Operation Healthy Balance

This week I was given some reassurance about my knee stability.  I seen a sports medicine physician at Carleton University Sports Clinic and she sort of verified what I already thought:)  Since my knee has been starting to feel better and I did complete that knee-treacherous mud hero obstacle course, I figured my reconstructed ACL was still intact.  Dr. B said that it was good but a lot "looser" than the right knee.  She said that this is a normal stretching but I need to be cautious on uneven ground and with impact or quick turning sports.  Bottom line....running on even surface okay....everything else I need to wear a brace.  She wrote my a prescription for the brace and now I find a local specialist to measure and custom order the brace.  Also need to figure out if my benefits cover the brace since it will probably be $1000. As for the little bit of pain I still have in my knee; Dr. B said it sounds like I aggravated my meniscus; probably small t...

Holy Mud Batman! Go here to see  Mud Hero Ottawa details  if you so desire. It was interesting to attend one of these "different" races.  I have to admit that the attitude of the participants was a lot more laid back and social as compared to the road races I have attended.  I like both....they are just different. Here is our group prior to the event.  Mixture of lots of different athletes:)  A marathon runner right down to first race ever.  Fun group of girls.....they are all friends at work and in life....I'm the add in of course! Our shirts say DIRTY MUDDAS because we are all mothers in "real life".  This got lots of attention; especially at the starting line when our marathon runner insisted we be at the very start of our wave.  The MC for the day got a big kick our of our shirts and had many jokes to say as he was stalling and trying to keep the crowd interested leading up to our start time. The obstacles were pretty ea...

Doing the Mud Hero run in Ottawa today.  I signed up for this run a while a go with 6 other friends.  My knee is not 100% and I haven't been running; mud probably isn't the best for it but I'm being stubborn and doing the run anyways.  I'll just take it slow when I need to and try not to rely too much on left leg stability:) I have an appointment at Carleton University Sports Clinic next week to assess it.  My unprofessional opinion says my ligaments are all fine, probably new and old tears in meniscus is giving me the grinding and popping and locking.....I'm hoping for an MRI and a scope to actually see what's going on in there:)  After I did some "manipulation" (McMurray's test) the pain on the inside of my knee disappeared.  Lots of grinding when I do that test though but no pain now.  Still quite tender if I bend my knee all the way.  I think that there was some old dried up cartilage or something else hard that was stuck inbetween my carti...

Exactly 15 minutes before the start of this race I realized my Garmin was dead.  I haven't run without some sort of timekeeping device....EVER.  I let this bother me for all of 10 seconds since there was really not much I could do.  Larrin had dropped me off and I left all of my other belongings with him so it was quite obvious I had to manage without knowing my time, distance, speed etc.  No biggie, this was kind of a fun run anyways. There were a few other people from work there; one girl running the 10K and 2 others walking the 5K.  My partner in crime at work showed up with her daughter to take pictures and watch the goings on.  I'm trying to convince her to start running so it was nice for her to see what really goes on at these "race days".  Before the race I also ran into a girl I went to nursing school and it was nice to catch up with her. I felt good about the first 2.5K (or at least I think it was 2.5K), got water at the water sta...

This past Sunday I ran my first event of 2013, the Manotick Road Race 10K.  Signing up for this race was an attempt to get my butt out the door and start running again.  It "kinda" worked; I did get out for a few "training" days but not nearly enough.  Despite that, I'm glad that my running has started back up again. Larrin and the boys were planning on making the trip with me for the race (even though I wanted to go alone).  Funny how he feels the need to support this venture when I don't really need the support on race day.  Anyways, it was a late night on Saturday night for the boy so Larrin agreed to stay home and let them sleep in while I went alone.  To be honest, I was looking forward to an independent venture; maybe a little selfish but whatever. My overall goal for the 10K distance is under 1 hour.  I knew that this was a pretty lofty expectation for this race due to my lack of running so my race goal was under 1h:10m.  After oatme...

I've been falling into my old habit of binging on fast food after work. Last week, 3 days in a row. For the last 2 months I've probably ate a "combo" at least 3 times per week.  It's a problem and more complicated then it sounds. Most of the time, I'm not even hungry but something compels me and I convince myself I need to eat something before going home. I've broken this ridiculous behavior down and there are many components to it. First, habit. Second, self-medicating anxiety. Third, self-sabotage. Bad habits need to be broken. Some are easier to break than others. I know I need to replace this drive thru behaviour with another healthier one. I've chosen to decrease my anxiety medication simply because I felt like a zombie. Since that decrease my urges for poor eating have increased. I realize that my fast food problem is linked to anxiety. Once I'm done work, my second job begins; making supper, boys homework, boys activities, etc. When I...

