Run Without Borders, Halifax 2013

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Pre Race Warmup

Pre Race Warmup

The inaugural Run Without Borders, Halifax took place this past weekend in Point Pleasant Park, Halifax.  I am happy to announce that the event was a great success!  Approximately 125 people took part in the event, either as volunteers, runners, or walkers.  Despite the gloomy Halifax spring weather, everyone was in good spirits and seemed to enjoy the event.  Together, we raised $4,719 for two international health promotion organizations: Doctors Without Borders and the Nova Scotia Gambia Association.  This money will be split evenly between the two non-profits, meaning that each organization will receive $2,359.00 in donations.   Woohoo!

And they're off!

And they’re off!

All this from just 125 people!  I was blown away, once again, by the positive energy and spirit of the running, walking, and volunteering community.   A small donation by each person, in the form of a race registration payment, really added up, and this money will go a long way to save lives through both organizations.  It was a lot of hard work to organize such an event, but the excitement of race day definitely makes it all worth it.

I have organized this event for three years in Calgary, and a colleague of mine has organized the event two times in Edmonton.  Collectively, these races have included over 1300 participants and raised approximately raised $40k for international health organizations.  Although each Run Without Borders has been relatively small and low key, the fundraising numbers really do add up and can make a significant difference worldwide.  I’m looking forward to planning the second Run Without Borders, Halifax, and just maybe the weather will hold up next time.  Haha, that’s wishful thinking…

A quick shout out to some key people that helped make this event happen: Sydney and John from Running Room, Kelly, Caila, Michelle, Iwona, Pam, Steve, Jean, as well as all to all the race sponsors.  Thanks again to everyone that participated in this event!  Hope to see you out again next year!

Jennifer

Support Love4Gambia 2013!

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Hello everyone!

This summer, I will be running 424km over 17 days to run the length of The Gambia, from the border of Senegal to the Atlantic Ocean. It will be extremely hot and challenging (35°C!), and will definitely test my physical endurance and mental strength each day.

This will be my route:

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I am doing this because I strongly believe that health promotion programs work. I am running in support of the Nova Scotia-Gambia Association, a non-profit organization that organizes peer health education programs throughout The Gambia on essential topics such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, water sanitation, environmental sustainability, and landmine awareness. I have been extremely impressed by the programs efficiency at reaching an entire generation across an entire country, and it’s ability to promote health and prevent illness across an entire generation. It’s an approach that makes sense, and I am more than excited to be running for such a great cause.

I am looking for donations to my campaign in order to raise money so the NSGA can continue its work in The Gambia. You can find more information about donating below.

Donation Options:

Any and all donations are appreciated and will help me reach my goal of raising $15,000 for peer health education programs throughout The Gambia.

Here are some special perks:

  • Donate over $20.00 and I will send you a postcard from The Gambia
  • Donate over $100.00 and I will do all of the above and send you a one-of-a-kind souvenir from The Gambia
  • Donate over $250.00 and I will do all the above and dedicate a kilometer on the route to you. I will take a picture of a highlight of it, which I will send you.
  • Donate over $500.00 and I will do all of the above and dedicate a day of running to you. I will take pictures throughout the day and send them to you. (That works out to $20 per kilometer, which is a pretty good deal).How to Donate: There are several options available to support me and the Nova Scotia Gambia Association!

    1. Credit Card: You can donate online at http://www.love4gambia.com by clicking the donate link. Please select love4gambia under the fund/designation drop-bar to ensure the donation goes towards my campaign.

    2. Cheque or Cash: You can donate by cheque or cash by sending your money to the Nova Scotia Gambia Association Office (1574 Argyle St. Suite 17; Halifax, N.S. B3J 2B3). Please include your name and address or email with the donation so that you can receive your tax receipt. Cheques can be made out to the Nova Scotia-Gambia Association with a memo for Love4Gambia. Please indicate that the donation is for Love4gambia if you are donating cash.

    3. Time and Support: If you are unable to donate money to the cause there are other ways you can help me out! Please pass along this letter to your contacts and help me raise money for the peer health education programs in The Gambia. Follow me on Twitter, like my page on Facebook, and subscribe to my blog. Sign up for the Love4Gambia team when you register for the Bluenose Marathon in May. Any and all help is needed and appreciated greatly!

    Note: A tax receipt will be sent to you from the Nova-Scotia Gambia Association for any donation over $20.00

Thanks for your support Mizuno!

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I would like to write a quick blog thanking Mizuno for their running apparel donations in support of my run across The Gambia.  I received the package of brand new running clothes to practice and race in about a month ago.  Mizuno generously donated 8 light-weight running tops, 8 running leggings, and a hat to top it off.  It was a pretty exciting thing to get in the mail.

