February Recap

For my February goal recap I’m happy to share that this month was filled with many fun fitness and family adventures.

I kicked off the month with my segment on CH Morning Live, focusing on Yoga for EveryBODY. I was blessed to be able to share my passion for yoga with the support of my friend and yoga queen Katie McClelland from De La Sol Yoga. Check out the segment here!

I made a great connection with Deen Karim from Canadian Running Magazine, and with my friend Kristi Edgson from Urban Edge, filmed my first video for them on Yoga for Runners. View the video here! Deen and I are also chatting about another cool adventure which will allow me to “get back to my family roots” as Mark puts it, and give back to the community, supporting at risk women and sharing my passion for healthy, active living, so fingers crossed. You’ll hear about my family history of volunteerism and empowering women below – yeah dad!
Go Team VEGA! I was asked to become an ambassador for Vega – The people who make my race fuel and daily nutrition supports which are made exclusively from plant-based, whole food ingredients. In January I started training with them leading up to this month’s Around the Bay road race and in November my Boston Qualifying race and I’m excited for where this partnership will lead.
Family fun! Mark and I joined the rest of the Gardner clan for an extra fun long weekend snowboarding up at Mont Tremblant. The conditions were awesome (although very very cold) and we had a wonderful time! This trip lead me to write my Yoga for Snowboarders post, thanks to momma Gardner for joining me in “Leg’s Up the Wall”

With the support of my lululemon family, I attended the Landmark forum. This long weekend certainly extended me emotionally and challenged me to examine some of my “rackets” and what I needed to do to live an extraordinary life. I had conversations that were deep with the people that I love and I know that our relationships are stronger because of it. One of the biggest pluses to come out of the experience has been me now being able to share (in an authentic way) with the people who matter the most my aspirations and goals. As a result Mark and I have had even better conversations over our fitness studio adventure, and I’m very excited for this family journey.
I finished my teaching semester at Brock University. It was a lot of fun and I loved being back in the classroom. I look forward to further opportunities with them next school year.
I was able to see my dad receive the Volunteer Sport Administrator Award at the Coaches Association of Ontario conference. My family roots are in volunteerism and sport, and it was an honour to see my dad recognized for his decades of tireless work supporting and promoting women in sports through the sport of ringette.

February was also dad’s and Nancy’s birthday month! Dad and I hosted a dinner party to celebrate Nancy’s 30th and it was a lot of fun!

2013 Goals Status:

Here’s the scoop on where things continue to move to for the voyage of 2013.

With the recommendations of my friends Jenna and Annabelle, I started seeing a new physio therapist, Kim Jelly. And although it will be reported for March, I ran my first half marathon of the season on the 2^nd and am happy to report that my hip pain (which I had for 4 years) seems to have disappeared. Holla! Now just working on those lazy glutes!
And no – still haven’t managed to open a cook book and try something new 😦 But I saw a recipe somewhere the had sweet potatoes in it, maybe with pasta and goats cheese – so if you have a good one, add it to the comments!
As you saw last month, I quickly learned grasshopper and so have upped the ante this month with a new posture “Pretzel Arm balance” as demonstrated here by Mackenzie Miller – now to learn to get my leg behind my head – fun times!

I certainly think that attending Landmark has opened my eyes and helped to reset many of my personal goals around being a loving and supportive friend and wife. I am thankful for this re-found awareness.

My work at Ophea has been VERY busy this month. I’ve lead 6 professional learning workshop including one in Ottawa at the Canada Sport for Life Conference, one for Maple Leaf Sport and Entertainment, on their Shape Up program, and three in partnership with PHECanada on safety in afterschool activity environments (target audience was community centers/kids clubs etc.).
I wrote an extensive school program resource for the Pan Am and Parapan Games. This was a lot of fun as I was able to learn and share activities which were new to me through Parapan, such as Goalball. When the resource is live I will share.
Ophea’s Hand Up for Physical Literacy video series were released. They are a project I consulted on and the three parts have already surpassed YouTube viewing goals.
I learned that a school program resource I had written for Gymnastics Ontario back in 2009 is being republished, so when that is available, I’ll be sure to share.
My twitter and blog visits and followers continues to meet the goals I set, so for that I thank YOU!