Yesterday was a “piece of cake”!

Posted on April 29, 2012 by Mama Cormier

No need to worry……….

I guess I was too slow getting ready for our walk yesterday so I ended up going on my own. There’s something very zen like when you walk alone. It gives you time to reflect.

I also increased the distance on Saturday and went for 3.6 km and for 1/10 of it I ran. When I got home I mapped out a 5 km distance on g-pedometer.com. Maybe I’ll give that a whirl today. It looks like a fantastic day, weather wise.

The party was not an issue, food wise. I had 3 shrimp, no wine and I didn’t even see a cake.

Later in the day I took Frances for a short walk. We always start in the park, about 50 m down the street from the house. I’ve posted some pictures of the great view I’m blessed to see everyday. I don’t care what others say about Toronto, I think I live in one of the best cities in the world. The entire walk probably added another km to my total walking distance today.

I think I’ve figured out what’s going on with my pedometer. After walking 4000 steps yesterday and probably more I noticed that the little gizmo had reset itself back down to 0. It happened again later in the day. I guess you get what you pay for and since this this one was given to me for free I can’t really complain. Time to visit the Running Room and invest in a better one.

Down, down, down…….

Posted on April 27, 2012 by Mama Cormier

Feeling Good

It’s been a good day. My weight is holding steady but I’ve been down everyday this week. I’m trying to drink more water and when I do I definitely notice it on the scale. I’m eating well and no more unplanned snacking, especially after 8:00 at night.

I’ve been wearing a pedometer for the last two days. Yesterday was dismal; only 1600 steps. How is that even possible? Today was a different story. Lots of activity. At lunch today I played floor hockey at school; the school team champions against the teachers. The teachers won 4-3. Everyone gave it their all and the students enjoyed watching their teachers running up and down the gym.

Girls on the Run

After school I met with my group of girls for Girls on the Run. Today’s theme was reflecting on things we are grateful for. After a fun warm-up (they always want to do more of these activities) they started their actual run. The challenge today was to run 2 km without talking to their friends and reflect on their promises and goals. Do you know how hard that is for some 10 year olds?

I was going to stay back and join the girls on the second kilometre but I decided to start running with them right away. I ran/walked about 200 m to our newly mowed 200 m track and I started running laps on the track. I tried to run half the lap before I started to walk and I came pretty close to doing that. In total I managed to run/walk 8 1/2 laps and then I ran back to home base.

As much as I don’t “love” running I don’t hate it as much as I thought I would. It was great hearing the cheers and words of encouragement from the girls as they ran by me. I might even sneak out at the beginning of lunch tomorrow and run a lap or two before the kids come out for recess.

As I write this post my pedometer reads …… Oh, no!….I accidently reset it. It was around 7800 steps.

Maybe I’ll get out with the dog before I go to bed tonight. TTFN

Time to Brag!

Posted on April 22, 2012 by Mama Cormier

I’m happy on many counts today.

First and foremost, the scale finally moved in the direction I hoped for. Down. I’ve been working hard on eating well and moving for the last two weeks but my hard work wasn’t showing on the scale. I know that it’s only a number and what’s more important is how one feels. I have to admit that I have been energized (when I get enough sleep), my joints don’t hurt as much and my clothes fit better.

The second reason I’m happy today is because the three of us ( KC, the dog and I ) got out for a walk this morning and like yesterday we covered 1.8 miles or 2.9 km. I’ve been trying to run a portion of the course and today I ran 160 m without stopping. I’m hoping to increase the distance everyday and start doing some interval training. I’ve discovered gmap-pedometer. com and have been mapping out my walking routes and it even figures out how far I run when I do my short distances.

The day turned out to be a beautiful day. The sun came out and warmed things up a bit. Always puts a smile on my face.

As moms I think we’re entitled to boast a little bit when our children do something well. Today when I was in the bookstore I found a copy of the magazine that my son edits. I believe that this is the first edition with his name on it. I’m sure if it’s not he’ll let me know. It’s hard to tell from the picture because it’s a mirror image but the name of the magazine is Volume and the cover title is “Privatize”. I miss B and I wish he didn’t work so far away but I can appreciate

why he loves Amsterdam and more importantly he loves the job.

…….and that’s why I’m happy today!

Lack of Sleep Makes Me Grumpy

Posted on April 20, 2012 by Mama Cormier

Didn’t get to bed till after midnight. Had to stay up and watch Survivor. Not a good idea in hind sight. Up at 6:30 and out the door at 7:10 to get to school in time for soccer try outs. Met with the book club during my lunch hour and then took 2 grade one classes, back to back, to the computer lab.

I love the little ones but they’re not very patient at the best of times and today was no exception. Unfortunately the computers in the lab decided not to cooperate today. The internet worked for some students and not for others. There was a lot of whining and sad faces as they struggled to complete their cartoon strips.

I held it together for the most part but I could feel how weary my body and mind felt. By recess when I realized that I was also on duty today I was ready to cry. My friend L came out with me and let me vent for a few minutes and I felt somewhat better. I tend to internalize my stress so it’s always good when I can talk about it.

