This year, it was great luck that my birthday fell on Labour Day Weekend.
Saturday we had a back-to-school party for some university friends, Sunday was my birthday party, and Monday was my birthday bike ride. That was the plan anyway.
But when Kim cancelled because of new dog duty (and that’s just fine, we all understand new dogs take some work to settle in) and Sarah and I just kept working away getting things back in order in the house. And then Susan and I took Cheddar on a long walk along the river. And then I had a midday nap. Briefly, it looked the birthday bike ride might not come to be.
We rallied mid-afternoon and settled on a 3 pm departure. We didn’t quite make 3 pm but we were close. I’ve been wanting to do the St Jacobs ride again, on the Guelph to Goderich Trail. It’s 80 km round trip from here but if we started at Speedvale–and drove to the actual start of the trail, we figured it would be around 60 km.
All fine. Except for one thing. The Kissing Bridge is closed for at least a year. Uh oh. And we didn’t see any alternate route signs. So we tried some dirt back roads. After all, we had our gravel bikes. And then found our way to road roads and made our way to St. Jacobs.
That was problem number 1.
Problem number 2 occurred to us when we stopped for dinner. This is the week when it starts getting dark before 8 pm. How soon before 8 pm? We weren’t sure. Did we have any lights on our gravel bikes? We do not. Another uh oh.
Sam and Sarah on the dirt country roads
We also had to find the official alternate route that didn’t involve the Kissing Bridge.
Route found, and we did some speedy riding. We made it back to the car just as it was getting seriously dark. Hence, the PRs on the G2G trail!
The ride ended up being 57.7 km. Not 61. But luckily, there are no rules for birthday bike rides. I’ll add in my 4 km of commuting tomorrow to make it 61 even.
One wonderful thing about riding in this part of Ontario is all the Mennonite horse and buggy traffic. That means there’s a very wide shoulder and lots of signs telling car drivers to watch out for buggies and bikes.
We also rode for a bit with a young woman in a bonnet and a long black dress–also racing the daylight, though she was headed back to her farm. Given her garb and the bike she was riding–definitely not an e-bike as that would have been forbidden–we were impressed by her speed.
Anyway, birthday bike ride complete.
Our next big ride is the Parkinson’s Ride from London to Guelph (in 2 days) September 11 and 12, and then the Grand Finale from Hamilton into Toronto on September 13th.
There are no rules for birthday bike rides. I know. But I originally had plans to ride 60 km the day of my birthday with friends. You know, the traditional birthday bike ride. That’s your age in kilometers, the day of your birthday.
Still, one friend I wanted to ride with was new to cycling and nervous about the distance on her heavy hybrid bike. Another friend had a fancy new carbon bike but he’d only been back on the bike a month after taking several years off riding. One more friend hadn’t ridden at all this summer. My birthday would be her first day on the bike this year. And nobody was keen to ride at 9 am because first the friends had to get to Guelph and that’s a very early start. You get the idea.
As I thought about these friends backing out and coming to my birthday party and not the birthday bike ride, I realized, of course, that it’s riding with people that I love. Who cares about how far we ride? If I just cared about the distance, I could ride alone or with Sarah.
A new plan emerged. We’d ride 30 km on Saturday and 30 km on Sunday, and people could come on one or both rides. It didn’t work for everyone but more people were able to come for that distance.
How’d that shake down?
Terrific! I had a blast. I love being on my bike with friends. Happy birthday to me!
Part 1
Here’s our route.
Part Two
On Sunday morning a smaller group of us did a gravel ride.
We rode to Elmira on the Guelph to Goderich trail, stopped for lunch, and rode back.
Here’s the route.
Total: 69.37 km
We overshot our goal of 60 km but that’s just fine too.
It’s Sam’s Birthday Week! Some of the FIFI Bloggers, in no particular order, want to celebrate Sam and wish her a very happy 60th birthday!
Mina:
I can not choose one post of Sam’s as a favorite or most iconic. For me it is the consistent curiosity and resilience that threads through every post that is the force and grace of Sam. Happy Birthday!
