Treking for four

Yesterday was my planned long run, 22km on the Guelph Radial trail and the connecting roads. I was really looking forward to my run and I headed out from the house around 9:30 am. I was feeling bgood, reminding myself to keep the run easy and my heart rate in zone 3. It had been a while since I had run the third line to hwy 25 section of the radial trail and I was enjoying the changes that fall s brought. This is a pretty hilly section and I like to use these hills to work on my power hiking which helps keep the run nice and easy. My run went off the rails about 400 metres from where the trail turns and heads out through a field to the highway. Out of nowhere my hear began racing and jumped from zone 2 to zone 6. I immediately stopped running and started walking hoping to slow my pounding racing heart. I have experienced this before, I am never sure if the cause is a panic attack or something related to the electrical signal in my heart. The last couple of weeks have not been easy, I h...

Thursday was a hard day, Mark and I had the final meeting with Isaac's neuropsychologist to receive the results of Isaac's testing. We have been concerned about Isaac's progress in school since he was in JK, he struggled to attain fundamental skills related to literacy and numeracy despite his efforts. By grade 2 he was significantly behind his peers academically.  Learning disabilities are common diagnoses for kiddos with DMD, the dystrophin that is missing in his muscle cells also plays a role in the brain. We learned during our appointment that Isaac has a learning disability and likely also an expressive language disorder. He has ideas and is capable of being successful in school but because of the learning disability and language disorder he can't express his understanding and knowledge. We see the effects of both of these challenges not only in Isaac's academic progress but also in his frustration level. Imagine not being able to communicate you thoughts and i...

  Today is day one of training for my Fastest Known Time (FKT) on the Thames Valley Trail, in 25 weeks I will be heading out on the 110 km trail with the goal to finish it in under 12 hours ( actually I would really like to finish it in 11 hrs and 30 mins but that feels scary to say out loud). Why am I starting on this very long training cycle to run a pretty long distance? There are several reasons, the one that is most important to me is to do something big in honour of my son Isaac and his trek with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.  This run and the journey to it, is my opportunity to share the experience and impact of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD).   DMD is a neuromuscular disease that causes all types of muscle cells to be weak and breakdown when used because their cell membrane is missing an important structural protein dystrophin. Over time the muscle is destroyed and cannot be repaired, it is replaced by fat cells and water.  DMD primarily affects boys a...