10 K with my Bestie.

Okay, so a little late on this entry but here it goes.

As most of you know Kellie and I were training for a 10 K. It was a 7 week training schedule and we did it in 4 and didn't really follow it all that well. Regardless, we set a goal time of 1:10.


May 5, 2013 was the race day. Kellie and I drove downtown and hung out in Churchill wondering where all the racers were. (It was apparently a small race) We participated in the Jazzercise warm-up and killed ourselves laughing at the men trying to do it (Anyone that knows Kellie and I together can just imagine the scene we were making laughing at people) About half way in to the Jazzercise I wondered what this woman's intention was cause I was tired. Why the hell were we doing a hardcore workout just prior to the race?! We pulled out, stretched on our own and watched everyone tire out. HA!

I made sure to call my good friend Mike Brown  a few days before the race ( Ultra Man and Iron Man finisher and owner of The Great White North Triathlon *plug*). He gave us some good advice such as what to eat and how to run the race. What he emphasized most was "run your own race." He reminded us not to get caught up in the hype and run at a regulated pace the whole race, picking it up in the end if feeling good.

Sure enough, we got off the start line with everyone passing us, I think there were two people behind us....but we were "running our own race" and keeping our pace. Then a little down the way, we see some walkers....we even had one guy sprint past us all athletic and shit and then we saw him walking about 6 K in. We left him in the dust. ;) The hills were tough and we all know how much I like hills...Ugh. I would rather run stairs for 5 hours straight than do hills. We finished the hills and picked up the pace a bit. We ended up finishing at 1.08. I was dying. Kellie acted like she didn't even run a step. (She is in insane shape).

I was pretty happy with that time but would definitely like to improve it. I guess that requires more consistent training. : ) I also had to go out and immediately buy new shoes. I tried to get away with wearing the same ones for a year...not a good idea...their time had come. So now I got me some real nice new shoes to run for the summer in. YAY!

We have looked at some other 10 K's and some trail runs...I always find summer training hard, especially with so much going on. I hope to start long runs again on Sundays and keep up training that way, increasing distance and speed and maybe do a run in the fall. Thanks to Kellie for being my running buddy and dealing with my exhaustion on the last 1 K. : )


Half Marathon next year? I think so. : )

I feel like I deserve a blizzard.

So I am clearly not blogging daily, but my life is fairly boring and there isn't much to write daily. The new remand opened Monday and work has been insane. Non stop planning, running around the building, back and forth from one pod to another and back to my office. I get A LOT of walking in during the day. We have done a lot of work this week and even created a 4 week addiction information program for the inmates. We got word of that to start next week and whipped it up in about a day. Good job team! I love being busy but need to get used to it again. Being the team lead and a counsellor is far more work than I thought. I am absolutely exhausted at the end of the day. People always assume its the difficult inmates I work with, well they are wrong. It is in fact the staff I work with. Tensions are high and people are stressed. Unfortunately, some people deal with stress by being rude to others or having attitude....not cool. But someone once told me, "It about dealing with peoples emotions" Oh God, have I ever. : )  Keep Calm and Carry On guys! It could be worse!


So training.... I have been following my schedule for the most part. Yesterday I was supposed to do intervals but took the day off instead. I will run intervals tomorrow on and off day instead. Today was 4 miles and I ran 3.5. Good enough. Oh and I have also been doing weights at home at night. : )

It was so nice to be outside running, it felt great. I ran at our 10 K race pace which is 5.3 mph. I find it hard to run that slow sometimes but definitely didn't exhaust myself in which i needed to stop so that was good.

I feel like I deserve a blizzard. Dallas is on his way over, maybe he feels like he needs a blizzard too. (I'm sure he does, especially after having to dye my hair.) What an amazing guy. Love.

Till I feel like writing again.

Daily blogging failure.

Okay, so I have sucked at the daily blog stuff. I missed Friday and Saturday.

Update....well Friday was an off day so I didn't do anything. Saturday was supposed to be 4 miles but I didn't do it. No real excuse, just chose to do it today instead. I will plan to run at 8 pm tonight and then do some full body exercises as well.

I have nothing else to say..... boring, I know.

Treadmill = Boring

Ugh, I hate the treadmill. I just want to run outside already!

Anyways, I ran my 25 minutes today at a decent pace. I struggled at the end purely out of boredom, but got through it. Last nights run was awesome. I love intervals! Lots of sweat and calories and goes by fast. : )

I made pasta last night and ate that for lunch as well, and managed abstained from the donuts shoved in my face by co-workers. Yay me!

I really have nothing to say but I'm super pumped about running again. Its a day off tomorrow, I might walk if  possible, then again its the big move from the old remand centre to the new one and that could produce mass chaos that I may be directed to help manage. Oh boy.

Day off tomorrow but possible run. Sorry so boring today....

Gone running.

So I forgot to blog yesterday but DID NOT forget to workout! Yipee!

