  I am  a Professional Land Use planner, which means I am trained in how to physically lay out a community and organize the space that we humans live in.  This entails thinking about what makes a good place for people to live and working to achieve that.

Now with this disclaimer, I want to complain about how we organize our cities.  I just started a new job in Halifax on Monday, and needed to go for a run today at lunch time.  As I commute about an hour to my job, which starts at 7.30 and I knew that I would be tired and hungry when I got home at 6.00 so I needed to run during my lunch hour.  I dutifully dressed  in my running gear and as I headed out of my new office, people were looking at me strangely.  Finally someone asked me if I was going to go for a run.  When I said yes, they said that there were no sidewalks and traffic was dangerous and that I needed not to get injured as they did not want to go through the hiring process again.

As a planner, I can honestly say that many places are not designed for anything but car traffic, making it noisy, smelly, dangerous and totally unrelaxing for runners, walkers, bikers etc.  Cities and municipalities control the standards that allow new development to occur, development companies build them and we use them.   In this day and age of unhealthy living where most of the population does not get enough exercise, we need to plan our communities, our cities, our rural areas and our business parks to encourage activity not to discourage it.

So, I encouage people to participate in the public conversation about good planning.  The politicians and the developers will listen, but you need to partipate.  We also need to be seen on the streets so that it become apparent that sidewalks and trails need to be constructed, buffers erected to provide a safety barrier between cars and pedestrians, bike lanes built and road sholders property maintained.

Specific actions you can take to support good urban planning:

• read your local paper to see what is going on and think about these issues
• participate in community meetings on planning issues
• when you are thinking about buying a lot in a new development, ask about trails, sidewalks and green spaces.
• Encourage your local politicians to retrofit areas without sidewalks and bike lanes
• Protect yourself when you run in badly planned areas, and run in a group.   The more of you that run there, the more the drivers will get used to seeing walkers, runners and bikers on the road.
• Write a letter to your local Council about the links between health and planning.
• Educate yourself.  The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Nova Scotia has some great information on the links between planning and health. Follow this link   http://www.heartandstroke.ns.ca/site/c.inKMIPNlEiG/b.6021481/k.CF30/Healthy_Living__Shaping_healthy_active_communities_toolkit.htm

With so many compelling stories submitted for the iRun Makeover contest, you may be asking, why were Aleks, Brock and Chrystal selected?

iRun wanted to find runners from different regions of Canada who had dreams of becoming a better runner and were facing challenges which would resonate with large segments of the Canadian running community.  As we reviewed the submissions, it became clear that coaching and nutrition counseling were critical needs for runners.  At the same time, the cries for help appeared to fall into a number of categories.  A large group of runners simply wanted to get started again after illness or injury or overwhelming life challenges.  Others wanted to run faster, in some cases faster than a tortoise and in other cases faster than a Boston Qualifying time. A strong-minded bunch was determined to challenge the next race distance and go longer.  Within these stories, I could see that aging, medical conditions, lack of support, body image, and busy schedules constrained some runners.

Aleks is a 47 year old rookie who is going to challenge the marathon distance and chase a Boston Qualifying time.  To date, she has enjoyed followed her group of running buddies with no clear direction but suspected that she  had more in her.  Aleks will have to take ownership of her program.  She will have to learn to run alone as her running buddies won’t always want to do that hard tempo run or 25+km weekend long run.  Technology must become her new best friend to help track her progress.  Aleks will help the new runner and potential 4 hour marathoner demystify the training process to get to the Ottawa Marathon start line.

If you read Brock’s iRun Makeover contest submission, you will see that it was not about him.  I was curious about this guy who would reach out and speak primarily about the runners he supports.  A Google search revealed Brock’s website and his excitement at hitting the revered sub-4 hour time goal at the 2010 NYCM.  I wondered if Brock was giving so much of himself to others that perhaps his own running dreams had not been pursued.  Before the Makeover, Brock had set a spring goal of running another PB marathon.  I challenged him to try something new by getting off the marathon merry-go-round.  Follow Brock as he redefines himself as a 10k & half-marathon speedster this spring en route to a breakthrough fall marathon.

Chrystal has her life in control.  Chrystal is accomplished.  Chrystal is an athlete.  Chrystal is a very frustrated runner.  Chrystal wants to run 59:59 at the Bluenose 10k.  To Chrystal, running a sub-60 minutes over 10k is the indicator that she has joined the ranks of the ‘fast’ runners.  The key to Chrystal’s success will be getting her head and body to feel the speed, to learn what ‘fast’ feels like.  Over the next few months, Chrystal’s program will challenge her to become comfortable in her own runner’s skin.