big ass superstar

Flashback continued: Hosting Teen Pro Wrestling

2012-01-07T16:11:00.000-04:00

After the Midget Mania venture met with some success, Phil Watson turned his attention back to Teen Pro Wrestling. He set up shop in Picton, Ontario and recruited some trainees. They set up in a cold cottage living commune-style, with the ring installed in the warehouse of a carpet dealer. The boys would spend their days training in the ring and hustling tickets by telephone. Evenings were spent watching traded copies of Japanese matches, which featured a fast-paced high-spot style not being performed in North America at the time.

The live-in trainees included "Bloody" Bill Skullion, who was probably beyond his actual teenage years by that point. A skinny kid named Dennis Stewart was there, training to become Buford T Butterworth. He was tremendously enthusiastic and seemed naturally gifted. Some years later, Dennis would eventually gain an astonishing amount of muscle and would go on to great success on the Ontario independent wrestling scene as Danger Boy Derek Wylde. Also in the house were two even skinnier kids from Newfoundland whose accents were impenetrable. Dennis wrote a story about them that I won't repeat here.

I dropped by for a weekend visit to the camp with the guys I'd done training with when Phil was set up in Aurora, Ontario -- Kevin, Sean aka "Lex", and Arun. We found the boys training hard with an import from Boston going by the name of Cameron Crude. Also skinny. Skinny wrestlers, but they could really go.

Anyway, with the freshly-trained Buford T Butterworth, Skullion and Rock Island Rebels, plus some imports from a US outfit called New England Wrestling, Phil arranged for the first TV taping of Teen Pro Wrestling. I'd host two episodes to be recorded in Listowel, Ontario. I seem to recall another show in Palmerston, but I have no tape from there, so it might just be in my head.

Here's Part 1 of Episode 1 -- the rest is on my YouTube channel, which is now chock-a-block with midget and Teen Pro wrestling clips from the 1990s. And, as usual, I'll caution that I hadn't yet "found my voice," so the performance is a little embarrassing.

Flashback: Hosting Midget Mania

2012-01-03T12:51:00.001-04:00

Yes, more midget wrestling.

It's early 1992. Phil Watson, aka Whipper Watson Junior, has come off a heart attack and put together an ambitious plan to tour an all-midget professional wrestling show with Teen Pro Wrestling as an added attraction.

Me, I'm in my last year of high school and a dedicated volunteer at the local Rogers Cable community television station. Between us, we arrange to have the debut performance of Midget Mania taped for TV.

The setting is the Village Inn in Bradford, Ontario. It's a bar. It's ... it's not a nice bar. The ring barely fits. The crowd is intoxicated. But they're into the action.

I'm calling the matches by myself, and it's the first time I'm hosting a TV program. In hindsight, it's not great. It could be worse.

There are five videos here, but I'll embed just the first one. You can find the rest on my youtube channel.

In this show, you'll see the biggest midget wrestling stars of the day, including:

Little Farmer Pete
The Irish Leprechaun
Tiger Jackson
Little Mr. T
Little John Adams
Rebel Joe Kidd

Plus, the first ever over-the-middle-rope Midget Mania Battle Royal.

Flashback: Refereeing midget wrestling

2012-01-02T20:38:00.002-04:00

Back in my teens, I got involved with a fledgling professional wrestling outfit started by Phil Watson, aka Whipper Watson Junior, aka the son of Canadian pro wrestling legend Whipper Billy Watson.

In an era when Family Ties and The Cosby Show were topping the TV ratings with casts of teenagers, Phil figured there was money to be made promoting teenagers wrestling teenagers. He called the promotion Teen Pro Wrestling. It would feature faster action than was being showcased in the WWF, which was itself in a major slump heading into the Uncle Sam vs Vince McMahon steroid trials.

I did some training. Frankly, I wasn't very good. I've never been an athlete, I wasn't good at taking bumps, and Phil never actually "smartened us up" to the business. If I knew then what I know about the wrestling business now, I'd have done much better. But now I'm 38 years old and when I take bumps, it's an accident.

Teen Pro Wrestling didn't take off like Phil figured, either. After a heart attack and goodness knows what else, he tried promoting an all-midget wrestling show called Midget Mania. I did solo play-by-play on the first TV taping -- I may post that on YouTube soon. He also did a tour in the summer of 1992.

So, here's me refereeing the opening match of the August 15, 1992 show in Bracebridge, Ontario. You can't see it from the camera angle, but the stands were absolutely packed. I don't know why ringside was empty, but the bleachers in the arena were full.

Teen Pro Wrestling eventually made an attempt at promoting a string of shows. There were three or four TV tapings, and the action was way ahead of its time. A few stars even emerged from the roster, most famously a guy named Scott. No, not me. Not famous for wrestling, anyway. He was Scott Taylor, better known as Scotty 2 Hotty of the WWF.

Last I heard about Phil, he was living in the Picton, Ontario area, still promoting midgets, or as they're known now, "little people." You may have heard of the Canadian Half-Pints -- kind of like the Harlem Globetrotters, only they're dwarves. Dwarfs. Spell-check says dwarfs.

Bundling up leftover turkey [Flickr]

2011-12-28T19:59:44-08:00

BigAssSuperBlog posted a photo:

Making single-serving meals out of the Christmas dinner leftovers

Bundling up leftover turkey [Flickr]

2011-12-28T19:59:34-08:00

BigAssSuperBlog posted a photo:

Making single-serving meals out of the Christmas dinner leftovers

Bundling up leftover turkey [Flickr]

2011-12-28T19:59:25-08:00

BigAssSuperBlog posted a photo:

Making single-serving meals out of the Christmas dinner leftovers

Christmas dinner, laid out [Flickr]

2011-12-28T19:59:17-08:00

BigAssSuperBlog posted a photo:

Turkey, done up right [Flickr]

2011-12-28T19:59:10-08:00

BigAssSuperBlog posted a photo:

Ohio Kyle: The Adventure Returns

2011-12-24T18:48:00.000-04:00

Here's a special treat, just in time for Christmas.

