Speed Skating Mom

See that little purple box over to the right that says: Sharon’s Triathlon Training Fueled By Adult Essential Gummies.

My friend, Deborah Lowther and her husband created that company. Deb has been supplying me with all my vitamins for my training (and some for my kids). As someone who is not keen on swallowing large pills, these chewable vitamins are kind of a godsend. Plus you know they’re good when your kids remind you when you’ve forgotten to give them their vitamins.

I met Deb online and we became friends–that right there is the magic of Twitter. Deb has been training to do an Olympic Distance Triathlon (the length I bailed out on) and a Half Ironman. Essentially, the Olympic Distance is part of her Half Ironman training.

Deb and I get each other. We’re both moms (she has three kids), and we’re often shuttling them to sports and activities, while trying to fit in our training and our work. We email each other about our workouts and being afraid of our bikes (hers is way scarier than mine).  Deb doesn’t just talk the talk, she walks the walk, swims the swim, runs the run, bikes the bike, and more.

Deb did her Olympic Distance race this past Sunday. Even though it was raining, and even though she swore she wouldn’t ride her scary bike in the rain, she did it. She swam 1500m, biked 40k, and ran 10k.

And when I read her post, I cried.

You should probably read it too.

Deb, you rock. I’m so glad you’re in my life.

You’re going to kick some serious ass at that Half Ironman.

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I got that ball for my birthday and it was my favourite toy for years. Can you imagine giving your child just a ball for his or her birthday now, in the era of iEverything? This is the kind of awesomeness we need to get back to.

On June 21st ParticipACTION is encouraging Canadians to take part in the Longest Day Of Play.

Wait that makes it sound like they’re encouraging people on June 21st.

Canada’s Longest Day Of Play is on June 21st.  ParticipACTION is encouraging Canadians to participate.

Better.

The Longest Day Of Play is the day they want all Canadians to head to the park after dinner to play. But it’s also the longest day of play since it’s the day with the most daylight hours in it. Simple, no?

Not to sound like an old curmudgeon but when I was a kid that’s how we stayed active. We weren’t enrolled in any organized sports – well, except for baton – with my parents shuttling us around to games and practices. Organized sports were a luxury we couldn’t afford. They simply told us to get off the couch and go play, and play we did. We would go for long bike rides miles away from home. We’d play at the park, on the street and in backyards. A sprinkler meant hours of fun jumping through the water. We created games,  or played old standbys like Red Rover or Hide and Go Seek. After dinner we would be kicked out to play again and told to come in when the streetlights came on.

It was awesome.

Both of my kids are in organized sports but both are often kicked out of the house and told to go play as well. I want them to have that time where they are just kids. While I’m writing this my boys are across the street climbing a tree. This was soon traded for a bike ride.

We need to teach our children that being fit and active doesn’t necessarily mean playing a sport three times a week or going to the gym to run on a treadmill for 30 minutes. Being active includes the free time they have to run, jump, skip, throw, race, climb, play tag, have potato sack races, and basically, just play and be kids.

There is a freedom to just playing. Life lessons area learned on the playground.

So this June 21st, take your kids to the park after dinner. Invite their friends, invite your neighbours, then go have a fun evening of playing.

Just like when we were kids.

p.s. Not sponsored. Just want to get kids out there and playing.

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