On Sunday, I met up with my teammates Megan and Sharon (our fourth member, Diane, wasn’t feeling well so couldn’t make it out) at Varsity Stadium for the Kick It Up for Kidney Cancer boot camp. We were blessed with perfect weather, sunny but with a light breeze. And Varsity Stadium is such a great venue; it was fun to have a chance to work out on the field.
Not going to lie: the idea of a four-hour boot camp was daunting. Add to this that I feel like I’ve been working out daily for the past few weeks; I haven’t but I’ve definitely been more active than my usual 4 workouts a week, and doing activities I don’t normally participate in, such as SUP and hiking. So I was a bit tired to start but excited for a fun day with my friends.
The dream team of Brent Bishop of Think Fitness, Michael Decorte of Jock Yoga Guy and Dara Bergeron of Belly Bootcamp each taught sessions of 15 minutes each, with a 10-minute break between sets. We did so many push-ups and vinyasas, some running, and so many drills that those breaks were very much welcome. Jully Black co-hosted the event and she has such a fun energy; she even lead a few minutes of the workout and had us all twerking (there’s some video of it on my Instagram). Here’s a video of Jully leading us through a chant of “I am powerful, I am wonderful, I’m free.”
Halfway through the boot camp, we took a moment to remember loved ones affected by kidney cancer, many who were at last year’s event and no longer with us now. It really was a touching tribute and a reminder of what the event and the money raised is for.
The event was bigger this year than last year, but there’s always room for more, if you’re up for it in 2016! And even though the event is a wrap, you can still show your support for kidney cancer. Just visit www.kickitup4kidneycancer.ca to make a donation. Whatever you can spare will help (and donations of $10 or more will get you a tax receipt).
Thank you to Kidney Cancer Canada, the team at Environics and the dream team of Brent, Michael and Dara, and Jully Black for a fantastic day of fitness for a great cause.
On May 11, 2014, I will put on some running shoes and race the Sporting Life 10k, and while you may not be running it, why not donate to Camp Oochigeas through sponsoring me–and it’ll be like you’re running it, too, for a good cause!
Camp Ooch is a camp experience for children affected by childhood cancer. It’s been around since 1983 helping kids focus on being kids and having fun (at no cost to the families)–and it’s the only residential camp in Ontario to offer on-site IV chemotherapy and blood transfusions.
This year, as part of the Nike Canada media team, I’m running the race (my third Sporting Life 10k) to help raise funds to send a child with cancer to Camp Oochigeas. The only reason I haven’t run the #SL10k more often is because it’s usually very close to a longer distance race that I’ve committed to, like that Toronto Marathon, which I am running again this year.
But as I did two years ago, I’m running this race one week after marathon. Is this a smart running choice? Maybe not. But the Sporting Life 10k is a fun race and for a great cause!
Maybe run the race yourself (the last time I checked, the race is not sold out yet!) — we can high-five at the finish line! Or, if you haven’t been running at all and don’t feel up to race 10k, then sponsor me! All donations greatly appreciated.
(Those wicked runners above are the new Nike Free Flyknit 4.0, which I won’t be wearing for my marathon or the SL10k race — you shouldn’t wear anything brand new that you haven’t had a chance to run several times in for a race (you never know if it’ll cause chafing or blisters and when you’re in the middle of a race is not when you want to discover that it does!), but I’ll be testing them out after the Sporting Life 10k.)
November was Lung Cancer Awareness Month. And last week I learned how food tastes different to smokers — worse, in case that’s not obvi:
Smokers enjoy less pleasure in food especially sweet and fat tastes.
Smokers have blunted tastes for salty, sweet and sour.
Within 48 hours of quitting smoking your sense of smell and taste begin to return.
The Lung Association hosted a dinner at The Harbord Room where chef Ilan Adler created a menu and served alongside each course a sampler of how the dish might taste to smokers. I noticed the biggest difference in the seasonal squash salad, which was unseasoned in the smoker’s version. Talk about bland. The tuna crudo also wasn’t as tasty but I must admit, the braised and roasted onion medley did taste pretty good (just not as rich) in the subpar smoker’s sample.
Foodie reasons not enough to sway you to quit smoking? Here are some serious stats:
This year more Canadian women will die from lung cancer than breast cancer.
About one in 10 heavy smokers will get lung cancer.
On average 70 Canadians will be diagnosed with lung cancer daily.