This weekend, my ongoing efforts to maximize my fun and my current specific efforts to increase my fitness levels* overlapped nicely when I saw that the Conqueror Virtual Challenges had a walking challenge related to the Salem Witch Trials.
Is this kind of a weird and tenuous connection? Yes.**
Am I heavily influenced by themed activities? Also, yes.
The challenge involves walking around 48kms over a self-determined period of time and in the course of the challenge I’ll ‘unlock’ historical information and locations relevant to the trials.
The connection to a real place and to historical events and the fact that I will ‘earn’ interesting facts by reaching certain checkpoints does add to my fun and it gives me an extra reason to keep moving.
Once I signed up, I received my ‘race bib’ which was pretty fun since I have never had one before – digital or otherwise.
Image description – My ‘race bib’ for the challenge which shows my number 03023 in black against a light purple background. My sign-up date ‘Oct 24, 2025’ is above my number and 30 mi / 48 km is below. The light purple background featuring the number is surrounded by a darker purple night scene which shows wrought iron gates, bare tree branches, and two fenceposts with lamps on them. There is a witch on a broom flying in front of a full moon on the upper right, my name is in the middle top of the image, and ‘The Salem Witch Trials’ is in green on the upper left. In the bottom centre are the words ‘Make Every Mile Count.’
I mean, I’m not racing anyone in any real sense of the word. I set my own timeline, I’ve given myself tons of time to complete the challenge, and I’m not part of a challenge group.
Really, my only competitor is me.
Yet, immediately after signing up for this, I was inclined to go for an extra walk because it was part of a bigger project.
Yes, I know that all of my fitness efforts are related to a bigger project – a happier me – but this challenge has predefined goals, obvious milestones, and there’s a definite end point. And I didn’t even have to put in the work to figure all of those things out.
Also, at the end of the challenge, the company will mail me a medal*** which will be a really cool bonus for doing something that already has inherent benefits.
*Yes, increasing my fitness levels has also been an ongoing project for me but after the necessary slow-down to recover from my injuries last year, I have been finding it hard to get back into a good fitness rhythm.
**In case you are wondering, I have, indeed, already done some overthinking about this. After considering it for some time, I felt that since it is focusing on mapping distances/locations and it gives contextual information, this challenge wasn’t particularly exploitative and it wasn’t dismissive of the situation or of the people involved.
**My husband did one of the Conqueror challenges last year and the medals – longer challenges have more than one – were delightful so I am looking forward to receiving mine.
It was a windy, wet day on Wednesday for the inaugural Plane Pull for the Elgin-Middlesex United Way.
I was part of a 15 person team. I really enjoyed getting to know new colleagues at Canada Life. We had fun sharing strategies and preparing to be the fastest. Our pull was 10:55 seconds.
15 people whooping it up as they pull a plane.
The winning team was less than 9 seconds!
Why do this stunt? The goal is to show that a small group of people working together can accomplish amazing things.
It’s important to remember that we can take steps to address social problems. It is easy to give in to despair when faced with big problems.
I loved the competition and camaraderie.
Nat smiles at the camera despite the wind and rain.
I knew my 16-day trip to Egypt with 3 midlife friends would be a fun, budget-friendly adventure, but it also became a test of stamina and strength for me.
We had no tour big bus providing a comfy, air-conditioned bubble. Rather, our ambitious travel schedule took us through half the country, hauling our backpacks up modest hotel staircases and navigating every natural and human-made obstacle in our path. Although we had quiet evenings, including a few days by a rooftop pool, by day our bodies were moving in lots of ways.
Our first of many tomb and temple visits, the burial chamber of Bannentiu, 26th dynasty (Roman Era) in the Baharia Oasis.
Bodies in Motion
In the desert near the Baharia Oasis we climbed up (then surfed down) sand dunes. In downtown Cairo, the honking cars, uneven pavement, and throngs of moving people in the street demanded constant physical manouvering. We toured ancient sites out in the hot sun, including Luxor’s Avenue of Sphinxes and Aswan’s Forgotten Obelisk. We also used steep ramps and narrow tunnels inside multiple tombs and pyramids, crouching under low ceilings carved over three and four thousand years ago!
