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Issue 4 / April 2010
Move More!
Welcome to our latest E-Newsletter from: www.participACTION.com
Message from the President
It's springtime, which means it's time to get outdoors and get moving. We all have places to be, so why not enjoy a little sunshine on the way there?
Active transportation is one of the easiest ways to get more physical activity into your daily routine. Whether you prefer walking, biking, wheeling, pushing a stroller, inline skating or riding a scooter, there are plenty of ways to make people power part of your healthy commute.
Think of all your regular destinations: work, school, homes of friends and family and the corner store. If you could use people power to get to these destinations at least some of the time, you would significantly increase your daily physical activity!
For more on the benefits of active transportation, visit our latest Lifestyle Tip, created each month by the Canadian Fitness and Lifestyle Research Institute (CFLRI) and ParticipACTION.
Warmly,
Kelly Murumets
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| ParticipACTION Update |
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ParticipACTION's new TV ad celebrates a real-life Canadian who is getting active in Burlington! Ballroom dancer Robert Tang from Burlington, Ontario, has been selected by ParticipACTION to share his personal story about getting physically active, so he can inspire others to do the same. His story, about overcoming chronic shyness and finding new confidence through dance, was turned into a 30-second television commercial that begins airing across Canada the first week in April.
Robert's story was chosen out of almost 2,000 stories collected through ParticipACTION's Get Inspired. Get Moving. campaign and posted directly to our online Wall of Inspiration.
To view our new television ad featuring Robert, please visit our Media Room.
If you would like to submit your story about how you've incorporated more movement in your life, please visit the Wall of Inspiration.
Active Healthy Kids Canada Report Card launches April 27
Active Healthy Kids Canada launches its 2010 Report Card on April 27, with strategic partners ParticipACTION and the Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research Group at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO-HALO).
The Report Card shines a national spotlight on physical activity opportunities for kids all across Canada! Visit the website after April 27 to download the Report Card, access free presentations and articles, and find out how things play out. |
| Monthly Highlight |
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Earth Day - April 22
Earth Day is a day to promote awareness and appreciation for our natural environment. Earth Day Canada (EDC) provides Canadians with the practical knowledge and tools they need to lessen their impact on the environment. To learn how you can contribute, and to learn about events in your community, please visit their website. |
| Fun Family Tips |
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Spring's gentle breeze, blooming flowers and green grass tell us it's time to go outdoors, breathe fresh air, bask in warm sunshine and refresh ourselves after a cold winter. There are several low- to no-cost family activities you can try during the month of April:
- Plant a vegetable, flower or bulb garden - or get the soil ready for after the frost!
- Use sidewalk chalk to make a maze, or draw lines and have a relay or bike race (be sure to wear your helmets).
- Create a spot in your yard where your children can perform an 'archeological dig.' You can encourage the process by planting age-appropriate toys for them to find.
- Walk in the rain and splash in the puddles.
For more ideas on how to incorporate physical activity into your days, please visit our website. |
| Research Update |
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Project U-Turn Increases Walking and Biking
This month's Research File reviews research that looked at the lessons learned from interventions undertaken in Jackson, Michigan, to increase recreational and utilitarian trips taken by walking and bicycling. The intervention included various promotions, advocacy efforts, mass events, programs, policy and environmental change projects in schools, workplaces and the community. The program's key lessons were that success requires engagement in purposeful partnership, and that programs must be sustainable. This comprehensive approach was successful at increasing walking and bicycling.
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| Q&A |
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Q - What is the best activity I can do to be physically active? Lauren
A - There is no one best activity. In order to find something that you can stick to, it is important to choose activities that you enjoy. Canada's Physical Activity Guide recommends choosing a variety of activities from these three groups:
Endurance - Continuous activities for your heart, lungs and circulatory system
Flexibility - Gentle reaching, bending and stretching activities to keep your muscles relaxed and joints mobile
Strength - Activities against resistance to strengthen muscles and bones, and improve posture |
| Professional Development |
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Canadian Sport for Life Workshop
April 7 - 8
Ottawa, ON
This year's program features a tremendous variety of sessions for anyone wanting to understand more about the Sport for Life Movement and tips on implementation. On top of the usual round of great presenters, they've added some additional features, including:
- A Pre-Workshop on April 6, targeted at people involved in Sport for Life at the municipal level.
- A BC Night Reception on the evening of April 7, created with the support of the BC Ministry of Tourism, Culture and the Arts and 2010 Legacies Now.
The workshop will also provide an opportunity to meet Sport Canada's new Director General, Martin Boileau, and to hear Minister of State for Sport Gary Lunn's comments following the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games.
For more information, and to register, click on the "What's New" button at their website.
Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance - Sport Events Congress
April 21 - 23
Toronto, ON
Canada's largest annual gathering of sport, tourism professionals and event management firms, the Sport Events Congress attracts approximately 300 delegates each year. Held in the month of April, Sport Events Congress' flagship element is the popular Sport Events Exchange, a business-to-business events marketplace where events rights holders have the opportunity to meet one-on-one with municipal representatives interested in hosting events in their communities.
To register or to find out more information, please visit their website.
Developing Amazing Leaders Paralympic Conference
April 30 - May 3
Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA
The primary goal of the conference is to provide "key" Paralympic audiences, including community leaders, military personnel, sport and recreation program specialists, coaches, therapists, researchers, educators, college students and other interested parties from across the USA, the tools and the inspiration to implement and support successful Paralympic sport programs in their communities.
For more information, please visit their website. If you have an upcoming event or update you would like included in our newsletter, please contact Sarah Newham at snewham@participACTION.com |
| Partner Highlights and Events |
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Try Truro
Month of April (ongoing)
Truro, NS
Try Truro is a fun, year-long campaign for people resolved to add more recreational and cultural activities to their lives in 2010. They have identified more than 40 free and for-a-fee activities in the Truro area to get the year started. Some of the activities include sports, crafts, hobbies, workshops and demonstrations. New ideas and activities will be added, so users are encouraged to check back often.
For more information, please visit their website.
Saskatchewan Farmers' Market
Fridays in April
Meadow Lake, SK
Come out and support local farmers by visiting the Meadow Lake Farmers' Market on Fridays throughout April, from 10 am until 5 pm. Vendors will provide you with fresh, locally produced products from their gardens, kitchen and creative hands. For more information, contact 306-236-6751, or click here to see where other Farmers' Markets are located within Saskatchewan.
Easter Games
April (Contact for dates)
Nain, NL
This is a week-long event composed of games, races, competition, fun and friendships. Some of the highlights for the week are skidoo races, Inuit games and Labrathon (Johnny Have Memorial), just to name a few.
20th Brant Wildlife Festival
April 1-28
Parksville, BC (various locations)
The 20th Brant Wildlife Festival will be celebrating the International Year of Biodiversity. From March 5 to April 28, the festival will host nature walks, wildlife viewing adventures, community celebrations, learn to fish and nature camps for children, family days and much more.
For more information, please visit their website.
Spring Fling
April 9-11
Norman Wells, NT
Enjoy the first days of spring in Norman Wells with a parade, dance, snowmobile races, youth soccer tournament, ice golf, BBQ and bonfire!
For more information, please visit their website.
Climb and Run for Wilderness
April 17
Calgary, AB
The Climb and Run for Wilderness is an annual Alberta Wilderness Association Earth Day celebration held at the Calgary Tower. Participants pay a registration fee and collect sponsorship money, which allows them the unique opportunity to climb the stairs inside the Calgary Tower.
Costs are: $25 for a single climb, $100 for unlimited climbs and $500 for a team climb.
For more information, please visit their website.
Celebration of Swans
April 17-25
30 min. south of Whitehorse, YK
A Yukon tradition! Welcome thousands of returning swans and water birds - the harbingers of spring - and enjoy free events throughout Yukon. Go for a swan viewing walk at the end of Kluane Lake, near Burwash Landing. See how Yukon artists relate with wildlife at the Marsh Lake Community Centre.
For more information, please visit their website.
Earth Day Celebration at the Marsh
April 21
Oak Hammock Marsh, MB
Celebrate Earth Day at Oak Hammock. Join our interpreters for guided tours of the marsh to see just how important wetlands are for the health of the planet.
For more information, please visit their website.
World Tai Chi and Qigong Day
April 24
National
Tai Chi and Qigong are ancient mind/body cleansing exercises designed to process the stress loads we accumulate each day, so that we can release them to enable the mind and body to operate in its highest mode of efficiency and health. On April 24, 10am local time, 65 nations will be participating in World Tai Chi and Qigong Day. To find out what is happening in your province or territory, please visit their website.
50,000 Steps for $50,000 Walking Challenge
May 1-29
Ontario
The 50,000 Steps for $50,000 Walking Challenge is designed to be a fun, fitness challenge for you and your dog. The goals of this challenge are to help raise funds to support the "Help End the Heartache" Shelter Expansion Fund of the Windsor/Essex County Humane Society and improve the health of people and their dogs through regular, moderate physical activity.
You can participate by picking up your challenge kit at designated locations between April 12 and May 10.
For more information, please visit their website. |
| Success Stories |
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ONE RUN
Theresa Carriere was born in Sault Ste. Marie as the tenth child in a close-knit family of 13. A talented athlete, she excelled in basketball throughout high school, college and university, received recognition as female athlete of the year and was inducted into the Ontario College Athletic Association Hall of Fame in 2005.
