Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Sky Watch Friday
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
A Run A Fire Part Three
So here I am Day 2 of my Marathon of Hope, and post day 2 from the fire.
I had decided even before the fire that when I ran day 2 I wasn't going to start as early. As I said I have never run a 1/2 marathon before and doing 2 half marathons back to back seemed like a daunting task. I had no idea how I was going to feel. Was I going to feel sore, how was I going to be emotionally, many thoughts ran through my mind. What I knew I had to do was clear my mind of any negative energy, put on my runners and just run.
I was still pumped from the events of the previous day and being highlighted on the evening news the night before. I was to meet the rest of the support crew at noon at the same spot we ended off at the previous day. It was going to be a good day, the sun was shining and the air was crisp.
I have no idea where I got the energy to do that little jiggy dance...something just came over me and it seemed like the thing to do.
With my pace vehicle ahead of me and my support vehicle behind(which of course had 2 huge banners on it)the first community I ran through that afternoon was Union Bay. I was so shocked at the reception I received. Folks were actually out on their front porches clapping and cheering me on. Other folks in their vehicles were honking their horns in support. I was brought to tears.
As we wanted to draw attention to the run we had decided to make a couple of pre organized stop both of which were pubs...fancy that!! Anyhow, my one and only stop that day was in a little town called Royston. Royston was 16km into my run
These two gentleman were so kind and encouraging and made a great donation towards the run!
I only had a short 7km to go once I left Royston. But that would be the longest 7km of my life. Every part of my being was beginning to hurt at this point, my running pace was fluctuating and I was getting tired.
When I saw the sign for Courtenay I was ecstatic!
It was another 4km from there where my journey would end. I feared I didn't have the energy, I pathetically cried to myself. It was only a few short blocks and I was standing waiting for the light to turn green and I could see the Legion sign ahead of me. I wanted to finish this in style. I had to dig deep within myself to find the strength to give it the runners last push. I sprinted the last 3 blocks when I arrived the tears were pouring down my face.
Once inside I was greeted by the Legion president and led to the front of the hall where there were over 200 people! I was overwhelmed and honoured. I was presented with a lovely arrangements of flowers and treated so kindly.
This is a journey I will never forget. It made me find my inner strength and to work at over coming adversity. At the end of the day it was about my brother and his determination to be a fighter and to never give up. Please if you haven't already done so sign up to be an organ donor. Here's the link to BC Transplant online registration.
Thank you for stopping by and for reading my blog.
I had decided even before the fire that when I ran day 2 I wasn't going to start as early. As I said I have never run a 1/2 marathon before and doing 2 half marathons back to back seemed like a daunting task. I had no idea how I was going to feel. Was I going to feel sore, how was I going to be emotionally, many thoughts ran through my mind. What I knew I had to do was clear my mind of any negative energy, put on my runners and just run.
I was still pumped from the events of the previous day and being highlighted on the evening news the night before. I was to meet the rest of the support crew at noon at the same spot we ended off at the previous day. It was going to be a good day, the sun was shining and the air was crisp.
With my pace vehicle ahead of me and my support vehicle behind(which of course had 2 huge banners on it)the first community I ran through that afternoon was Union Bay. I was so shocked at the reception I received. Folks were actually out on their front porches clapping and cheering me on. Other folks in their vehicles were honking their horns in support. I was brought to tears.
As we wanted to draw attention to the run we had decided to make a couple of pre organized stop both of which were pubs...fancy that!! Anyhow, my one and only stop that day was in a little town called Royston. Royston was 16km into my run
These two gentleman were so kind and encouraging and made a great donation towards the run!
I only had a short 7km to go once I left Royston. But that would be the longest 7km of my life. Every part of my being was beginning to hurt at this point, my running pace was fluctuating and I was getting tired.
When I saw the sign for Courtenay I was ecstatic!
Thank you for stopping by and for reading my blog.
Monday, January 21, 2013
A Run A Fire Part II
I ended my last post by saying there was a lot to be considered and decisions to be made.