Folks climbing a ramp in one of the Giza Pyramids, built for Pharoah Khufu in the 2500s BCE. Kim said the ramps were put in after her visit 16 years ago: before it was just dirt.
As well, we hiked three silent, stunning canyons in the South Sinai region that shimmered white, red, and multi-coloured in the sunshine. The next day, after a caravan of camels and their handlers got us most of the way up Mt Sinai, we used 750 steep steps to get up to its peak.
Riding Asfour (the Second), a 7-year old camel up the first 3000 steps of My Sinai was a highlight. And although Asfour did most of the work, my legs were still sore the next day!
Later, it was a relief to float face down in the salty water of the Red Sea over the most beautiful coral and schools of fish I have seen. We snorkelled twice: off the beach in Sharm El Sheik and off a glass-bottom boat in Hurghada. But even in and near the water, I had to be thinking about dehydration and sunburn.
Kimi and me snorkelling just off the beach in the Red Sea. Video by Lisa Porter.
Getting hurt could mean getting stuck. I nearly did a few times, once when I mildly rolled an ankle in the Coloured Canyon and when I jammed a finger on a tomb doorway at the Saqqara necropolis. But it felt good to keep moving. At least twice we saw a tourist who seemed unprepared or was having great difficulty getting through the tomb shafts.
Kim and Lisa going down the low-lit ramps in what I think was the Step Pyramid, built for Pharoah Djoser in the 2600s BCE. Video by Kimi Maruoka.
We covered thousands of steps per day, even on our 2- to 7-hour travel days. At the last minute I decided to leave my fitness tracker at home, and I’m glad I did. It helped me to make sense of how I was feeling in my body rather than by stats on a screen.
Rope repelling, then a rebar ladder, just to get down into the White Canyon. Our guide admitted he used this to judge hikers’ readiness for this canyon.
Caring Co-Travellers
And my body did feel many things, as I was under the weather for a good part of the trip: first menstrual cramps, a head cold that turned to cough, then mild heatstroke after the first time snorkeling, and finally a stomach bug. On my worst night, I laid awake shaking with chills, sipping tepid tablet-purified water, and waiting for dawn (or death, I had thought self-piteously).
A short video of Cairo’s downtown streets at night. Our group kept close watch on each other to avoid getting lost or run over.
But I survived. As a white, English-speaking tourist with a credit card and travel insurance on a holiday, I was never really in serious danger. I saw many Egyptians who may have been facing economic hardships and health risks I will never have to deal with as a middle-class Canadian.
Nevertheless, I am so grateful for my three travel buddies, who showed each other constant care throughout our journey. We divided snacks, each bought rounds of water, shared everything from tissues to electrolytes, and carried the mood for each other until someone sick (usually me) recovered.
A cat next to my day pack and water bottle. I stayed hydrated with old and new friends!
Kim, who had planned the travel and booked the local guides and drivers, happily made last-minute arrangements to help me join later when an early morning tour of Isis Temple in Aswan wasn’t possible for me. This caring company was the heart of my trip.
Me in a feeling-better moment, making silly Instagram poses with the backdrop of the Red Canyon behind me. Photos by Kimi Maruoka.
Proof of Life
I believe that our greater exertions paid off in greater fun. In exchange for living out of packs and in our sore, dust-covered bodies, we got to see and sleep in neat places, including under the desert stars, where we felt extremely lucky to be there, together and alive.
Our remarkable view of the white desert at night. This photo was not taken with a black/white filter.
There’s a certain idea of midlife that says to slow down, be careful, rest more. This trip refused that. It demanded and invited all kinds of motion, reminding me how much the body can still do when it must. It turns out that I was strong enough for Egypt.
