It’s been a lot of years since I did anything approximating a “fun run.” I think of that as a run you get into character for, like the time I wore a witch costume for a Halloween 10K. That was back in 2014! Here’s me.
Image description: Tracy smiling, in witch costume including hat, race bib, in an autumn scene.
I can’t remember if I actually had fun, but regardless, I’m doing a seasonal fun run again and I plan to enjoy the experience.
This time it’s the Christmas-themed Holly Jolly Fun Run in Toronto on November 22. It’s the day of the Santa Claus parade. The run follows the same 5K route as the parade, leaving about 45 minutes before the parade itself. If you ever been to a Santa Claus parade you’ll know that means a built in crowd of spectators! Not to mention the 2500 runners.
I feel energized just thinking about it!
The race description calls on everyone to “dress silly.” I’m not a big costume person but I do have green and red striped knee socks and a green and red striped hat (sort of elf like I guess). If the weather is cool enough, which is not a bad bet for November 22, I’ll wear a red fleecy top I bought for winter running ages ago. Every time I dress for winter running it loses out to its competitor tops, so I’ve rarely worn it.
It’s a popular event that (according to the website) usually sells out. With your entrance fee, you get a custom winter hat and a finisher medal. The parade usually attracts about 500,000 spectators, so the organizers promise the most “spirited” run you’ll ever experience.
It’s the first time I’ll have done an event that doesn’t start and end in the same place. They have a bag check system using trucks that leave the start line for the finish line at 11:25 a.m.
My last 5K in September yielded results that made me happy and also made me want to do better. So my training goal for the Holly Jolly is to shave 40 seconds off of that result, for a clean 35:00 5K, run continuously rather than with a walk break. We’ll see. You get a timing chip, so I will have an accurate race result when it’s over.
I’m mostly process-oriented in my training, keeping to my three quality runs a week — speed work, tempo, and a longer run. I’d like to include the swimming cross-training, but I’ve had some problems with my ears that make me fearful of the pool right now. I’m experimenting with different ear plugs but I had one unsuccessful attempt that left me nervous.
Regardless, the running is going well and I’m feeling excited to do the fun run.
Here’s the route. Even the map looks fun:
If you’re interested, registration is through Race Roster and it’s $72.38 (non-refundable). The run starts at 11:45 a.m. sharp on Sunday, November 22. Race-kit pick-up on the Friday and Saturday (no same-day race-kit pick-up).
New research shows that earlier bedtimes are linked to higher levels of physical activity—independent of how long you sleep.
My two cents: I love good habits that build on each other, virtuous cycles. And I’ve always known that being being well rested helps with athletic performance, and that physical activity helps with a better night’s sleep. But I didn’t know that it matters when you sleep. Going to bed early is correlated with higher than normal next day physical activity.
I tried to make the title of this post sound as un-fun as possible so… how did I do?
As I write this, I am more than halfway through the month and even though I have been ridiculously busy* I am happy to report that I am having more a lot fun than I usually do in October.
And that’s definitely due to the fact that in my post two weeks ago I took the time to write a list of seasonal things I wanted to do that would maximize my fun this month. Creating that that post gave me a good container for my thoughts about the kind of fun I want to have in October AND it guided me to make plans early enough to make things happen.
Here’s an update on each item from my list of 13 in the initial post:
I have already planned a ghost story writing workshop and a spooky storytelling event later this month.
I taught the ghost story writing workshop on Sunday and we all had a great time.
The spooky storytelling event will be on October 28 and you can join us online if you wish – let me know if you want the registration link.
Plus, I added an idea-generating writing workshop and an oracle card making workshop to the list of things I am offering this month. I love teaching workshops so that’s extra fun for me.
I’ve planned a couple of artsy-craftsy Halloween events with my community arts organization so I’ll get to be creative and hang out with lots of other people who love this season.
The other bonus is that I will have extra places to wear my costume and I will get to make some cool decorations for my house.
And in addition to those events, I also bought tickets to see Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors – a dear friend of mine is in it so it’s going to be extra fun for me.
I also bought a ticket for an online lecture called ‘Seasons of the Witch’ which promises to be very interesting.
