Girls on the Run 5k

Posted on June 9, 2013 by Mama Cormier

….today was the day

I woke up early, 6:07 to be exact. I put on my running clothes and made my way downstairs to make coffee. I checked my emails as I enjoyed my Crema and protein bar. It was lovely and quiet in the house, just what I needed before heading out to meet my fellow coaches, L and C.

We had decided ahead of time to meet at L’s house and go together in one car. There was very little traffic at 7:30 on a Sunday morning so we made good time getting to the race venue. The race this year was being held at the Vaughn Mills mall. When we got there, there was already a sea of pink t-shirts.

Our school was assigned a flag where our girls had to meet us. We handed out their numbers and safety pins and the moms and dads pitched in pinning the numbers to the fronts of their shirts.

It was great seeing so many parents get involved, not just by being there but also registering for the run so that they could run with their daughters.

There weren’t as many pre-race activities as last year but some of the moms had brought along coloured hair spray so that the girls could have racing stripes put into their hair. Even some of their teachers got into the spirit.

I’m not sure how many times I’m going to have to wash my hair to remove the pink dye. One mom, who’s a hairdresser, said that it might take three or more washes. Hmmmm!!!!!

Two hours after arriving at the mall, the race finally started and about 1000 little girls and their coaches and parents started on the 5k run.

I had set a goal for myself to run the 5k without stopping and try to do it in 45 minutes or less. Last year I think it took me about 55 minutes and I walked at least half of it. It was very warm and humid today. Before I left my husband asked me not to overdo it and to be careful not to get caught up in the excitement of the race. I know that the recent heart attack of a very close friend who lives out west was leaving him feeling a little apprehensive about me running today. I have to admit that the our friend’s heart attack was also in the back of my mind. The attack was a mild one and she’s doing much better but she’s the last person we would ever have suspected of having a heart condition.

I set a very reasonable pace for myself and was able to run the first half without stopping to walk. When I did stop it was at the water station but I started to run again almost immediately. The heat did bother me and I walked a couple more times but never for more than a minute. In the end I finished in a time of 47:27, 2 1/2 minutes slower than I hoped for but this year I felt so much better than I did last year. I didn’t experience those moments of dread like I did last year and I wasn’t as emotional….no tears.

Now that I have an official time I can work on getting that number down. I should plan to do another 5k sometime this summer. It’s good to have a goal.

Time to work on my art piece.

Cheers!

My Fitness Assessment

Posted on November 29, 2012 by Mama Cormier

….. no real surprises

Yesterday I had my fitness assessment done. I recently rejoined the gym that I had been a member of in years past. Like many people I was pretty hung ho and went pretty regularly in the beginning and then my visits were less frequent until I stopped going all together. I paid for an entire year and never stepped through the doors. What a waste of money.

So why did I return? Well I went back for a number of reasons. With the cold weather starting to invade our region I knew it would be more difficult to get in my daily walks and runs. The gym recently moved to a new location much closer to home and literally was on the way home from work.

I really have hit a plateau…at least on the scale at home. For some reason all the scales at the gym have me down another 2 pounds (fully dressed) but when I weigh myself at home (in my birthday suit) I’m five pounds heavier. Hmmmm…..?

At the fitness test I had my measurements taken for the first time since I started my weight loss journey. As of today my measurements are:

Height: 65 inches

Chest: 44 inches

Waist: 42 inches

Hips: 49 inches

Arms: 14 inches

BMI: 35

The goal at the gym is to lose my belly fat and get that waist measurement down to 36 inches and the BMI to 25. Tomorrow I’m going back for another meeting with my personal trainer. I’m hoping she will have a program designed for me. My personal goal is to go to the gym 3 to 4 times a week and continue getting out for walks 2 or 3 times a week.

The assessment showed that my blood pressure and heart rate were good. My endurance levels, balance, flexibility and strength were mostly above average. She believes that I could be down another 20 pounds in the next three to four months. I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of routine she’ll design for me.

On the diet side of my journey I’m trying to incorporate more foods that boost your metabolism. I start the day with juice from a lemon in warm water, take my vitamins ( B complex, C, D, calcium, magnesium and a multi-vitamin) and either have oatmeal or a two egg omelet with lots of veggies. Lunch is usually homemade soup or a large salad with some kind of protein and dinner is either homemade vegetable soup (Dr. Furman) and a large salad or chicken or fish and salad or stir fried or roasted vegetables. For a snack I try to eat raw vegetables and humus, or raw almonds and a couple of dates or a small amount of cheese and 6 to 10 gluten free crackers. I allow myself a glass of wine once or twice a week and try to drink more tea.