Amy:
My favorite posts by Sam are her aspirational travel posts and/or lists of where she hopes to travel. These posts inspire me to think more about the adventures I want to undertake. Even knowing where to find some of the information for these experiences is half the battle, and it’s nice to not have to look so hard when Sam is sharing her plans.
Savita:
In 2013, the Western News published an article about two feminist philosophers who set a challenge for themselves to be the fittest they’d ever been by the time they turned 50. Being a colleague of theirs at Western and one year younger, I was intrigued by their feminist perspective on fitness. As a scientist in a mostly male discipline, I didn’t get a lot of feminism in my daily work life (things have changed a bit since then). So I contacted Sam and Tracy and we went out for lunch and chatted about their challenge and their new blog, Fit, Feminist and (almost) Fifty. The feminist perspective really opened my eyes to other women’s experiences with their bodies, nutrition, in the gym, on the bike and other exercise arenas. I invited both of them to give a presentation to our endocrinology/diabetes residents, and wrote an article about swimming for their new blog, and so began a relationship with Sam and Tracy and their blog that’s lasted 11 years. I love what they’ve accomplished with their blog and book, and their journey has also been empowering for me and has also changed my thinking about exercise and nutrition. After several guest blogs, I accepted Sam’s invite to participate in the FIFI community, and it’s inspired me to keep a fitness journal and to join a swimming community on Facebook! Thanks, Sam, for your energy, enthusiasm and inspiration, and happy 60th!!
Natalie:
What I appreciate the most about Sam is that she is an expert nerd herder. She convenes get togethers, rides and general silliness. She understands the value of exercising with friends. She helped me go from not cycling at all to a little 20 km with friends. I was so nervous but she knew exactly who to invite so I had a good time. What a gift.
I hope she continues to have people in her life that do some of the convening.
Bettina:
I came across Fit is a Feminist Issue pretty randomly one day, but stuck around reading for some time. The way Sam (and the others) wrote and thought about fitness gave me a whole new perspective and when I mustered the courage to ask if I could write Sam was so kind! I don’t know her in person but I always appreciate her drive, generosity and will never cease to be in awe of how she handles her big job, running the blog, and doing about a million other things. Wishing you loads more of that energy, Sam!!
Kim:
I joined the blog in 2012 after moving to the uk for work and taking up cycling in a serious way. I didn’t know Sam or Tracy super well, but as soon as I reached out to ask about contributing posts from my 2013 London to Paris charity bike ride they were welcoming and supportive like you wouldn’t believe. I became a regular contributor and they supported me again when I started my teaching blog, The Activist Classroom. Sam retweeted and liked and reblogged my AC stuff all the time, encouraging me forward; and when I got back to Canada she welcomed me into her riding community warmly and introduced me to Cate, Susan, and Sarah, all of whom are now close friends. Sam has had a huge impact on me personally and professionally as I enter the full on midlife years (50 next month!) and I’m super, super grateful. Love you Sam!
Nicole:
From the time I sent Sam my first idea for a post, as a guest blogger in 2019, to now, I have always appreciated Sam’s welcome approach. When I sent that first request to Sam in 2019, I felt I had something to say (about fitness and feminism) but I wasn’t sure I was a “writer”. I still have my doubts, but having Sam welcome me to the blog as a regular writer helped me feel I had something worthwhile to say, regardless of my status as a writer.
Also, as a person with lifelong doubts about my academic prowess, it has buoyed me to know that I am welcome amongst this esteemed group of philosophers and academics. I don’t think I can pick one post. I appreciate Sam’s commitment to her own fitness, through physical challenges (knee surgeries) and busy Dean-ing and looking after her family. Sam’s post are always balanced, open-minded, while sticking to her main theses that fitness should be available to all. I have no doubt that I will continue to enjoy Sam’s posts for however long she chooses to blog.
Of course, I also appreciate Sam’s continuous ability to keep all the bloggers organized. She is always there to respond to a question and I am not sure how she does it with her busy schedule.
Thanks, Sam!
