Wow….it’s hard to believe another year is over. Where does the time go? I am really starting
to think the older I get the more the time flies by. So, what kind of year has it been, well, it’s
been year of lots of ups with a few downs (new challenges) as well.
I had the awesome opportunity to help Paul
with some bootcamps, both setting them up and talking at them as well. It was at these bootcamps that I was able to
meet some fantastic people, many of whom have become good friends and people I
am in contact with all the time. I got
to share my story with many of them but more importantly I got to hear some of
theirs too. For me, these bootcamps
allow me to prove to myself that I am much stronger than I ever thought. For the talk in PEI I think I was freaking
out for two whole days before and on the morning of I so wished Paul would
“forget” that he asked me to talk (I would have been devastated if he would
have but you know what I mean) as I had so many fears running through my head. What if I forgot what I was talking about,
what if I got up there and couldn’t do it, what if I passed out? Funny what goes through my mind sometimes.
Graham made the trip with me which made it extra special. . At least if I passed out I knew someone would
be there with my medical info if it was needed.:)
So, after making a 5-6 hour trip, on roads that were passable with caution at
the best we got to PEI and I stood in front of Paul and 140 other people and
talked about what I‘ve done. I am
pretty much convinced that if I can do that I can do anything.
In April I ran my fastest 5k race (just over 26 mins). As you may or may not know I am trying to get
my run time for a 5k to 25 mins so I can be considered “a fast chick”. That has been my goal since I started running
and although I’ve had to put running on the back burner at the moment that is
still at the top of my list as a goal.
In May I ran my first 10k race at the Blue Marathon. Although I had a few melt downs on the bridge
and didn’t meet my goal time of 55 mins I was still under the 1 hour mark (58
or 59 mins) so I was ok with it. Next year I will show the Bluenose who's boss…I hope!
Probably one of the highlights of my year is when a friend
asked me to be her “pace bunny” at a 5k race in Enfield. She really wanted to set a personal best for
herself and had been following my times and thought I was the person to help
her do it. I met Suzanne back in Sept.
2011 at Paul’s bootcamp in Sackville and after talking with her for a bit (she
was recovering from an injury, preventing her from running in an upcoming race)
I told her that when she recovered and started racing again that I would be
happy to run with her. She said she’d
hold me to it hence the race we did together.
I remember on race day she told me what she wanted to do for a time (I
think it was around 29:30) and I told her what I wanted her to do…29 or
under. She thought I was crazy, and maybe
I was but I wanted her to push herself.
I coached her the whole way by reinforcing that she was indeed doing a
great job/pace, that she was doing stuff some people only could dream of etc.
When we hit the half way mark (turn around point) is when I started pushing
her. I think once she said she couldn’t
do it, and I told her she could and was going to do it whether she liked it or
not. At first I told her to go to her
happy place (a vacation she had recently) and think of that, not what she was
doing. When I knew we were in her final
km I told her to get mad, get pissed and run like she had never run
before!! I told her to “See the Devil). I
remember asking her if she wanted to know her time and she said no. I yelled at her for the last ½ km non stop…I
have never cheered for someone like that before. I held back and let her cross the finish line
on her own, this was her race after all!!
Did she reach her goal……yes indeed she did. I don’t remember the exact time but I believe
it was something like 28:20 ish. I don’t
think I’ve ever seen someone work so hard, and give it their all!!! I’m not even sure she was “with me mentally”
at the end but she did it!! I was SO PROUD of her and I still am. In fact, I’m tearing up as I write about
it.
Things were pretty quite after that as I didn’t want to
cause any injury to myself before our Canmore Fitness weekend in Canmore
Alberta. I knew lots of hiking was ahead
of me and I wanted to be in tip top shape. I was fortunate enough to be invited
out to Edmonton a few days early to spend two days with Paul and his awesome
“Custom Fit family” at the studio to see how real pro trainers train their
clients. I am studying to become a
personal trainer and to me this was my opportunity to learn from the best. What I met was a great group of guys who made
me feel totally welcome from the minute I walked through the door. If I can be half the trainer these guys are
I’ll be doing alright!!
After those two days it was off to Canmore. This is one of my pieces of Heaven and I
would live there in a heartbeat. Just
something about being in "my mountains” that makes me feel at peace. Strange since we are always really busy when
we go out there. I got to meet lots of
great people that weekend and have made some very strong friendships. I also got to share my story with these guys,
again something that was really powerful for me (all the tears that night
should have been proof of that…haha). I
got to talk about things I never talk about with others so it was nice. Just the
summer before I was petrified to attend this camp, amazing what a difference a
year can make. Unfortunately, it was at
this camp when my body started falling apart.