One thing I still need to work on is getting to bed earlier. It’s almost 1:00 am. So on that note I bid you Good Night.

I’m about 6 pounds lighter since this picture was taken on my birthday

Stressed to the Max

Posted on November 24, 2012 by Mama Cormier

… I wasn’t worried until I got the phone call

I always feel that no news is good news. It had been two weeks since my surgery; I was feeling good; the doctor who did the surgery hadn’t call me.

Then on Tuesday night when I got home from work there was a message on the phone to call my family doctor. It could only be one of two things; something showed up in the pathology report after the surgery or something showed up after my mammogram.

The next day from my office at school I called the clinic to find out why I had to see the doctor. The problem, however, is that you don’t get to talk to the doctor or even a nurse for that matter when you call the number they give you. All appointments are routed through a main switchboard and you speak to a phone receptionist who is nowhere near the actual clinic.

I know that you shouldn’t “shoot the messenger” but it was so frustrating trying to get any information from the receptionist. I knew she didn’t have access to my files and all she could tell me was that the visit had something to do with reviewing the results of the surgery.

The next problem was setting up an appointment that didn’t require me taking off an entire day or even part of a day to see the doctor. As I’ve probably told you before I’ve lost all my accumulated sick days because of a provincial government bill and I’ve already used up 3 of my 10 days for the year. The other complication is that my so called family doctor has moved further away to an area that is a little sketchy and the clinic he did work from has shut down.

My frustration on the phone was obvious and the receptionist, to her credit, was trying to help me find a solution. Apparently it doesn’t matter which clinic you visit your records can be accessed by any of their doctors. After being close to tears, we finally figured out that there is a clinic much closer to home and that I was able to get an appointment on Friday after work.

When I hung up the phone I turned around to find a small group of my library helpers standing at my door looking a little concerned. They told me I sounded a little stressed. What an understatement. I smiled and assured them that I was fine and gave each of them a job to do.

On Friday I left school early (4:15 instead of 6:00) and drove to my appointment. My friend, L, made me promise to call her as soon as I found out what the problem was. I thought I had left myself plenty of time to make it to my appointment but I ran into some unexpected traffic and I arrived 15 minutes late. It didn’t seem to matter though because the doctor was running late as well.

I had made reservations to meet friends for dinner that night for 7:00 and when I still hadn’t gotten in to see the doctor by 6:00 I started to fret about being late. I tried to call my husband but my phone had died so I hooked it up to the doctor’s outlet while I waited. As soon as I had enough juice to make calls I started calling my husband but he wasn’t picking up anywhere. Another thing to worry about.

When the nurse came into the room to see me she asked me why I was there. I explained the phone message I had received and she looked through her records. She then asked me if the appointment was for the breast screening results. There had been no mention of that before, so now I started to worry that maybe something had shown up on the mammogram. She repeated the same question and when I told her that I didn’t think so she told me that the doctor would be in to see me after one more patient.

I think that the next 15 minutes were the longest 15 minutes of my life. It’s funny how you think the worst and how many bad scenarios take hold of your mind. What will I tell my friends at dinner that night? Will I have to take more time off of work or will I just retire early?

Finally when my ‘new’ doctor arrived he put me at ease immediately. He went through all my charts, the letters from my surgeon and the breast screening results and couldn’t find any reason for me being there. The surgery went well, the mammogram was clear and I appeared to be very healthy. He double checked everything and couldn’t figure out why my last doctor underlined and question marked some of the details of the surgery. He asked me if there was anything else he could do for me while I was there so I had him give me my flu shots.

When I finally left the office I had 10 minutes to get to the restaurant. There was no time to go home first so I called my husband for the 3rd time, still didn’t get through to him so I left another message and told him to meet me at the restaurant. When I got there our friends were already waiting and the restaurant owner offered to called K again. Still no answer. A new worry! Eventually we did connect with my husband and he finally joined us at the restaurant but that’s another story for another time.

At least I was able to enjoy the rest of the evening and I didn’t have to tell people that I had a new health issue. I’m not sure I could have stayed quiet if there had been a problem. Unfortunately I forgot to phone my friend L back and I caused her some stress for a good chunk of her evening. She did eventually reach me at the restaurant and she figured out that everything was okay.