Lisa and Elan racing (falling?) down a sand dune in the White Desert. Photo by either Kim or Kimi.
And by the end of the trip, I used nearly every pill I’d packed and every muscle I had. But getting over everything became part of my adventure story. I came home with a mildly sprained finger, hardwon but still overpriced souvenirs, and a feeling that my flawed and frustrating body could still bring me much, much joy.
Our fearless foursome trekking in the desert. To borrow a phrase from Kimi and her sisters: “We did it!!”
You “lock in” your new good habits before the new year. Starting three months before January 1, the idea is that you’ll have the strength, resilience and routine to start the new year right by the time January comes around.
What are the habits?
9 hours sleep a night
3 litres of water a day
No sugar
No fast food
No smoking
No alcohol
Daily cold showers
Workouts 3-5 times a week
No screens one hour before bed
10k steps a day
My thoughts:
That’s a lot of NOs.
I might add one, NO COLD SHOWERS. For me, anyway. You do you.
What’s wrong with the usual 8 hours sleep a night and 2 litres of water a day?
Seriously, it feels very restrictive and unsustainable to me.
Is there anything about it I like? I’ve always liked focusing on health and fitness in the fall. As an academic September feels more “new year” to me than January. And I’ve never liked thinking of December as binge month and January as the Big Change.
But for more thoughts about making sustainable changes, read the article from The Independent, linked above.
Happy Friday?
How do you feel about challenges like this one? Anything in it that works for you?
I recently went kayak camping with 6 friends at a remote Ontario provincial park called Killarney. Over 6 days and 5 nights we kayaked on a lake to 3 different camp sites. It was a chance for some holiday rest but also some active challenges.
Each site stop meant packing and unpacking my (borrowed) kayak: sleeping gear, food gear, hygiene gear, camp chair, bug repellants, clothes, and drying line. These were stored in dry sacs that kept stuff dry in inclement weather or if the kayak tips. We also agreed to each pack out our own garbage, which had to be stored every night in our kayaks to avoid attracting animals.
Though I was a girl guide and did family trailercamper trips as a kid, I am newer to camping where you haul your own gear, purify your own water, eat primarily rehydrated food, and eliminate in a “thunderbox”. On every trip I learn more through observing others and asking questions to find what arrangements suit me best (eg, tent vs hammock for sleeping, what vegetarian foods I can take, etc.).
I’m on my own to make sure I can carry what I pack, I pick up after myself, and I keep myself clean, dry, sated, and injury-free. Although this seems like regular adult stuff, in nature with no other amenities than what I carry, I must plan ahead and be self-sufficient. As one of my friends said during the trip, “Doing this as a woman, as a group of women, is empowering.” (Another one said camping is having fun while being mildly uncomfortable.)
What is empowering is not just taking care of yourself but also working together as a group. These women harnessed 7 kayaks in a trailer safely for highway driving, navigated to a remote provincial park, kayaked to multiple camp sites, used fishing gear, arranged in pairs for food prep and clean up, found wood, set up big tarps in case of rain, and shared anything that was needed, from extra salt to insect repellant to tampons to skin bandages.
For nearly a week were on our own but also together: travelling, paddling, swimming, fishing, card playing, pleinair watercolor painting, food and drink imbibing, mosquito repelling, storytelling, and looking out for each other.
I am grateful to have learned so much about the tricks and tools of kayak camping from these women. It’s given me a sense of accomplishment and pride in a hobby that’s fun but not always easy or convenient. I’ve chosen from here this quotation, attributed to Madonna (who may or may not also be a kayak camper), to sum up my thoughts:
“As women, we have to start appreciating our own worth and each other’s worth. Seek out strong women to befriend, to align yourself with, to learn from, to collaborate with, to be inspired by, to support, and enlightened by.” – Madonna
What do you do, on your own but also with others, that gives you a sense of personal autonomy as well as community?