The weather is changing for the better so that means I'm back on a fitness kick.  Funny how the season dictates my interests and how my mind always plays tricks on me.  That statement needs some explanation.... I mean, when I am not "active" my mind diverts to thinking negative and I tend to forget all of the positive things I have done; my mind reminds me of all of the days I haven't ran and forgets that my body is capable of running a half-marathon; I think of the extra weight I carry around my middle instead of the fact that I can do over 30 pushups (REAL pushups) and that I can hold a plank for over 2 minutes!!! There is a very difficult and highly technical process (yes, I am being sarcastic) that I have formulated to "change my mind". Step 1: Sign up for a race....this creates a deadline and prompts me to take action.  I signed up for a 10K at the end of April.  I haven't competed in a 10K before and the medal at the end gives me motivation.  T...

Just a quick note to say that I freakin' love my life.  Yep...I do! Love my husband! (who puts up with my insanity) Love my friends! (even though I never talk to any of them...I'm weird) Love my boys! (who idolize me and prove I'm a good Mom everyday) Love my parents and parents-in-law! (who drive me bonkers) Love my dogs! (even at 3am pee time) Love my horse! (who trusts me) Love my horse barn! (still can't believe I have one) Love my cat! (who was my Grandma's--the greatest woman of all time) Love my cows! (even if I never see them anymore) Love my chickens! (even if I forget to feed them most days) Love my rabbit! (who runs free in our backyard..livin' the dream) Love my job! (supporting people to be healthy is quite rewarding) Love my car! (that still looks like new despite my inability to use mirrors) Love my house! (even though the only room that is "finished" is my bathroom) ... Love my life!

After completing my first half marathon last year I kind of "let myself go".  Meaning I didn't lace up the running shoes for like......freaking 4 months.  Okay that's untrue.  I might have ran twice in the four months. This resulted in me going from feeling elated that I completed a half marathon to holy crap I can't even run 3 km without wanting to throw myself in front of the next car. I've slowly started to run again on the treadmill and thought I would give myself a little motivation.  I added some races to my dailymile profile (haven't officially signed up for them but I want to).  I added a 10K in february, a half-marathon in May, a 5K in June, and then a duathlon (run 2.3 km, bike 20.7 km, run 5km) in August.  Sounds perfect to me! I've never done a duathlon before and I don't even have a proper road bike but I enjoy running (when I'm properly training) and I find biking even more enjoyable than running so it kind of makes sense ...

I just got back from the Heart and Stroke annual conference in Toronto.  It was well run with a prestigious line up of speakers but to tell you the truth, I didn't learn anything new from them.  What I did learn is that I am telling my clients all of the right things in my new position; educating clients with all of the right information using the best practice guidelines and providing support for lifestyle change through follow ups and monitoring. On my train ride to Toronto I was thinking about what I was hoping to learn; what I struggle most with when dealing with clients.  What I desperately wanted help with is improving my approach of getting client "buy in".  I know people need to eat a healthy balanced diet, exercise moderately 5 days a week, quit smoking, drink less alcohol, etc. but how do I get them to "care" and actually take action.  Some friends, family and coworkers take the stance...."it is up to them and if they don't care then that...

Yesterday, I experienced a new "first" in my life.  Someone that I had extended my support, love, compassion and understanding to purposely took me aside and told me how much I meant to them; how I had changed there life and made then "feel" again; how I allowed them to heal and they are meaningful. This person was my uncle who through years of dealing with depression was a broken man.  He felt unworthy of love and harboured tremendous pain and guilt.  He has lived with us on the farm for 3 years.  First with my parents and now in a fixed up house on a farm property we bought last year.  He has had to undergo many physical and emotional battles but has started to finally triumph in his own life.  He works with us as a farm hand and can always be counted on for tractor work, chores, wood cutting, lawn mowing, house repairs or just about anything you need; he is earning his keep so to speak and to be brutally honest his presence is so wonderful.  Not o...

Larrin has decided to take part in Movember this year. He's decided to go for a modified 'Hacksaw Jim Duggan' look. Off to a great start....

 The outcome of 'horse therapy'. Arlen and Grandpa...strike a pose! Birthday flowers delivered at work! No explanation needed! My sweet Kali! Boys going back to school...very proud of the little men they have become.

It's hard to believe we have been doing the Halloween wagon ride for 4 years now.  It's even harder to believe that it didn't rain despite of "Sandy". I managed to leave work one hour early, dash to the dollar store to buy cheap decorations, go home, get the halloween lights out and start decorating.  Larrin had the wagon ready with the straw seating and the boys helped me decorate.  We felt a few drops of rain while we were putting the final decorating touches on so we screamed "rain rain go away...."  To our surprise it seemed to work. Add a few sleeping bags, blankets, excited kids and hot chocolate and we were ready for the night. My "friend of a friend", Chelsea, captured the night in pictures.  She is very talented and artistic so I totally rely on her for photos of the event.  Here is her blog post about it.  See if you can pick out Chase (ghostbuster Ray), Karson (psychotic blood bathed lunatic of some sort) and Arlen (red devil ma...

