(or ‘Why-The-Heck-Am-Running-On-Treadmill-For-42-Km’ers-This-Morning’)

When I was first asked to be a part of Team Diabetes some 6 or 7 months ago, I thought, ’sure, what the heck, it’s a long way’s away and Iceland seems cool, I need to get back into shape…yeah, sure!’ Done deal. All the superficial reasons one starts to excercise….’I'll look better’. ‘I’ll feel better’. ‘It’s a great cause’. ‘It’s Iceland’. ‘They want me to go as their Media Champ…how cool does that sound…’ Yup. All that sounded great. Except for the lacing up and putting one foot in front of the other and actually taking to the trail, I had this in the bag!

And then I laced up. And tried to put one foot in front of the other. And time after time, it was brutal. It wasn’t supposed to be this hard. Running was supposed to be like getting back on a bike, right?? Wrong.

I have always been athletic, and I’ve considered myself to be an unusually STRONG person, and being an asthmatic since I was the age of 3, I prided  myself on being fit and in control of my asthma. I was becoming painfully aware that I had let all that slip. That, as life happened in the past few years, the first that went was excercise. I had a LIST of reasons…which I now call excuses…why I couldn’t exercise, and lemme tell ya, I ‘exercised’ that list all the time. I was ‘in mourning’, ‘busy schedule’, ‘i think I’m dealing with an injury’…blah, blah, blah. My favorite…’My metabolism changed’…oh yeah, i used that one QUITE a bit!! And for sure it had, BUT FIGURE IT OUT, BRIDGE!!! So this has become about MUCH more than ‘being a media champ’….

The fabulous folks at the Canadian Diabetes Foundation asked me to join…they were delighted when I said yes, and then they were surprised when I said I was going to ‘run the marathon’. Others had walked, or just done the 10 km, which is all wonderful. But I wanted to ‘walk the talk’ or rather (yeah, you know I’m going to say it-) ‘run the talk.’  This was an opportunity to make a change and let me tell you when you are running next to someone who is living with Diabetes, and running for not just their health, but their life, you don’t want to be ‘just a face’. You want to be a ’sweaty-heart-pounding-walk-the-talk-I have no-idea-what’s-going-to-happen-but-I’m-sure-gonna-try-BODY’ that gives it her all!!

And that’s why I am doing this!! I want to raise as much awareness, funds, and inspiration as I can this AM. Because truly, if I can do this, so can you. And if you ever had just the inkling that you’d like to, that you really have to. And those ‘reasons’…remind yourself, very often, their just excuses. My dad always had the best advice when something seemed really difficult…’If it was easy Bridge, everyone would be doing it’.

Please support this effort the AM, if you are able to donate….FANTASTIC…

To donate online go HERE

Or call 780.232.7381 and make a donation.

There’s also a silent auction…with incredible ART by Jason Carter and two days spa’s by Urban Body…

Call 780.232.7381 to bid on these wonderful silent aution items!

Thank you thank you thank you….I’ll keep you posted as to how it goes!!

xo

B