216 results for author: Colin Harris

Day 69 – 23.8 km (total – 1394.6 km)

Today’s run was dedicated to my good friend Emily, as she donated a marathon to TMO in her name!  I’ll have to owe Em a few miles as today was cut short by significant fatigue, cold and a strong headwind that my legs just didn’t want to contend with.  Since my friendship with Emily started at Outward Bound I thought I’d share today’s thoughts about my time there. If you talk to any Outward Bound Instructor, they can tell you some good stories.  They call tell you about the most grueling portages.  They can tell you about trips where the bugs drove everyone to the brink of insanity.  They can tell you about strong headwinds where ...

Day 67/68 – 37.7 km (total – 1370.8 km)

This morning I ran out of Nova Scotia and into New Brunswick.  Maybe it’s because we spent a week in Halifax, but our time in Nova Scotia seemed brief.  Or maybe it’s just that getting through Newfoundland in the heart of winter seemed long!  Either way, Take Me Outside hit our 3rd province today, which felt good. We spent our day off in Amherst yesterday, home of our good buddy Matty.  Granted he now lives in the Yukon, but the friendliness of the city was a pleasant reminder of why Sarah and I both love the friendly giant (he’s 6’7”)!  And we needed that friendliness as the day started with winter showing its face again and a ...

Day 66 – 39.9 km (total – 1333.1 km)

I knew there would be moments going into this 8 month run where I would feel like quitting.  The reasons varied – from lack of funding to the physical toll on my body to endless other possibilities.  It was important to go into these 8 months with a mindset of trying to run across Canada, knowing that for one reason or another, it just might not be possible to finish.  Yesterday morning was my first real moment of wanting to quit.  The first 6 k felt like a marathon.  I couldn’t run 200 metres without my IT Band producing considerable pain at the side of my right knee.  The good thing about being outside on the highway was that I could yell ...

Day 65 – 35.5 km (total – 1293.2 km)

Yesterday, a woman by the name of Jen Partridge joined us at Armbrae to take some pictures.  She is helping Jennifer O’Connor with her project Forty4Change.  She’s an amazing photographer so I thought I’d share some of the moments from yesterday’s visit...    

Day 64 – 23.1 km (total – 1257.7 km)

This morning, we made our way to Armbrae Academy to spend some time with the elementary school as well as a class of grade 10s.  It was awesome to put some of the names to faces from the letters Mr. Chambers had brought us a couple of weeks earlier.  After some time in the gym, we went out into their schoolyard and had extended recess.  The school backs onto a wooded area, part of which is included on the property.  After a rousing game of tag, students showed me the area.  Highlights included the Armbrae tree, which had a hollowed out area at the base of the trunk.  There was talk of finding salamanders as well as simply splashing in the ...

Day 62/63 – Music to my ears!

In Saturday’s Globe and Mail, Parks Canada was prominently featured in the Travel section.  Celebrating its 100th year, Parks Canada takes care of 42 national parks, 167 national historic sites and 4 national marine conservation areas.  And to commemorate this birthday, a series of short films and documentaries are being aired on Discovery World HD over the coming months.  Called The National Parks Project, it will feature 52 Canadian musicians including the likes of Sam Roberts, Sarah Harmer, Shad and Matt Mays.  Viewers will get a glimpse of some of these parks with the bonus of hearing some great music that’s created in them by these ...

Day 60 / 61 – Student’s thoughts…

Between 2 visits to schools today, I squeezed in a massage for my legs which was generously paid for by some parents of the school we’re visiting Monday – Armbrae Academy.  Nathan, my massage therapist, began talking about energy in the body and the energy surrounding our bodies.  And as the conversation progressed, I realized that after each visit to a school this week, I walked out the front door feeling energized.  As Nathan put it, “Those students were transferring all their energy to you to keep you going”!  And it’s hard to disagree… it’s been an amazing week of chatting and interacting with students. On Wednesday, Sarah ...

Day 59 – Week in Halifax!

I wouldn’t say I’m well versed in the intricacies of how economics work.  I have enough trouble understanding my phone bill every month, let alone my taxes, the stock market and the fact that these paper bills make the world tick.  So forgive me if I’m oversimplifying this, but here’s what I do understand… the video game industry in North America has revenues in the tens of billions of dollars.  Entertainment has huge appeal, and the technology to provide this entertainment has come a long way since Pac Man.  In and of itself, I don’t think it’s a bad thing… I can’t say I fully understand the appeal of games like Call of Duty, ...

Day 58 – Week in Halifax!

A short news clip has been circulating around the outdoor education world showcasing a new school in Carpe, Ontario.  It is the first school in Canada that holds all of its classes outside – for real!  If you haven’t seen this clip yet, it’s worth checking out. There has been extensive research on learning environments, and while not wanting to generalize too much, the basic argument is that the learning environment can be just as important as the curriculum students are learning.  If you combine this with the positive outcomes that come from students spending time outside, it doesn’t take long to see the real benefits of students ...

Day 57 – Week in Halifax!

I’ll admit to forgetting how fun tag is… especially when 30 primary students are chasing you!  The primary students at Southdale Elementary had an extended recess this morning and we had a chance to visit them as well as some grade 2’s for the morning.  All of the students wrote us letters and drew pictures – the primary students read Sarah and I their letters out loud in front of the class telling us what they liked to do outside.  Sarah’s friend Carolyn (who came to visit us in Truro the other night!) teaches this particular class and has had her students follow some of our progress online.  First of all, cute doesn’t even begin ...