So what did I learn? …..that no news is good news!

I wish I could have been as relaxed as this little guy was while sunning himself outside my kitchen window this morning.

Gaining Weight After Surgery?

Posted on November 10, 2012 by Mama Cormier

…. sometimes I feel like my body enjoys tormenting me

I was very excited about my progress in the weight loss department. It seemed like I was finally moving in a positive direction again. The morning of my surgery I was down another 2 pounds for a total of 34 pounds. I actually thought I’d be down another pound or two after the surgery. Ha!

Wednesday morning I wasn’t allowed anything to eat or drink before being admitted to the hospital. The first food or drink that I had was about 5:00 that afternoon. I figured that I took in 800 calories for the whole day. Thursday morning I was up 2 pounds. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. I’m the only person I know that gains weight when prepping for a colonoscopy.

I took it easy on Thursday. I had oatmeal and berries for breakfast, 2 slices of pizza and salad for lunch and for dinner I made spaghetti squash and a vegetable stew. The next day I was up another 2 1/2 pounds.

On Friday I picked up my activity level and walked 5k and continued to eat sensibly. Still up 4 1/2 pounds this morning. Oh my! What would any sensible person do? Why shop of course. That’s what I do when I’m feeling somewhat down.

First I went and had my hair cut. Great start. Then I discovered that a new Marshall’s opened up around the corner from my hairdresser’s salon. There’s nothing like retail therapy when you’re down because of your weight. The good thing about it was that trying on clothes wasn’t a chore but was actually fun. Not buying clothes from the Plus section is a huge boost for my ego. I’m actually trying on dresses these days and like how I look in them.

When I got home tonight I finally took 3 garbage bags of my ‘fat’ clothes to the Goodwill. There’s no going back now. I can’t afford it.

I’m looking forward to getting back into a routine with my fitness journey. It looks like tomorrow will be a nice day. Frances, K and I will start the day with a nice long walk and later in the afternoon the huge piles of leaves on my front lawn will be bagged and put on the curb. Today K took a great picture of the fallen leaves on the trail where we walk Frances.

Most of the leaves are down.

A Dusting and Cleaning

Posted on November 7, 2012 by Mama Cormier

…. all is well

Today I went to the hospital to have “my procedure” done. People at work knew I was having surgery but many didn’t know why and found it awkward and difficult to ask me if I was okay and why surgery was necessary. In turn I felt uncomfortable sharing that information but I didn’t want people to think that I had a life threatening condition either.

I have no problem talking about the procedure but I don’t want to make people uncomfortable either. That being said, why do we ‘pussy foot’ around what we’re having done, especially if it involves the female reproductive system? Do we whisper about other conditions that we have? No!

Men always ask if “it’s a woman’s thing?” and if the answer is yes they walk away, not wanting to know the details. Not all “women’s things” are equally weighted when it comes to determining one’s health. A hysterectomy is much more serious than a benign cyst on the uterus and cancer of the cervix is a potentially fatal condition compared to a bout of vaginitis, that is uncomfortable and somewhat painful but not life threatening.

I have to admit that we, as women, have allowed this stigma of don’t ask, don’t tell to perpetuate. Somehow, our mothers have ingrained into our consciousness that our ‘private parts’ are not to be mentioned in public company. It’s almost like we should be ashamed of the ovaries that sustain the human population. How bizarre is that?

I’m as guilty as anyone. When people asked I politely told them that I was only having day surgery and there was nothing to worry about. I wouldn’t think twice about saying I’m having a tonsillectomy, appendectomy or having my gall bladder removed. Many people are even insistent on showing off their scars after a surgical procedure. I really don’t get that but to each his own.

I have contemplated long and hard if I should publish this post. I decided that I needed to put my family’s and friends’ concerns at ease. I also didn’t want my blogging family to worry about me. So here goes. Today I had a D&C or as my friend, J, says a ‘dusting and cleaning’. D & C stands for dilation and curettage where the cervix is widened and the lining of the uterus is removed. I also had a lesion removed. It’s been sent away for testing but I haven’t heard the results. Hopefully ‘no news is good news’. My doctor’s not worried.

That’s it. All is well. If I’ve made you uncomfortable, I apologize but we need to question why female reproductive medical conditions make us feel that way. Wishing you all good health.

Cheers!