Category Archives: Fitness

Share Your World 2015 – Week 39

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…..thanks Cee for more great questions

Which way does the toilet paper roll go? Over or under?

I used to think that it didn’t matter but recently I converted to the over method. I found that  when I had the roll go under the roll would sometimes unroll itself. Does that make sense?

If you were a crayon, what color would you be?

If I were a crayon I would be red. It’s my favourite colour.

You are comfortable doing nothing? For long stretches of time?

There are stretches of time where I sit for a long time but I’m usually writing or reading on my computer or I’m watching TV. I can’t say that I’m comfortable doing nothing for long stretches of time. I become antsy and need to get out of the house.

Rather: Would you accept $5,000 to shave your head or die it bright lime green and continue your normal activities while not explaining the reason for your haircut or color?

I don’t think I would shave my head but I would colour it bright lime green. It would take a long time for my hair to grow back but I could recolour it soon after I dyed it.

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I’m grateful for successfully participating in the Railpath Run on Saturday with my daughter, A and her partner, J. It’s a timed race where you run for 45 minutes and a device on your number clocks the time you run or walk at 1k intervals. I had planned on only walking this year because I hadn’t run since last year but I started to run right at the beginning and I didn’t stop for the entire run. I managed to ‘run’ 4.5 K in 45 minutes. I’m not fast but I have a steady and consistent pace. I’m also grateful that I didn’t hurt too much in the next few days. My leg muscles were a little sore but it didn’t stop me from my daily walking regime. For the last few weeks I’ve been averaging over 11 000 steps a day and I’ve reached my walking goal 11 days in a row.

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I’m also grateful for spending time with friends from high school. Every time we meet someone new joins us. There were only five of us this time when we met for lunch but it was CM’s first visit and we had a lot of catching up to do. It was a lot of fun.

This week I’m looking forward to celebrating my husband’s birthday. We’re all going to my daughter’s house in Hamilton. Her baby is due any day now and she wanted to host the party at her place so that she would be close to her hospital in case the baby decided to make an appearance during the festivities. Most of all I’m looking forward to the birth of our first grandchild. I may be saying this again next week if she decides to be fashionably late.

Cheers!

A Minor Setback, a Trip to Dundas and More Steps

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….a trip to the doctor, relief, enjoying the rest of the day

This morning my husband woke up with terrible pain in his foot. A quick trip to the clinic confirmed that he was suffering from gout probably brought on from the morphine he had been given after his surgery. Luckily the problem was quickly fixed with another medication.

We had planned, earlier in the week, to visit our daughter in Hamilton. K could feel the pills were starting to work so we took a chance and made the trip. It was raining when we left but by the time we drove into our daughter’s driveway the sun had come out. G suggested that we take a short drive to Dundas where we could walk along the quaint main street and take in some of the unique stores and enjoy a coffee in one of the popular cafes.

Dundas is a formerly independent town and now a constituent community in the city of Hamilton. It is home to about 27 000 people and is nicknamed the Valley Town because it is located at the bottom of the Niagara Escarpment on the western edge of Lake Ontario.

We spent a couple of hours walking around the area and enjoyed a light lunch on a wonderful outdoor patio. Here are some photos of our day trip.

We headed back to Toronto during rush hour but traffic moved fairly well. After a simple dinner of sausage and a couple of salads that we purchased at the local butcher shop in Dundas I took Frances for a much needed walk. It was another beautiful evening and we walked through the Humber College grounds. Total steps for the day: 10 500.

Week One – Averaged Over 10,000 Steps a Day

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….I’ve owned my Jawbone Up for almost a year

On August 29, 2014 I uploaded my new Jawbone Up to my iPhone and set a walking goal of 10 000 steps a day and 8 hours of sleep a night. I’ve struggled when trying to reach either of these goals throughout the year. I have reached both of them but never consistently and for some reason when I have a good walking day I don’t have a good sleep and visa versa. IMG_5601

Last week when I started writing about my walking goals I started to achieve them. For five days I walked 10 000 steps or more and I averaged 10 500 steps a day. This is the best week I’ve had since getting my tracking device.