Tracy:
My favourite post from Sam is the one she wrote way way back called “Fat, Fit, and What’s Wrong with BMI.” I feel as if that post helped to define the blog’s direction really early on. I also think now’s a good time to acknowledge the amazing talent Sam has of keeping this blog rolling on a daily basis, despite that she is keeping a zillion other things rolling along at the same time. I’m always in awe, and feel an immeasurable amount of gratitude and good fortune that our birthdays are so close together, that our conversation about “these issues” has been so enduring, and that I stumbled into the blog project with her back in 2012! Happy birthday, Samantha!
Catherine:
Sam and I first met in 2010 at the International Association of Women Philosophers conference at Western. It was clear then that we had a future as friends, philosophical colleagues, activity pals and feminist comrades-in-arms. Fast forward to 2013, she invited me to write my first guest blog post—Facing Fears of the Group Ride. This led to more guest posts, and by 2014, I was a regular weekly blogger.
Writing for this blog is one of the great joys in my life, and Samantha is one of the primary reasons. She is ever so patient with timing of posts, quietly reminding us about schedules and pivoting deftly when that schedule gets jostled. She provides us with #blogfodder on our blogger Facebook page, offering info and new topics for posts. I still marvel at how she manages all that throughput—reading content coming in, posting it on the FIFI FB page, keeping track of post scheduling, writing her own multiple posts every week, and reposting all of our content on social media.
The world, the blog and all of us have changed over the years that Fit is a Feminist Issue has been in our lives. We have changed jobs, changed partners, moved house, lost loved ones, taken on new activities, had medical encounters, and gotten COVID (more than once for some of us). But I’m grateful and happy to report that FIFI is still here, we are still here, and Sam is still here—at the helm, steering, looking ahead, helping us to enjoy the view along with her. Happy 60th Sam, and thank you.
Cate:
I met Sam around 2015, because two people from entirely different parts of my life said “how is it that you don’t know Sam?!” They said that because we have so much in common – obviously, we share a commitment to fitness, and an ongoing curiosity about the meaning and implications of the movement choices we make. And as soon as we met, I slid into the blogger world with a sigh feeling I’d found my people. But another thing we share is persistence. Sam joked a couple of weeks ago in response to one of my posts that I am a super persistent human – but so is Sam. There are many many things I could point to that I admire and appreciate about Sam – as an academic leader, a philosopher, a parent, a community member and most of all, as a friend. I will not ever forget the way I felt when she and Sarah committed their day to come to my mother’s funeral – it meant more than I can say.
But one of the things I admire and appreciate the most is the way she takes a hard, impossible task – whether that’s Deaning, keeping this blog going on a daily basis, or being present for her friends and family – and tackles it with good humour and optimism. I don’t know if anyone else I know could have taken on a double knee replacement and the intense pain and physio that followed with the commitment, determination and strength that Sam did. I am in awe at the way she recognized the limits of her body, assessed the options and dug into doing everything she could to keep herself as mobile and strong as possible. I am grateful to have her spirit and her self in my world. Happy birthday, age-twin! I’ll be there shortly!
Christine:
Sam and I have never met in person but I had the good fortune to interview her via Zoom for an article I was writing back in 2020 and something she said has stuck with me ever since.
We were talking about deadlines and feeling behind on your work and she said that she was technically behind on a lot of things at that point but that she wasn’t dwelling on it. She had just accepted that she was going to be late with that stuff and kept working.
As someone who has spent a lot of her life scrambling and apologizing for getting behind on things (ADHD, whaddaya mean?) her comment was a big deal for me.
It was ok to say ‘Well, that’s going to be late!’ and just forge ahead? Brilliant!
I mean, it wasn’t the first time I had heard that and it probably wasn’t even the first time I had tried to tell myself that but hearing it from someone I admire as much as Sam? That made a HUGE difference for me.
And while that comment was about writing, not about fitness, I think it’s emblematic of how Sam shows up for the blog and for those of us who write for the blog.
There are so many things to celebrate and admire about Sam but her approach to her work and to fitness and to the blog is a key element in the success of Fit is a Feminist Issue.
Sam shows up.
She shows up how she is today, even if she sometimes wishes things were different, and she does what she can with what she has.
She doesn’t pretend to be perfect. She doesn’t offer ‘one quick fix.’ She just keeps figuring things out and adjusting as she goes.
