Women and aging

This week I started a series of summer classes for women entrepreneurs or more exactly, women who want to become entrepreneurs and create their own employment. It's a 13 week course so that means I'll be studying through the summer, until end of August.

On Monday, first day of class our teacher asked us to introduce ourselves,including where we were born, our work background, our passions and and idea of the business we would like to create.

As I listened to each and every beautiful story I realized a topic was returning again and again. I started taking notes because when you're looking for something that's all you see and I wanted to keep myself accountable. After the first 13 women had gone through their introduction, we took a break for lunch. And the topic returned quite quickly as we ate and shared about who we are.

After lunch, I excused myself to go take a walk because I'm not used to be sitting down all day and I needed the oxygen. I also didn't know that part of town that well and I wanted to scout some running routes. I found a very nice and large park not very far from the place where the classes are being given. Right now, it's bustling with high-school kids, but school will be out in 3 weeks and I'll have the track to myself (I hope!).

As I returned I decided to let go with the nagging feeling I had all morning and just listen with an opened mind and spirit. But as the first woman who volunteered to tell their story started, it happened again...

Most of the women in the class defined herself by her age. Now don't get me wrong, we can't negate our age and I know that a lot of beautiful women go to great lengths to look younger than they are(see where I'm getting ?)Aging, for a woman, be it that she's in her 20's or in her 60's, seems to me to be the focus point of many hours of worrying. I hear young women worry about getting wrinkles when they should be taking life by the horns, laughing and crying and experiencing all these wonderful emotions that make the palette of your soul. I see women in their 30's desperately trying to hide the fact that they're out of their 20's. I know of a woman who told co-workers she was 29 for 5 years!

What I see is that women let age define their beauty and their worth. How many times have I heard a woman tell me that she couldn't start to run at her age? My answer is always the same : Why, what's wrong with your age? A woman can be strong, beautiful, powerful and yes, sexy at any age.

I don't mean to say that we don't age or that our bodies do not transform with each passing year. It does and we need to address that and stay healthy and informed. But I don't believe that stressing about if will help in any way.

I also understand that publicity bombards us with young girls with breasts under their chin and legs as long (and as thin) as a giraffe's posing for everything from underwear to anti-aging creams. Why do we let this shatter us so?

I would like to see women be proud of who they are! Stop underestimating yourselves if someone tells you you are beautiful (Oh, that old thing...) Let's tell ourselves we are beautiful, strong, able, loving women who will rule the world!

And to all the strong, wise, loving, able, beautiful women that I know; you are my inspiration. Every day, I take a moment to remember you and keep you in my thoughts.

10k race report

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXcBineybhM

Well, now you got it. My triumphant finish in my first race of 2011. That's all you need to know. (Kidding!)

The good sides of the race :
1. Well organized, lots of volunteers, Japanses drums at the starting line (fun but we couldn't hear the organizer's speech nor the names of the elites).
2. Fast flat course through a very large shopping center, so early on Sunday morning, the only cars there were the ones from those racing the 5 or 10k.
3. Some runners had brought litteraly busloads of supporters who spread out on the course. They were cheering everybody like there was no tomorrow!
4. The weather was perfect. Coolish in the morning when we got there (I had a Polar sweather on and felt OK). It warmed up a bit for the start but it stayed overcast for the entire race. Then, the sun burst through the clouds and it got really hot but sooooo nice!
5. Can you believe everyone who raced got a lunch box! With real food! Sandwiches (ham, egg salad and chicken salad) with a piece of cheese, carrots, a V8 and a muffin. Oh and we could take as many juice boxes and bottles of water we could carry! This is much, much better than T-shirts!!!!

On the other hand :
1. We ran through empty parking lots and empty streets of a shopping mall. How boring can it get? Well, very in my humble opinion. No trees, nothing to look at to help you pass the time. I like scenery when I run, it takes the edge off running hard.
2. The race started late by about 15 minutes which meant that runners wouldn't finish before they opened the shops. We had a few mishaps of cars turning into the runner's lane and coming really close to us!
3. Did I say the course was boring?
4. There was only one bathroom with 3 stalls for about 250 women!!! Can you imagine? The last time I had to wait so long to pee was at a James Taylor concert at the Forum in Montreal! Don't they know about Porta potties?

Now, on a more personal side, I get really nervous before a race. On Saturday, I was so besides myself that I had diarrhea all day. So, come Sunday morning, I was pretty dehydrated. Although I drank lots of water in the morning, I still felt parched. I really need to get this side of me in check! And you know, sometimes when someone want to help you but ends up making you feel really cheap, well that happened Saturday afternoon. I told my husband that I was feeling very nervous about the race on Sunday, thinking he would take me in his arms and tell me it woule be OK. Well, that didn't go as planned at all... He just plain out told me that he didn't understand why I was feeling nervous because it wasn't like I had any chance to win this race... I know he meant well but I just felt like manure.