I had some heel issues for a few months but nothing that I couldn’t
handle. After doing a workout at the
bootcamp it was obvious that something was wrong that I couldn’t ignore any
longer. I was told to walk out the rest
of the workout and not run but I had to look strong and continued to run and hop,
bad choice on my part. Hardly being able to walk afterwards is not being
strong, it’s being stupid, but I soldiered on, hiking I think 3 or 4 mountains
afterwards. Those last few mountains
meant everything to me because I had to dig REALLY deep to hike them. The scene from the tops were worth every
minute of the pain I was feeling. :)
After returning from that trip (3 days later) I went to see
a Specialist as my dr. was concerned that I didn’t have as much range of motion
in my hips as she thought I should have.
The heel issue was just perfect timing for the Specialist to have a look
at. He told me I have a certain type of
bursitis in my heel. I was off my feet
(as much as I could be) for 3 weeks. Then he looked at my X-Rays and told me
that I have arthritis in both my hips and one he thought I should have operated
on sooner rather than later (its bone on bone). I thought my fitness life was
over. I felt doomed. I was doing things right, how could this
happen to my body now?? The Specialist
said it was probably 98% because of my heavy weight in the past that I
developed the arthritis. I was truly
heartbroken. From time to time I still
curse at my body but I’m learning to adjust.
I can’t always do what I want the way I want to do it but I’m still
getting by. Some days I have no pain,
some days my heel hurts, but thankfully my hips don’t hurt, they are just
extremely stiff some days. I’ve come to
accept that if I want to be active I have to deal with the fact that I will
have injuries/pain…its part of an active person’s life. It doesn’t mean it doesn’t piss me off, it
just means I have to realize it for what it is and find ways to adjust. For the
most part I’ve been able to do that. I
have a new trainer now who is working with me to fix the heel and to get some of
the range of motion back in my hips. My heel problem will probably never completely go away and
the other option for my hip is to have
some fluid injected into it which I’m not totally ready to commit to yet,
although I know the time is coming.
Graham and I also took our annual trip to North Conway, New
Hampshire in Sept. We hiked Mount
Washington at 4AM again and that is the most beautiful sight I have ever
seen. The sun coming up (it’s the only
time I see a sunrise) and seeing the mountain turn to an orange/pink glow is a
sight I will NEVER forget. Mount
Washington is the first mountain I’ve ever hiked and it will always be
considered my baby. We also hiked Mount Lafayette again this year. I did a bit better this year than last
year. Last year I had a complete
meltdown a few times hiking up. This
time I did the hike and had a meltdown at the top as I thought we were at the
summit only to find out the summit was about 45 mins away. At that point I was
tired and getting hungry so a meltdown couldn’t be avoided. I wonder if chance
#3 next Sept. will be meltdown free…don’t they say the third time is the charm?
So, all in all it was a great year!! I got to do some pretty exciting things and
learned lots about myself in the process.
If you know me you know I don’t believe in setting New Year’s
Resolutions as I think most people don’t follow through. I set goals, these are something I want to
do, or something I want to improve on.
So far my goals are to become a Personal Trainer (most important one!!),
to start rock climbing (I will be climbing the face of a mountain in Alberta
the summer of 2014 so I better get training), I plan to take part in my first
sprint Triathlon – hopefully in Alberta this summer, I plan to start running
again on March 21 or whatever day Spring falls on, I want to do my first 5k
race of the year in April, a 10K in May, and my first ½ marathon in Oct. I want to bike my first 100k bike ride this
summer (already training for it) and I want the chance to share my story with
anyone who will listen. The more people
I can help get to their happy place in life and feel like I do now the better.
Thank you to everyone who has supported me over the past
year. I have met some truly fantastic,
amazing people and each and every one of you has helped keep me going in some
fashion.
Some of you have been with me on this crazy journey for a
while now and I TRULY thank you for not getting bored with my craziness....when
some were smart and moved on you guys stuck by me….sometimes thanks just isn’t
enough…this is one of those times.
I wish everyone all the best in 2013. Let’s make this the year of YOU!!
“Pain is temporary, quitting lasts forever” – Paul Plakas