And she asks the same of the rest of us here at Fit is a Feminist Issue. She doesn’t judge, she doesn’t ask more than we can give, she immediately adjusts if plans change, and she supports what we are trying to do with our posts and with our fitness plans.
Sam, you rock and we are lucky to know you. Happy Birthday!
Martha:
I met Samantha back in 1982 when we were both deeply involved with student newspapers and shared similar values and ideas about feminism, social justice and community. We worked together in 1985-86 for a national student press cooperative and shared a house. We kept in touch after graduate school, marriages, children, house moves, job changes and life in general. We both took up running around the same time and kept up-to-date through email. When Facebook came to be, we were able to stay connected so much more easily. It helped us take advantage of face-to-face opportunities and we’ve shared a number of meals, in her home and mine.
It wasn’t long after Sam and Tracy founded the Fit as a Feminist Issue that Sam would send me occasional nudges to write for the blog when I would post about my trail walks, my swimming adventures or relearning to cycle. The nudges became suggestions on posts and finally I took the hint and began writing a few guests posts. I think maybe it was after a year that Sam said, “why don’t you write regularly?” and I thought to myself, “why not?”
So, thank you Sam for your persistence and patience, your gentle reminders as I learned to navigate scheduling, blogging software and the fitness world with my feminist lens. Happy birthday Samantha, my friend of more than 40 years and counting. What fun we’ve had and what more fun awaits!
Elan:
I’m a fan of Sam’s first post, made the day before her birthday 12 years ago: In a blogsphere of stylish artifice, it’s refreshingly straight up. I also kind of like this post, made on her birthday August 31, 2014, where she features a cycling cake. August 31, 2019 she talked about her new knee, and now here she is with one! I’ve learned a lot about Sam over the years from her many thoughtful and honest blog posts….including how much she likes her birthday! 🙂 I’ve known Sam indirectly since I was a grad student at Western, entering into her outer orbit around 2006. Back then, I admired her from afar as a feminist and a scholar and a leader, but I was one of many students who did, I imagine. Years later, maybe around 2019, I had always wanted to write blog, but I always felt highly self-conscious about my own writing voice. Sam has been a consistently supportive of me and other FIFI bloggers, and I’ve always been grateful for her supportiveness and her graciousness. Thank you, Sam, for all your many posts on the blog, and all the efforts you do behind the scenes. You deserve a whole week (and more) of celebration.
A few weeks ago I posted about my upcoming cycling challenge to commemorate my 60th year. In June 2024 I began a 1600km bike ride from Lands End to John O’Groats (LEJOG) in the UK. I’m happy to report that I successfully completed the adventure without illness, injury or punctures! We rode an average of 115km per day for each of the 14 days on the trip. There were no rest days. There were MANY hills with significant elevation gains. It was an amazing adventure and I’m still a bit surprised I made it.
Group photo of the beginning of our trip from Lands End
Preparation – I began getting ready for this trip about a year out. The company who supported our group was Peak Tours (https://www.peak-tours.com/)and they were excellent about sending information to help us prepare. I tried to find videos and first hand accounts from people who had done the ride recently. I put together a training plan, independent at first and later on with HumanGo (https://humango.ai/). Training in earnest began in January with most of the kms being ridden inside on a bike attached to my smart trainer linked to Zwift (https://www.zwift.com/). When the weather improved I tried to ride very consistently and added in as much elevation as I could. By the time we started on the ride I had put in about 3500km since January. I also made sure I had the right kit and equipment for the ride. This meant purchasing a bar bag in addition to my seat post bag. This ensured I had extra clothing, food, tools, sunscreen, chamois cream whenever I needed them. In hindsight I could have started training earlier and done more elevation. The ride was really tough and additional fitness would have allowed me to enjoy it a bit more.
Photo of the tour van with our guide Julie on the top of Dartmoor. With a wild pony who wanted treats!
