Happy New Year

Wow, is it 2011 already?  Doesn’t it seem like as you get older year by year that time flies by more quickly?

Hmm, I wonder how many people have set New Year’s resolutions to lose weight and or gain muscle… and I wonder how many of these people actually understand that being successful at attaining such goals takes more than a couple weeks’ worth of visits to the gym and a eating a few protein bars.  Successfully attaining fitness goals no matter how big or small takes some planning, dedication and motivation to stay on track.  You’ve all heard of the people who worked really hard at losing weight only to gain it back not too long after.  Or, you’ve heard of the people who have given up on their health goals because they didn’t see results right away.  The key to keeping the weight off is simple – sticking to a plan that you can consistently stay on track with for the rest of your life.  The rest of your life?  Well, yes you need to ask yourself how long do you intend to maintain your new weight or fitness level once you have achieved it.  If you want to maintain a healthy weight and some general fitness you need to understand that you will have to make healthy lifestyle choices that are consistent and long term (for the rest of your life).  The simple trick is proper daily nutrition and exercise.  Making a commitment to eating healthy and exercising regularly is hard at first because your body may not be used to it but it will thank you very quickly as you begin to feel better and have more energy.

The key is finding activities that you enjoy doing.  This will take some trial and error so try different things and stick with what you like.  Going to the gym is fine but definitely not for everyone.  Likewise, running is not everyone’s desire either and that is fine too.  The number of recreational activities is enormous and don’t limit yourself to the indoors.

I guess this blog has been a bit of a rant but really I just want to encourage anybody thinking of making of lifestyle change to stick with it this new year and all to come.  If you stay consistent exercise and healthy eating become habit that you will crave.  When I first decided to get off the couch and try running to lose weight I hated running more than a couple of blocks.  However, my desire to shed the pounds and feel better motivated me to keep going and before I knew it I no longer was running just for health but was contemplating my first full marathon.

That was nearly 10 years ago when I first decided to begin living a healthy active lifestyle and I intend on continuing to eat healthy and stay active for the rest of my life!  I encourage you to get up off the couch and be active this year too!!

First Day

Hi folks,

Well, all my courses in the faculty of education for the semester are done and my first day of teaching practicum at Vincent Massey Collegiate starts Monday November 15th.  Last week I got to visit the school and meet my collaborating teachers and the students that I will be working with.  I’ve been assigned to a grade 11 science class and French immersion physical education.  The mix of classroom with gym will be a great experience.  As well, the opportunity to strengthen my spoken French will be an advantage for my resume building.  VMC is a very big school with around 1000 students.  The school offers a wide variety of extracurricular activities for its students.  I am looking forward to establishing my identity as a teacher and getting used to leading a group of students.  I will be at VMC for the remainder of this Fall semester until December 17th.

Well, Cross Country season is officially over.  The Bisons teams just completed their season at the CIS championships in Sherbrooke.  The men’s team placed 8th overall and the women’s team placed 13th overall.  I am proud of everyone who competed at CIS especially my teammate Paul Carr.  Paul is a fellow 5th year Bison who put in a great performance finishing 10th overall, 4th best in CanWest.  This is an impressive result for Paul as the depth of this year’s CIS field was very competitive.  Great way to cap off his Bisons XC career.  Congrats Paul.

No rest for the wicked however as we head directly onto the track for the indoor season.  Myself and the rest of the team who did not go to cross country CIS have been training on the track for the past couple of weeks.  Our first meet will be our annual intersquad Brown & Gold meet at the end of this month.  My training has been going well thus far and I feel the speed coming back to where I was near the end of last indoor season.  I haven’t decided if I will enter the 3000m at Brown & Gold or wait a few more weeks until the first Grand Prix event.  As you know by now if you’ve been reading my blogs for the past couple of years is that my ultimate goal is to break the 10 minute barrier in the 3000m.  Hopefully this being my final year as a Bison will be the year I break 10 mins!