It was now 0100 and I hadn't been to bed yet and I was to be at the Legion hall by 0900. The Legion had graciously donated the use of the hall for me to use as a gathering place for the beginning of the run, and a place where I was being joined by members of my local Legion and my support team. Here I was going to do my warm up and hopefully to be joined by others. However, other things needed to be dealt with first.
As I mentioned in my last post, when we left for dinner on Thanksgiving we had left our two faithful dogs in our home. When father in law initially arrived at our home and opened the back door Ernie our 3 years old Husky/Greyhound came bolting out but not our dear Bert. Father in law could here Bert whimpering and went into the house to see if he could get him out. He somehow managed to achieve this and Bert finally made his way out of the house. With all the activity going on I hadn't had an opportunity to truly check either of our dogs. Our neighbour come over to see if she could help and volunteered to take our dogs to her place for the night, but our companions did not want to leave us.
Once the ambulance had left and we were in my father-in-laws house and sitting in the living room we had time to assess things. The dogs being a priority. Doug determined that Bert needed to be seen by the veterinarian made an emergency call and took Bert to meet her at her clinic. Doug insisted I stay at my father in laws and try to get some sleep before the run, I attempted to do just that. It wasn't long after that my father in law came to get me and to tell me I need to go to the vet. Bert was not doing well. I arrived at the vet only to be told that Bert was in dire straights that the smoke inhalation was to much for him and that he was suffering. The decision was made to put our dear Bert out of his misery. It was the hardest decision we ever had to make. The vet gave Bert something for pain and then after Doug and I said our good byes, she give him is lethal injection of drugs which put him to sleep. That is exactly what it looked liked when he lowered his head. He just lowered it and put his head on his paws as if he were going for a nap and then he took his last breath and he was gone.
It was now 0330 in the morning and in a few short hours I was to start my marathon of hope.
The alarm was set and I was up at 0700 gathering up my belonging, and last minute items. During the preparation period Doug had got a sponsor to make up T-shirts for the run. Unfortunately, the T-shirts had been in a box in the house at the time of the fire the night before. Doug managed to bring out the box although soot filled and smoke infested he salvaged what he could and we made the best of it.
As you can tell by now that I decided that I would do the run regardless of the house fire and the loss of Bert. So much energy had been put into this event that I felt I had to do it. We arrived at the Legion hall just before 0900. They had already received news of our fire. Hugs and tears were bountiful and as much as that was appreciated there was no time for that and I needed to put my head into a more positive place.
The is the warm up.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Anvdw-Xeppw&feature=youtu.be This is the link to the news cast, go to 10:55 secs to see the news cast.
Day 2 still to come!
Saturday, January 19, 2013
A Run and A Fire Part I
Here we are almost three weeks into the New Year and I am looking forward to all this year can and will bring to me.
Many of you have followed me on Facebook and have read and or heard about my house fire at the end of November. I am thinking about doing a post on how one overcomes such a traumatic event and the whole rebuilding that comes along with losing your house and a dear pet. However, this post is about marathon of hope that I ran the morning after the fire.
Last January my brother Mike took ill with what he thought was a cold which turned into an pneumonia. In February Mike and his wife Arletha had planned a trip to Las Vegas to celebrate Arletha's birthday. Mike had been given the ok by his family doctor to go to Vegas so of they went. During the flight my brother went into respiratory distress and had to be administered oxygen on the plane. When they landed in Vegas there was an ambulance waiting for him on the tarmac and he was rushed to hospital where he spent 10 days. During that time he went through a battery of test, Mike's insurance company had him flown home to BC where he was hospitalized for the next 6 weeks. You can read about my brothers story on his blog http://mikeslungs.blogspot.ca/?spref=fb. Mike eventually was diagnosed with Interstitial Pulmonary Fibrosis. Now without a double lung transplant my brothers prognosis is poor. He spends his days in recliner and just performing the basics of care leaves him breathless and requiring a large amount of oxygen supplement. This is a far cry from the man that he was a year ago. My brother is a husband, father, businessman and was very active in his community. It breaks my heart to see him in this condition struggling for every breath.
