The Energizer Turtle

Scott Cannata (Canada's Marathon Man)

2011-08-13T01:12:00.001-04:00

SCOTT CANNATA

Scott Cannata from Peterborough, Ontario has been running 26.2 miles a day since May 1st. He is running across Canada to raise money and awareness for cancer.

A must watch video.

National Post Article

The Run to Live website

Facebook page

Got on the trails

2011-08-10T23:13:00.000-04:00

Running has been getting better and better. I have been upping my time running vs. walking breaks. I have been keeping the distance the same. I have gotten myself up to 4min/1min on the 1st half of my route and then 2min/1min while going up the escarpment.

I went out to the canal trail (next to the Welland Canal) and ran 4min/1min for aprox. 4.2 km. It was very tough and painful on the muscles but rewarding.

I got the urge to run the trails. I went out to Short Hills, my old regular training trail. It had rained earlier in the day, so with the hard trail surface and a little rain, there was some very slick areas. I set out to run 1min/1min run/walk ratio. I ran up and down the smaller hills. I walked the steeper ups and downs and some of the slicker areas. I was sore and tired after but OMG it felt good. (sorry for the texting shortcut) I landed on my butt on one of the slick areas. I jammed my shoulder a little, it wasn't sore the next day, but it has been hurting for the past 5 days.

My weight situation is still not great. I have been trying to eat better. The scale will not get below the 300lbs mark. It went down to 296 and right back up to 300. I went to Weight Watchers on Monday and I trying to get back into the program again. I really need to structure my diet to get focused. As my WW leader says "you gotta wanna"

Well I 'wanna', my knees and ankles are feeling good. I know once I start losing the weight, it will fall off. Gotta do it, wanna do it.

Thanks for your support.

Keep Fighting.

Another good week

2011-07-30T23:19:00.000-04:00

It was a good week. The family went over to Grand Island, NY to the KOA for a couple of days.

We went to Fantasy Island for a day. It is the 50th anniversary this year. We have been there for the few years as adults with our kids.

I found pictures from 1972 when I was there as a kid. (that's me in the red) It is a great park that besides the newer water park has changed very little in the last 40 years.

They still have the big slide like the one one on the opening of the Banana Splits. In fact a lot of the opening of that show reminds me of being at Fantasy Island as a kid. They've always had the wild west shootout in their old western town.

As far as the running, it is getting better. I really thought running at my weight is something that wouldn't happen. I am still afraid I will hurt myself running this heavy. I am down 4.5lbs, and the scale is still heading in the right direction. The weather is still hot and sticky. I was soaked after tonight's run.

Until next time...

Keep Fightin

I AM BACK ON THE ROAD!!!

2011-07-23T23:00:00.001-04:00

After a week of recovery from my camping trip, I figured it was time to get my ass moving.

I started by picking a 4k route that included a nice hill to get the heart pumping. The first night I wore my walking shoes, but I got the bug to try a little running. The next night I wore my runners. I wanted to put a little running into my walk. I am still tipping the scales at over 300lbs, so I know I have to be careful. I decided to run 1 minute and walk 1 minute for about 1.5km of my walk. After a week, it is already feeling better. I might start to increase the running.

I picked a great week to start. It has been over 30C and humid all week. As I am writing this it is still 29C outside. I did skip Thursday because it went up to 37C plus humidity. I think you would have scraped me off the path if I would have tried to run.

It has been a great start so far, I just have to keep it up.

I think my weight is down a little. I haven't really cut back too much. The heat has helped me a little, as the temp goes up, the appetite goes down.

Thanks for the support.

Keep fighting...

One week in Algonquin

2011-07-17T23:35:00.000-04:00

It was a great week up in Algonquin.

We had 10 Scouts and 4 leaders. It was a week of swimming and canoeing.

On Tuesday another leader and myself took five senior Scouts 'backwoods' camping. We canoed about 9 kms to an island on Rock Lake. We set up our camp and went swimming. There is nothing like swimming in northern Ontario. I loved it as a kid, and still love it now. The only wildlife we had on the island was 2 chipmunks and a red squirrel. We did see some moose prints.

I woke up to a big rumble of thunder at 6:09 on Wednesday morning. Hearing the boom, my first thought was better make the run to the boom box. before the storm comes in. Check the picture and you'll see why.

We got a tarp put up for breakfast, we didn't know how long this was going to last. At 6:30 the thunder boomers and lightning was close by. The sky opened up.
It rained for about two hours, hard and heavy.