Cross Country update

Hello again,

The Saskatoon meet was a lot of fun.  Both our men’s and women’s teams finished third overall.  My individual race went quite well and I was pleased with my performance.  I managed to climb a few rankings in the final couple of kilometers which is always a great feeling to be passing people instead of them passing by you.  Last weekend on October 16th we also competed in the Manitoba provincial championships at Kilcona Park.  This was mainly an intersquad competition with some local runners as well.  Kilcona is very tough course in my opinion.  If you’ve ever been there you know what I’m talking about.  The distance is 10km instead of 8km, lots of hills and you just never seem to get yourself in a rhythm because you are always climbing or turning.  To add to this was that on that day it was very windy and it felt like you were running into a wall sometimes.  Now I am looking forward to one more XC event this coming weekend in Calgary.  This is actually going to be my final XC meet as a Bison so this is kind of like my farewell race.  Like Kilcona, this race is going to be 10km and I’m ready to give it all I got one last time.  Here’s a picture of me at the Kilcona race.

I now know where my school placement will be this year.  In a few weeks I will be starting my practicum at Vincent Massey Collegiate.  I’m very excited to be working with the school there.  I find out next week which grade and teachers I will be working with.  Otherwise things are going well in Education.  The weeks are going by really quickly as they keep us busy with lots of assignments and readings.  The nice thing is I only have one final exam which we’ll write in class.

Is anyone else sad that our warm weather seems to be finally leaving us?  October was sure nice this year.  I wonder if we’ll be getting a late or early snow this year.  My favorite season has to be fall time.  I don’t like really hot or cold weather like summer or winter.  Spring is too wet but fall is just right.  Hopefully it doesn’t snow for at least another month!

Bisons Update

Hey everyone,

As some of you may know and others not, this will be my 5th and final season competing for the Bisons Cross Country / Track & Field teams.  In the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) system athletes are allowed five years of eligibility to compete for their university.  Sometimes when I think about it I don’t feel as though it has been five years already since joining the team.  The seasons go by faster each year it seems.  My goals this final season are to stay healthy, have fun and run off into the sunset!

Cross Country training started in the first week of August and we recently had our team time trial a couple weeks ago.  The time trial is an opportunity for team members to compete against each other for travel squad spots.  The men ran 6km and the women ran 4km.  The course for the time trial took place along the river near Churchill Drive.

This past weekend our Cross Country team travelled to Minneapolis to compete in the Roy Griak Invitational.  This year also marked the 25th anniversary of this event named after legendary Minnesota coach Roy Griak.  The men’s race is 8km and the women’s race is 6km.  Both our teams competed in the maroon division 2 race.  This was the first time that I had the opportunity to compete at this meet.  Let me tell you it is an honor to be a participant in this event.  Schools from all across the Unites States are there to compete and the size of the field is quite large.  We’re talking teams from all over like Duke University, Indiana, Texas, Arizona, Illinois, North Dakota, South Dakota, etc.  University of Alberta and Saskatchewan were the only other Canadian teams there besides us.   In all there were just over 300 runners in the men’s race and 200 in the women’s.  I felt like I was at a major marathon event standing there at the start line with so many runners.  The course itself is one of the more challenging courses in Cross Country as it has many rolling hills that persist all the way along.  All in all it was a lot of fun running and having spectators cheering you on all along the course.  Being a part of this meet will definitely be the highlight of my Bisons career!

Our season continues as we travel to Saskatoon this coming weekend for another meet.  This time the men will be running 7.5km and the women 4.5km.  I will be competing there as well so will give you an update on how that meet went next time.

Welcome Back

Hello everyone! 

To those that have been following my blog in the past I am happy to once again be keeping you up to date throughout the school year.  For those that aren’t familiar with my blogs, welcome, this will be my third school year blogging on this site.