Sidenote: I also bought a book called Season of the Witch: A Psychiatrist’s Case for Magic by Ellen Vora, MD and I am finding that very intriguing, too. I’m not really that far into the book so I can’t address the strength of her arguments or anything but I’m very interested in the ideas she’s working with. I’m also reading Grady Hendrix’s How to Sell a Haunted House and I can endorse the argument he is making so far – dolls and puppets can indeed be very creepy. (Since I can’t include tone in a blog post and I want to be clear: I’m making a bit of a joke about the second book. I just found it funny to pretend that he’s trying, in a horror novel, to convince us that dolls and puppets can be creepy.)
I have already assembled my Halloween-themed collage/junk journaling supplies so they’ll be handy all month.
I’ve spent a couple of evenings moving bits of paper around but I haven’t actually finished my collage yet so I’ll share it later.
Meanwhile, I would not have gotten around to this at all yet if it hadn’t been for this so I would have missed out on that relaxing creative time.
Lists = More Fun. Imagine that!
I’m making two zines – Advice from Monsters and (Some) Ghosts are Helpful – which will let me combine drawing and writing and some silly spookiness.
I’ve made a list of monster advice and a list of ways that (some) ghosts can be helpful and I have experimented with a slightly different way to fold a zine.
I’ve also drawn some practice ghosts and some practice monster eyes, monster horns and monster teeth.
The actual zine part isn’t complete yet.
I’m on track to finish the ghost story that I’m writing (it’s about a haunted mirror that someone picked up on the side of the road.)
This one has moved slowly because of the aforementioned busyness but I have a fair bit of writing time this week so things will pick up.
I’m slowly putting up Halloween decorations all month.
This is ongoing and as I mentioned above, I am also making some new ones!
I’m making a bit more time for my favourite spooky podcasts/YouTube channels – including taking slightly longer walks and doing slightly longer workouts so I can finish an episode.
So far so good with this one and I am also using Halloween-themed background music and ambience channels** to add to my fun while working or creating cool stuff.
I have used this oracle deck before but those times I was mostly just thinking about things in the moment. Drawing a card and reflecting on any possible personal meanings has been really cool. My mind likes it a lot.
I’m doing some practices from Yoga for Witches by Sarah Robinson – I know that title sounds like it could be flippant but I am finding it to be respectful to Yoga and to pagan practices.
I haven’t done many of these yet but, like my writing, this is a good week for it.
I’ve got big plans for making soups and breads and cookies.
I’ve made two batches of chocolate chip cookies and two pots of soup and they have all been delicious.
My Halloween costume is already in the works.
It is still in the works!
I’ve added Halloween music to my playlists.
Last week, my oldest kid (24) and I had a great time rating the relative seasonal appropriateness of a bunch of Halloween songs while I was driving him to work.
Yes, we did find that a lot of fun.
Note: Monster Mash is fun and seasonally appropriate but Flying Purple People Eater is not particularly Halloweenish. Also, do the words flying and purple apply to the eater or the people it eats?
I’ve already started wearing all of my Halloween themed clothing.
I have indeed! And I just dug out more from storage.
I’m wearing a ‘Haunted Harvest Festival’ tshirt right now and several people have been disappointed to learn that it’s just a shirt, not an actual event.
What do you think a Haunted Harvest Festival would entail?
Is the Festival haunted or is it the Harvest that has gotten all spooky?
(Yes, I do take any opportunity to follow my curiosity)
____________
So, with another week and a bit until Halloween, I have to conclude that advance planning, making lists, and deciding to have more fun (without pressure to fully do every part of every plan) does indeed result in a clear increase in October Fun.
And, as suspected, increasing my fun levels has been great for my mental health and my overall wellbeing.
How is your October going?
*I really need to have a serious look at how I organize my schedule but that’s a whole different post!
**In my last post I shared some podcasts and YouTube channels that focus on spooky stories so this time I’ll share a few links for spooky season ambience.
A video called “Cute Lo-Fi for Ghosts” and the still image shows a cartoonish drawing of a sheet ghost in a graveyard at night with tree trunks in the background. The majority of the image is blue/black but the ghost is white and there are white scribble accents here and there. White text at the top of the image says “Halloween Lo-Fi No AI”
A video called “October Magic Ambience” from the Dead of Night channel. The still image shows a digitally animated corner of a room with stars and moons on the wall, and a stack of books with a teacup on top, an antique dresser decorated with stars and moons, a carved Jack O’Lantern, a blanket with ghosts and witches on it, a sleeping cat, and a bunch of Halloween knick-knacks and on the right side of the image is a window that is slightly open that is decorated with a string of mushrooms.
