Journey of the Exercise Queen

Journey of the Exercise Queen

A cure for breast cancer the Pink Ribbon of Hope

For some it’s too late and their families need to cope

Beta study cancer research is all for the breast
Applied for the program it was best

Road to good health and supervised fitness

Will help all women avoid this terrible illness

Answered all the questions then had a blood test
Walked on the treadmill until I needed a rest
DAX and CT scan had my body assessed

Will they really let me begin

Once they find out what bad shape I’m in?

Who said layin on the couch was such a sin?

I got the call the day before my birthday, I felt I was blessed
Keep it easy, start slow is what they suggest

Heart Rate monitor, water bottle, diary, pink shirt and shoes

They said hard workouts get rid of the blues

Cold wet strap on my chest

I’m sure this is going to give me cardiac arrest!

They said it would be easy and lots of fun
They didn’t tell me I was going to have to run

What do you think does this all seem extreme

I guess I need to pay for eating that ice cream

They tell me exercise hard and it will make you lean

I’m a couch potato trying to be the exercise queen

Wake me up fast this must be a bad dream

Pink ribbon warriors, we’re Christine’s old gals

Focusing on this study instead of ourselves

Our trainers are there to maintain the reign

Checking to see if we are ok and don’t have any pain

Three days a week I head to West Side Fitness Centre

Walking slowly and thinking about reasons to enter

Meeting new friends as we pass coming in

30 or 60, how long has it bin?

You look like you lost weight your face is now thin

Jason, Tanya, Shannon, Margo, and Sue do their walk-about

I think they are checking to see who has passed out

They laugh and tell us that we’ve misunderstood

They’re really checking that we’re still doing good

We laugh and call them the slave drivers

But really they are encouraging us to be thrivers

Checking my numbers and staying in range

All I can say is I feel kind of strange

Everyone else is skinny and buff

Fat hanging over my shorts in a puff

I look like I must have ate to much stuff

Spare tire in front and love handles on side

No longer look like a skinny young bride

Thighs that rub and boobs that bounce

Every step moving toward goals by the ounce

My body has padding and plenty of giggle

Will exercise really get rid of this wiggle?

My husband has said I have a new man called “Jim”
That I meet after work and now neglect him

I’m working so hard but not getting slim

Give me some air it’s too hot in this gym

Help me please I can’t stand extreme heat

My face is so red it looks like an old beet

Exercise in here this is definitely no retreat
No air conditioner here so turn on a fan
Help isn’t here yet, quick find me an iceman

Give me some deodorant I think I need Ban

Rivers of sweat running fast down my back
I smell like a racehorse run hard at the track
Working so hard my legs are now shaking
Muscles are cramping and slowly aching

Ten more minutes I mumble “determination “

Stay focused, stay focused, Lord give me motivation

Monitor won’t work when I take a swim

Guess it is elliptical to help get me trim

My shoes are hurting and seem to tight
Is it possible to get them to fit just right?
Crash in my bed for a long sleep tonight

Dreaming of running and that they have finally won the fight

First the deadmill that seems all up hill

Next the swearmaster who am I trying to kill?

My breath is now coming in little short puffs

I keep telling myself this must be enough

I must be done soon because I’m running out of steam

Just keep on going, you’re almost there, you’re part of this team

Check the mirror quick when I get undressed

Have I changed yet and do I look like Mae West?

I am now strong, healthy and trying my best

I working so hard for the breast cancer quest

Huffin, puffin gettin ready for the 6 month test

I now know why they call the test stress

Because I’m on the verge of cardiac arrest

But they tell me keep pushing it’s all for the best

Once you are done you can have a rest

They crank up the treadmill incline until I think I am dying

Sweat pouring off me until it looks like I’m crying

Some of the familiar faces are now gone

Must be all done, could they have been here this long?

I’m still here yet and so think I’ve done wrong

But no, I need to work harder and get strong

Protecting my breasts for my full lifelong

Exercise fast while listening to song

The gym feels like home now I’m starting to belong

Six months has past in a flash

I can now even do a fast dash

Really this fitness has been a blast

I can thank Beta for this wonderful chance

To help medical science advance

The finish line is now here

I can’t believe that it is already a year

Though at first the journey seemed long

The end is now here and I am now strong

I will miss the friends and like to have stayed

Wishing somehow to continue the crusade

My sacrifice was small and one that I wouldn’t trade

Thank you Beta for the new body I’ve made!

Hoping that this intervention will help me survive

And keep my breasts healthy to past ninety five

Donna deMan

30 minute program

Results of 9 months of blood, sweat, and tears!

Nine months of blood, sweat and tears has now passed!  I am surprised that I have survived this long in the program.  I may have mentioned in passing that it has not been easy at times.  No, I can't say the trainers really work us that hard however it is more about the commitment and the motivation to workout.

I have been dedicated to this research project.  I have not missed one workout since I started in the program.  Not sure actually how many work outs that has been - but it's been a lot of them.  I worked out when I was in Austin, Texas at a conference for a week and I worked out when I was on vacation for a week in the summer with scorching heat.  I was out there jogging and sweating.  Sometimes I had to put my mind in auto pilot because there were MANY distractions while away from home having a good time.  I made the choice to put my exercise plans 1st and committed to them just like this program.  Do you think this has helped?  I'll let you be the judge. 