Since my last entry sometime ago in early spring, I have graduated from the faculty of Kinesiology & Recreation Management with my four year Bachelors of Kinesiology degree.  As of this fall, I am currently enrolled in my first year of the Senior Years program in the faculty of Education.  Being in a new faculty somewhat reminds me of how I felt in University 1 when I wasn’t familiar with my surroundings and classmates.  Fortunately, the faculty of Education is small like the faculty of Kinesiology so there is the same opportunity to get to know everyone.

The courses in Education are structured a little different such as they only go until the end of October in first semester and February in winter semester.  After each two month block of classes on campus we go out into the schools for our placement.  I don’t know as of yet which high school I will be in this year but should find out very soon.  Other than that we get Mondays off while in classes which is a nice little perk.  However, coursework is demanding so Monday is really not a day to waste time either.  Oh and I almost forgot to mention classes are two hours long each.  You don’t spend as much time sitting and taking notes as you do have group discussions and such.  My favourite class so far is our weekly physical education course.  This is where I get to spend two hours a week in the gym learning how to develop lessons that will get students interested in being physically active.  These days the challenge is making physical activity fun so that children and youth will be self motivated to continue being active over their lifespan.

In closing, I think I will enjoy completing my degree in Education and eventually become a teacher.  I will keep you updated as to how things are going in my new faculty as the year goes on.

Year End

Hello everyone!

Finally, yet another school year has wrapped up and I am happy to announce that I have completed my Bachelor of Kinesiology degree at the University of Manitoba.  This will be official after convocation June 3rd.  How did everybody’s final exams go?  To go out in style I wrote six final exams with the last one being on April 24th, a Saturday.  So nice to be done now.

Now that I have my Kinesiology degree I have decided to pursue another degree, this time in Education.  Last week I received my acceptance letter from the University of Manitoba so expect to see my on campus for another couple years.  The folks behind the ‘U of More’ blogging site have asked me to return for a 3rd consecutive year of blogging and I have graciously accepted.  It will be fun to provide my perspective from within a different faculty.

I have enjoyed my time in the faculty of Kinesiology and Recreation Management over the past 3 years.  I want to thank the staff and professors for a tremendous experience.  Our faculty is small compared to others and this creates opportunities to build close relationships with other students and staff.  I also want to thank Dr. Phil Gardiner, Dr. Todd Duhamel and Dr. Jon McGavock for allowing me an opportunity to work in their research labs throughout my degree.  Finally, I would like to especially thank Karin Nowak-Bailey and the undergraduate office staff for spending so many hours answering my questions about courses and which ones to take, etc.

With my return to UofM this September means I will be returning to the Bisons as well for my 5th and final season of eligibility with Cross Country/Track & Field.  I’ve been busy with road races this spring having done the Puma Series 5km, 10km and 15km events as well as the Police Half marathon this past weekend.  Next up will be the Manitoba half marathon in June and then I will take a break during summer before preparing my cross country season.

This week I have begun working Dr. Jon McGavock at the Manitoba Institute of Child Health resuming my role on the Healthy Buddies project.  We’re wrapping up our data collection by end of May.  At the moment I do not know what I will be doing for the rest of summer.  Maybe continue working on something else or take time off for another vacation?  We’ll see.

That’s all for now.  Enjoy the summer and I will talk with you again in September.

Final Push

Hey everyone.  How is the midterm madness going for you?  It’s March already and we are well into the semester and can see the end is near.  For some it may not be as near if you happen to be unlucky enough that your exam schedule is not finished until late April.  For the most part, my exam schedules have always been pretty decent and finished early.  However, this year I am not done my last exam until the last week of April.  Being my final year and all this seems like a very long drawn out last hurrah!  Out of the six courses I’m taking this semester only one will be having an in-class final exam.  Otherwise, I’m writing five scheduled exams throughout the exam period.  I think even one or two are on a Saturday… bummer.