7 kayaks hauled by a truck7 women in kayaks5 women sitting in front of a campfire at duskThe view, of an overturned kayak near the water’s edge, from my tent at dawn
I’m just back from a glorious month of playing in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Trail running. Mountain biking. Hiking. And just plain soaking up the titanic rock energy. While there, I spent time with a woman I’ve known for a long time and thought I knew most everything about. Only to discover a new side of her. I was surprised and inspired. She was more intrepid than I’d known and more comfortable in her own company than I’d understood.
The first glimpse of this new side of her came when she headed off to do a hike with a somewhat heart accelerating crux involving a chain bolted to a cliff face, with a sliver of a ledge to tip toe across. She had some idea of the challenge, from having been there in the winter with a friend. They turned back. This time she was alone. As she approached the crux, she coached herself to step onto the sliver ledge without so much as a pause. And that’s what she did. It turned out that the crux was not the end of the exciting bits. She joined up with three other hikers a short while later and they told her that the scree field they were descending was the site of the greatest number of helicopter rescues in the area. Oh.
The summer I was 18, I worked at the fancy restaurant in London, Ontario. Once a week, on Friday nights, an attractive woman came in alone and had dinner, including a glass of champagne and dessert. To my young eyes, she seemed to be about forty, and who knows, she could have been younger or older. What she was, was an icon of female power and independence. I couldn’t imagine a woman going to a restaurant alone. This was before mobile phones. So alone really meant alone. For fine dining? And champagne? And dessert? All those treats just for her own pleasure. How could she even enjoy her own company so much? Let alone have the courage to be seen alone in public on a weekend night? Such insouciance. Such confidence. I wanted to be like her.
When I strode back into the parking lot at the end of the hike, I felt like my version of that long ago woman in the restaurant. As you likely guessed, that was me setting out alone and me coaching myself through the crux. I didn’t think I could do it. I’d lain awake part of the night filled with fear. I had already given myself the grace to turn back. When I didn’t turn back, the elation started to build over the course of the next couple of hours. By the time I finished, I felt like I was champagne. I could not only make it through the crux, but I could also enjoy being in my own company. I felt insouciant. Confident. I felt like I was taking my own world by storm.
View from Tent Ridge, Kananaskis, Alberta
I did several more hikes with crux-y bits and other challenges that confirmed this woman’s existence inside me. I’d always thought that I needed company for such adventures. To discover that I could enjoy them just as much alone was a revelation. Though I would do well to have a satellite device of some kind for company. That’s a logistical issue. Meanwhile, I’m still feeling the fizz of meeting this new part of myself, with unexpected capacity.
I don’t know yet what we will do together. I am curious indeed.
This weekend in Boston is cram-jammed with activity and celebration.
Monday April 21 is the running of the 129th annual Boston Marathon, which takes place on the 3rd Monday in April. Our own blogger Alison is running Boston this year. I imagine she’ll have some things to say about the race, so stay tuned for her report.
It’s also a holiday for the city of Boston– Patriot’s Day, to commemorate the battles of Lexington and Concord, as well as the midnight ride of Paul Revere, which took place on “the eighteenth of April in Seventy Five”. That’s 1775, for those of you who live outside the Boston area.
And this year– 2025– is the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of those events which signaled the start of the move toward representative democracy in then-American colonies and now-United States of America. One writer called it the “semiquincentennial” of those April 1775 events (get it? half of five hundred?) I was skeptical about this word, but some sites say it’s legit. But I think I prefer “sestercentennial”, which is a more formal term.
Finally, today is Easter Sunday and Orthodox Easter Sunday, arguably the most important holiday (personally, I think it edges out Christmas) in the Christian liturgical calendar. Boston is a big Easter town, with both religious and secular celebrations of the cycles of rebirth and renewal.
And this year, those cycles include resolve and response. Resolve to protect rights that we fought for, and response to those who would infringe upon, or rather, stomp all over those rights. Old North Church itself says it best:
Old North Church in Boston, with a lighted projection, “Let the warning ride forth once more; Tyranny is at our door.”