Here are my fitness results after 6 months.  At the start of my program my VO2 rate was assessed as 27.5 and fell in the fair category for my age.  At my 6 month assessment my VO2 rate was 31.4 moving me into the good category.  Yesterday on my 9 month assessment Vo2 rate was 35.45 moving me into the excellent category.  I still have 3 more months to go and am wondering where will I go from here???  Is there another category about excellent - what's it called - Super Duper?  Or perhaps Senior Super? 

I don't think that I look excellent so perhaps there is another area that I will need to look at.  One would think that someone one that was in the excellent category would have a certain appearance wouldn't they?  Perhaps someone that is in the excellent category would look like one of those particularly fit athletes that are displayed on those fitness magazine.  Maybe I have read the wrong fitness magazines?  Is there something I'm missing are there fitness models in the elderly fitness magazines?  Are there elderly fitness magazines?  Could be a whole new category of magazines that we are missing in this age of the coming of the baby boomers wave!  There has got to be something to understand what someone fit at this age is supposed to look like.  It appears that there are no visual role models for us to aspire to.

Monday next week I am off to Hawaii for a vacation.  The first thing I asked my sister "is there a gym near by?"   I will be working out in Hawaii one way or another and am already thinking that perhaps that everyone in the program should have the opportunity to workout in Hawaii!  What do you think?

Tomorrow night I am attending the Beta Trial event and have been asked to participate.  I'll be updating shortly on this exciting evening!  We will get to meet the staff of the Beta Trial, the sponsors and others that support and run the program.  Hope to see you at this event!

I'm 9 months!

I’ve been going to the gym and have discovered that I have now been in this fitness program for 9 months!  I have booked my 9 month fitness test for next week and of course it is on the dreaded treadmill again!

For every fitness test I have to study.  I am sure you wonder how do you study for a fitness test?  It’s on a treadmill so what can you bone up on?  My studying includes actually using the treadmill.  The only time I really ever use the treadmill is for my test or to practice up before my test to see if I can actually do it.

I guess by now you have figured out that the treadmill is not one of my favorite pieces of equipment.  So why is that?  I can tell that that I have had one of those dust bunny catching cloths hanging machines in my house and it was used very little.   I do think that they are nice to have around in the winter when it is really cold outside but I find them noisy and if I am going to be on a machine I like to be able to watch a bit of TV to pass the time.  It’s hard to hear over the treadmill noise unless you turn up the TV and then it is so loud that the neighbors are wondering if there is a party at my house.

Next week I will be participating in the Beta Fitness event where I will have the opportunity to read and talk about my poem.  I am surprised that they would want me to do this.  When I wrote the poem it was only to submit to the cook book that the Beta team will publish with the participant recipes.  I am excited to participate however I think it might be an emotional experience!

I have another accomplishment I want to share.  I participated in the Run for the Cure and jogged the 5 klm.  I was so worried if I would be able to do this that the day before I jogged 5 klm just to see if I could do it.  So 10 klm in 2 days - I feel very proud of this accomplishment.  Not to mention that I was able to raise $540 for breast cancer research.  I started my fund raising 4 weeks before the big day so if I had started earlier I probably could have raised quite a bit more.    

There we thousands of people for the run.  Dog, strollers, people running, walking, and then there were the people watching from the side lines.  Some of the houses along the route had set up entertainment.  One house had a live band playing and they were pretty good too!  Another house had a cloths line of bras struck from one side of the street to the other that we ran under as we went by.  Another house had a display of pink stuffed animals, flowers, umbrellas and cloths.  Someone else has made up a funny looking mammogram machine.  Everyone along the route was there to cheer us along.  It was very motivating.  I am really glad that I was able to participate and raise funds. I am already planning on doing this again next year for sure and hope to have some of my friends join me next time around.  My friend Jane was kind enough to meet me at the finish line.  It was nice to have a friend there to see my accomplishment.  Thanks Jane!

 October 31 I will be going to Hawaii.  It’s my very first visit to Hawaii.  I fly into Honolulu and will be staying there for 3 days and then in Makau for another 4 days and then fly out on Nov 7^th.  I am sure it will be a fun time.  The first thing I asked my sister who I was going to stay with was “is there a gym near by”?  When I stay in Honolulu there is a gym in the building I will be in however here I am in Makau there is no gym however maybe I can find one near by.  If I can’t find one near by then I know that they is a set of stair, 37 to be exact, that I can use or perhaps I can jog.  If not then I guess it is laps in the swimming pool or swimming in the ocean. 

Sweat is....

Lite 95.9 supports Breast Cancer

Lite 95.9 Pay For Play All Request Friday

for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation

Lite 95.9 plays Today’s Best Music everyday, and on Friday, October 21st we’re going to play YOUR music…but we’ll make you pay for it!
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and to help raise funds to combat this terrible disease, we’re asking our amazing listeners to pledge a donation to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.
We’re letting you choose the music for the day!  Just complete the form below to request your song.  Be sure to share the reason you’ve selected the song. Is it a dedication to a loved one?  A song that reminds you of a specific moment? 
We’ll be taking your requests online until Thursday, October 20th.  If your song and story is going to be used, you will receive an email with a link to make your donation.  Check out our website  for more information click  Lite 95.9 Pay for Play
Pay for Play All Request Friday is October 21st 6am-9pm.

Thanks for your support

5 Klm jogging Saturday and then 5 klm again jogging on Sunday in Run for the Cure.  $540.00 raised for the Run for the Cure.  Thanks everyone for your support! 

Documentary about breast cancer

About Her, a new documentary about breast cancer featuring a Chatelaine blogger.

"You can never know when or how you'll die. You can only choose how you'll live." — Leanne Coppen