So Monday I did my run at lunch and then thought it was a good idea later that evening to do lots of squats, weights and other exercises. Felt great at the time but I'm paying for it now.

Yesterday was an off day for running but I walked for 45 minutes at lunch. Thankfully here was an officer to keep me company. Its amazing how much more you do when you have someone to chat to. I walked at a brisk pace and incline here and there.

Today is a 25 minute interval session, I am yet to do it but have 9:00 on my mind. A nice run will loosen up my legs that are burning with pain from Mondays session. This is definitely a reminder to be consistent in my workouts and there will be no more pain.

I finshed off my mini eggs tonight.... I wonder how long till I buy another bag...

24 days to our 10K race!

My name is Lisa and I'm addicted to mini eggs.

Day 2.

FML I am addicted to mini eggs. I went to the store after work and what do I buy more of? F'ing mini eggs. Like I didn't eat enough this weekend! Ugh! Not even just a small pack, but a big one. I'm contemplative about this change in my life, they are just soooo good.

So funny story...I printed Kellie and I a training schedule for our 10 K. It was supposed to start last week and well, neither of us started it. As I'm looking at it today (because today is MONDAY!) on my bulletin at work, I'm thinking, wow, 4 miles is a lot for a training run, and then I look at the long run day and its 7.5 miles. That's 12 K! FOR A TRAINING RUN?! Something seemed wrong then I thought it was in km, but nope! I realized that I had the intermediate training schedule for people who are trying to improve their 10K run times. Ooops! So needless to say I fixed it , resent it to Kellie and we are back on track. We have to text each other after each run to confirm we are following the schedule too. : )

So today I ran 2.5 miles in 30 min, nice easy run on par with the 7 week training schedule started 4 weeks late. I ate good and then I bought mini eggs. Good job, Lisa.

Tomorrow is an off day but I will be walking or doing elipitcal to get my fat ass into shape.

Till then...

A year ago...

So April 9 last year I started writing this blog. The funny thing is that I have been eating like a savage beast all weekend and the past week and thought to myself tonight..." Wow, I have totally fallen off the wagon, I should start blogging again," only to realize that I started this blog a year ago almost to the day. I think I will go back to daily blogging in this case and hope that it will assist, like it did last year, in my weight loss adventure.

I currently weigh 150 lbs. Last year about 167 lbs at my highest and 143 at my lowest. Not too bad to maintain the 150 but would still like to be around 135.  I'm still really good at the excuses and the "I'll start Monday," which is what I said today again.

 My motivation is the 10 K race I am actually signed up for on May 5 with Kellie. I have still been running about 3 - 4 times per week but have slacked this past week. I have a training schedule and even made one for Kellie. Have I followed it? Nope. ...I'll start tomorrow...I have definitely not been running to my full potential and would like the snow to go away so I can (excuse).

Tomorrows run goal: 5 K.

Till tomorrow.

A Life Changing Personal Experience

Hello everyone!

I know most of my blogs have been about my weight loss but I'm changing my tune for today. As most of you know I was fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to attend the Betty Ford Clinic's Medical Education Program in Rancho Mirage, CA. My first thoughts were, " Oh my! The Betty Ford!" and my second was "Oh my! Palm Springs in the winter!' Little did I know, this trip would be life changing.  I will try to keep this short and sweet, but don't count on it.

The Betty Ford Centre is a Certified Chemical Addiction non profit Hospital. It was opened on October 4, 1982 by Betty Ford herself and the CEO John Schwarzlose ( he came to speak to us for an hour about the history of the Betty Ford Clinic). This centre is world renowned and now I know why. They have the most amazing staff, programming, physicians and specialists. We were greeted by Joseph Skrajewski who is the Medical Education Coordinator. This guy is awesome. He was so organized and ensured that we had the best experience possible. We were given a massive binder full of resources, papers, and a schedule. The schedule was started the moment we were picked up from the hotel at 6:45 to 6:00 at night when we ate dinner at the centre. The first day was 14 hours. WOW.

We had a brief orientation and then were assigned "patient buddies" and "counsellor buddies." I walked into the "Eva Pocklington" building (Yes, Peter Pocklington's wife has an entire building named after her) at 8:30 am Monday morning. I walked in past several women unaware of who was a patient or a staff member. I was with two other women in my program and we migrated to the side of the area awaiting our assignments  I was instantly drawn to one of the women. She almost immediately came up to us and introduced herself (still unaware if she is a patient of staff). She then asked the Tech (staff) who she was buddied with while keeping an eye on me and me on her. The Tech said Lisa is your "buddy" and it instantly clicked. She was the heart and soul of my beautiful Aunt Nancy. She reminded me of her so much and there was a great comfort in that in that moment. I knew this woman was meant to be my ``buddy`` for the week. My "buddy" showed me around and took me to the lecture hall where all of the patients meet to listen to a lecture ranging from musical meditation,  spirituality, love, communication styles etc. My "buddy" then advised me the first small therapy group we were going to was Grief. HOLY MOTHER OF GOD! Anyone that knows me as a counsellor, knows that grief is my most dreaded topic. I really struggle with grief and it makes me uncomfortable. It was then I realized I was here to be challenged in a big way. So I sat in a group with 6 woman who all spoke openly about their losses and then provided each other feedback discussing how they can relate and thanking each other for sharing their stories. Grief group ended up being just fine. : )