My friends and I used to make movies on our school vacations. Here's the most ambitious one we cooked up: an Indiana Jones-inspired adventure called Ohio Kyle.

I recently got around to giving it the George Lucas treatment, re-editing the old, wavy, fourth-generation VHS and adding a proper soundtrack.

Here's the original VHS, starring Kyle Upton as Ohio Kyle, Zach Euler as Black Zach, Bayne Upton as a bunch of people, and me as a guy here and there. Mostly I was running the camera.

And here's the high-def Special Edition. Blow it up full-screen with your speakers cranked for the full effect.

More Big Ass Videos on the BigAssSuperstar YouTube Channel.

Mind The Gap (2011)

2011-12-15T00:03:00.001-04:00

It's been just about a year since I released my most recent record, "Mind The Gap" and I've been listening to it in the car now and then. Eh, it's certainly not perfect, but some of the tracks still hold up. I still dig Ocean Man, New York City and the way-too-much-reverb Ship Song. I really enjoy the guitar break in Buenas Tardes.

The album's been available (and still is) on BitTorrent, but now you can listen to pretty much the whole thing via Soundcloud. Enjoy.

Mind The Gap (2011) by Simpson957

Super 8mm Films - My first movies

2011-11-28T22:58:00.002-04:00

My start in the media world happened a long, long time ago. One could argue that I began in print or radio, but for the visual side of things, there's no arguing that I began with a plastic movie camera from Zellers, a 3-minute cartridge of Super-8 film and a front yard full of snow.

I've had my old movies transferred to HD video by the fine folks at Hourglass Media in Dartmouth. I've brought new life to the old film by adding soundtracks to every single one.

Dig the crazy stop-motion shenanigans below. Check it out full-screen and in stereo for the full effect.

Talk show was a hit!

2011-11-24T18:38:00.001-04:00

I filled in on Saturday and Sunday for Erin Trafford on Maritime Morning Weekend Edition on News95.7, News88.9 and News91.9.

It went very well! I really enjoyed it. I was more comfortable than I expected. The feedback has been astounding. It sounds like folks liked listening to me. I'm honored to have been given the opportunity and hope to try it again some time.

For those who missed it, here are two segments from the show!

First, Halifax dietitian Anna Threadcraft, who you may remember from earlier this year when I did the Learn To Run For Smokers program.

2011.11.19-10.00.00-maritime morning with anna by Simpson957

Then, personal finance and frugality blogger Kerry K. Taylor, better known on the web as Squawkfox. We talked money -- more about saving it than making it.

2011-11-19 squawkfox on maritime morning-news957 halifax by Simpson957

Thanks to everyone who tuned in, and especially to the guests, callers, producer Brett Ruskin, regular host Erin Trafford and my boss Mark Campbell for giving me the shot.

Six hours of me talking

2011-11-18T12:06:00.000-04:00

I've been in the news-radio business long enough that I've tried almost everything there is to try ... with a few exceptions.

This weekend brings a whole new challenge: The Talk Show!

I'm filling in for Erin Trafford this Saturday & Sunday (November 19/20) on Maritime Morning Weekend Edition.

Producer Brett Ruskin has helped line up a great pair of shows, running 9am to noon, Atlantic Time.

You're welcome to tune in on the Rogers radio stations in Halifax, Moncton and Saint John, or listen live on the net at www.news957.com, where you may one day also find a podcastable replay.

Very exciting!

Congrats to Halifax on the shipbuilding win

2011-10-19T19:44:00.000-03:00

Spent the evening at the Halifax Shipyards, where the Irving-owned facility learned it won the $25-billion dollar contract in the National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy. AFAIK, it's the biggest single publically-awarded contract in Canadian history. It'll bring three decades of jobs to this city. Congratulations to the workers! It was great to be at a story with so much positive energy.

I snapped a lot of photos at the event, but this one's my favourite.

Let the good times roll!

Video: Lazy Kitty grooms while eating

2011-10-14T13:11:00.000-03:00

Kitty scoops food off her plate and alternates eating while grooming, with a big dry heave at the end.

Yes, Amanda's cat is endlessly entertaining.

Quickie update: Gravel fairy, grade upgrade

2011-10-11T19:10:00.000-03:00

Here's a before and after shot ... before and after the gravel fairy arrived.

See, after I took the first picture and remarked, gee, I sure wish we had some gravel to fix the grading around the property .... a guy in a dump truck pulled up two days later and dumped a pile of gravel at the end of our driveway, free. I know. Sounds impossible. But the gravel fairy is real.

Did I do an okay job? Is this going to help prevent the floor of the shed from being wet all the time?

Quickie update: Amanda's ball team kicks butt

2011-10-04T22:29:00.000-03:00

Just a quickie update about something that happened when the site was dark.

Amanda's baseball team, the Demons, went to the day-long St. Margaret's Women's Slow-Pitch League tournament after a so-so season. No big expectations.

But they kicked some butt, making it into the final brackets with a spectacular third-place finish.

Way to go, Demons!

Annnnnd... we're back!

2011-09-30T18:00:00.000-03:00

No, it wasn't your computer. It wasn't my computer. It was someone else's computer.

Yes, bigasssuperstar.com was down for the past month.

In geek terms -- the nameserver attached to my registration was unplugged and I had to change it. Then the CNAME entries in the DNS record had to be adjusted.