My husband came home from the hospital today. I got a phone call at 7:30 this morning from K asking me to pick him up because he was being released. I quickly got dressed and drove to the hospital only to find K still in his bed. He wasn’t even dressed. He was still waiting for the paperwork to be done so that he could be released.

I walked to the other end of the hospital to get myself a coffee and something to eat. When I returned K had decided to get dressed but we still had to wait for final instructions before we could go home.

By the time we left the hospital and picked up K’s pain medications from the drug store it was almost noon and the day had really started to heat up. The dog and I hadn’t been out for our walk but I knew that we wouldn’t get very far in this heat so I waited till this evening to go for our ‘long’ walk.

I’m glad I waited. I had managed to get in almost 5000 steps just watering the garden, doing laundry and going shopping. I knew that to reach 10 000 steps I would have to do the entire length of the park and back again. It was starting to get dark and I notice a sign warning about the coyotes that are in the park so I decided to stay on the walkways that were more frequently used by the public. It was nice changing up the route and seeing different parts of the park. When we finally got home I had added over 6000 more steps for a daily total of 11 100 steps.

Here are a few of the sights we saw on tonight’s walk.

The Hardest Day Yet

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…..one would think that the worst was over

I’m not sure why today was so emotional. My husband’s surgery was successful and he appears to be on the mend.

The morning started with text messages from the hospital from my husband. When was I coming? How was the dog? Breakfast was awful. I need a good cup of tea, etc. etc.

There were several emails asking about the outcome of the surgery that I felt I needed to answer right away so that people wouldn’t worry. Frances needed her morning walk and frankly so did I. It was a beautiful morning and I could tell it was going to be a warm day. I wasn’t going to take the dog the full distance today but I thought that I should go as far as the beach so that she could have a bit of a swim and cool off. Of course she loved it and she found a couple of spots to roll in.

After making sure that the pets had food and water for the day I grabbed the paper and K’s recharged iPod and headed out the door. I stopped at the local farmers’ market which was on the way to the hospital and I foolishly neglected to buy some parking time in the lot I parked in. I picked up a few things that I thought K might enjoy and when I got back to the car I found a ticket under the wiper blade. Rats! and I was only gone for about 15 minutes.

When I got to the hospital, K had already eaten his breakfast and lunch and he really wasn’t interested in the goodies that I brought him. I took them home again. Even though it’s only his second day in the hospital I know that not being able to get out of bed is becoming increasingly uncomfortable for my husband and it made him a little bit irritable. At least the oxygen tubes were gone. The one thing that he did appreciate was the big cup of tea that I brought in for him.

I left the hospital shortly after I arrived so that K could get some rest and I needed to do some laundry at home. I talked to a couple of friends who gave me moral support and my daughter sent me a reminder about a race she wanted me to participate in with her. I decided to register and take advantage of the early bird special. I haven’t run very much in the last year so I thought that having another fitness goal might be just the thing I need to get me out of this slump.

My daughter also asked me if I wanted to join her and J for dinner after visiting with her Papa so I accepted. I made another trip to the hospital. K was in a better mood. A friend of his had come by for a visit and when A and J arrived they brought J’s father along. What a nice surprise. My husband was truly touched.

The girls and I left for dinner and we promised to save some pizza for my husband. We walked from the hospital to the restaurant and had a very enjoyable meal. I did save half my pizza for K but when we returned to the hospital it was already pretty late and he asked my to take the pizza home and save it for him there. He will enjoy it when he comes home on Monday. It’s in the freezer as I write this so that I won’t be tempted to eat it.