Throughout the week I realized the foundation of the Betty Ford, being the 12 step program. Coming from a harm reduction model I wondered how I would fit in, I wondered what I would say when everyone including the counsellor introduces themselves as "(Their name), alcoholic, addict." Having no addiction issues, this made me nervous. Instead, I introduced myself as Lisa, an Addiction Counsellor from Canada and from there discussed my experience professionally and mentioned extended family suffering from addiction as well.

Each day we participated as patients in the halls with the woman. I retained the same group of women ranging from ages 25 to 70 throughout the week. I got to know these women well. They were open and honest sharing their darkest moments, days and secrets. I admired that about them. I realized that during that week I was extremely uncomfortable talking about my feelings amongst people I barely knew. I thought "UHHH Hello! I'm the counsellor! I don't share that shit!" only to realize that, this week I was NOT the counsellor, but the patient. I eventually shared how nervous, anxious and uncomfortable I was talking about my "feelings" as I never do that. EVER. I find that I mostly say what I'm thinking, not what I'm feeling and I feel a lot of the Medical Education group realized that about themselves too. So as the week went on, I learned more and more about the women in my group and witnessed each of them grow and open up more each day. I saw one woman who came there a broken, empty shell of a human having just lost her husband to cancer and using pills and alcohol to grieve. By day 4 I saw some life to her, I saw her smile and put on make up and I witnessed her share her feelings. Her words to me during my coin out ceremony (each woman puts a positive thought into a coin and says goodbye) were, " You are an inspiration and you inspire me just looking at you." So sweet. I hope she can deal with her grief and focus on her recovery these next 30 days.

Since I've been back I've been asked "Did you see any celebrities?! The answer is no "A" listers, no. However, I am positive there were several people there that were "famous" within their communities. Of course the population there is typically "the rich," people that can afford 32,000 to 72,000 dollars for treatment. The thing I realized, however, is it doesn't matter if you come from money or you are a bum on the streets. You have the same disease/issue, that being addiction. You can have your 7000 sq-ft house, your Bentley, your driver, private plane and rich husband or you can have your blanket, street corner that you sleep, and back pack with nothing in it. It doesn't matter. Addiction is addiction. These women were humble, open, honest and wanted help. Anyone that we see in treatment or coming in for a counselling session are all there for one thing. They want help. That was humbling.

I could go on forever. I had more than one special, life changing moment last week. I have never been so inspired in my life. As part of the Camel ceremony I was to speak in front of the larger group as to what my hope was and why I was there. I mentioned the tattoo on my wrist that says "Inspire." I knew I had gotten that tattoo for a reason and I said, " I got this tattoo on my wrist in 2010 to remind me to inspire people everyday. I cannot inspire anyone unless I am inspired myself and it is women like you and my clients at work that do this for me, so thank you" My hope was that I would leave a better counsellor and I believe that to be true.  I learned the importance of communicating in my personal life and I learned that it is mother f'ing tough to sit in front of strangers and talk about yourself, something I will keep in mind when running my own group therapy.

I will never forget my experience last week. I saw lectures by several world renowned Physicians and Program Directors and people that were passionate about their own recovery and the job they do at Betty Ford. I was educated more thoroughly on the 12 steps, and confirmed that it works. I was given more tools to put in my counsellor tool box so I can better serve the individuals I work with, I was reminded about the importance of family, and that addiction is a family disease and I learned how addiction affects children. (I will link a YouTube video from Jerry Moe, the Children's Program Director. This man is amazing, I highly suggest watching his video) I learned the impact of therapy dogs, Al Anon, AA, pain management, trauma, multi disciplinary team work, meditation, fitness, spirituality and healthy living in recovery as well, just to name a few more.

I will never forget these women and how much of an impact they had on my life. I will never forget my buddy and how she exuded warmth, beauty, compassion, kindness and reminded me of someone I care so much about. More importantly, I will never forget how my buddy allowed me to grieve something I have never grieved before and how comforting that was. Inspired is the perfect word. Professionally and Personally.

I would like to say thank you to the team of corrections workers, pharmacists and Nancy, the judge for being part of that journey with me, as I believe only we will know the true impact of that program, having done it together. More importantly, Scarlett and Dallas for debriefing my days with me every evening. I literally would have been lost without you two.

Congrats if you have read this all. ; )

Jerry Moe Children's Program 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PgKDM0EYHU


Love is compassion for that which is vulnerable.
Love is unified by our flaws, not our assets.
- Charles Harper