Typically, I would run in the free race t-shirts I have collected and various running clothes I could muster together from the thrift store.  I thought these fancy, light-weight materials for athletic gear were over-rated and did not really make that much of a difference on the running experience.

Ultra light, ultra bright for The Gambia. Thanks Mizuno!

Ultra light, ultra bright for The Gambia. Thanks Mizuno!

However, after running for a month or so now in my fancy new gear, I realized I may have been wrong.  The light-weight, sweat-wicking material on all of the clothes is fantastic.  It will be awesome while running in 35 degree weather, and will weigh and chafe significantly less while sweating up a storm for my run.  Thanks again to Mizuno for their support of my run and the NSGA’s peer health education programs in The Gambia.  Part of running, is supporting those that are the fastest, and another part of running is supporting all of the good things that can come out of running.  I’m glad to wear the clothing of a company that supports both!

Please support me by donating to the cause and helping me to educate Gambian children on life-saving health skills.  Every donation counts and helps me to reach my goal of $15,000 for the NSGA.

Much love,

Jennifer

New Video Short of Run Without Borders

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Last Friday, I went out to beautiful Point Pleasant Park with Bill McEwan to film a short video clip to promote Run Without Borders and my Love4Gambia campaign.  I must admit, I was quite nervous for the whole experience and did not know what to expect to come out of it.  Luckily, Bill is quite talented when it comes to editing videos and was able to put together the footage into something I am really happy with.

Please check it out and tell me what you think!

Also, please help my by sharing this video among your groups go we can get word about the race and as many people down to the beautiful Point Pleasant Park on April 20, 2013 as possible! You can register to run, walk, or volunteer for the race by clicking HERE!

Hope to see you all out!

Jennifer

Winter Motivation

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As the winter weather drags on here in Halifax, it is not always easy to get out and go for a run.  However, as much as getting out in the cold, rain, wind, and/or snow may suck, not running usually feels a whole lot worse.  In that spirit, I thought I’d write a blog today about some of the ways I motivate myself to get out and run.  They are not 100% guaranteed to work, but they are things that usually work for me and force me to overcome any excuses I may have on any give day.

Here goes:

1. Make a new music playlist, BUT don’t listen to it until you go running.  Whenever I do this I usually can’t wait to get out on my next long run to see what goodies are waiting for me in my iPod.

2. Multi-task: combine your run with sending a couple of things off at the post office, picking up/dropping off a library book, or buying an item you have been meaning to get at a store. You’ll feel super accomplished at the end of it, and your run will be complete = double win. (Just ignore the weird looks you get when you enter a store all sweaty and red-faced).

3. Blog, tweet, or Facebook about it. I have found people to be surprisingly supportive and it definitely helps.  So you just tweeted that you were going for a long run?  Well I guess you better get out there and do it!

Screen Shot 2012-09-28 at 12.58.23 PM4. Sign up for a race.  Better yet, sign up for Run Without Borders or the Bluenose (team Love4Gambia).  This way, you’ll have a date set in stone that you need to train and be ready for.  Plus, you’ll most likely feel amazing after the race! (training-dependent that it…)

5. Buddy up! Whether it is another runner or your dog, having someone count on you to run with is definitely a good motivator.  You won’t want to let you running buddy down by cancelling, and plus, once your running, you’ll have someone to talk to (well, you can talk to your dog while running, but they likely won’t respond).

Wall map to mark all of the roads in Halifax I have ran - great motivation!

Wall map to mark all of the roads in Halifax I have ran – great motivation!

6. Challenge yourself in different ways: distance, time, hills, etc.  I find this helps me a lot since I like a good challenge.  Last winter, I set out with the goal of running every street in Halifax, as a way to motivate myself to run and to get to know the city.  I got a transit map of the city, and after every run I would trace the new streets I had covered.  This worked surprisingly well, and I saw a lot of neat stuff that I probably would have missed if I had stuck to the same route…

7. Think of how far ahead of everyone you’ll be this spring … whenever it decides to show up again…

8. Write it down/keep a running log.  See how many kilometres you cover or how many minutes you ran in a week or a month.  Keep track and then see how much you improve as time goes on.  You’ll probably surprise yourself.

9. Exercise doesn’t always mean running.  Skiing, snowshoeing, swimming, hiking, etc. are all good workout that help to change it up.  Also, tobogganing in the winter makes for a great (and even fun) hill workout.  Woohoo!

10. Think about how good you have it.  If everything above does not work, just stop for a second and think about how good you have it that you even have the option to decide whether or not you want to run today.  For me, realizing this is usually what will ultimately get me out the door.

So lace up your runners and tough it out through this last bit of winter!  Good luck to all of you training for various event, and hopefully this list will help you in someway or another.  Please post what you do to motivate yourself to get out the door on those tough days.  I’d love to hear some new ideas!

