216 results for author: Colin Harris

Day 140/141 – East to West… of the GTA

Cornell Public School is located in Scarborough and they welcomed Sarah and I yesterday. Jane Wadden works for the Hillside Outdoor Centre and helped set up the visit. The school and the centre is a great example of a school board that is still committed to outdoor education. Students visit the Rouge Conservation area, which is on the brink of becoming a National Park! Maureen Boyle, the principal of this culturally diverse population, sees a real issue with kids staying inside. So this issue needs to continue to reach out to parents and these trips to Hillside certainly help expose the students to getting dirty and hands on with nature. So the ...

Day 137-139 – Hug anyone?

Over the last the last few days, I’ve had a chance to catch up with some friends who I haven’t seen in awhile. This afternoon, I reunited with some friends in my master’s program. We met in High Park and had an amazing picnic! Few of the people that met actually live right in Toronto, and some of us keep in contact quite regularly through phone or skype. But chatting and laughing over some good food and throwing the frisbee around seemed worth the trip. The sense of community we have in our program is important to all of us who were there. In fact, that sense of community is way more important than I think we give it credit sometimes. Faceb...

Day 136 – Toronto (total – 3126.1 km)

It’s been a busy few days! Running into Toronto was fun, even though I didn’t take a really scenic route… Kingston Rd isn’t the most exciting place to run. But logistically, it allowed me to meet up with my friend Nicki as well as finding a meeting place for CBC Metro Morning. I met with John Chipman who does a weekly segment on Trails in Toronto. So it was fun to chat with him… that story will air on Metro morning next Tuesday. The highlight of the day was definitely meeting my parents near the bottom of Yonge St. They have been on holiday visiting their mothers in Windsor and Burlington, so the timing to see me was good! After some ...

Day 134/135 – 69 km (total – 3126.1 km)

It’s been an amazing day running into Toronto!  Highlight was my parents greeting me down at Harbourfront!  Hanging out with them tonight so will share more soon!

Day 133

We started with a great visit to St. Catherine of Siena School in Ajax. Jackie French is a good friend of Sarah's and we enjoyed the morning with both the school and her class outside. In the afternoon, we were at Vimy Ridge School and had a fun afternoon. This short video gives some highlights!

Day 131/132 – 81.1 km (total – 3057.1 km)

Have you ever had to say goodbye to someone you love a lot? Well, Saturday I had to do that. Ok, well it wasn’t exactly someone… more like something. But I’d put up a good argument that it was equally hard to say goodbye. We tried for months in advance to get a shoe sponsorship. I was picky though… I’ve run in the same brand for 17 years. We couldn’t get them to bite and so I started the run in Newfoundland with 2 pairs of shoes. One pair I had already been running in for a year and the other pair was new. Throughout the winter, the shoes would obviously get wet and so I would usually switch them up daily. But slowly, I fell in love ...

Day 130 – Fenelon Falls

This morning I attended Fenelon Falls Secondary. Two of my friends, Laura and Sheamus, work at the school and both have backgrounds in outdoor education. The majority of our time was spent outside… Laura and Sheamus had organized 3 activities that spoke to the message the TMO Project is trying to take across the country. There was an activity that involved portaging a canoe! So the students were reminded of the active and physical part of the message. I led an activity that involved hugging a tree... and no, not an activity to transform them all into hippies! It was a sensory activity that reminded students of the importance of our connection ...

Day 128/129 – 36.1 km (total – 2976 km)

Yesterday started with a visit to King George School in Peterborough. Mrs. Jennings is a grade 3 teacher who helped organize the morning. After our chat with the students, we went outside and had lunch with all the students. Mrs. Jennings even made Sarah and I sandwiches along with some amazing home made cookies! The school backs onto a forested trail system and so we went for a good 45 minute hike with the students! It was awesome! The trails were beautiful and the students were excited to be out of the classroom! When we got back, they got some more extended recess – an intense game of tag tired me right out as I seemed to be “it” a good ...

CHEX Television

Dan Nyznik reports on a special project aimed at getting kids off the couch and taking part in physical activity.  

Day 123-127 – Long weekend rest!

Over the weekend, I had the chance to reread some of the emails that students have sent me after our school visits. I thought I’d share a few today… Hi, I'm glad you came to our school and last night mainly I was playing outside until I had to get ready for bed. Hi I'm matthew. I think its really brave what you are doing. I hope you make it all the way. I was outside last night playing in my treefort. I went outside for 3 hours hi Colin its jarrett that you did that interview with at front of yonge and i think more peaple sould go outside and be active because if peaple were to just sit around and be lazy in the futrue they will be ...