Imposter Syndrome – No matter how old or accomplished we are I personally suffer from Imposter Syndrome. When I arrived at our hotel for the first dinner pre-ride I felt the nerves kick in. The group of 23 riders only included 4 women. I’ve ridden with men before and they are mostly stronger and faster. I started the first day very anxious and was worried about being the last rider in for the day. This prediction was not unfounded and on most of the days my partner Emma and I were among the last to roll in. We soon realized that it didn’t really matter as everyone rode at their own pace and little groups began to support each other. Being the first to a rest stop or lunch didn’t come with any prizes! We never rode with the “fast boys” but sometimes they slowed their pace and rode with us for a segment. Once I let go of the competitive streak in me the ride became more enjoyable, however I was still quite happy to occasionally climb a bit better than a few of the boys.
Photo of myself and Emma (two cyclists) on Day 5 of the trip
Support – This was the biggest factor that allowed me to complete this ride. I had been telling many people about LEJOG and why I was doing it for months before the ride began. This meant that I would have to report back to them post-ride. I didn’t want to say “I couldn’t do it” or “it was too hard”. So even when times were tough I just kept going. This was not something Emma had personally envisioned doing, but being a good sport she also threw herself into the training and prep. We also had family/friends meet us along the route for dinners which provided welcomed encouragement. Writing the earlier blog post also ensured accountability. The riding group was amazing and super engaged. Everyone struggled and wobbled at times, even the “fast boys”. As the days wore on the old injuries appeared and fatigue began to wear people down. Sometimes the riders became stronger as more kms were ridden and endurance improved. This was particularly the case of all of the female riders. The support crew (Simon, Julie and Dave) from Peak Tours were amazing. Always there with a word of encouragement, a cup of tea and a smile.
I’m so glad I decided to embark on this epic adventure. I learned I can do very hard things. Even in my own mind I don’t feel like an endurance athlete….but riding LEJOG is the proof otherwise. Women remain under represented within all aspects of cycling. It saddens me that more women aren’t riding as they may be intimidated by the gear, the safety elements or just that niggling thought that says “I couldn’t do it”. Women are perfectly capable of building their endurance and riding whatever distance motivates them. I’m now looking for other cycling adventures that can be physically challenge, provide a wonderful way to see new places, and meet like-minded individuals.
Lona lives with her partner Emma and their 2 dogs in North Vancouver, British Columbia. Originally trained as a social worker she transitioned to nursing, graduating when she was 40 years old from UBC. She worked in health care for 20 years in a variety of roles and areas including palliative, surgical services, and urban health. She now works as the executive director for Resident Doctors of BC, the union supporting resident physicians. She lives by the motto that life is short and therefore it is good to challenge yourself.
All of us at FIFI are grateful to Samantha and Tracy for starting the blog in 2012, inviting us to join as writers and readers, and keeping it going strong in the midst of whirlwinds of change over the past decade plus some. In honor of her birthday, and in no particular order, are 59 great things about Samantha, who turns 59 today.
1–4: Samantha’s in-house menagerie of various creatures:
Three dogs. from biggest to littlest: Cheddar, Charlie and Chase.Lizzie, the bearded dragon, whose eating habits Sam compares to that of a toddler.
5–8: a rotating roster of cats, past and present, including the venerable Zippy, who lived to the ripe old age of 18, Boo, her son Gavin’s cat, who lodges with them from time to time, and her daughter Mallory’s cats Louie and Moon, who visit on occasion.
9–16: Sam’s well-looked after family of Mallory, Gavin, Miles, Kathleen, Sarah, Jeff, Susan, and others I’m forgetting. Not to mention her many friends, students, colleagues, and neighbors (which I’m counting as one for these purposes).
I don’t think I got everyone in this montage, but that’s just because Samantha’s family and friends cannot be contained by mere digital means.
Samantha with family, friends, dogs and bikes.
17–26: Sam’s written a lot of very popular blog posts over the years. Here are ten of them:
The fact that Sam wrote in both 2013 and 2021 about finding clothes to fit athletic women’s bodies shows a real need for this blog. And by the way, it’s not fixed yet. But don’t worry, Sam and the rest of us are on it.