After recess my patience had worn thin and my next class had to suffer my grumpiness. I try not to let my emotions show or I will warn students ahead of time when I’m not in the best of moods. Most of the students are good but today I just couldn’t abide a couple of the boys who always use my library likes it’s the gymnasium. Time to call the parents!

Three o’clock finally arrived but now I had to get ready for day 4 of Girls on the Run.

Girls on the Run – Week 2 Day 4

Despite my exhaustion I managed to complete all the tasks today with the girls and walk/run 1.2 km. I’m running a little bit further each time I get out for long walks or ‘run’ with the girls. I have to confess that I feel like a bowl of jello. I haven’t run in over 30 years. I didn’t like it then and I don’t like it much more now but as long as I can stay injury free I think I might start enjoying it and hopefully reaping some benefits from it. A few years ago I ran on pavement for a very short distance with some students who wanted race me and I paid for it all summer with a painful injury to my foot.

The other exercise that I did today with the girls was jumping jacks. Every time the other team answered a question correctly my team had to do 10 jumping jacks and the same held true for Coach C’s team when we answered a question correctly. I think in total I did about 80 jumps. Not a pretty sight! We also did a lot of running on the spot.

After an hour and a half with the girls I went back to my classrooms (my home room and library) and tried to prepare for tomorrow. I finally left school at about 6:15.

NEW GOAL: In bed by 11:00

Walking again.

Posted on April 16, 2012 by Mama Cormier

I finally got back on the horse so to speak. After days of inactivity I got out for two long walks today. My husband and I got out early for a morning walk with the dog. We were hoping to miss the rain but just at the half way mark it started to spit and then it came down pretty steadily when we were still 500m from home. Oh well, I can hear my mother or somebody’s mother saying how I’m not made out of sugar and how a little rain won’t hurt you. After drying off the dog and changing my shirt I wrote another post this morning and my significant other calculated how far we had actually walked.

1.8 miles or 2.9 km

I was a little worried when I started out because my right knee hurt and I had a pain in my upper left thigh. It would have been so easy to use those aches and pains as excuses for not going. I feel pretty good about that. About a quarter of the way into the walk the pains went away and at the half way point I did something I haven’t done in over 10 years. I ran about 50 metres without stopping.

NEW GOAL – Run a little further every day!

This afternoon I thought we were getting in the car to go shopping but Kevin convinced me that everything we needed was just up the street. So we walked some more. This time we walked about

1 mile or 1.6 km

Grand total for the day – 2.8 miles or 4.5 km

It feels great to move again.

First Week with Girls on the Run

Posted on April 13, 2012 by Mama Cormier

Day 1 – The day was bitter cold. We started outside but after handing out the girls’ t-shirts we quickly went inside for the introductions and getting to know you activities. The girls really enjoyed the activities. Now I should explain at this moment in time that I had some difficulty understanding the directions for the warm-up activities. At our training session we were assured that we could simply take the instructions from the equipment box and simply follow the very detailed directions for each step of the way. Coach P had a better handle on what needed to be done and she led the girls in the warm-up back outside in the nasty cold weather. In the last 20 minutes we all headed out for our walk/run around the school property. All in all it was a pretty good start to the program. I’d better read the instructions a couple of times before day 2.

Day 2 – A much nicer day. I did read the instructions ahead of time but I’ve discovered that I interpret the instructions differently than my assistant, Coach P. The warm-up activities and the run were a lot of fun today. There were 10 stages to the run. Three pylons were set up around the course with directions for 10 different activities between runs. The girls ran for 2 minutes and when the whistle was blown they headed toward or back to the nearest pylon. When all the girls arrived at the pylon they could follow the directions and as soon as they completed it they would start running again. At the end of the run each girl was given an empty choker and a star bead because they were all “stars” today. After each run the girls will be given beads to celebrate how far they run each day.

Welcome to Carol’s World

Posted on April 9, 2012 by Mama Cormier

I’m about to enter a new phase in my life and I need to figure out which direction I want to go. The problem is I want to do it all. I’m a mother, wife, teacher, coach, artist, and librarian. I love teaching, crafting, reading, gardening, walking the dog, baking and painting. I want to travel more and explore the world with my husband. I also want to stay healthy and I’m trying to move more and eat better.

I hope to divide this blog into categories that address my interests and my journey into retirement. I’m still teaching and coaching and would also like to include some of the upcoming highlights of my experiences in education. This week, for example, I’m about to embark on a new program at school called Girls on the Run. I’m one of 4 coaches and we will be working with 32 girls, ages 8 to 11. At the end of 10 weeks of training, all of us will be walking/running a 5 km race. I know I can walk that far so my personal goal is to try and run for at least half of it. I’ve added a link for Girls on the Run if you want to know more about this organization.

Girls on the Run in the GTA

I know that this blog will evolve and change over the next few months and years as my journey into retirement evolves. I look forward to sharing my experiences and maybe even hearing from some of my fellow bloggers.