A perfect week

Of course, before I get into the training update, I should clarify the title of this entry. By perfect week, I mean my training! (If it were a truly perfect week, the boys would have slept in, the massive concrete hole in our yard would magically be a pool and I would have received all six of the outstanding cheques I’m waiting for clients to send me!)

No, when I say I had a perfect week, it means I actually did every workout on my list for the week. Monday, I went to the gym for the “sweat and sculpt” class, a combination of aerobics and weights. Tuesday morning, I went to the muscle/weight training class, and Tuesday night, I actually went for a run outside. On Wednesday, I went to spinning, and on Thursday, I ran on the treadmill at the gym. (To make up for not running outside, I varied both the speed and the incline on the treadmill to make it harder. I also ran for 35 minutes, instead of 26.) Friday was spinning again, and Saturday was a final 26 minute run outside. It was an ambitious training schedule and by Saturday night, I was pooped!

This week is equally busy. Andrew has swimming lessons every morning again this week, so we’ve been heading to the gym and then going right to swimming. This morning was the “sweat and sculpt” class again, and tomorrow is muscle. On Wednesday, I’m going to do a practice 5K run outside, to see how long it takes me. I’m trying to beat my previous record (29:39), and it’s only a month until the big race. I’m going to see if I’ve managed to improve my time at all. Thursday is spinning, and Friday and Saturday will be 28 minute runs.

Speaking of racing… that’s one of two big goals I’ve been working for this summer. On August 25th, I’m competing in a 5K charity run in downtown Burlington. I find I need these goals to keep going. This race is to benefit the children of the Merendon Mountains. Now, I had never heard of this charity before, but it’s a project in Guatemala geared towards building self-sustaining communities through the construction of houses, a community centre/health clinic, community store, as well as the delivery of life skills, health and education. (Okay, I admit, I copied that from the website!) Part of the race entry fee goes to the charity.

I’m not raising any extra money for the race, however, because I plan on doing a lot of these races throughout the year and I don’t think it’s fair to hit up all my family and friends for money every time they turn around. But running is essentially a very selfish pastime and charity runs are a great way to give a little something back. I’ve decided that once a year, I’ll be sure to do one race where I can fundraise and contribute money to charity.

This year, that event is taking place on September 9th, and it’s the second event for which I’m training. In this case, I’m taking part in the 31 km Walk for Grace to benefit the Hospital for Sick Children. The walk is in honour of Grace Stanley, a little girl who went to Andrew’s preschool. Grace battled a very rare form of brain cancer, and, sadly, this walk is marking the first anniversary of Grace’s passing. Grace’s parents have devoted themselves tirelessly to raising money to benefit pediatric brain tumour research at Sick Kids, and this walk is one of the ways they are making it happen.

Through Grace and her courageous family, I’ve learned is that brain cancer is the number one leading cause of solid cancer death in children under 20. They are absolutely unpredictable (Grace had no family history of cancer), strike without warning and are devastating for the children and their families. The survival rate is shockingly low. (But really, isn’t anything other than a 100% survival rate too low?)

So I’m going to be pushing myself to my limit to do the 31K walk – one kilometer for every month of Grace’s life. I’ll be devoting my fundraising efforts to try and raise money for this walk. I’m sure I’ll be hitting up most friends and family members soon. For anyone else who wants to learn more about the walk, visit www.gracestanley.org.

And now, it’s back to the grind for another week. Work is fairly quiet (it will hopefully remain that way until September), so the boys and I will get some good “play” time in this week. Mike and I are also painting our concrete hole during the evenings this week (this is the final stage in the pool repairs that have been ongoing since we took possession of the house in May), and the goal is to have the pool up and running by the August long weekend. Can’t wait!

Happy trails…