I think I have mentioned this before but I am looking forward to graduating from Kinesiology and moving on to the next step in my pursuit of a meaningful career in the field.  At this time, things seem to be pointing to me heading into Education for another two years at UofM and then seeking employment as a physical education teacher.  All my application work has been completed and will find out in April if I am accepted into the program.

What are your plans for the summer?  Starting in May I plan to resume working for Dr. Jon McGavock at the Manitoba Institute of Child Health (MICH).  I’ll be reprising my role on the Healthy Buddies project that was rolled out last September in several elementary schools across the province of Manitoba.  This time the team will be revisiting the same schools to perform a follow assessment of student progress in regards to the Healthy Buddies curriculum.  We’ll be measuring their physical activity levels via a standardized shuttle run test, taking anthropometric measurements and assessing their perceptions of healthy eating and self image via questionnaires.  Once the data collection is done, probably by early June, the team will conduct data analysis to determine if positive changes have occurred since September.  If we can show the provincial government some positive results they will have evidence to support implementing the Healthy Buddies program into the curriculum permanently.  I’m hoping Manitoba adopts this initiative because we need to start promoting healthier lifestyles at the grassroots level if we are ever going to see changes in public health (i.e. diabetes and obesity are major issues).

Olympic Fever

Hey everyone. Did anyone else feel like reading week went by too fast?

Yeah, that’s what I thought.

Even though I had good intentions of buckling down and getting ahead on my homework things didn’t go as planned.  Yes, I did get some things done but not as many assignments were completed as hoped.

Anyone do anything interesting for reading week?  For the most part I stayed close to home but did get out with friends to ski at Holiday Mountain in La Riviere.  Sure, it was fun but it just doesn’t quite compare to being out at the real mountains in B.C. or Alberta.  I remember skiing down Lake Louise and the run taking 10 or more minutes to complete.  By the time you came to the bottom you were exhausted.

Aside from that, the Olympics had most of my attention.  So far I’ve watched all three of the men’s ice hockey games and am not convinced they are performing to their potential.  Yes, give credit to Switzerland but in my opinion the Canadians should not have let the game be decided in a shootout like that.  Can you imagine where they’d be now if they had lost to the Swiss and USA in this round-robin?  Oh well, let’s wish them a victory over Germany in the qualifiers and then against Russia in the quarters.

Does anyone else own a Playstation 3?  Ok, I have to confess to buying one over the past Christmas holidays.  Other than watching the Olympics I put a few hours on my gaming console.  I’ve played through and finished Unchartered 2 and now I’m playing BioShock.  The PS3 is really cool as it can play Blu-Ray movies, connect to the internet and play back games in high definition.  What’s your favorite game?

In a couple of weeks my brother is coming home to visit.  He has been in Thailand since last spring as he got a full time teaching job out in Bangkok.  My mom is also supposed to be coming to visit sometime in late April or early May.  She has been living in and working in Botswana, Africa for nearly two years now.

Enjoy the last week of the Olympics and Go Canada GO!

Busy times

I know it has been a while since my last post.  It is a cliche but time does really seem to fly by when you are in full time school mode.

What’s new?  Well, a few weeks ago I got to travel down to Fargo and compete in my first ever indoor track event outside of Winnipeg.  I ran the 3000m (of course) and this was also my first indoor competition of the season since coming off the Philadelphia marathon in November.  Based on my training and good workouts that I had been having over the holidays I felt that reaching my all time goal of running under 10 minutes was possible.  The track in Fargo is shaped a bit different than ours in Max Bell as it is more oval shaped making the turns tighter.  The building was also unusually warm inside for some reason that weekend too.  These factors along with it being a long day (arriving at 11am and not racing until 5:30pm) took their toll on my performance.  I ended up finishing in 10:12, a good enough time to open up the season with but there is definitely room for improvement.  This weekend we are hosting the Bison Classic, a meet where other universities in CanWest will be visiting.  I will be making another attempt at the 3000m.  Wish me luck!