Long story short, I'm back.

Meantime, I've set up a new one-page complete meal deal of a site at about.me/Scott_Simpson ... and a new real-name Twitter account, @Simpson957.

Updates coming soon, perhaps.

2011 Cottage Vacation

2011-08-10T13:01:00.001-03:00

2011 Cottage Vacation, a set on Flickr.

The weather wasn't perfect, but it was nice to get away to a cottage for one week of my three-week vacation.

Entertainment was courtesy of nature, with squirrels, chipmunks, hummingbirds, woodpeckers, blue jays, red birds, yellow birds, brown birds and an assorted crew of scary insects.

We also got out for a day trip to Kejimkujik's seaside park on Nova Scotia's south shore.

Here are some photos as proof that it all happened.

Vacation: Deck, wrestling, deck, cottage, deck

2011-07-31T00:43:00.001-03:00

http://yfrog.com/kj51eaj

I don't know the last time I took three weeks off for summer vacation. It's possible I never have.

We spent most of the first week stripping the deck. Or, more accurately, trying to strip the deck. That'll get a full post in the future.

I went to wrestling for the first time in a while, with local radio superstar and former pro wrestler Griff "Griff" 'Barry Hatchet' Henderson, and Glen from another station. Some of the action was just godawful terrible. Some of it was a whole lot of fun. Check some of the other pictures I took via the Yfrog link above. Thanks to Griff for inviting me out again. I always come home with my voice wrecked.

If you're trying to reach me over the next week, you can try my cell or blackberry (my work email address, for those who have it), as I'll be at the cottage! We've rented a cottage in Nova Scotia to get the hell away from the deck stripping. It should be a nice getaway.

After that, more deck stripping! And driveway paving! And tree pruning! All of which will, we expect, empty our finances but leave us with less to curse about in the winter. Well, the driveway anyway. At this pace, we'll still be working on the deck until November.

Summer vacation vs Summer spending

2011-07-13T15:18:00.001-03:00

Oh, the perils of being a responsible adult.

Y'all know I'm big on budgeting and saving and paying off debt and all that personal finance jazz. I was on and on about it a couple of years ago, and I'm still on it.

My vision: Have an emergency fund, pay off strategic debts, return to accumulating cash, invest a decent portion, live frugally and on a budget, and come out ahead. There's more detail than that, but you get the point.

We're oh-so-close to paying off the loan for the older of the two cars, the '06 Kia Rio, which I now drive to work. The interest rate on that loan resets (goes up) in the fall, so the plan has been to get it paid off before then. Once our tax returns get filed (don't start with me on that), we'll be able to pay it off, kerblam. That'll free up another few hundred dollars each month into our monthly cash flow. More cash flow means more opportunities to build up cash to accomplish goals and eventually build wealth.

We've also been dripping away at building up our savings with an eye to paving the driveway. The house is, what, 17 years old now, and the gravel driveway is more of a pain in the butt than ever. It's obnoxious and dangerous in the winter, as shoveling down through the snow and ice is virtually impossible. Then in the spring we're stuck with pulling gravel out of the lawn. Now in the summer it's become a third lawn. Weeds, actually. We have weeds and some gravel.

Estimates for paving have come in around the $3000 mark. That would pretty much empty us out right now, including the emergency fund. It's more than a little disheartening, because we'd gone into the summer somehow assuming it'd be more like $2000.

But there's more desired spending straight ahead. The vinyl siding is grimy and filthy, especially on the shady north side of the house. Someone's coming this week to power wash it. It was decided that a professional could do a better and faster job than we could with borrowed or bought equipment.

While we're blessed with big, beautiful trees in the backyard, at least one of them overhangs the house and has jammed up the gutters. Plus we have at least two dead trees still standing at the back of the property. I just signed up for a discounted tree-trimming through Dealfind. (Have you tried these group-buy services? If you buy through my ambassador link on Dealfind, I get money. Check it out.) This dose of conscientiously-applied arborism should only enhance Amanda's green-thumb accomplishments in the garden.

And I can't forget the deck. We've bought supplies and tools to strip the deck so we can stain it. It's rather ugly right now. It also appears to be sinking in at least one place, so I'll have to figure out how to jack that up and adjust it.

So where does that leave us for the summer vacation? I have three weeks off coming up, and the financially sensible, responsible, grown-up part of me knows that we can't afford to go anywhere and do anything. We're on a path to building wealth once we get these things taken care of, and I'm not one to borrow money to do things we should instead be saving for.

It looks like a summer stay-cation. Gosh, I hate that term. But the beaches here are terrific, the barbeque is a joy, the hammock awaits, and goodness knows it'll probably take me all three weeks to finish the deck anyway.

But when it's over -- hey, trimmed trees, paved driveway, stained and level deck, clean siding -- the house will be a sight to behold. I then intend to stay indoors, edit audio and video and maybe play some retro video games. Sweeeeet.

Royal Tour in PEI: Duke and Duchess in Canada

2011-07-06T01:44:00.003-03:00

Guess what I was up to for the past few days?

I was assigned to report on the Royal Tour as it stopped in PEI. I Tweeted the heck out of it, snapped photos, shot video and did frequent reports for Halifax, Saint John, Moncton, Toronto, Kitchener, Ottawa, Calgary and Vancouver stations, plus a few live interviews.

In short, it was very busy. I was also asked to shoot video and send it to City in Toronto, but I'm not sure if they used it. I figured I might as well edit something together to show what I got.

I hope you like it!

(Hint: If your machine will show it, watch in 720p ... it's in HD!)