Back in November when my brother was given the news that he might not see Christmas if he didn't get a lung transplant was devastating news for all of us. I couldn't just sit by and do nothing, but I wasn't sure really what I could do. Then it came to me, I could run. I could do a fundraiser by running a marathon.
It was my husbands brainchild that I run a marathon. Having never ran a marathon in my life it seemed very daunting and I wondered if I could even do this. Here we were at the beginning of November my brother's condition was deteriorating rapidly and there was no time to waste, so my hubby suggested I do the run at the end of November!!! November!!! The date chosen was only 3 weeks away, how could I do this? The fundraising, the training, getting sponsors the list of things to do was overwhelming. How could I do this? My hubby took the bull by the horn and started writing letters and making calls. Before I knew it the dates for the run were set, the destination was set and sponsorship was already being garner I was committed all I had to do now was train. I was going to run from Bowser to Courtenay BC a two day 42KM marathon of hope we called "Run for the Lungs".
As I said I have never run a marathon in my life, the longest I have ever run was 16km. This past summer I was running almost every day but again the longest run was 10km once a week and 5km every day or every other day. So I really had to kick my training up a notch. I contacted my local gym and asked them if they would sponsor me, and that they did. They allowed me to use their facility for free and provided me with some personal strength training. I alternated my run and gym days. I was running rain or shine, hills and the flats. During my training I was able to get in two 20km runs and three 10km runs and the rest were 6km runs. Oh did I mention this run was taking place over 2 days. Yes, I was realistic, there was no way I could do a full marathon in one day, but over two days I felt would be achievable.
On November 22nd that date might mean something to some of my American friends, yes it was the American Thanksgiving and my hubby and I had been invited to some friends home for Thanksgiving dinner. We left home by 6pm leaving our dogs Ernie and Bert in the house all comfy on their beds. At 7:45 pm we get a panic call from my husbands father telling us that there was smoke billowing out of our house. We were home in a matter of minutes, hubby rushed into the house with hose in hand and started to extinguish the fire. 911 had been called but living in a rural area it's a volunteer department and they got there as soon as they could,but by the time they arrived hubby had got the fire under control but it was to late the damage was done. During the early stages when we arrived at our home all three of us ran into the house to open windows and doors to let the smoke out...wrong thing for me to do. Due to my asthma, next thing you know I'm wheezing and having a challenging time breathing. Ambulance arrives and I spend the next 2 hours in the back of an ambulance being administered oxygen. My father in law and husband were in and out of the ambulance also getting oxygen. As I sat there breathing in the oxygen I thinking, how am I going to do this run in the morning? I had made this commitment to myself and to so many others.
There was a lot to be considered and decisions to be made.......
Many of you have followed me on Facebook and have read and or heard about my house fire at the end of November. I am thinking about doing a post on how one overcomes such a traumatic event and the whole rebuilding that comes along with losing your house and a dear pet. However, this post is about marathon of hope that I ran the morning after the fire.
Last January my brother Mike took ill with what he thought was a cold which turned into an pneumonia. In February Mike and his wife Arletha had planned a trip to Las Vegas to celebrate Arletha's birthday. Mike had been given the ok by his family doctor to go to Vegas so of they went. During the flight my brother went into respiratory distress and had to be administered oxygen on the plane. When they landed in Vegas there was an ambulance waiting for him on the tarmac and he was rushed to hospital where he spent 10 days. During that time he went through a battery of test, Mike's insurance company had him flown home to BC where he was hospitalized for the next 6 weeks. You can read about my brothers story on his blog http://mikeslungs.blogspot.ca/?spref=fb. Mike eventually was diagnosed with Interstitial Pulmonary Fibrosis. Now without a double lung transplant my brothers prognosis is poor. He spends his days in recliner and just performing the basics of care leaves him breathless and requiring a large amount of oxygen supplement. This is a far cry from the man that he was a year ago. My brother is a husband, father, businessman and was very active in his community. It breaks my heart to see him in this condition struggling for every breath.
Back in November when my brother was given the news that he might not see Christmas if he didn't get a lung transplant was devastating news for all of us. I couldn't just sit by and do nothing, but I wasn't sure really what I could do. Then it came to me, I could run. I could do a fundraiser by running a marathon.