This ambience video is called Vintage Halloween Art and is by Art for Your TV by 88 Prints. This channel would be to put on a screen as a ‘decoration’ in your room and the images change every so often. The first image is a sepia-toned drawing of a witch and her cat flying on a broomstick over a village at night. There’s a church and houses with their windows lit up and there are a bunch of trees at the bottom of the image. The full moon is in the sky but it is not casting much light.
This music/ambience video is called (No AI) The Toy Shop. Text at the bottom of the image reads “The Toy Shop: Hand-painted Art. Original Music. Ambience.” The image is of shelves in a toy shop with all kinds of wooden toys, dolls, and puppets on them and in front of the shelves are a series of marionettes hanging from the ceiling with their feet near the floor.
A playlist called “something wicked this way comes; a playlist for writing spooky stories by candlelight” The still image shows two hands emerging out of the dark background, the back of one hand is towards the camera, and we can see the palm of the other hand. There is a human skull on the bottom right and we can only see the left side of it because it is facing towards the left in the image, it is poorly lit so it isn’t highly visible. The words “Something Wicked This Way Comes” in a gothic font are overlaid on the image.
A playlist from Alex Rainbird Music called “spooky season 🎃 • a haunting indie/folk/alternative playlist” and the still image is of a person with long hair in dark clothes standing in what looks to be a forest with fallen leaves all over the ground. They are looking downward at the pumpkin they are holding at waist height.
“A major systematic review pulled together 31 separate studies on cycling and bone health. The pattern was hard to ignore.Adult road cyclists who train regularly showed low bone mineral density in key regions, especially the lumbar spine. Athletes in weight bearing sports and ordinary non-athletes did not.
The review went further. It reported that roughly two thirds of professional and masters road cyclists could be classified as osteopenic, meaning their bone density had already dropped below normal.”
Sam’s two cents: Given that lots of women have bone health issues, women cyclists ought to be especially concerned. It’s a good argument for not just riding bikes but instead also lifting weights and doing other forms of strength and resistance training.
Headlines like this strike a bad note with me. Sixty hasn’t felt very significant fitness-wise. I don’t feel very different than I did at fifty, to be honest.
Yes, I need more rest and recovery and a good night’s sleep. I am much more cautious about what I eat and when. So a bunch of things around fitness activities feel more fussy, but my energy for the activities feels about the same. I still love the way movement feels when I do it and I love how it makes me feel after.
When I was 58 I felt the same way about 60 talk. See Sam has 60 in her sights! – FIT IS A FEMINIST ISSUE. There I talked about my reaction to Carolyn Heilbrun’s book The Last Gift of Time: Life Beyond Sixty. The last gift of time???
Anyway, I’m not exactly a superfit sixty but sixty doesn’t feel all that different than fifty for me. How about you? Are you getting close to sixty and expecting big changes? Are you sixty and feeling them? How’s the big 6-0 sitting with you?
Toronto showed up for women’s rugby and we were part of it. 🇨🇦🏉
The crowd was amazing. I don’t think I’ve ever been at a sporting event with that much energy. And volume!
Who says women’s sports don’t attract big crowds? Clearly they’re wrong.
In Friday 18,621 fans packed BMO Field for Canada vs. England, setting a new North American attendance record for women’s rugby and marking the largest crowd for a Canadian international Test match in more than a decade for any gender.
It was also a historic victory as Canada defeated England. The win snapped England’s remarkable 41-match unbeaten streak (dating back to the 2022 Women’s Rugby World Cup final) and marked Canada’s first victory over the Red Roses in 10 years.
Wow. What a game. I’m so glad we were there in person. Thanks Sarah for getting us tickets. I’m now wishing we could go to game two in Ottawa this week but we’re at a philosophy conference in Nova Scotia. We will be looking for a tv with the game on come Friday night. 🍁
CW: mention of self-harm practices including extreme dieting and body deformation procedures. Also discussion of misogyny. But there’s a positive message in here, too, I promise.
One thing I really enjoy about my job is the occasions where I get to visit classes taught by my colleagues. It’s fun to see them in action, bringing their special talents and personalities to philosophical questions, some of which I cover regularly, and others that I rarely think or talk about.