The Case of the Dented Hood

2011-05-18T12:33:00.001-03:00

Mystery dents on hood of car, originally uploaded by BigAssSuperBlog.

I've solved an infuriating mystery, and the outcome is satisfactory.

Yesterday, I noticed these nasty dents on the hood of my car. They didn't appear to be from gravel. It looked as though something heavy had fallen from above.

I racked my brain trying to figure out what could've made such an impact, and remembered that crews were installing fiber optic cables on my street on Friday.

When we arrived home from a hospital visit on Friday afternoon, the bucket truck was right above my car, which was parked on the street. The crews were using rollers to string up the cable parallel to the existing phone lines. They look like pulleys or roller skates -- brackets with springs and wheelies.

I suspected that one of them must have fallen off the line and hit the car.

Luckily, nosy me had asked the crews on Friday what they were installing and for what company. The traffic control lady said it was for high-definition telephone. Ohhhkay, but I got enough info to satisfy me.

Tuesday, I made a strategic phone call to the telecom company and asked which outfit was contracted to install the lines. Before long, someone from that contracting company phoned me and I told my story.

The man said he was "99% sure" that it was their equipment that damaged my car, but he wanted to see the vehicle just to be sure.

This morning, the guy and his fixer came out to my house and looked at the big dents. He concluded right away that it was one of their rollers. Just from the size and impact, he could tell.

They've offered to pay for the whole cost of repairs at a shop of my choice.

Kudos to the cable installer for being so up-front about all this.

The Distance: Music video

2011-04-25T08:47:00.000-03:00

For those who missed the bonus link from last week's post, here's my music video to cap off the Learn To Run series. It's a cover of "The Distance" by Cake, which was heard in the exercise segments of many of the episodes. Enjoy! And, as usual, rate/comment/subscribe.

Huffing and Puffing: Episode 10: Lessons Learned

2011-04-18T13:23:00.001-03:00

A special note to friends and family who've been watching this series through bigasssuperstar.com: THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

As published at News957.com:

It's been a week since the 5k run, and my knees still hurt. Granted, it's only when I'm moving, and worst when I'm going up and down stairs, but I wasn't expecting my knees to hurt a week later. I guess I really pounded that pavement a week ago.

I come away from the eight-week training experience of the Learn To Run For Smokers program with the Lung Association of Nova Scotia as a changed man. That sounds more dramatic than it is. I went in a fat, lazy smoker, and in most regards, I still am.

I've never called the Learn To Run class a weight loss program, because it's not. I lost maybe five pounds through all this. Most of that was probably Christmas weight that stuck around until March. But I did lose about two inches off my waist, which might suggest some change in my body's weight distribution. So, I'm still fat, but slightly less fat than before.

I'm still lazy. I'm not one of these exercise nuts who gets a high out of strapping on the shoes several times a week and hitting the road. I'd still rather sleep. But I've become accustomed to exercise. I've learned that I really can find 40 minutes a day, three times a week, to get out and do my body some good by walking or running. It's easy for me to say I don't have time. It's easy for me to make excuses. Through this program, I've proven that excuses can be overcome. I'm still lazy, but I've learned to overcome laziness for a purpose.

Am I still a smoker? Yes, sadly, I am. I've learned that quitting smoking is not simply an intellectual exercise. I could lecture on smoking cessation, the benefits of quitting, the physiology of nicotine addiction and all the rest of it. I've done everything to do with quitting smoking except quit smoking. I must say, though, that smoking has become more yucky. I'm noticing the stink a lot more. I'm feeling the effects on my lungs a lot more. I became aware of how much of my exercise incapacity was from my general lack of fitness and how much was from the sorry state of my lungs.

So, yes, I'm still a fat, lazy smoker, but I'm a slightly less fat, less lazy, contemplative smoker.

Was it all worth it? I wondered at the beginning whether I'd feel good about getting up every Saturday for 9am workouts. Giving up sleep to go running in the winter seemed contrary to my nature. But hey, my nature has led me to be a chubby dude with high blood pressure, so it's about time I fought my nature.

Yes, it was completely worth it. I got to make an improvement in my health and learn some lessons about living healthy forever. Well, not forever. None of us is going to make it out of this alive. But we might as well make the most of the years we're here.

Beyond what this whole project has done for my health, lifestyle and confidence, I've enjoyed presenting it to you every week. I've learned a thing or two more about video production. Really, it's quite a feat for me: this series has included ten web stories, at least ten videos, and three radio stories every week. Every camera shot in the series was done by me (except one time after the 5k when I was laid out on the steps and I handed the camera to my wife). As proud as I am about making it through the training and 5k run, I'm just as proud of this multimedia experiment for News95.7.

Big thanks to everyone who's helped over the past two and a half months: listeners and newsmakers around town who've asked me how it's going; family and friends back in Ontario and beyond who've been following from afar and cheering me on; generous folks who sponsored me in the Lung Run; my wife, who washed my sweaty gear, listened to me complain, showed her pride and even massaged my sore shins; my enthusiastic coworkers and editor Ruth Davenport who gave me the story in the first place; the Bad Ashes running team who were so welcoming and genuine; the coaches who made me believe I could accomplish every task; all the guests, including my doctor, who let me record them for the series; the Lung Association of Nova Scotia including Louis Brill; and team leader Jayne Norrie, who patiently endured my whining and smilingly urged me on week after week.

Wondering if you can do it, too? Heck, yeah, you can! Read all the links below and get inspired.

The Lung Association of Nova Scotia is going to do it again. Another Learn To Run For Smokers group begins in early May, and this time it's not on a weekend morning! If you even suspect that you should be in this class, get in touch and get going. Now's the time to start taking care of yourself.

