All posts by MT

Health and Wellness

10 Thoughts During the 10K Run

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I recently had the bright idea to sign up for a 10K run.
Actually, I’ll start at the beginning.

I started a new job a couple of years ago, and in April, they announced they’d be starting a walk/run club.
I know, I know — those two things don’t really exist together because there’s always a bit of tension between the runners and the walkers. There’s this lingering belief from the runners that they must encourage the walkers to run.

And on the other side, the walkers always feel that pressure to run — even though they were assured they wouldn’t have to.

Then there’s me: I try to walk my own run (the runners will get that joke… I hope).

Somewhere along the way, I learned that group activities often leave a lot to be desired. Always have an exit plan or a distraction that allows you be left alone unless you want to be part of the group. A book used to work great — for the run/walk club earphones do the tricks.

Fast forward — the walk/run club got a little more serious, and eventually the season ended. Then the following year, I was encouraged to run a marathon.

I thought, “Why not?”

When I excitedly told my sister that I was running a marathon, she was shocked.
“You’re running 42K?” she asked.
“Noo, it’s 10K., I proudly told her”
“That’s not a marathon,” she replied.
“Huh? What do you mean?” – Apparently, a marathon is an actual distance and not just a catch-all word for “a really long run.” There went my Olympic dreams.

My first 10K actually went pretty well — I managed to run about 7 of the 10 kilometers. But the second year? I’d been busy.
The work run club was no longer active, and I’d taken a break from the gym for various reasons. I signed up knowing I was just going to walk the whole thing.

I can honestly say I didn’t prepare at all. But as race day got closer, I started to think: maybe I could run a little bit?

Then came the additional pressure: how can I start this run just walking?

So, to save face, I started out running.
Roughly 500 meters in, I realized my body was not ready at all. I knew I had to honour that. I could hear Adriene’s voice in my head — find what feels good, listen to your body.

And so I did. I slowed down to a walk.
That’s when I started paying attention — and observed all the personalities that show up at a 10K run. So here they are:

1. The Friend-Follower – “Whyyyy did I do this? I just want to be in bed scrolling… but I didn’t want to be left out.”
2. The Flopper – sends text: “Hey, I won’t be coming today because insert excuse here.”
3. The Baby – cries from all the noise “Whyyy am I here? Where’s my juice box? Why isn’t YouTube working?”
4. The Pigeons – I still don’t get it. Why don’t they just fly? It makes no sense.
5. Man in the Range Rover – “I have a meeting on Bay Street. Why are all the roads closed??”
6. Runner 1 – “How fast am I going? Can I beat last year’s time? What about [insert arch-nemesis]?”
7. The Professional Runner – “Why do I even bother? Most people here are so inexperienced.”
8. Walker 200 – “Favkkkkk why did I do this?” Looks back to check if anyone is behind them.
9. The Group Runners – “Has anyone seen Michelle? I swear she was just here. We need to take a selfie!”
10. The Influencer Runner – “What’s the right hashtag for this? I want to look flushed but not sweaty. Wait… are we actually doing the whole race? I thought we were just going live at the start and end.”

Those were the thoughts I had during the run.
Honourable mention to the pregnant woman with a push chair who almost fell trying to overtake a slower runner. I won’t lie, I had to laugh — because if I hadn’t walked, I wouldn’t have caught all of this.

By the time I started writing these down, I had already walked nearly 7K.

Now I’m wondering: what will my thoughts be next year… and which runner will I be? 

This blog post was edited using ChatGPT

Religion

The Pope Is Dead: A Sign from Nature

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The Pope is Dead.

That sounds like a movie line—except usually, it’s “The king is dead.”

I woke up today, and instead of reaching for my phone, I thought to myself, How about starting with a prayer? I do that sometimes, but it’s not a daily habit. I usually wake up and read something—or more likely, check my bank account to see if anyone has accidentally gifted me a million dollars.

I remember going on a date once with someone who asked me what I do when I first wake up. I don’t remember what I told him, but later I realized the “right” answer might have been to pray. When I turned the question back to him, he said, “Thank the Lord I woke up.” That ended up being our last “date.”

This morning, I found myself wondering—as a non-practicing, questioning Catholic—what right do I have to feel or express anything if the Pope is dead?