On Friday April 18, there was a service to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the lighting of two lanterns in the steeple of Old North Church. American historian Heather Cox Richardson gave the keynote address. You can read her talk here at her substack Letters from an American (which I and more than one million of my friends follow)
Okay, I have to say it: I WAS THERE! With my friend Norah. I was able to get tickets way back in February as soon as they went on sale because a)I subscribe to way too many newsletters; and b) I stubbornly try to read as many of them as I can, at the cost of more practical tasks (like cleaning and grading). Here are a few pictures from the event:
Top: Old North Church Visitor Experience Center Director Julius Hobert introducing Richardson. Yes, those candles are real. Middle: the plaque inside the Revere Pew, where Norah and I sat (OMG– such random but delightful luck!) Bottom: Historian Heather Cox Richardson, speaking from the raised pulpit.
Yes, Norah and I took selfies from the Revere pew, but I’m trying to write a more classy post this week, so I’ll save those for other social media.
Richardson, in her account of the events of April 18-19. 1775, noted all the work done by so many people– people who rode hard, climbed high, carried messages and armaments, beat drums of alert, marched, fought, wrote, organized, fed, housed, and spoke in favor of the rights of the people to govern themselves.
Two hundred and fifty years later, people all over the US and Canada and all over the world are doing the same. We don’t know what effects our actions will have. As Richardson pointed out, neither did those folks:
Paul Revere didn’t wake up on the morning of April 18, 1775, and decide to change the world. That morning began like many of the other tense days of the past year, and there was little reason to think the next two days would end as they did. Like his neighbors, Revere simply offered what he could to the cause: engraving skills, information, knowledge of a church steeple, longstanding friendships that helped to create a network. And on April 18, he and his friends set out to protect the men who were leading the fight to establish a representative government.
The work of Newman (sexton of Old North) and Pulling (sea captain and friend of Paul Revere) to light the lanterns exactly 250 years ago tonight sounds even less heroic. They agreed to cross through town to light two lanterns in a church steeple. It sounds like such a very little thing to do, and yet by doing it, they risked imprisonment or even death. It was such a little thing…but it was everything. And what they did, as with so many of the little steps that lead to profound change, was largely forgotten until Henry Wadsworth Longfellow used their story to inspire a later generation to work to stop tyranny in his own time.
What Newman and Pulling did was simply to honor their friendships and their principles and to do the next right thing, even if it risked their lives, even if no one ever knew. And that is all anyone can do as we work to preserve the concept of human self-determination. In that heroic struggle, most of us will be lost to history, but we will, nonetheless, move the story forward, even if just a little bit.
And once in a great while, someone will light a lantern—or even two—that will shine forth for democratic principles that are under siege, and set the world ablaze.
This day is Easter Sunday. It’s, for many of us, a time of renewal. I’m renewing my commitment to protecting all of those in my small, medium and large communities.
Easter is also a time of resolve. I resolve not to forget those who have sacrificed much for justice and to join them with my own efforts. I resolve to keep moving, marching, writing, speaking, supporting, feeding, donating, and maintaining our communities.
This Easter, I’m adding in respond. Those responses include physical and mental and emotional and financial and political actions, all aimed at restoring and protecting the democratic rights of everyone in this country.
What does this Easter mean to you at this time in our history? Feel free to share what you’re thinking, feeling, and doing.
Usually, it occurs to me to share the Action for Happiness calendar once the month has already started but, for once, I have remembered to share it in advance.
You may even have time to plan!
I always really like the ‘small’ steps approach outlined in these calendars and I am slowly, slowly, slowly learning not to try and ‘catch up’ if I miss a day. I hope you can do the same or even just pick a few things to try here and there.
I also enjoy how Active April invites us to take action for our own happiness AND reminds us that being more active can help boost our mood and our feeling of well-being.