She and her husband Bill have four children who are equally active in sports, such as basketball and soccer, and they are both very involved in coaching their children's teams. Theresa's interest in and passion for physical fitness doesn't stop there. As a certified fitness instructor and personal trainer, Theresa also trains area athletes and works with competitive teams at the provincial and national level. Both Theresa and Bill have a huge presence in their community as coaches.
Despite an active, healthy lifestyle and no family history of breast cancer, Theresa was diagnosed in April 2007 at age 43. She ultimately underwent a double mastectomy and, thanks to an incredible medical staff at LHSC and the support of friends and family, Theresa's life is back on track and she feels the need to make a difference.
With a new sense of strength, compassion and commitment, Theresa will be running 100 kilometres from ONE London Place in London to Sarnia in ONE day, June 25th, in support of The Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. Together with hundreds of virtual participants who register to run 100 kms from Jan 25th to June 25th, the mission of ONE RUN is to raise ONE hundred thousand dollars.
Theresa's goal is to give hope to others with breast cancer, to bring thousands of people together and to motivate them to begin a journey of their own. Her wish is to teach her children that one person can make a difference. Please visit www.onerun.ca to get involved!
Story submitted by Sonya Slaven, ONE RUN Sponsorship Coordinator
RUN AGAIN
It had been about four years since I had last gone for a recreational run and frankly, the feeling that I could not count on ever going again both frustrated and disappointed me. I stopped running because of a condition called Morton's Neuroma - an enlarged nerve in the metatarsal area of my right foot. I waited for a year to get a steroid injection that might cure it, but alas, it did not. I was grounded.
In late December of 2009 I read a column in the Victoria Times Colonist about their annual 10 km run coming up in April of 2010. Though I had not forgotten my foot problem, I did find that I was thinking about what an interesting challenge it would be to try and run again. The foot, that FOOT, that had been hurting so much in the past was not so aggravating when I walked; and I walked, a lot - I had to!
At the age of 68 years, April 2008 found me undergoing open heart surgery. A heart valve was malfunctioning, my pulse was irregular and I needed to have two arterial bypass procedures done. The primary therapy post surgery is walking. I walked seven to ten kilometres every day during the last nine months of my first year after the operation. It took me three months to get up to that distance, but it was worth it - I felt great. For a few months, I tried interspersing my walks with running intervals, but only for about three to five minutes. I felt the fatigue of the running and worried that I might be pushing myself too much. Eventually, I gave up the running. And by the way, my foot was not hurting. For the second year post surgery, I continued to walk, and enjoyed it, but I longed to go for a long run as I did in the old days.
Before moving to beautiful British Columbia (with a five year interval in Lethbridge where I did run, and even won a first for my age category in the great and challenging 8 km Moonlight Run), I lived in Ontario, where I first learned to run, and to love the feeling of endorphins bopping around my brain. I competed in lots of races, usually 10 kms, and ran three marathons. But despite the enjoyment of those events, what I really liked to do was go for a daily run of about 45 minutes, and on weekends, a long run that could be double that time, or more. They were the runs that I missed. Just lace up and go, no matter the weather (with exceptions of snow drifts one could get lost in).
After reading the notice of the upcoming Times Colonist run in Victoria, my thinking dared to venture into the space of 'maybe I could do it. It would be a goal. Why not try?' Lots of thoughts, but then, I also thought of pushing myself too much and overdoing it! After all, I had open heart surgery. I told my wife, Nancy, of my thoughts about running, and before I could get to the part about pushing myself too hard, she offered her wisdom, something like 'That's a great idea. Why not? After all, your heart is in great shape now, and with all of that walking, your body is used to exercise.' Nancy had observed and spoken of the obvious. Within the last six months I had an ECG, a cardiac ultra-sound, a treadmill stress-test and all confirmed that my heart was like new. I was reasoning from a point of pushing a fragile system too much, but Nancy pointed out that my running would be great for my cardiovascular system. I would be increasing my health, not endangering it.
Now, I realize that not all people who have had open heart surgery are tempted by running, nor are lots of other 70-year-old men thinking that it's a good idea to start a training plan for a 10 km run, and I'm keenly aware that any exercise can be overdone. But, the training is allowing me to, once again, enjoy what was so important to do - get out into the air, feel my body move, feel the weather, know that I'm healthy, alive and very happy.
So, the training program started on the 12th of January, 2010. Today, I finished my 14th short run in 29 minutes and 16 seconds. My goal is the 10 km, and I'm working toward it. It will be slow but steady. Everything feels great right now, and I have no idea what the future holds - what's important is the present, and I'm loving it! Story submitted by Lawrence Uhlin (blog - http://runagain70.blogspot.com) | |
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