Also, please support my running and my campaign as I train to run across The Gambia for peer health education programs this summer.  I can run the kilometres, but it is ultimately your support and donations that will make a difference in the lives of so many children and youth in The Gambia.  Thank you for supporting a cause that I believe so strongly in that I am going to run across a country for it!

Much love,

Jennifer

Things that change as you bulk up your running volume

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I have slowly been increasing my weekly mileage as I prepare to run across The Gambia this summer (up to 80km/week currently).  As I have been doing this, I have noticed several (good and bad) changes, which I would like to share:

Running becomes a part of the daily routine: I am finding that I really look forward to my

Running in beautiful Point Pleasant Park

Running in beautiful Point Pleasant Park

daily runs.  I also find that when I take my rest days it feels like it’s been forever since I’ve had my last run and I crave to get out again.  Running is one of those sports that is easy to become obsessive with.

Laundry: Running 5 to 6 times per week means a significantly higher amount of stinky laundry to wash each week.  I’m thankful for having a washer and dryer here in Canada; not sure if I’ll have this luxury while in The Gambia.

Eating: Burning and extra ~1,000+ calories per day has changed the amount of food I consume.  Lots more snacking :)

Sleep: The extra miles also mean more rest time.  I am noticing that I feel it quite a bit more when I don’t get a full 7 hours per night.  No crazy partying for this tired runner.

You get to know the city:  Running is my favorite way to explore a new place.  It’s fast enough that you can see a lot, but slow enough that you can see a lot of the details that you miss when you are driving.  Running in Halifax has been a great way to get to know and see the city, and lots of it.

Chafing in Weird Places: Back, feet, neck, shoulders, back of knees.  Somehow this always seems to happen for the oddest things.  Bring on the petroleum jelly and body glide!

Lucy after a long run

Lucy after a long run

Dog chews on less of my stuff: I have noticed a big decrease in the amount of chewed socks, pencils, garbage, and so forth since including my dog in the longer distance runs.  A tired dog is a well-behaved dog.

It gets easier and easier: The best part about bulking up the running volume would have to be that it only gets easier and easier as you go.  At the start of my training program, my long weekend run was 15km.  Yesterday, my recovery run was 14km and felt great.  Doesn’t get much better than that!

Just wanted to wish you all the best of luck in your Bluenose training for those of you planning on running this May.  Maybe you have also experienced some of these to a greater or lesser extent with your training?  Remember to join the Love4Gambia team if you are participating in the Bluenose to support the Nova Scotia Gambia Association.  If you are not running, please consider supporting my run across The Gambia by clicking on the link on the right hand corner of this page.  (Click Love4gambia on the drop down bar of the Canada Helps Website).

Thanks and happy running!

Jennifer

5 Quotes to Challenge You

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Quick Blog Post Today:  Thought I’d share some really moving and inspirational quotes that challenge me to try harder, do more, etc.  Hope they do the same for you!

Number 1:

“Everyone agrees that primary education is the salvation of struggling societies – that every additional year of schooling – beyond providing the glorious wellspring of knowledge – brings with it the best chance to defeat poverty, the best chance for better parenting, better health, better nutrition, great opportunity, and a direct line to economic growth”

-Stephen Lewis

Number 2:

“No reform is possible unless some of the educated and the rich voluntarily accept the status of the poor, travel third, refuse to enjoy the amenities denied to the poor, and instead of taking avoidable hardships, discourtesies, and injustices as a matter of course, fight for their removal”

-Gandhi

Number 3:

“I have seen time and again that if you stay with a challenge, if you are convinced that you are right to do so, and if you give it everything you have, it is amazing what can happen”

-Wangari Maathai

Number 4:

“If the entire population of the planet is represented by 100 people, 57 live in Asia, 21 in Europe, 14 in North and South America, and 8 in Africa.  The numbers of Asians and Africans are increasing every year, while the number of Europeans and North Americans is decreasing.  50% of the wealth of the world is in the hands of 6 people, all of whom are American.  70 people are unable to read or write.  50 suffer from malnutrition due to insufficient nutrition.  35 do not have access to safe drinking water.  80 live in sub-standard housing.  Only 1 has a university or college degree.  Most of the population of the globe live in substantially different circumstances than those we in the first world take for granted”

-Romeo Dallaire, Shake Hands with the Devil.

Number 5:

“We are what we repeatedly do.  Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit”

-Aristotle

If you agree with these as I do, please help me to support the Nova Scotia Gambia Association and the work they are doing to change the health and rights of children across a country.  Small donations can have a BIG impact overseas!   Everything counts and a bit of money can go a long way towards educating youth on essential health practices in The Gambia.  For $20 (less than the cost of most 5km races) you can cover the costs of a health education billboard in The Gambia, and for $50 (less than the cost of most marathon entry fees) you can cover the costs of a drama troupe production around a health/human rights topic, arming an entire community with health promotion knowledge.

Thanks and happy running!