Thanks for reading, watching and listening. I hope we can do something big like this again.

Links:

News95.7 YouTube page
The Lung Association: How to quit smoking
Guide to Quitting Smoking (American Cancer Society)
WhyQuit.com (Cold turkey quitting advice)
Benefits of Exercise (Mayo Clinic)
Scott's weight chart at physicsdiet.com
The Hacker's Diet
Capital District Health Authority: Nutrition education clinics
The Couch to 5k Program - a program with podcasts to get you from sedentary to 5k-runner in 9 weeks. If you insist on doing things by yourself, go here!
Aerobics First - they fit me with shoes, and experienced Bad Ashes runners swear by them
Lung Association of Nova Scotia
Bonus! "The Distance" music video by Scott Simpson
Share this link by sending bit.ly/puffing

Huffing and Puffing: Episode 9: Going The Distance

2011-04-11T16:44:00.000-03:00

As published at News957.com:

Can eight weeks of training turn a fat, lazy smoker into an elite level athlete? Obviously not. How about an average athlete? That may be pushing it, too. But gains can be made, and I proved that this weekend.

On Saturday, I joined more than 600 other people in the Credit Union Atlantic Lung Run. It's five kilometres through the waterfront area of south-end Halifax, from Pier 21, down through the port lands, up to Salter St. and back on the boardwalk to the seaport.

The weather was beautiful: sunny, cool, with a little bit of wind. The course was nice and flat. I got a decent night's sleep and had some lunch. After two months of three-times-a-week training, I knew that I was in as good a position to finish strong as I could be.

Of course, I'd be stronger if I'd quit smoking. Yeah, that's the part I keep putting off.

Anyway, the Bad Ashes team from the Learn To Run program gathered outside Pier 21 an hour before race time. We got our shirts! Beautiful orange running shirts with a Bad Ashes logo on the front. We walked over to get our strap-on timing chips, and back for our now-familiar warm-up routine.

It came time to get to the start line, and we piled into the pulsing mass of athletes, organized according to forecast finish time. I put myself near the back.

My goal for this run was 40 minutes. Team leader Jayne Norrie suggested that 40 minutes was a little fast, but I'd done two 5k runs before -- a few years ago -- and came in under 40 each time. Granted, I'm heavier and older now, but 40 minutes didn't seem obscenely far-fetched for a goal.

The race began and the pack stretched out as the runners ran and the walkers walked. I jogged. I jogged as far as the first corner and started to get winded. About five minutes in, I had to walk. No big deal, I figured, since that was my plan anyway. Run until I can't run, then walk, then run when I can run, then walk some more.

The lessons learned from the weeks of training started to pay off. I didn't over-run the running. My muscles responded better than I expected. My shins, which had been the most cursed part of my body through this entire program, did cramp up, but not nearly as badly as they had in the earlier weeks. Maybe the stretching and conditioning and new shoes actually helped.

I got a little intimidated when I saw some runners coming back toward me. There was a turnaround point ahead. These people were way ahead of me. I wasn't expecting to be at their pace, but I wasn't expecting them to be coming back this fast, either. There, among the first batch of runners, was Rick Howe Show producer Jennifer Casey! Good for her!

Past the turnaround and back down the street, over some railway tracks, a water station appeared. I asked how far along we were. When the water-bearers told me this was the half-way mark, I realized I was going to make it through the race in one piece.

The second half was tough. The running became less frequent as my body ran out of energy and my legs continued to tighten up. But I knew I was going to finish, and I wanted to finish by my set time.

The music in my earbuds kept pumping. Good choice of tunes, as the beat of the songs let me pop back into running at just the right point.

Finally, after running around the boardwalk with a beautiful view of the harbour, it was time for the home stretch. I wanted to finish strong. One of my teammates who'd already finished emerged from the sidelines to run with me.

I hit the gas and bolted forward. That didn't last long. The finish was farther away than I thought. Okay, fine, so I'll walk a bit more and THEN finish strong. Good plan.

I walked a bit more and then hit the gas one more time with a rush toward the inflatable finish gate. The race announcer saw the orange shirt and called out the Bad Ashes name, urging me along. I passed over the timing mats and heard a satisfying chirp as my ankle bracelet registered the conclusion of my race.

It was over.

My finishing time was 42:51. I didn't make 40 minutes, but my per-kilometre pace was only seconds over. That is, if I'd finished each kilometre a little faster, I would've hit 40.

No excuses. I trained hard, I stretched, I sweated and I worked. I didn't quit smoking, though, and I really think that if I had, 40 minutes would've been realistic.

So, where do I go from here? Tune in next week to find out. I'll be doing a wrap-up with observations and conclusions about my experience in the program. If you have any questions you'd like answered, send them in or write in the comments, and I'll try to make them part of the episode.

Five kilometres, over and done. A lifetime left to go.

Scott's 5k Running Playlist:

Cake, "The Distance"
Ramones, "I Wanna Be Sedated"
Rush, "Marathon"
Queen, "Don't Stop Me Now"
Dexy's Midnight Runners, "Come On Eileen"
The White Stripes, "Seven Nation Army"
The Refreshments, "Banditos"
OutKast, "Hey Ya!"
They Might Be Giants, "Till My Head Falls Off"
Eminem, "Lose Yourself"
Journey "Don't Stop Believin'"

Huffing and Puffing: Episode 8: How To Quit Smoking

2011-04-04T08:01:00.000-03:00

As published at News957.com:

I never really expected to be able to say this, but exercise has become routine.

After nearly two months of making time to get out and move three times a week, it's become a regular part of my personal schedule. Saturday mornings, I get up and go join the Learn To Run For Smokers group at SMU; Tuesdays and Thursdays I make time to go for a 20-40 minute workout outside.

