July 31, 2010 - cloudy day

well, after two extremely busy weeks, i treated myself to a nice sleep-in today. i didn't get to bed til 1.30 am last night, but i slept in til about noon. the rain had finally stopped, so i decided to head out for what i hoped would be a long run. it turned out to be very humid, so i ended up jumping in the pond with all my running gear on after 5k. the dip was nice and refreshing. then i carried on some more, but started to feel dehydrated, so i came inside after 12k for a break. then i decided to pull the plug on the rest of the run and just have a nice walk over to the other pond, where i fed the ducks and took a little nap on a picnic bench. then back home for laundry and another nap. hope i have more energy tomorrow.

well, i can only hope that August will bring more summery weather here. it has traditionally not been that great in recent years. i definitely hope to get lots more swims in the pond, as well as hopefully a few more trips to the beach. I also hope to start to pick my running back up a notch, now that these new SSRIs seem to be giving me a boost. Although BQing is long out the window, I want to run the Newfoundland Provincial Marathon in late September, for the 4th year in a row. So, i have some training to do in order to rebuild my endurance to where it needs to be to run a marathon.

Jenn

July 30, 2010 - A date, of sorts

well, i met a new lady friend during the pride bowling event and we exchanged numbers and kept in touch; and after chatting and trading e-mails for a while, we decided to get together for supper tonight. we fittingly decided to cash in a restaurant gift certificate, that i had won at the bowling event. We chatted for several hours, then moved onto a coffee shop and chatted some more. she and i seem to have really hit it off. We didn't officially call it a date, but it sort of was a date.. lol Not really sure where this is heading, but there definitely seems to be some compatibility. You could say that this has lifted my spirits even more than they already have been as of late. A great way to end off what was a great week.

Jenn

July 29, 1010 - Poignantly

well, i googled myself tonight, as i do at least once a week, and i stumbled upon an online news site that i had never heard of, called allvoices.com, which appears to be based in San Francisco. They sent a reporter to the G20 protest 2 weeks ago here in St. John's, and the reported indicated that i spoke briefly, but 'poignantly'. the article was actually very well written and generally did a great job reporting on the event.

Poignantly.. as old and wise as i like to think that i am, there's a word that i had honestly never heard of. guess you still can learn something new every day!

Anyway, in other news, it's been a very busy week of networking as i attempt to build a a foundation for both Pride and Ngale. I've had chats with some folks from out of town, and i think it's time for the St. John's LGBT community to reach out to those in smaller communities in the province. As conservative as things may seem here in St. John's, it's even tougher in rural parts of the province. most LGBT people feel forced to remain closeted, and that's not good.

Jenn

July 28, 2010 - Newfoundland Gays And Lesbians for Equality, Inc.

Newfoundland Gays And Lesbians for Equality, Inc. was a legal corporate entity from Nov 20, 1997 - June 13, 2006. It's mission was to be "a community-based, not-for-profit volunteer organization dedicated to providing support and education to and for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered persons, and the public in general, in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada." It had live web presence as an organization until 2004. This was the only LGBTQ community-based advocacy and support group that was run and managed by and for the LGBTQ community. Since its devolution, there has been a severe gap in our province. An archive of their original website as it existed on Dec 19, 1999 can be seen here .

I am currently looking for people who would be interested in forming a corporate partnership with me to either resurrect Ngale, or create a similar non-profit company.

If you would like to discuss this further, please get in touch jennifer.mccreath@yahoo.com

Jenn

July 25, 2010 - pride finale and a new beginning!

Well, if running the Tely 10 wasn't enough, the day continued with the pride finale: a rally at the colonial building, a parade, a drag queen contest, and a BBQ. the parade turn out was the largest ever in our city. Depicted is me on the megaphone just before the drag event (i spoke about the differences between drag and trans, and also spoke about some of the same battles we are fighting together). Also depicted is me with two fellow World Outgames runners, who i will be forming a chapter of international frontrunners with, here in Newfoundland.

Now, the fun begins as we all try to figure out how to make pride bigger and better in the future. It's no secret that there has been some battles among the different demographics in our local LGBT community. I have made the first major move, having recently secured the rights to the name St. John's Pride Inc., and the domain for www.stjohnspride.org in hopes that this will be a catalyst to bring change from a small group who have essentially ran pride in a manner that is not very transparent or accountable. ultimately, i hope to work with everyone to ensure that pride can offer something for everyone. I actually find it strange that they didn't incorporate before. The next steps will be to put together a team of Directors who can formally found the company, and then we will look to put together some project teams to undertake the great deal of work that needs to be done. An exciting challenge ahead, and one i am looking forward to, and one i am proud to take on!