I've gotten the urge to start "documenting" my life again. So much has happened...and I'll get to that later.  Right now, I'm sharing my first half marathon race. I had started this post in May and got extremely side tracked. Just found it as a draft so I decided to finish it off.  I still can't believe that I actually finished a half marathon and in a pretty decent time for me:) I picked up my race kit the day before the race.  Stood in line for over an hour but it was worth having my bib and chip the day before. Larrin drove me to the race.  We got there in plenty of time to find parking and get to the start line.  I found a quiet spot to calm my nerves and do some warm up and stretching.  It was really important that I stretch out my calves and hamstrings since they seem to get tight after a while of running. The start line was absolutely crazy.  I pushed my way and just got in the middle of the pack.  I had my phone with me so I texted a...

With such little time before the scheduled half-marathon race, I knew that this week was going to be very telling.  Either the pain would come back in my foot and I would know that I should give up my race spot to someone that could actually finish the race or my foot would continue to be okay and I could then be able to judge where I was in relation to being ready for 21.1k. I decided to try to get three runs in this week, an easy 6k, a more challenging 8k, and then a 12k long run.  Monday I went out at lunch to run 6k.  It was beautiful and sunny; first run this year in a tank top.  My foot did not hurt but my calves and hamstrings were super tight.   The 8k on thursday was much the same except it was t-shirt weather instead of tank top.  Calves and hamstrings were super tight again.  I stopped to stretch at about the 4k mark and walked for a bit.  It was very windy too.  One stretch of road that I took was not runner friendly; the ...

Finally opened up the old blog today and took a peak.  I find it very interesting that the last post that I had written was the day before I injured my foot hiking.  Yes, hiking.  No running, no twisting, no spraining, no crazy story, just merely glorified walking.  Yeah, a little bit frustrating. After that family day hike, I had severe foot pain which continued for days after and then reappeared whenever I ran.  Anyways, after getting tired of the resting and re-aggravating cycle, I sought professional help.  Diagnosis: Fibularis/Peroneal Tendonitis (or something like that).  Also known as pain in my ass-itis. Rest, ultrasound and laser therapy for a month has resulted in a possible healing....I ran 5K on Friday for the first time without pain.  Fingers crossed that this the turning point. I wanted so bad to run again this weekend but to tell the truth the foot was feeling a little stiff and achy.  So, yesterday I compromised and did ...

I have been very lax about half marathon training as of late so I thought I would review some facts for motivation: Fact:  My half marathon race is in 96 days. Fact:  I want to finish this half marathon in less than 2 hrs 15min. Fact:  I will not finish the half marathon in less than 2 hrs 15 min unless I train properly. Fact:  The more I train the better I will do and feel. Fact:  I have come so far with my running in just a year. Fact:  Just a year ago I was struggling to finish 5 km in under 39 min.  Now I finish 5 km in under 30. Fact:  My average pace one year ago was 7:42 min/km. Fact:  My average pace now is around 6:00 min/km. Fact:  A year ago I could not run more than 5 km. Fact:  My longest run thus far is almost 13 km. Fact:  Training works. and lastly... Fact:  I am a competitor and most of all I am a runner.

A couple of pretty significant things have occurred for our family while I was off on blog sabbatical.  I'm feeling the need to tidy up those loose ends so I can concentrate on future events. First off, Larrin and I's trip to Mexico was fantastic.  Lane and Charlie's wedding was beautiful and it I was elated to get to spend time with this part of my family.  We swam in the ocean, experienced the pool swim up bar, did some snorkelling (saw a sting ray!), explored some Mayan ruins (those Mayans were smart), and best of all relaxed.  It was glorious!  Larrin had a super time as well. With the Newlyweds! Do you think he is tired of me taking his picture? Second, we have an addition to the family.  It was a very spontaneous Valentine's Day gift for the boys (um, and me).  Chase and I couldn't resist the charm of this little puppy at the local pet store.  Honestly we were just going to get the darn rabbit a salt lick!  We didn't leave w...

February started out great.....probably due to the fact I was in Mexico and doing this..... Then it felt like I hit a bit of a wall.  I am still going through all of the 'essentials'; kid stuff, work, cleaning etc.  Well maybe not cleaning.  But still the everyday processes that make life work for a busy family are getting done.  It's the extras that I have lost interest in.  Like running, quilting, practicing with 'my band' (yes I am in a band), and all other fun stuff that involves me leaving my comfort of doing nothing. I know it is a funk and it soon will pass.  It really didn't help coming down with a head cold this week but at least I had a noticeable illness to be able to call in sick to work for two days. I already feel better just writing about it.  I'm giving myself the weekend to snap out of it and Monday is the start of a brand new week and I'm hoping a new outlook!  Cross your fingers;)