It's all become disturbingly normal for me. As an ordinarily sedentary guy, that's a big change.

Maybe that's why this week seemed so extraordinarily ordinary for me. The group workout had me at Point Pleasant Park for a gorgeous 40-minute brisk walk through trails and woods and along the waterfront. Tuesday and Thursday were 40-minute brisk walks to the store. Yes, I was going to buy cigarettes. The integration of something good with something bad gets the blessing from the team leader, so nyah nyah.

I don't know if I'm about to come down with a cold, or if the aerobic intensity of the exercise is making me feel my lungs more, but I'm giving more and more thought to quitting smoking. After all, that's been the subtext of the entire program: improve all the other aspects of a healthy lifestyle until you realize that it's the smoking that's holding you back from greater success.

If that was their point, they've made it. The Lung Association of Nova Scotia wins on this one. I need to quit.

I didn't quit this week, though. Team leader and health pro Jayne Norrie of LANS was scheduled to give an educational talk about quitting smoking. As luck would have it, much of the group no-showed the Saturday session, leaving me as the lone smoker around at the end of the day. So, Jayne sat across from me and laid out some truth:

Your lungs never grow back. Once you quit, they can clean themselves and mostly revert back to their pre-smoker form, but there's some damage that will remain forever. The freshening-up happens quickly, with healthy-feeling milestones happening in minutes, hours and days. But it can take up to ten years for some of the risk factors to drop to non-smoker levels.

Nicotine withdrawal is real, but manageable. It's said that the cravings only last a few minutes, so Jayne gives me a four-D plan to get through them: Distraction, Drink water, Deep breathing, and Delay. It seems to be about doing whatever you can to escape having a cigarette for about five minutes until the craving passes. Good to know.

I've read some material that says the best way to quit is cold turkey -- all at once. The theory in that case is that you only have to go through the peak nicotine withdrawal once. If you spread it out, the logic goes, you'll be suffering sub-peak withdrawal the entire time.

Jayne says it's a personal decision. Many people, she says, find better success with cutting back their smoking day by day. A good strategy seems to be delaying the first cigarette of the day and cutting off smoking earlier in the night.

In my (limited, failing) experience, that makes some sense. Delaying the first cigarette of the day makes that first cigarette extra-stinky, extra-draining, and a little bit sickening.

One of the most intimidating pieces of advice also seems to be among the most useful. Not only is smoking addictive because tobacco contains an addictive drug, tobacco use brings with it many habits and rituals. Time to wake up? Smoke to greet the day. Time to go to bed? Smoke to wind down. Meal? Smoke to ... I dunno, smoke to toast the end of the meal. Got to get away from the desk and think? Smoke. Argument with your spouse getting a little heated? Smoke to reset.

Quitting smoking is going to mean examining each of those peripheral habits and reprogramming them. What did I do to get away from the desk before I started smoking? When waiting for a cab? When I got up in the morning?

If I had another week in this series, I'd take my camera with me through the day and document each cigarette to analyze my patterns and break it down. Since this is the last episode before the big run, it looks like I'll be doing that on my own -- whenever it is I quit.

Yes, the run is next weekend. Saturday, April 9, I'll be joining the "Bad Ashes" Learn To Run team in the 5km Lung Run. Many thanks to the folks who've generously sponsored me!

Below, you'll find the usual assortment of links to things mentioned in this week's episode, plus a few stop-smoking sites I've found interesting.

Onward to the big run! Tune in next Monday to see how I did. I'll be doing one more report with video the week after the run to share what I've learned. And if all goes well, I'll also be doing a music video. Those who've watched the entire series will recognize the tune.

External links:

Sponsor Scott at the Lung Run
News95.7 YouTube page
The Lung Association: How to quit smoking
Guide to Quitting Smoking (American Cancer Society)
WhyQuit.com (Cold turkey quitting advice) (that's where I saw the cold-turkey vs tapering theory)

Huffing and Puffing: Episode 7: Failing Forward

2011-03-29T12:51:00.000-03:00

As published at News957.com:

"Is it the shoes?" asked Spike Lee in a 1991 TV advertising campaign for Nike Air Jordan shoes. "It's gotta be the shoes!"

In my case, I've learned, it's not the shoes. I mean, the shoes are nice, but they are clearly not the solution to my problems.

A friendly and startlingly laid-back man from Aerobics First outfitted me with a new pair of Brooks Dyad shoes at the deep-discount clearance sale at the Halifax Forum's multipurpose centre. The price was right - $150 sticker, $60 marked down. They fit. They look sharp. They're very comfortable. But there's more to running the right way than choosing the right shoes.

I had high hopes for the shoes after weeks of shin and knee pain. Running in the new shoes did not fix anything, as far as I can tell. My shin muscles still hurt, and now my shin bones are sore right in the middle, like I'd done a three-quarter speed roundhouse kick to a telephone pole.

Once again, that pain got in the way of my weekly exercise homework. I wanted to push myself hard, but my tibialis anterior muscle felt like an over-inflated balloon strapped to my leg. Program leader Jayne Norrie got in touch by e-mail during the week and suggested I tone down the exercise a bit so I can finish strong.

At this point, I just want to finish.

I'm really starting to think that I'm not built for running. I imagine runners as tall, sleek, thin, stick-like. They check their watch and launch off into a machine-like pace. Their feet don't go SMACK SMACK SMACK when they run. When they're done, they go "whew" and smile and say "good job." They don't bend over at the waist, dripping with flop sweat, huffing and puffing and groaning.