27–31: Samantha has been writing about real women’s bodies (in contrast to Barbie bodies) for a decade before the movie came out. Here are five of her posts:
38–40: Sam continues to embrace the gear! 1.667 boats
1/3 of a big sailboat
1/3 of a small sailboat
3/3 of a canoe
41: Sam doesn’t embrace single car ownership, but shares one with her mum.
42: Say what you will, but I think Sam and I looked pretty similar in high school.
Catherine, with less good hair than Sam but a good shirt.Sam, very composed and camera-ready
43: I think we still look like we could be cousins (which we certainly are in a psychic sense, or something)
Sam and me in fall 2019 at the covered bridge in Guelph. Note similar smiles and eyes.Sam and me in October 2022 at my talk in Guelph– similar smiles, eyes, choices in professional wear.
44: Samantha loves books! She buys books, reads them, talks and writes about them in our FIFI book club (and elsewhere), and gives books to people. Hey Sam– what should our next FIFI book club be about? Something to think about.
45: Sam’s To Listen, Read and Watch posts. They are a relaxing and often informative time-out from work emails or more serious reading. Wanna catch up on some of them? Look here.
46: No matter what sort of snafu or whoopsie-thing happens with the blog (and yes, below our sleek, professional exterior, we are fallible like everyone else…:-) Samantha manages to a) fix it; or b) compensate for it; and c) not sweat about it. Thanks, Sam!
47–59: For each year of this blog– 2012–2023 and on, Samantha and Tracy deserve praise (Tracy’s birthday is coming up soon, too, so stay tuned…)
Happy 59th, Samantha, from me, the bloggers, the readers, and Robert Anderson (who took this photo on Unsplash).
Is there anything better than a gift that’s 1) unexpected; and 2) absolutely perfect? What a dynamite combo!
This week I met up with my book club to celebrate a friend’s birthday (not me; it would be weird to refer to myself in this way). We had a great time, and the birthday friend was gifted and carded and caked in fine fashion.
Imagine my surprise when my birthday friend handed *me* a present.
It was a late birthday gift (I turned 61 in April). Honestly, it’s my firm belief that gifts never come at a bad time, so I gladly received my present. And here it is: the perfect coffee mug for a cyclist!
Feast your eyes on this handmade white and light-yellow-green mug with a cobalt blue interior.And on the other side: a small imprint/pressing of a road bike. So small. So cool!
This is indeed a perfect gift for me. It checks many boxes:
handmade pottery
big enough but not too big
nod to cycling, but not in a screaming way
useful for my everyday life
in pretty colors that my friend knows I love
As important, though, my sweet mug gift avoids the pitfalls of weird, useless, flimsy or downright awful gifts marketed to folks who enjoy some specific physical activity. You know what I’m talking about. In case you don’t, here is what I mean.
scented candle labeled “squat because no one raps about little butts”. This is awful and I cannot lie.
women-specific tank saying “obviously not the instructor”. I recommend tying the shirt to the anchor in the photo and sending it to the bottom of the sea.
Pair of wine glasses saying “gym now” and “wine later”. We are all so over this, aren’t we?
I saved the best/worst for last: a painted, decorated rock with two cyclist figures glued on, with a personalizable plaque.
It’s fun to receive gifts that acknowledge something in my life that I love. I’ve received a bike pizza cutter, some gorgeous hand-made coasters that look like chain rings or cassettes, and of course bike chain earrings, to name a few. They all fall into the categories of pretty, useful, hand-made or otherwise very pleasing.
Not to be a grump about gifts– I appreciate that when someone makes an effort to give me something. It’s the sentiment that should carry the day. And it does. Unless I’m on the receiving end of that rock with the cyclists glued to it.
Readers, what sorts of strange, gaudy or downright ugly fitness-themed gifts have you received? Or, what are your favorite fitness-themed gifts? Please tell me– I’m so curious… 🙂
This post is a group of loosely connected thoughts in a blogpost-shaped trench coat but let’s just roll with it.
As I write this, I’m sitting in a lawn chair on my front lawn awaiting trick or treaters – Khalee is too much of a chaos agent for me to easily answer the door over and over so I take the treats outside and drink tea while waiting for the kids.