Other than running as usual, classes are keeping me busier than ever before.  This semester I am taking 6 courses to end my undergrad degree.  Somehow most of the courses I am in are assignment heavy whereas I am used to the more exam heavy type courses.  On one hand I am eager to graduate but on the other I am also a bit nervous about the change that comes with finally graduating.  For a long time I thought that heading down the research path and doing my Master’s degree was the way to go but now I am not so sure anymore.  I am also considering enter the Education program and working towards becoming a Physical Education teacher.  The thing about the Bachelor of Kinesiology degree is that it doesn’t train you for any specific job.  Rather, you learn subject matter in a variety of related areas and earn a well rounded education in the topics of health, exercise and disease prevention, therapy, biomechanics, aging, etc.  So, it is up to you to choose a particular area of interest and pursue opportunities in them.  Time will tell where I eventually end up.  I’ll keep you posted.

Looking forward to reading week already.  Don’t have any plans to travel or anything like that but am anxious to get ahead in course work, run and maybe catch up on seeing some movies.

Business is about to pick up

Happy New Year, everyone.

I’m sorry for the delay since writing my last blog.   However, I have been inspired to write this week’s blog due to what occurred this past Monday night on prime time TV.  Yes, I am talking about wrestling and how Vince McMahon’s World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) for the first time in nine years aired head to head against another wrestling company this time being Total Nonstop Action (TNA).

To set the tone for this blog, first let me admit that I have been a long time wrestling fan and it takes a lot these days to get me excited about the product as much as they have succeeded this past week.  I won’t go into all the historical details as that would require me writing a novel’s worth of blog material but here is the background first.

For almost the past decade, WWE has been the undisputed #1 wrestling company and basically the only to watch on TV since buying out their rival company World Championship Wrestling (WCW) back in 2001.  For those who remember, the late 90’s was the era of these two big companies competing week after week to be the higher rated TV show.  When these two companies were essentially waging war on each other, the wrestling fan was the one reaping all the rewards because it forced both shows to become more creative by developing better storylines, having pay-per-view caliber matches air for free, etc.  During that time, we saw almost every imaginable match, storyline and wrestler change company we thought was impossible.

Fast forward to 2010 and now while the WWE remains a good show there’s just about nothing they can do to create as much shock value as they had ten years ago… Or is there??  On this past week’s episode of Monday Night RAW, WWE managed to shock the wrestling world by bringing back the one big name wrestler whom you never thought you would see work with Vince ever again.  Yes, BRET ‘HITMAN’ HART is back!!  Bret appeared on RAW for the first time in over twelve years since his falling out with Vince and the company over the famous Montreal screw-job incident.  They say time heals all wounds and it certainly has in this case.

So what does this mean and why am I so excited?  Well, Bret Hart has got to be the most respected, talented and gifted wrestler of his time.  Bret comes from a large family in Calgary who live and breathe wrestling.  To wrestling fans in Canada, Bret is a god (no joke).  His in ring legacy speaks for itself.  I grew up idolizing Bret and it is great to see him back and I believe now he will be able to get a proper farewell from the business.

I mentioned TNA earlier.  They are a young wrestling company that has grown a lot in the last few years.  It seems they are trying to become like the old WCW and challenge WWE for TV ratings as they have switched from airing Thursday nights to Mondays as of the New Year.  This is good for business because it will force both companies to try and up the ante in terms of delivering on the quality of their shows each and every week.  Now I find myself flipping between both shows during commercials to see what’s happening on the other show.

As a wrestling fan, I look forward to what the wrestling business will shape up to be in 2010.  Things have certainly started in the right direction.  Here’s a pic taken of me with Bret in 2007 when he came to Winnipeg to sign his new autobiography.  To date his book is my favorite biography of anyone I have ever read.  Did you know he was also among those voted for the top 50 greatest Canadians of all time?