This past week, I got to hang out with my colleague Eric’s Ethics Bowl class. Ethics Bowl is an intercollegiate competition in which teams prepare cases based on current issues. By the way, if you click on the link, you’ll see a picture of a bunch of guys all interacting around one guy, the one woman in the group with her head down and taking notes. That is definitely not what it looked like in Eric’s class.
In real life, on my campus, the women on teams aren’t relegated to being stenographers. Photo from Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl site.
One of the cases on the docket that day was the ethical ramifications of looksmaxxing. I had vaguely heard about this — a set of practices designed to maximize male attractiveness. These practices range from skin care regimens to something called “bone smashing”, which is as bad as it sounds. The putative purpose is to deform one’s jaw line to make it fit some internet-based notion of masculine beauty. Do not try this at home, or any other place. Ever. But of course you all know that.
Back to class: students presented their cases arguing against the ethical permissibility of looksmaxxing, some of them focusing on the physical and psychological harms to individuals, including body dysmorphia, eating disorders, depression, and anxiety.
They’re right, of course. Doing a quick search, I found lots of medical sites with articles for parents of boys and young men, explaining the harms of looksmaxxing and offering suggestions for ways to spot patterns that could lead to harms. You can check out a couple of them here and here.
What really struck me, though (metaphorically only, in case you were worried) is what isn’t said in some of the standard arguments against looksmaxxing.
What isn’t said, or at least not said loudly enough to hear, is this: the practices and procedures advocated for boys and men by looksmaxxers are exactly those that girls and women have been subjected to for decades (centuries, actually). What do I have in mind here? Glad you asked– here’s a short list:
extreme dieting
other disorderd eating behaviors
cosmetic surgery on all body parts of all age girls and women to conform to a narrow beauty standard
purchases of (often expensive) products marketed as necessary for achieving social acceptability
extreme exercise regimens aimed at achieving specific bodily forms (whose effectiveness is uninformed by scientific evidence)
continuous life-long engagement in these practices regardless of expense, time, and pain required
There’s a lot-a-lot to say about what is harmful about looksmaxxing. If you want a deeper dive into hegemonic masculinity and its effects on men, check out this great article by an interdisciplinary group of Canadian academics on lookism and self-improvement in the manosphere.
The big takeaway for me, from our class discussion that day, is that the current alarm over looksmaxxing gives us an opportunity to see how it’s yet another symptom of a deeply misogynistic culture. We inhabit a world that has normalized the deformation of girls’ and women’s bodies and appearances to meet a rigid and narrow standard for social acceptability and attractiveness. Now that it’s moved on to apply similar standards to boys’ and men’s bodies, we’re starting to notice how corrosively misogynistic some so-called self-care and beauty practices can be.
This realization can (and should) lead us to reject the abusive norms of looksmaxxing, not just to protect men and boys, but to protect all persons in all kinds of bodies from harm.
And the best lesson I learned that day was the students had already gotten it; this was no news to them. They’re literally on the case. And this was the best lesson I learned in a long time.
“In a 12-week study published in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, adults ages 45 to 65 who took creatine increased their lean tissue and strength even if they did not follow a structured exercise program. Participants who combined creatine with regular exercise experienced even larger improvements.”
Sam’s two cents: I’ve blogged about creatine before. I’ve been taking creatine monohydrste for some time now. Creatine is on my list of everyday things. I’ve been stuck by how much evidence there is of its benefits.
It wasn’t a disaster. Honest! No one got injured either. Yay!
But we definitely didn’t have “type 1 fun” that is fun in the moment. Welcome to “type 2 fun”, aka fun when it’s done.
To celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary Michel and I decided to go on a hike someplace new. I was charged with choosing the route. I swear I set the filters to:
Route type = loop
Difficulty = easy
Distance = 4-6 km
I was looking for something not to far away but also someplace new. We have a bunch of trails near London. I played around with the map. Suddenly a loop at the Dalewood Reservoir appeared. It was a 20 minute drive. Perfect!
I threw a few snacks, my water bottle and hiking poles in the car. Michel smiled. I knew he was thinking “classic Nat over preparing.” (I later confirmed he thought that and, to his credit, he admitted it!)