I’m so spooky and mysterious. Also I think my pumpkin lights are shy – none of them would face the camera. Image description: a nighttime selfie of me in front of the tree in my front yard. I’m wearing my jacket and a plaid shirt with a necklace of tiny glowing skulls. My hair is pulled back in a bandana, I have my glasses on, and I’m smirking. There is a string of pumpkin lights behind me, each pumpkin on the string is about the size of a tennis ball.
Tomorrow, or today by the time you read this, is November 1, just a little over a week away from my 50th birthday.
A few months ago, I thought I would have a good fitness routine by now. I thought I had a solid, low key plan.
Turns out, I was still trying to do too much at once and I have basically been kind of ambling along trying to figure out my how and when, exercising more some times and less other times.
At the beginning of October, I thought I would have a straightforward month with two challenges to work on, but I was plagued with migraines and frustration and never really found my groove.
One tiny part of my brain is telling me ‘You should be more disappointed in yourself, don’t you think?’
But another part is reminding me that the word should is at least 90% evil and that, at almost 50 years old, I don’t have to put up with people being mean to me – especially if that person is me.
So, instead, I’m thinking that I must not have found the easy thing. I must have had too many steps or too many decisions, I must not have smoothed the path, I must not have included enough fun. Oh well! Too late to worry about those past plans now.
I’m not trying to revamp them, though, I’m just focused on what’s ahead of me.
I’m looking forward to my birthday month with the goal(s) of finding more ease, seeking more fun, and looking for ways to move more often on any given day.
There’s no overarching plan, there’s no big idea, there’s just me experimenting with trusting myself in the moment. Let’s just hope my brain will cooperate.
It took me a couple of Halloweens of trying different things before I figured out that I could circumvent the stress of the dog-related chaos by taking the treats out to the kids but I was making little changes in my approach the whole time.
I’m hoping the same is true for this whole figuring-out-routines thing, that I *am* making adjustments and learning as I go, even if it’s hard to see while I’m still in the middle of it.
PS – In case you have a tendency to worry: I am completely ok, by the way. I’m mostly just interested in how and why I feel so at ease with not having done what I had set out to do. And why I don’t feel the need to poke into what went “wrong.” I like the fact that instead of my brain leaning into the meanness, I veered off into the ‘try this’ of taking things moment by moment. I’m observational and reflective, perhaps a little melancholy, but I’m not sad, not upset, and there’s nothing wrong.
My birthday bike ride, my soon to be age in kilometers! That’s 58. I turn 58 on Wednesday.
I was worried that we’d forgotten to plan it. But in the end we decided not to go to the boat and instead visit the boat after knee surgery when I’m feeling okay but still not mobile. By then Jeff will be in the Thousands Islands which is super pretty. I’m looking forward to it.
Can you do them on a trainer? Yes. Can you choose miles or kilometers? Yes. Do you need to do them on your birthday? No. Does it need to be the same number as your age? No.
That said, my preference is for outside, my age in kilometers, before my birthday. And that was today.
We did our favorite rolling hills route that we’ve borrowed from the Tour de Guelph, adding on a few extra kilometres. See the weird sticking out bit that goes nowhere? That’s our bonus couple of kms needed to make it 58.
I was a bit nervous and super cautious. I really didn’t want a bike crash to spoil my surgery date. But all good. It was a happy chatty sunny ride and I think we saw every road cyclist in Guelph out there today, including a group of women on road bikes with a bride or soon to be bride, wearing a wedding veil.
Best of all, on our way home we ran into friends from Toronto, in Guelph as part of a motorbike outing. And we all got to have high tea together at the Boathouse. Yay!
Boathouse tea! Thanks Andrea for the photoStrava mapPhotos from our ride including Hume Road, for the philosophers.
Though a long-time reader of FIFI, I joined as a regularly contributing author not long ago. It has been a joy for me to re-visit the FIFI blog on this date in its first year of publication and think about how events of the past 9 years confirm the need for FIFI long into the future.
A decade ago
The FIFI blog was launched at the end of August 2012. Almost a year later, the August 25, 2013 post invited readers to submit to a special issue of the International Journal of Feminist Approaches to Bioethics: See How She Runs: Feminists Rethink Fitness (Spring 2016).
