Tag Archives: TThoughts

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The work run club was no longer active, and I’d taken a break from the gym for various reasons.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

Life, relationships

Lying

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What personality trait in people raises a red flag with you?

We all tell little lies.

“I’m busy next Saturday I can’t go out with you”, when in reality we just want a night in or “No! You haven’t gained that much weight”, to avoid hurting a friends feelings.

Then there are what I call the “proper liars” you don’t realize it at first because you think why would someone lie about something like that? “My mother died” “I’ve been accepted in to a masters program” “I come from Finland”(random confessions of a shopperholic reference). I know these examples are probably to do with the persons self esteem or how they want you to see them but then I even knew a girl that lied she had been hanging out with my aunt and when I asked my aunt, she didn’t know who the girl was. Strange right?

It’s that ability to completely make something up, share it with someone knowing it’s a lie and there is no real reason to tell the lie, that raises a personality red flag to me.

See the examples I give are large lies but it never starts with the large lies it’s always little little lies that are not to spare feelings or get out of awkard situations, but they are to manipulate someone’s perspective. “O yes I went to the same school as you” but they didn’t. I think the lies aim to build a sinister foundation in a relationship or friendship or maybe to give a false sense of camaraderie?

But there can be no foundation or camaraderie based of lies.

Family and Friends, Life, relationships

Heartbreak – The Settle down Selections

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Last few years I’ve had my heartbroken, now I’m ok, I survived. 

To the friends that slowly stopped responding until it had been years since we spoke, my heart is always open for you. 

To the family members that let me down, some for the first time, some are repeat offenders my heart is broken.

Some showed me that maybe we are not as close as I thought and my wellbeing is not nor has it ever been their concern. I’m disappointed and our relationships will never be the same but I’m ok.

To the man I fell in love with so fast I failed to see I was standing out there alone I wish you well, because you promised me nothing. 

Life, T Style

Leggings and a t-shirt and some ballet flats – Lifetime outfit of a youngish black millennial

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Daily writing prompt
If you were forced to wear one outfit over and over again, what would it be?
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If I was forced to wear an outfit over and overall again it would definitely be leggings and a t-shirt, preferably a v-neck. I don’t know if it’s implied but it cannot be sleeveless (I inherited my mother beautiful legs but that came with not so beautiful upper arms). I am also very obsessed with cotton so the t-shirt should be 100% cotton and as much cotton as possible in the leggings. The ballet flat can be leather or suede but if not a well supported vegan leather will also do.

As a curvy woman jeans have never been my go to so when leggings became fashionable in early 2000’s I instantly knew there was no going back for me. My default before leggings was a skirt/dress with tights but then came along the legging which could be casual, dressy and even a little sexy if you got the leather look correct. There was even those years when I was wearing the ripped leggings and let me tell you I have no regrets.

Another reason I would pick leggings is because as a yogi they are perfect for yoga practice as well as all other workout routines. I will say that they are not practical if you just come from a swim there’s a stick/wet factor that occurs but all other workouts go with leggings. I also find legging to be very comfortable when travelling.

I don’t think the t-shirt needs justification, I was a lover of tanks but the white tee is having a moment in my heart. So is the red and black tee but they are all just so comfortable.

The ballet flats, moccasins, pumps or whatever you call them are a staple for me. I remember seeing them in high school and wanting a pair sooo sooo bad but they were expensive so I had to wait. When I finally got some, someone at school made a comment about how they looked like “clown shoes” but they were wrong as were many other comments made about my fashion sense that I now see being called “slaying” or “giving” on Instagram. Yes mama I was ahead of my time with the sequin gold ballet flat but the world caught up.

If I had to wear an outfit over and over again it wold be black leggings, a red or white t-shirt and black or white leather flats because that pretty much what I already wear and feel the most comfortable in.

Podcast, Black Politics, Politics

TThoughts Podcast – Can anybody hear me?

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What do you do to be involved in the community?

This post seems very timely as it is the anniversary of my podcast. Happy 6th birthday to my podcast, yes I promise this is connected to my contribution to my community. I wrote a while ago about how it’s hard to stay consistent in content creation and that has been true not only in my blogging but in the recording of my podcast. 

I love reading and to be fair after university it has become difficult to read fiction. I primarily read non-fiction and so most of what I read I feel the arrogant need to share with others for their own good. At some point I realized that unlike at university life is not a seminar and generally people are not interested in debating or learning more. The only people that may be interested in debating you are on twitter and to be fair they are not doing so in good faith nor are they actually interested in the ideas you are trying to share. 

I read a few things and listened to a lot of podcasts and my conclusion is explained best by Seneca who says “I am acting on behalf of later generations. I am writing down a few things that may be of use to them.” The older I got I realized that as a black woman there are so many things that I did not know that impact my life, my community and a little guidance may have prevented a lot of things or at least helped in the understanding of many things. So while I was learning more things about finances, voting, colorism or just nutrition, I figured I would write down what I am learning because even though people may not be open to what I have learnt at the moment there will come a time when they will be and at that point I would have written and recorded a few things for them.

My contribution to my community is the things I am learning and even though if often feels like it is falling on deaf ears, I continue because of the chance that a young black woman may wish to know why is it important to budget, hold political parties accountable and so she knows that someone grappled with the same questions and they took some notes for her to use, update or disregard. 

My involvement in my community is sharing knowledge that they may not realize they need yet.