The first hiccup was that the entrance to the conservation area was locked. Huh. I had not anticipated that. Michel to the rescue! He had noticed we had passed a sign marking a trailhead entrance just up the road.
A short drive and we were at a parking lot with trail map, bathrooms and a garbage can. Pro tip, don’t use those toilets. Pee outside. They were super gross.
Michel holds our dog Lucy in his arms. She’s licking her chops in eager anticipation of a good hike. I smile, confident this will be a jolly 90 minute jaunt.
The weather on the holiday Monday morning was cool and overcast but surprisingly humid. After skittering down to the main trail loop we were both quite sweaty.
We crossed an iron bridge and kept an eye out for our right hand turn to go around the reservoir. Otherwise we would walk along a subdivision and end up on pavement after a kilometer or so. We did not want to do that.
Imagine our surprise when we were definitely walking along a fence line as people roasted turkeys. The mosquitoes were fierce and the path was kind of a gravel trench with a narrow gap where it had been washed out.
“We missed our turn.” I frowned. There were no trail markers. But the trail was well worn. As we turned around Michel offered that we could go back to the car. A 3 km walk met our minimum daily walk distance.
“No!” I exclaimed. “I picked this route to see beautiful fall colours, water and listen to birds!”
So we back tracked nearly to the bridge and saw a no snowmobile sign high up on a tree.
“Dang. I saw this on the way out but it didn’t look like a main trail.”
Michel pushed aside several shrubs and 10 feet off the trail was a single blue arrow. We laughed. It was absolutely not visible.
Confident we were now on the trail Michel broke out his Merlin app as I shed my outer plaid jacket layer.
It had rained a lot on Sunday and the trail was clay with freshly falling leaves. There was a lot of little up and downs and it was slippery. Michel slid down hills, Lucy’s leash in one hand and his phone on “listen” in the other.
“That’s a Carolina Wren!” He was like Jack Be Nimble. I was picking my path carefully. Stick, stick, step, step. I soon shed my mid layer and was just in a tank top.
We saw a handful of people going the opposite direction. It was beautiful going from stands of oaks to cedars then maples. The birds were singing, mosquitoes biting and the views were beautiful.
Michel regularly checked in with me. He shared that his legs were hurting. I admitted the trail was more challenging than I had expected. He laughed. We were 90 minutes in.
We kept walking, sweating and minding our footing. Each boardwalk or bridge was numbered, counting down to the locked conservation gate that was close to the car.
We discovered other spots to park and join the trail. At our 6 km point we joined the road to walk on a beautiful bridge above the damn. We knew we were close now.
We rejoined the trail, passing through the canoe launch for the paddling route. Michel offered we could walk back out to the road and find the car. I doubled down on completing the loop. It was the same distance either way. His watch and phone were dead and he was feeling as done with the adventure as I was.
We started seeing the same folks we had met at the beginning. One couple was worried they would not find their car. After a short chat we realized they had parked near the bridge. We reassured them they were almost done and they could not miss the bridge.
The last half hour we were both tired and kind of done with slipping and sliding.
Lucy sits on a bench, looking away. We play the game “up,up” when hiking. Her job is to jump up onto the designated object and pose. She loves having a job!
We got back to the car and devoured all the snacks.
A screenshot of our route from Strava shows it was 8 km and “a three hour tour”.
On the drive back we were both tired. Back at the house I exclaimed “that did not feel like AN EASY 5 km”.
I re-read the trail description. It was best to be avoided after heavy rainfall. No shit. It was also scored as a “ moderate” difficulty. Uh-huh. And it was 6 km only if you avoided the north-east spur, which we did not!
The house was pretty quiet all afternoon as I knitted and Michel did schoolwork.
At dinner we had both regained our sense of humour. I shared a video of a man saying his parents didn’t raise a quitter, they raised a complainer. It was spot on. I had been determined to finish the loop but, boy, there were a few moments where I complained.
I wonder if I do truly enjoy hiking? I’m not sure. I do love the views. We were treated to regular Bald Eagle calls and were rewarded at the very end to see the giant bird close up. We could hear the wings flapping when it took off.
Michel shared he was glad he hadn’t picked that route. I offered I would not have complained then, I would have just pushed it down.
“Your silent fuming is much worse than your complaining!”
That’s what 30 years of marriage gives you, perspective and understanding.