Co-blog/issue editors Samantha Brennan and Tracy Issacs describe how the special issue—like the still-new blog from which it emerged—looks critically at the impact of fitness on women and “the very assumptions about what constitutes ‘fitness’ in the first place” (p. 3).
In forms of writing both scholarly and personal, the articles surface four key and connected themes related to fitness and feminism:
Equality – the gender disparity that starts in childhood and widens in adulthood,
Inclusivity – the exclusion of women and minorities from domains of sport and the lack of diversity in the fitness media,
Empowerment – competitive sports, body performance, and the linking of sports to personal confidence and public life, and
Aesthetics and feminine embodiment – the complex relationship between women, their fitness goals, and their bodies.
These themes have since featured prominently as the cardinal compass points guiding thousands of FIFI blog posts by more than 165 authors over the last 9 years.
Nearly a decade later
FIFI continues to examine and re-define fitness from an anti-homophobic, anti-racist, anti-ableist feminist lens. Over the last decade, this blog has helped readers to reflect on the many history-making moments in sports and fitness. Here are just a few:
Equality: Since 2013, wage and other gaps between men and women in sports (like basketball, surfing, and hockey) have been spotlighted. For instance, in 2017 the women’s hockey team announced a boycott of the world championship if U.S.A. Hockey did not increase the women’s wages. Despite greater attention to inequality, gender gap in sports participation, funding, and media attention still continues.
Inclusivity: Athletes have become more vocal about gender, race, and mental health in sports. For example, in the media gymnast Simone Biles confronted the myth of the strong black woman affecting women athletes of colour. Tennis player Naomi Osaka also articulated the need to address depression, burnout, and toxic spaces that athletes face. Yet, CAMH notes that stigma continues to be attached to mental illness as a sign of unfitness in sports.
As well, inclusivity and diversity in sports are subject to ever-changing rule books. Since 2013, some rules have shifted to promote greater inclusion, while others have not—such as the recent exclusion of transwomen athletes from sports such as rugby, swimming, and track and field.
Empowerment: Over the last few years, research has found that gentle exercise benefits women, especially at older ages. A greater focus on happiness and health, as well as recovery time, has also appeared in emerging fitness research. Social media movements addressing fat bias, such as #StrongNotSkinny, have helped to shift how women relate to athletic performance and body acceptance as a form of self-empowerment.
Aesthetics and feminine embodiment: And yet, also since 2013 more fitness influencers have greater…well, influence…than ever before on idealized body norms and commodified aesthetics. Gear such as fitness trackers have been lauded for helping women to be more fit. But their use may be concerning for reasons of data privacy and whether this tech actually matches women’s wellness and fitness goals in the first place.
A decade (or more) more
What has changed since the first year of FIFI is a more collaborative approach to publication. Under the continued leadership of Samantha, a larger collection of blog authors help to manage the blog while being a supportive global writing community for each other.
Our reading community is larger since 2013 too—tens of thousands of subscribers, readers, likers, commenters, and sharers from around the world. (We appreciate you all!!)
And yet, like the special issue the blog is a mosaic of diverse reflections that encourages making the world of fitness—and the many lived experiences of that world—more equal, inclusive, empowering, and embodied for everyone.
A decade goes by quickly, but this brief retrospective on key themes and tiny number of big fitness events show us the value of the FIFI blog then, now, and well into the future.
But a birthday ride is a kind of a tradition for me.
And if I am going to do it, I have to get my birthday ride in soon. My birthday is next Wednesday, the 31st, but I have knee replacement surgery Monday. We’re spending the weekend on the boat.
So maybe it’s a 58 km before work on Friday? (Off to check sunrise times…6:37 am, so that is doable.)
But the weather looks miserable…
Weather
Maybe I divide it up between Thursday and Friday morning, two 29 km rides? Zwift if it’s raining. This is feeling less celebratory though…
Now it’s my view that there are no rules for birthday rides so I could do it after my birthday but recovery from knee replacement takes awhile and I’m not sure when I’ll next be able to ride 58 km. It might be winter by then!