It was my husbands brainchild that I run a marathon. Having never ran a marathon in my life it seemed very daunting and I wondered if I could even do this. Here we were at the beginning of November my brother's condition was deteriorating rapidly and there was no time to waste, so my hubby suggested I do the run at the end of November!!! November!!! The date chosen was only 3 weeks away, how could I do this? The fundraising, the training, getting sponsors the list of things to do was overwhelming. How could I do this? My hubby took the bull by the horn and started writing letters and making calls. Before I knew it the dates for the run were set, the destination was set and sponsorship was already being garner I was committed all I had to do now was train. I was going to run from Bowser to Courtenay BC a two day 42KM marathon of hope we called "Run for the Lungs".
As I said I have never run a marathon in my life, the longest I have ever run was 16km. This past summer I was running almost every day but again the longest run was 10km once a week and 5km every day or every other day. So I really had to kick my training up a notch. I contacted my local gym and asked them if they would sponsor me, and that they did. They allowed me to use their facility for free and provided me with some personal strength training. I alternated my run and gym days. I was running rain or shine, hills and the flats. During my training I was able to get in two 20km runs and three 10km runs and the rest were 6km runs. Oh did I mention this run was taking place over 2 days. Yes, I was realistic, there was no way I could do a full marathon in one day, but over two days I felt would be achievable.
On November 22nd that date might mean something to some of my American friends, yes it was the American Thanksgiving and my hubby and I had been invited to some friends home for Thanksgiving dinner. We left home by 6pm leaving our dogs Ernie and Bert in the house all comfy on their beds. At 7:45 pm we get a panic call from my husbands father telling us that there was smoke billowing out of our house. We were home in a matter of minutes, hubby rushed into the house with hose in hand and started to extinguish the fire. 911 had been called but living in a rural area it's a volunteer department and they got there as soon as they could,but by the time they arrived hubby had got the fire under control but it was to late the damage was done. During the early stages when we arrived at our home all three of us ran into the house to open windows and doors to let the smoke out...wrong thing for me to do. Due to my asthma, next thing you know I'm wheezing and having a challenging time breathing. Ambulance arrives and I spend the next 2 hours in the back of an ambulance being administered oxygen. My father in law and husband were in and out of the ambulance also getting oxygen. As I sat there breathing in the oxygen I thinking, how am I going to do this run in the morning? I had made this commitment to myself and to so many others.
There was a lot to be considered and decisions to be made.......
Monday, January 07, 2013
Stress...
Is it me or does anyone else find the use of the word "stress" or "stressful situations" overused and or misused?
If we look in the Miriam Webster dictionary for the definition of stress we find the following:
1: constraining force or influence: as a : a) force exerted when one body or body part presses on, pulls on, pushes against, or tends to compress or twist another body or body part; especially : the intensity of this mutual force commonly expressed in pounds per square inch b) : the deformation caused in a body by such a force c) : a physical, chemical, or emotional factor that causes bodily or mental tension and may be a factor in disease causation d) : a state resulting from a stress; especially : one of bodily or mental tension resulting from factors that tend to alter an existent equilibrium e : strain, pressure
2: emphasis, weight
3: archaic : intense effort or exertion
4: intensity of utterance given to a speech sound, syllable, or word producing relative loudness
5a : relative force or prominence of sound in verse b : a syllable having relative force or prominence
Let's look at 1(c): a physical, chemical, or emotional factor that causes bodily or mental tension and may be a factor in disease causation.
I think we have all used a similar saying "I'm stressed out" or "I'm really stressed" or "that stresses me out". So why do we allow ourselves to get to this point? Is it really stress we are feeling or is it something else? Exhaustion for example, if we find we are burning the candle at both ends and still find there are not enough hours in the day to do what we want to do and accomplish, we often get "stressed". However, is this really stress or is it self imposed kaos, and as a result our bodies begin to experience the physical, mental and or chemical tension which alters our equilibrium.