Oh, and another thing, when I run, I just feel fine (most of the time). Thoughts come through my head, spin around a little and leave the way they came. It's mostly blissful running for me. BUT, when I'm in a race... All that pops into my mind is negative! I try to let the thoughts and feelings come and leave as I do when I run but they are like quicksand and I felt myself sinking deeper and deeper into negativity and self-defeat. The funniest thing about it is that I could see myself getting stuck but I had no way to get unstuck. So, instead of battling this dragon head on, I decided to go sideways. I put on some very upbeat music in my Iphone and made a deal with myself. I would run hard for the lenght of one song and then I would walk for 20 seconds and repeat. And that's how I spent the last 4 kilometers.

My husband and my darling son were at the finish line up on a 4 foot flower box so I could see them and that was the most beautiful thing that happened that day. If you look in the video, you'll see arms waving at me, that was my son! He usually doesn't care about these things and only wants to know when we can leave but I could see he was really excited to see me run to the finish line! I was so happy I could have cried! (But I didn't because then I would have to explain to him that I was crying happy tears and he just doesn't get that...)

Well, that's it for this race. The next one is another 10k on July 22 at the same place. I just hope I handle that one better. Oh, and my official time : 1:01:03.

Dear Dandelion can you come for dinner?

In my last post I said we would be talking about cayenne pepper. Well, my dear Dandelion decided otherwise. As you can see in this picture, it's high season here for this precious and very unappreciated plant.

But the dandelion is one very generous herb. Unlike Echinacia who stores her properties in the flower heads or Nettles in the leaves or even Valerian who stores its properties in the roots, Dandelion shares all her parts to help us stay in good health.

Have you tried making muffins with Dandelion flowers in the batter? Well, you should! Not only does it add a wonderful yellow color to the batter but it also adds a very subtle honey-like taste. It's delicious! Not very medicinal but take them to the office and watch them disappear!

Springtime usually means detox time for your body and soul. What better way to start a gentle detox that adding dandelion leaves to your daily salad. Dandy Dandelion is a hepatic herb, meaning that it helps your liver stay healthy. Considering that your liver is vital for your survival and that is functions include glycogen storage, decomposition of red blood cells, plasma protein synthesis, hormone production and detoxification, a little TLC every spring with some Dandelion greens is a very nice way to say thank you. And for you soul, well just go pick a bunch of dandelion flowers and tell me you don't feel like a child again...

Well, springtime only lasts so long and summer is full of activities then comes fall when my dear Dandelion shares her last secrets with us. Fall is the time where you can dig up dandelion roots and either dry them to make to or do as I do, and make a tincture with the roots (I'll give the recipe in a later post). It keeps for 2 years and is known to help in liver problems, including chronic liver congestion, it's a bitter tonic and helps relieve constipation. It's also good for promoting appetite and to help digestion.

So, next time you dig up a dandelion from your lawn or garden, don't throw it away!

Let me introduce myself

Hi!

I have been thinking of taking to pen and paper and report about my runs and the numerous ways I try to stay healthy for quite some time now. With so many blogs out there written by some very funny, witty and well versed runners, I was unsure if I had something of value to add to the blogosphere.

After talking to a running buddy of mine, I realised that I just might have some interesting tidbits of information to share. So, here I go.

As my first entry, I would like to simply introduce myself and geve you and idea of where we'll be going. My name is Lucie (my actual name is Rose but my adoptive parents didn't like it) I live in Montréal and have lived there for most of my life. I am the mother of 4 wonderful children, all boys, the oldest being 28 and the youngest being 9. My youngest is autistic, I only say it because it sometimes creates some quite amusing situations that I might want to share here with you. I'm the companion of a wonderful man who is so loving and understanding, I almost daily wonder how I got so lucky.

I'm a runner. That activity totally defines who I am. My life revolves around my runs, races, recovery, injuries, lack of determination, etc,etc.

I'm also a clinical herbalist, educated and trained by one of the most influential Québec herbalists, Marie Provost of La Clé des Champs. Herbalism has a long history of helping women with various health problems, from your first period to menopause. I have seen quite a few women be relieved of bad cramps, irregular menstruation, difficult pregnancies by the use of herbs. But herbs can also help people who train hard, recuperate faster, stay healthier, ward off colds and flu, help accelerate recovery and even more.

So, I naturally took both my passions and meshed them together in this blog. I hope you'll find this little blog interesting and that you find some help in staying fit and healthy.

Tomorrow, I'll talk about supplementing your runs with cayenne pepper!