And, to be clear, suggesting that we seek these small moments of well being is not about being in denial of the state of the world right now. Instead, it is part of fortifying ourselves so we can do the necessary work of supporting our communities and resisting evil.
image description: a calendar of daily suggestions for Active April. The blocks are in different shades of blue and green and there are cartoon images of people doing a variety of activities around the edge.
An embedded video of Vanessa King from Action for Happiness entitled ‘No Happiness Without Action: 3 top tips with Vanessa King.’ The still image shows Vanessa Kind, a middle aged woman with shoulder length hair and bangs smiling toward the camera.
By the way, if you are looking for other things to try/celebrate/do in April, check out the list here of national days, weeks, and month celebrations here: National Days in April.
It seems to me that January is turning into a varied and tricky obstacle course, with new twists and turns each year. What kinds of new challenges lie in waiting for us? My favorite new silly challenge that I’m NOT doing is alphabet eating: starting with the letter A, eat only foods that day that begin with A. And so on.
Filling up on apples and asparagus one day, followed by bananas and broccoli the next seems harmless enough. But some other popular challenges not only fail to offer health benefits, they may be actually harmful to us.
Yes, I’m talking about the annual January Detox talk.
As you all know, I’m not an expert in medicine, nutrition or diet (which nonetheless fails to deter me from writing about them). So today I offer you advice from an expert– Megan Maisano, a Registered Dietician Nutritionist who (among other things) has her own Substack and also contributes to a Substack I read a lot– Your Local Epidemiologist.
So, without further ado, I turn it over to Megan. By the way, she was sooo nice to 1) respond so quickly to my request to reblog her post; and 2) praise FIFI for the good work it does. Definitely go and check out her Substack here, subscribing if you’re so inclined.
This year, I asked my fellow FIFI bloggers what habits they are keeping, jettisoning and adding for 2025. Here’s what they had to say.
Elan:
Keep: Cycling. Friend gifted me an indoor trainer for my hybrid bike. Need to try it before committing to something that costs like Zwift. Unless it is precisely the investment that is motivating?
Jettison: Women’s rec soccer has given me so much since I started playing 10 years ago. However, other factors have prevented me from enjoying it for some time now. How have others managed their FOMO leaving a team sport?
Add: I’ve never gone in for any real fitness challenges. Maybe someone could recommend one they’ve enjoyed?
Savita:
Keep: swimming! Without injury, and keep it feeling good. Maybe even keep the once per month lake swims.
Jetttison: the 25 in 2025 list. Also perhaps the monthly contribution to the blog. Sorry.
Add: nothing. More subtracting and focusing on things that are doable and enjoyable.
Diane:
Keep: my cooking, reading and most of my camping/cottage related activities.
Jettison: my unrealistic cycling goal from last year, in favour of something more manageable.
Add: a specific swimming goal (200 km).
Tracy:
Keep: resistance training and yoga for strength.
Jettison: (1) stuff so I can make an easy transition to moving and combining two households and (2) negative self-talk.
Add: regular speed work to my running (even if it means the treadmill) and add a more consistent bed time routine.
Natalie:
Keep: biking to work and walking 10k steps.
Jettison: my fixed mindset
Add: daily yoga and writing.
Amanda:
Keep: working on balancing career and professional opportunity vs personal time
Jettison: monthly commitments and eventually part time teaching. And worrying about disappointing people.
Add: yoga (and return to aquafit), performing music
Samantha:
Keep: my habits that I blogged about here, and also that you can see in this handy-dandy tracker:
Jettison: for the first four months of 2025, my dean job– I’m on research leave!
Add: a daily mobility routine that incorporates some of the knee physio moves.
Catherine:
Keep: daily meditation, fun physical activities with friends, family, and their dogs, yoga.
Jettison: complicated (to me) expectations for a wide variety of weekly activities rather than focusing on basics (walk, yoga, gym, cycle). Even though I love novelty, staying simpler is better for now.
Add: going to the gym 1–2 times a week. I got started over the holidays and am excited about doing more strength training!