Am I being a bit too hard on myself? Or, as I imagine, am I being too hard on my body? I'm still between 235 and 240 pounds, on a 5'7" frame, and what I can remember from high school physics suggests that I'm exerting intense forces on my lower body every time I take a step. I feel like I'm abusing parts of my body while I'm making other parts healthier.

But what I came to realize this week is that quitting smoking would probably be the single biggest thing I could do to make things better. Exercising more during the week didn't do it. New shoes didn't do it. Eating before going out didn't.

My goals this week were two-fold: first, skip my usual two cigarettes before the Saturday exercise meeting, and second, go an entire weekday without smoking.

The first goal was half-way completed. I skipped the get-out-of-bed smoke, but had one when I got to the meeting at Saint Mary's University. As I inhaled, I felt what energy I had that morning drain from my body. I was expecting it to be a pick-up, but instead it was a huge bring-down. So, that lesson was learned: even a stimulant can suck the energy out of you.

On the second goal, the less said the better. Fail fail fail. Fail. FAIL. I put it off and put it off, eventually picking Friday as the go-day. I skipped my morning cigarette, but gave up while I was waiting for an appraisal on what was supposed to be a minor car repair. ($1300 to fix a scratch? Are you serious?)

Add it all up, and I'm feeling like a failure this week.

Now, I've failed at plenty of things in life. In doing so, I've learned that failure is only absolute if you give up trying. I haven't given up trying. I haven't really made a concerted effort to quit smoking. I blew my first two goals the first time, but as long as I learn from these failures, I can continue moving forward.

Failing forward. I am flawed but self-correcting.

The 5km Lung Run with the rest of the Bad Ashes team is now just weeks away. Over the next week, I'll continue with the exercise and maybe even try cutting down on the smoking. Next week's episode will feature some tobacco cessation talk from the Learn To Run group's leader.

External Links:

Huffing and Puffing: Episode 6: Running & Leiping

2011-03-22T13:53:00.000-03:00

As published at News957.com:

Now I can drink chocolate milk without guilt. Of course, it all comes down to moderation and wise choices. At least that's what registered dietitian Anna Leiper told us this week in her lecture to the Lung Association of Nova Scotia's Learn To Run For Smokers program.

It's week five, and already some of the team has disappeared. The team photo from the first week shows more people than we've seen since. Those who are still coming are brave, dedicated individuals. I'm proud to be one of them.

That doesn't mean I'm eager to get out of the car when arrive at The Tower at SMU on a windy, rainy morning that has the raindrops flying sideways. I'd rather sit in my car. You can imagine my joy when I find out that Jayne Norrie has arranged for us to exercise indoors at the Tower's gym. JOY!

Instead of sloshing around outside, we find places on modern treadmills. I've done treadmill running before, and I honestly like it a lot more than running on pavement, sidewalks or the gravelly paths of Point Pleasant Park. Even on an incline, which we're told to adjust to 2 degrees, it's so much easier on my knees and shins.

Ah, my shins. My shins continued to bother me this week. My shin muscles, as described last week, have been cramping up and preventing me from comfortably lifting my feet. The pain also extends to my knees. It's definitely time to get new shoes. I got a great email this week from a former Canada Games silver medalist, recommending that I try a slant board to work on my ankles, which he says will relieve my shin problems. I really need to get on that.

Anyway, back to the treadmill. This week's goal is 30 minutes of steady exercise. No problem, I figure. Nine minutes in, I clumsily hit the 'Stop' button, forcing me to do math for the remaining 21 minutes. Nobody told me there'd be math. I manage to finish out the half-hour, but can't sustain the three minutes running/one minute walking that was recommended. I still do much better than I would've on the road. Plus, with the heat of the SMU cardio room, I'm sweating like crazy.

The sweat keeps pouring off me as registered dietitian Anna Leiper begins her engaging and interactive presentation about nutrition. Anna's been a frequent guest on News95.7 over the years. I think she's even brought muffins to the newsroom. Here I am, a living, breathing example of why you need to rehydrate and re-energize after running: my sodium and water are coming to the surface, even as I sit.

Our special guest food expert goes over a simple, memorable mnemonic: RUN. R, U, N.

R is for recovery, or refueling. Extended exercise depletes the body of carbohydrates, water and sodium. Muscles that've been microscopically torn through hard work need protein to rebuild. Anna tells us chocolate milk is an ideal recovery beverage, as it contains all those elements. For best results, she recommends consuming it within about 20-30 minutes after extended exercise.

U is for urine. Seriously. If you're dehydrated or under-hydrated, your urine will look more like apple juice than, say, Sprite. So, noting the colour of your urine can be a tip-off to the state of your hydration. Given the choice, it's better to have more water in you than less.

N is for nutrition. Canada's Food Guide lays out what we humans should be eating to get the nutrition we need to get through life in a healthy way. The portion sizes might surprise you, though. Seriously, do you know what a "portion" of meat is? Nuts? Cereal? Look at a food package some time. You may think, oh, gosh, it's only 120 calories per portion. Now look at how much a "portion" is. Learning about portion size management could totally shake up your world if you take it to heart.

Looking at my weight loss graph, I obviously haven't taken it to heart, but at least I'm aware of what I'm ignoring. The Learn To Run program is not intended to be a weight loss program, but I hoped to lose a few pounds along the way. I'll put a link to my weight tracking below.

Now, as I've been talking, blogging and vlogging about this program in recent weeks, it's mostly been about the exercise and not much about the smoking. Both my dad and my wife brought this to my attention this week, suggesting this would be a great time to address the smoking. Frankly, that had been on my mind, too. I know the Learn To Run For Smokers program is not specifically intended to get smokers to quit, but I've been open to the possibility.