But then I went outside and saw a red Northern Cardinal, which apparently means angels are near.

I took that as a sign that I do have the right to feel something about my faith. That bird felt like a message. And it reminded me of how, when my aunt went to Portugal, she brought back some little religious statues. I looked at them with hesitation, thinking, I don’t think I’m that much of a Catholic to have a little statue. I do have a little headless Buddha that was a gift but none of them really called to me—except one. The one I was drawn to was of Saint Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals and the environment and on the statute he has two birds on his shoulders

Later that day, I looked out the window and saw two pigeons sitting there, staring at me, as if to say, “Keep the statue. This saint might be for you.”

In all my questioning, I’ve realized the place I feel God the most is in nature—looking at the ocean, sitting on a flight above the clouds, or seeing perfectly green mountains.

I always think, Someone had to have made this. Who that is, I’m not sure. But someone had to have done it.

And today, the Pope will find out exactly who that is.

Update – 24 April 2025: In another morning reading, I discovered that the Pope was the first to take on the name Francis, and yes, it was in honour of Saint Francis of Assisi, just like my little statute.

Black Politics, Labour and Employment, Life

Extended Contract – Labour Movement is in Shambles

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Can you share a positive example of where you’ve felt loved?

I worked at a job that started as a 6 week contract that kept getting extended. Now the person I was covering for eventually came back and the company looked for a way to evolve my role. I know it’s cheating and that isn’t really a positive example of “feeling loved” but it is a positive example of feeling appreciated in the workplace which I think on this internet of ours is a rare occurrence.

As we enter 2025, I didn’t make a New Year’s resolution but I decided to trust: trust people, trust the process and most importantly trust myself. I am starting a new blog collection, based on the current labour market and I will start with this as our foundation “Asking your work if they are laying people off is like asking a man if he would ever cheat on you or a woman if she likes money” . . . If you like go and argue with your ancestors 

An intro to the Labour Movement is in Shambles – An examination of work in 2025

food, Life, T Taste

Meat Lover?: Growing Up Vegetarian-ish in Europe

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What are your feelings about eating meat?

During the height of the 2000’s some of the popular kids at school were talking about “dolphin friendly tuna” and that’s all they would eat. Now, as an 10-11 year old African in Europe I wasn’t 100% sure what dolphins or tuna were but “dolphin friendly” seemed the way to go.

Fast forward a few months later and there was a lot of talk about mad cow disease, foot and mouth disease in animals that combined with some ideas I’d probably picked up from all the books I used to read I decided to become vegetarian. Now again as an African in Europe how does one become vegetarian? I think I started refusing meat — not all meat but some. Then my dad found out and I think he demanded I eat it but I think he also asked for the reasoning and I explained the mad cow disease story — or at least that’s how I remember it.

I managed to avoid eating meat most of the time, but I had a deep love of the stir fry at the Chinese restaurant my father used to take us to but eventually I stopped eating beef. I usually say red meat but I do occasionally eat pork. Bacon was my favourite thing for the longest time even though I love pigs. I tried to give it up, I succeeded for a year or two.

By 2017-2018 I was at the height of my of vegetarianism. Veganism had failed but “no meat weekends” was great. Sometimes I would go the whole week without meat. But eating out? That was one of the biggest challenges along with eating at family or friend’s houses. I love veggie burgers but there’s always a delicious chicken alternative. I also love seafood — a lot.

I am no longer the little African girl with no real idea what tuna is and while I am still unsure about how I really feel about meat I will say these three things:

  1. I sympathize with the animals. When I think about it too much, I feel guilty that we are eating them. But at the same time, I also love many meat dishes.
  2. In Zimbabwe there are many dishes without meat. I wish people would embrace that instead of feeling like food is “less than” if it doesn’t have meat. Millions of people live their whole lives not eating meat — it’s not proof of poverty
  3. I have an ongoing suspicion of meat. There are so many stories — some true, some completely ridiculous — the dog/cat meat in Chinese food, the horse meat scandal from Tesco, and the snails and frog legs that are taboo to me or any Zimbabwean but are delicacies in other places around the world

How do I feel about eating meat? I feel conflicted.