The day certainly ended on a brighter note than it began on and I managed to walk 12 000 steps. Hopefully tomorrow will be easier. My daughter and I have already planned to visit my husband together, just before noon and then spend some time together in the afternoon. We’re hoping to get in a little bit of driving practice before she takes her test this Tuesday and maybe do a little bit of gardening.

Wishing you all a lovely Sunday. Cheers!

A Day of Waiting and Just Over 8000 Steps

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…..a day in the hospital makes walking difficult

On Friday my husband went to the hospital to have his surgery on his lung. It was raining in the morning so we didn’t get out with the dog for a walk, not even a short one. When we did get to the hospital around 10:00 the waiting began. First in the reception area,  then in the area I like to call the ‘holding area’ and finally in the Family Waiting Room.

After blood work, standard tests, visits from the surgeon, the anesthesiologist and finally the OR nurse, K got up from his comfy chair and walked to the operating room. Before he left our youngest daughter came to keep me company and then my friend AB showed up. The doctor said that the procedure would take about 1 1/2 hours so we decided to go to the cafeteria for a bite to eat.

We returned in what we thought was plenty of time only to discover that the doctor had come to see us while we were out. We had to wait until he finished another surgery on someone else before we could find out if K was okay.

At around 3:00 the good doctor saw us and the news was good. K had done well during the surgery, no complications and the growths appear to be non-cancerous. Yay! We have to now ‘wait’ for the results of the biopsy to be sure but the doctor said he was cautiously optimistic.

When K was admitted to his room, our oldest daughter arrived and we all had a short visit with the patient. He looked remarkably good. He was alert, had good colour and was very talkative. After a short visit we all left so that he could get some rest and I drove everyone home.

My youngest daughter stayed with me and we went back to the house to take Frances for a walk. We didn’t walk as far as we would normally but I did manage by the end of the day to get in just over 8 000 steps.

I’d like to thank everyone for their kind thoughts, good wishes and prayers. My husband is already back to his old self and has been texting me to bring him a good cup of tea this morning.

Cheers!

Over 14 000 Steps Yesterday and Already Over My Goal Today

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….the last two days have been good walking days

Yesterday I posted that walking 10 000 steps takes effort. By the end of the day I clocked in at 14 826. Most of those steps came from our morning walk where we covered about 5 miles or 8km.

This morning we did the walk again but went a little farther. By the time we got home I had walked 11 000 steps. Later this afternoon we’re visiting friends to see their new home and I’m hoping we’ll go for a walk to check out their new neighbourhood.

My fear is that tomorrow may not be a good walking day. It’s the day my husband goes to the hospital for his surgery but we’re hoping to get out early in the morning and get in some walking for the dog’s sake.

Here are a few more photos of things we saw on our walk today.

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Walking 10 000 Steps Takes Effort

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….but it’s very doable

When I’m at school I normally walk anywhere from 4000 to 6000 steps during the day, just walking from room to room, walking around the yard during recess and walking around the library putting away books. It’s those last few steps to reach my goal of 10 000 steps that takes effort.

Yesterday I found myself doing a lot of errands, using the car. There was a lot of waiting involved and by the end of the day I had barely clocked 4000 steps. In the evening I took a walk around the block with the dog and then I drove to the mall to do a bit of shopping. I parked farther away from the store than I needed to and I tried to walk around the mall after my shopping was done but I had left it too late and the mall was closing. In the end I only walked 5380 steps.

This morning, as soon as I woke up, I put on my running shoes and went for a long walk with my husband and Frances. It was a beautiful morning, even though the sky to the west of us looked pretty ominous. We walked to our favourite park and instead of going back the same way we came we took a slight detour to add some extra distance. When we got home I was surprised to see that we had already reached my goal of 10 000 steps and it was only 10:30. Ideally, now I should be able to add another 4000 to 5000 throughout the day as long as I don’t spend too much time on the computer or with my renewed hobby of knitting.

Here are a few images of what we saw on our walk this morning.