So, I've set two goals for the next week: first, I want to see if I can do next Saturday's run without having a cigarette first. Usually I have two: one when I get up, and one at the meeting. Second, I want to try getting through an entire day, wake-up to bedtime, without a cigarette. I can't remember the last time I did that.

The Lung Association's 5k Lung Run is coming up soon, so if you'd like to sponsor me or any of the other Bad Ashes team members, please follow the link below.

External links:

Huffing and Puffing: Episode 5: Charlie Shin

2011-03-14T08:00:00.000-03:00

As published at News95.7.com:

When I signed up a month ago to take part in the eight-week Learn To Run For Smokers program offered by the Lung Association of Nova Scotia, I knew it wouldn't be easy. But I didn't know it would be this hard.

I don't know why. The prospect of getting off the couch, putting on running shoes and exercising so hard that I actually improved my health didn't scare me. It was getting up for a 9am meeting every Saturday that was the intimidating park.

But on the fourth week of the program, I find myself struck by my own physical limitations.

This week's exercise task is to do a series of four 800-metre loops in Point Pleasant Park. My division of the Bad Ashes team is assigned to run for three minutes and walk for one minute. After the first three-minute run, I'm winded and my legs are cramping up. It's not my entire leg, though. It's just the muscle that runs along the front of the shin. I quickly decline to running almost a minute and walking the rest. I complete the whole distance -- a respectable 3.2km -- but the rest of the team has lapped me several times over. I feel like a failure.

I conclude that I must not be working hard enough on the exercise homework between meetings. With that in mind, I tackle Tuesday's homework with a positive attitude. We're supposed to do the out-and-back exercise from a few weeks ago. It'd designed to teach pacing -- run, jog or walk out for a minute, but be sure you have enough left in the tank to return to the starting point in the same amount of time. The time goes from one minute to two, to three, three, two and back to one minute.

After running for the first minute and making it back in time, again, I'm beat. My shins have cramped up and I'm out of breath. I entertain the idea of rationalizing away the rest of the laddered segments by walking them, but as I attempt the two-minute out-and-back, even that seems futile. I want to cry. I came out with good intentions, but something's not working.

I go for a walk around the block with aching legs and come home defeated. This is really hard.

So, what's going wrong? I know I need new shoes -- the ones I'm wearing are at least a few years old. I know I'm overweight, so gravity is putting an unreasonable strain on my joints and muscles with every step. I know my technique is poor -- every step is pounding, and my stride is not the "light and athletic" movement that Lung Association CEO Louis Brill tried to teach us a few weeks ago.

It also occurs to me that the smoking may be getting in the way. After all, in Week One, I learned that carbon monoxide is flowing through my blood, blocking oxygen from getting to my muscles. Maybe my poor shins are just starved for fuel.

I decide to give it one more solid effort on Thursday. I take my iPod with me, loaded with a series of podcasts inspired by the "Couch to 5k" program. Perhaps I'll talk about that program in a later episode. Anyway, I play the Week 3 program from the series, which offers a sequence of hip-hop tunes interrupted every so often by a small voice that tells me when to run and when to walk. That lets me return my focus to the task at hand, trusting that someone else will tell me when it's time for a break.

For the most part, it works. I get through the workout. I'm still winded, still sweating, still sore in the legs, but for all but the last segment, I was able to obey the orders of the small voices and the angry rappers. Now I'm seriously considering a playlist featuring Eminem's "Lose Yourself" to play when I do the final 5k.

A bit of research on the Internet teaches me more about the muscle that's fighting me. It's the Tibialis Anterior. It's responsible for flexing the foot up and down. Perhaps I'm pulling my foot up too hard with each stride? Am I pushing off too hard? Should my ankle be stiff like an L, or loosey-goosey as I run? I'll need to tighten up my technique.

What continues to worry me is the force with which my feet are hitting the ground with each step. My knees are sore afterward. The left is worse than the right. Morning anchor Doug Reynolds, who's an athletic fellow with knee problems of his own, tells me that I should just keep at it, and that my body will continue to adjust and get stronger. It sounds like good advice.

This week's after-class education segment was about stretching and yoga. Check out the video to see team member Norma Houston demonstrating some helpful stretching techniques for runners. She even climbs up on the table to give us a close-up view.

I have a couple of housekeeping notes for folks who've been following along this far!

The Lung Association of Nova Scotia is proud of the success of the Learn To Run For Smokers program. It's the first of its kind in Canada, and branches from other provinces are interested in starting it up in their home locations. The Association is also going to be putting on the Learn To Run program again here, and it's looking for new facilitators.

If you're a runner who loves to coach, an ex-smokers who'd like to share, or are otherwise interested in taking part in the free one-day training session happening this Saturday, March 19, please contact Jayne Norrie, Manager of Health Initiatives. Her phone number is 902-443-8141 x26, and her email address is jaynenorrie@ns.lung.ca.

Also, I've signed up for the Lung Run, the Lung Association's fundraising 5k in April. I'll be running with the Learn To Run For Smokers team. We call ourselves the Bad Ashes. If you'd like to sponsor me in the run, please visithttp://bit.ly/lungrun.

As always, I appreciate your feedback, questions, comments and ideas. I've been surprised at how many people I've met around town and on the phones who've been hearing this series. Please visit our YouTube page and subscribe, rate and comment on the videos. The more, the merrier!

Next week: Nutrition for runners, with food expert Anna Leiper.

Links mentioned in this week's episode:

- Lung Association of Nova Scotia contacts: http://www.ns.lung.ca/aboutus/ourstaff.php

- Sponsor Scott Simpson in the Lung Run: http://bit.ly/lungrun

- News95.7 YouTube page: http://www.youtube.com/thenews957