Sunday July 25, 2010 - return to the Tely!

Well, it was nice to be back in the famous Tely 10 road race today, after missing it last year due to my trip to Denmark. This 16k road race has become the biggest road race in eastern canada, attracting 2700 people this year, including folks from all over Canada!

My day started out with a 4.30 am wake up call to prepare to get myself ready and out the door to head down town to catch a 6.15 am shuttle bus to the start line. i had a gentle 4k warm up jog in the process.

At the starting line, i had a chance to chat with other fellow runners, some of whom i know who traveled from the mainland to be here.

The weather conditions started out as foggy, but it quickly burned off and we had a hot sunny 20 degrees, which meant that sun stroke and hydration management would be critical issues. Having run this race twice before, i was well aware of the lack of water stations, so i started out carrying a quart of gatorade with me, which ultimately did not slow me down very much.

It took me 3k to get warmed up, but then i started flying. i lined up right in the middle of the pack and was consistently passing people throughout the race. i actually saw several friends and colleagues on the sidelines watching and cheering people on. Even the Mayor of the City was out shaking hands and high fiving runners.

Having done practically no running over the past 8 weeks (including no long runs), i really didn't know what to expect. i had hoped that i could maintain 6 minute kms throughout the race, and that was pretty much the goal, but to manage each k one at a time. as i hit the 6k mark, i was feeling really strong and started to push for an even faster pace. i hit half way at 46 minutes and felt confident that not only could i break my 96 minute goal, but that i even had a chance to break 90.

Well, the heat got to me a little bit and that forced me to slow down slightly, but i managed to run fairly hard and strong all the way thru. a little extra motivation hit me at the 15k mark when the runner dressed in a puffin mascot flew by me. there was no way i was going to get beat by a puffin, so i dug deep and pushed even harder, and managed to real him in from 100 metres behind.

In the end, i crossed the finish line at 94.28. if there are any pics of me at the finish, you will likely see the puffin in the background.. lol, The puffin was actually the race director for our provincial marathon, which has been renamed the 'huffin puffin' marathon. he was dressed up for publicity purposes.

Overall, it's interestingly ironic how i was extremely upset with Tely 10 runs of 1.14.07 and 1.10.48 in 2007 and 2008 respectively, but a 1.34.28 in 2010 brings me extreme satisfaction.

What makes me feel the greatest, is that i still had plenty in the tank. i feel that i could have easily continued on for a 42k run if i had to. maybe there is hope that i will not only be ready and able to participate in the puffin marathon, but that even on this hilly course, i may have a shot at a personal best time for the year.

Not that i need to compare myself to others, but given all i have been through, and given that i now weight 216 pounds, to cross the finish line right around mid-pack in this event has got to be considered a nice accomplishment! Depicted is me at about the 13k mark. as you can see, i am really struggling with the heat here. oh well, i survived! and most importantly, i crossed the finish line with a smile.

Jenn

July 24, 2010 - Teddy Bears, and more Pride

Well, today marked the 33rd annual Teddy Bears Picnic in St. John's. I was excited to be a part of the fun and games team, as i hosted the teddy bear hospital. i and one other volunteer spent close to 3 hours performing mock medical exams on stuffed animals, using a so-called heart monitor, a tongue depressor, applied band aids, and handed out teddy 'medicine' in the form of gummy bears. the event featured a live musical performance of our city's institution, Terry Rielly - best known as 'Teddy Bear Man'.

Later in the day, i scrambled over to the Pride Conference event, which i organized, and chaired the second half. The event was a 5 hour smorgasbord of speeches from prominent members of the LGBT community, organizations that cator to the community, as well as some societal organizations that are starting to recognize our community. We had everything from LGBT advocacy groups, health care organizations, human rights, university students working on an LGBT thesis, and even some '101' lectures on lesser known topics such as bisexuality, transsexualism, and pansexualism.

2 of my 3 speaches were actually recorded for youtube here. I also spoke about frontrunners. i wanted to air this video, but we didn't have time.

Trans 101
Bisexual/Pansexual 101
Frontrunners.org Promo

Jennifer