13 000 More Steps to a Healthier Me

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….after work I treated myself and my good friend L to a manicure and pedicure

I’m going to a wedding tomorrow and I really needed to get my toes done. It was L’s birthday last month so I decide to treat her to a manicure and pedicure after work today. Of course it made no sense to sit and watch her being pampered so I had to treat myself as well. Besides I’ve been wearing sandals to work for a few weeks now and it was a little embarrassing when my kindergarten students pointed out that my nail polish on my toes was chipping.

After about an hour of soaking, filing and applying colour we headed over to Marshall’s to try on some clothes. I chose nine tops to try on and left with two. When I got home my husband had just pulled out one of his homemade pizzas from the oven. Yummy!

After supper Frances was eager to go for her evening walk. Even though I was tired I knew that once I got going I would really feel better for it and I do enjoy it. The rain had stopped and it looked like it would stay away for awhile. I brought along my iPhone to snap a few pictures. Before I left I checked my Jawbone Up to see how far I had walked up to this point. It registered at just over 6000 steps.

Tonight we headed towards Col. Samuel Smith Park. I’ve been letting Frances dictate how far we walk and the direction she wants to go. When we got to the park I thought for sure she’d want to turn back but no she proceeded to head towards the lake and the naturalized area of the park. I kept my eyes open for some interesting shots and I think I managed to catch a few good ones. Here are a few things we saw on our walk tonight.

When we finally got home I checked my Up bracelet and discovered that I had walked almost 13 000 steps. This is the third day in a row that I’ve walked over 10 000 steps. Last week I averaged over 11 000 steps a day. I’m hoping that this increase in movement and watching what I eat will help me lose the pounds that I put back on. Luckily I didn’t put it all back on but more than I should have. I need to learn to get right back on track as soon as the first five pounds return.

Running to Stop Hunger

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….well more like jogging

On Sunday, my oldest daughter and I took part in a community fun run to support an organization called The Stop Community Food Program.

The run took place along the West Toronto Railpath. It was a 45 minute run and the idea was to run or walk as far as you could in that space of time. It was unusually hot but I’m happy to say that I didn’t stop or walk. I managed to ‘run’ 4.5 k in 42 minutes. I couldn’t make it to the 5 k mark in three minutes so the organizers recommended that I stop. I felt remarkably good.

I’m particularly proud of my daughter. This was the first run she’s ever participated in and she’s been practising really hard. She managed to run 7k in 45 minutes.

At the end of the race a lot of draw prizes were given out. I won a $25.00 gift certificate from the Running Room. Both my daughters told me that it was a sign that I need to keep running. My youngest daughter said she would join us next year for the same race.

It was a great day. My husband and all my girls came out to support us.

A Fruitful and Musical Day

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….ran 4.4k, walked over 11,000 step, and enjoyed the Junction Market and Music Festival

I started my day with a trip to my daughter’s house and we both walked to the Railpath and started to run for 45 minutes. Next week we’re both doing the Railpath Fun Run. I was hoping to run at least 5k in 45 minutes but I only managed 4.4k. For those of you living in Toronto there’s still time to register.

All proceeds from this race will benefit The Stop Community Food Centre.

After our run we got in the car and drove over to the Junction to meet up with K who rode there on his bike. I actually didn’t even know that the music festival was on. Nice surprise but it did make it more difficult to find a place to park. We luckily found a spot on a side street and we walked over to the Farmers’ Market.

It was a gorgeous day but for some reason the wasps were everywhere, especially around vendors with food. I’ve never seen it quite so bad. We sat in a cafe by the window and the wasps came right into the coffee shop. We decided to ignore them and luckily none of us got stung.

The market was very busy and we bought some beautiful kale and green and purple peppers from Wheel Barrow Farms. One of the unique things that we saw on Saturday was a mobile cafe. I wonder how much one of those cost? I should check out the website on the side of the truck.

A few musical acts were set up on the side streets but the big show didn’t take place until later in the day. All in all it was a great day.