It finally cleared up and we decided to go canoeing. We did a short paddle to a set of cliffs to see some Indian pictographs. After finding them we headed south. We paddled for a while and 'ka-boom', we looked back and a huge black cloud was approaching fast. We made the call to head for the closest campsite to get off the water. We headed north with a stiff wind and a black cloud coming from the west. Our canoe (the leaders) made it to the campsite after some pretty hard paddling. We got our canoe up on land and waited for the second canoe which was 100m behind us. We got them out of the water and started cheerleading for the last boat. They were having a tough time against the wind. There was a very loud clap of thunder and the canoe looked like a hovercraft. They made it in to shore in no time. This storm was quick and fierce, the rain was so heavy, you couldn't see 50m.

We were on the same island as camp so after the rain let up we paddle around to our campsite and started on lunch. Good practice, good preparation, good decisions, and a little bit of luck and all were safe. It was stressful but everyone came through when they had to. The wind picked up, it was a good thing we didn't have to paddle back that day. It would have been a very difficult, unpleasant paddle.

The next morning the lake was like glass, not a cloud in the sky. It was a beautiful paddle back to base camp.

On the Friday we went to the visitor's centre. This is a great place, museum, souvenir shop and CELL PHONE coverage. We decided to go to Whitney for supper. We had pizza from Sherri's Pizza. It was pretty good. The kids loved it.

On the way back down Hwy 60, there was a comment from one of the Scouts about Iron Maiden. It just so happened, I had some. I figured 'Run to the Hills' was a safe PG song. After it was over the other leader laughed about having the Scouts listening to Maiden, I laughed and commented about the location Hwy 60, and said all we need now is a moose. Seconds later, we see cars pulled over and sure enough I finally seen my first moose. I came up north and went down to the Maratimes and even lived north of Fort Frances for two months and NEVER seen a moose.

It was a great fun and very tiring week. All the Scouts had a great time, that is what mattered.

Keep Fightin'

Too busy to post

2011-07-02T22:50:00.000-04:00

Getting ready for camping has taken all my time. I will try to post when I have more time. Maybe from Algonquin.

Sorry for such a short post, have a great weekend.

Getting ready for Camping

2011-06-29T23:12:00.000-04:00

The past week or so, I have been getting ready to go camping. Our Scout troop is going to Algonquin for a week. Five Scouts and two leaders (me included) will be canoeing backwoods for a couple of days. I got the fishing stuff put together, so hopefully we'll have a couple fish in the pan. The weather forecast looks great so it should be a great week with lots of exercise.

I haven't had time to get out walking in the past couple of days. I have been pretty busy. The good thing about being busy, it keeps me away from the junk food.

The support of my internet friends has been great. Thanks to everyone. Thanks for the shoutout from Slow Runners Club, great podcast guys.

Thanks for the boost

2011-06-27T23:35:00.000-04:00

Thanks for the word of encouragement. Thanks for the mentions on Twitter.

I checked out the Slow Runners Club.

I see Dan "ORBATS" and I have the same challenge ahead of us. I regained 80 of the 130 I originally lost. Like Dan, I think i will set a goal for an event about a year down the road. My goal will be to run a race at the Sulfur Springs trail races. This was the race I was in back in May 2008. My weight was already on the rise at that time and my running was deteriorating. I had more fun at that race than any other race I had run.

It was a good day today. I went for a walk at lunch today. After supper, I trimmed the hedges, (this was a good bit of exercise). I was able to keep my eating in check today. Since it is almost bedtime, I think I can control the urges.

Small victories, one day at a time, some more cliches. John I am doing it for me, but sometimes I need the kick to get me back in line. As long as the kick is well intentioned it is welcomed. When I first lost my weight it came after a well placed kick from an old friend who I haven't seen in 15 years. He seen pictures of my vacation when I was tipping the scale at 350lbs. His exact words were "what the hell happened to you?" That was the kick I needed to lose weight.

Keep fighting.

HELP WANTED

2011-06-26T23:05:00.002-04:00

Since my last "post" nothing good so far. I have gained 80 lbs, and fallen out of shape. I really want to get back into shape, running and all the good things that go with that. It just seems like there is a block in my head. Every time I think I am into the groove, I find food I shouldn't eat and eat too much of it. I get out hiking, out walking, but not nearly enough. I can't find the motivation.

Any ideas, maybe a swift kick in the butt. I need help, but I don't what will help.

maybe someday

2010-03-06T08:01:00.001-05:00

it will happen