We all deal with these more challenging times differently. Some of us find more positive ways of dealing with these more challenging times by excercising, performing yoga, and/or mediation. Others tend to over eat or not eat at all. Then there are others who tend to increase their use of chemical drugs, alcohol or over the counter medications and prescription drugs. In other words we find other means to help us manage this more "stressful" times.
As an RN I have seen a huge variety in coping mechanisms people have used in order to manage their stress. Some folks use self meditation to help manage pain, they have told me they try and find their "happy place". Then there are others who can't, and need other interventions to manage simple tasks.
So I ask myself, where does such a variance come from? Why do some people have coping skills and others don't. For some using the word "stress" would never even enter their mind, but rather they would consider it a more "challenging" time, and take it as opportunity to help themselves learn new ways to manage the stressful/challenging times.
Have we as a society become so "stressed out" that we can't manage our own challenging times? Have we become that "stressed out" that we have forgotten how to manage our lives and challenging situations? How did we forget how to care for ourselves and become responsible for our own well being? Maybe some of us were we never taught those managing and coping skills, or maybe some of those skills are innate?
One thing I do know or have at least experienced is that there are many things in our lives that are out of our control and happen to us or around us that we can not do anything about, but does that constitute a reason for stress or to be stressed out? I don't know. What I'd like to see us all do is figure out positive ways to manage those times and take responsibility for our own well being and not blame everything on "stress".
What do you think?
If we look in the Miriam Webster dictionary for the definition of stress we find the following:
1: constraining force or influence: as a : a) force exerted when one body or body part presses on, pulls on, pushes against, or tends to compress or twist another body or body part; especially : the intensity of this mutual force commonly expressed in pounds per square inch b) : the deformation caused in a body by such a force c) : a physical, chemical, or emotional factor that causes bodily or mental tension and may be a factor in disease causation d) : a state resulting from a stress; especially : one of bodily or mental tension resulting from factors that tend to alter an existent equilibrium
2: emphasis, weight
3: archaic : intense effort or exertion
4: intensity of utterance given to a speech sound, syllable, or word producing relative loudness
5a : relative force or prominence of sound in verse b : a syllable having relative force or prominence
Let's look at 1(c): a physical, chemical, or emotional factor that causes bodily or mental tension and may be a factor in disease causation.
I think we have all used a similar saying "I'm stressed out" or "I'm really stressed" or "that stresses me out". So why do we allow ourselves to get to this point? Is it really stress we are feeling or is it something else? Exhaustion for example, if we find we are burning the candle at both ends and still find there are not enough hours in the day to do what we want to do and accomplish, we often get "stressed". However, is this really stress or is it self imposed kaos, and as a result our bodies begin to experience the physical, mental and or chemical tension which alters our equilibrium.
We all deal with these more challenging times differently. Some of us find more positive ways of dealing with these more challenging times by excercising, performing yoga, and/or mediation. Others tend to over eat or not eat at all. Then there are others who tend to increase their use of chemical drugs, alcohol or over the counter medications and prescription drugs. In other words we find other means to help us manage this more "stressful" times.
As an RN I have seen a huge variety in coping mechanisms people have used in order to manage their stress. Some folks use self meditation to help manage pain, they have told me they try and find their "happy place". Then there are others who can't, and need other interventions to manage simple tasks.
So I ask myself, where does such a variance come from? Why do some people have coping skills and others don't. For some using the word "stress" would never even enter their mind, but rather they would consider it a more "challenging" time, and take it as opportunity to help themselves learn new ways to manage the stressful/challenging times.
Have we as a society become so "stressed out" that we can't manage our own challenging times? Have we become that "stressed out" that we have forgotten how to manage our lives and challenging situations? How did we forget how to care for ourselves and become responsible for our own well being? Maybe some of us were we never taught those managing and coping skills, or maybe some of those skills are innate?
One thing I do know or have at least experienced is that there are many things in our lives that are out of our control and happen to us or around us that we can not do anything about, but does that constitute a reason for stress or to be stressed out? I don't know. What I'd like to see us all do is figure out positive ways to manage those times and take responsibility for our own well being and not blame everything on "stress".
What do you think?
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