Just Another Sunday In The Park With Crohn’s

I can’t believe the 15th annual Heel ‘n’ Wheel-a-thon is now behind us!

It’s been a very busy couple of weeks leading up to the event and I had the honour (as honorary chair, tee hee) to chat with some local media leading up to the event. I was excited to know that on Thursday I made the cover of the Beach/Leslieville/Riverdale Mirror!The article discussed my involvement with the event and focused on my desire to raise awareness of IBD in Canada.

As I wrote my honorary chair speech on Saturday, I realized that I was less than $200 away from reaching my fundraising goal of $3000 so I solicited some donations on Facebook and Twitter over the course of the afternoon and was able to hit $3000 on the dot! Thanks so much to everyone who donated – I can’t wait to see if the Toronto event hit its goal of $325,000!

All week the weather people were talking about thunderstorms and rain for the day of the walk, which made me pretty sad. Apparently it NEVER rains on Heel ’n’ Wheel day and I didn’t want my year as Honorary Chair to break that tradition!! I got up bright and early on Sunday and was greeted by cloudy skies. Clouds I could deal with! I arrived onsite a little before 7 am and spent the morning helping wherever I could… and socializing with other members of the Committee… and seeing friends – old and new! I spent a bit of time with Hannah, who was the awesome Honorary Chair last year. I remembered seeing Hannah’s team (the Cranky Colons) with their bright green t-shirts at last year’s walk. Her mum was on the organizing committee and it was awesome to meet Hannah this year and chat about our similar (yet very different) journeys with this disease. I also had the pleasure of meeting super cute Megan who writes The Gut Gazette Megan and I have been corresponding via email and blogs for a long time now, so it was awesome to finally put the online persona and actual person together! Megan and her team the Grand Poo-Bahs were decked out in purple t-shirts and did an amazing job fundraising!

My friends Lindsay, Michelle & Brenda arrived to join me on the walkIt was so sweet of them to join me for the event and I was excited to have some great friends to enjoy Sunnybrook Park with! After a super fun and energetic warm up(with scissors no less) we were ready to hit the road! I got to cut the ribbon…  and we were off! We enjoyed stickers and delicious fruit  along our beautiful 5k in Sunnybrook. The weather held up and it was the perfect temperature to be walking. The 4 of us had a lovely time chatting along the route and cheering at each of the route stations. We took about an hour to do the 5k before hitting the finish line Just like last year, the food was still an issue for me at the event… made worse by the presence of a dessert truck Seriously? I recognize that there may have been a time in years past that I might have jumped on the opportunity for a deep-fried twinkie (!) but things have changed since then, and I truly believe that at an event around raising money and awareness for Inflammatory Bowel Disease, we should be promoting HEALTH. Deep-fried things on sticks, pizza and burgers don’t promote health to me at all and I hope that moving forward it is something that will continue to evolve. One of the members of the organizing committee and I are going to chat about ideas for next year and I hope that I can leave an imprint on the event in that way. I brought my own food for the day and had fun chatting with the healthier vendors in attendance like Bio K and Simply Bars.

After having my face painted I had the pleasure of thanking everyone for coming out and sharing a bit of my story. I felt really comfortable up on stage and later our PR Coordinator told me that I was very brave. It was a very successful (but long!) day and overall it’s been great to have been the Honorary Chair for this year’s event. It has enabled me to connect with some great people and has also given me the opportunity to share my story with others and in turn hopefully raise awareness of IBD.

Thank you to everyone who supported me in this event with words, donations or by joining me at the walk. I couldn’t have done it without all of you and I truly appreciate it!!

Heel ‘n’ Wheel-A-Thon in T-Minus 2 Days

The big day is just around the corner! I can hardly believe that it’s been a full year since the last time I did the event. At that time, it had still been less than a year that I had been diagnosed and was still working to figure this all out. So much has changed in a year, but I’m proud to say that I feel even healthier than I did at last year’s event and I am so excited to continue to head in that direction.

I hope that as a result of being the Honorary Chair and sharing my story that I’ve raised some awareness about the prevalence of IBD in our society. IBD affects more than 200,000 Canadians with more than 9,200 cases each year, but somehow before I was diagnosed I didn’t know anything about it. I want people to realize that they can speak up about this disease and that there are options out there. I realize that I’ve taken a bit more of an “unconventional” path to healing (not just medication and surgery but with primarily food!), but it has worked wonders and I’m so happy that I feel as healthy as I do today. Join me this Sunday in Sunnybrook Park at 10 am for the annual Heel ‘n’ Wheel-a-thon!

Lotsa Fun In May, Looking Forward to Being Busy in June

A few things I discovered (or remembered) this month… I’m addicted to quinoa flakes (with cocoa powder, sliced banana, cinnamon & Barney Butter all the way from Florida…)

On the subject of breakfast…protein in the morning helps keep me full (scrambled tofu with spinach, onion and mushrooms)Raw vegan brownies make me very happyI’ve been performing and auditioning a lot more lately including an 80’s themed show last Sunday, "Cabaret for a Cause" with the lovely Lindsay coming up on Friday and a Fringe show(!!) in July – (see the Facebook page for more details until it’s up on the Fringe site).  I’m going to be writing a blog post later in the week about how my pie of life has changed drastically as of late with all this performing… and how ridiculously happy I am as a result.

One last thing that makes me happy? People named Ashley (other than me!) and dressing up.  Top hats and corsets should always be required in life. Speaking of Ashley…  We’re planning a yoga class on Sunday (12:00 - east end Toronto location - $10 suggested donation) in support of the Heel’n’Wheel-a-thon!Digestive health is vital to our health and well being. Approximately 70% of our nervous system is attached to our stomach, small intestines and colon, so when our GI tract is not functioning at optimal level, we are out of balance. Inspired by the theme of The Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation, we will explore the balance of our bodies inside and out, with a 1 hour yoga class open to all levels. It will focus on, you guessed it...our tummies! Through the practice of yoga, we can learn to not only strengthen and tone our mid-sections, but through breathing techniques and a series of specific postures, we can help to calm the nervous system and promote proper digestion and detoxification! You will radiate from the inside out!

Ashley Overholt is a student of Holistic Nutrition and a certified Ashtanga Yoga Instructor. She has studied with Diane Bruni and Ron Reid of Downward Dog, as well as Danny Paradise and Chuck Miller and Maty Ezraty.

Please send me an email (wwleaderashley@gmail.com) if you are interested in attending. Can’t attend, but would still like to donate? Check out my Heel’n’Wheel-a-thon donation page. The event is now less than two weeks away and I couldn’t be more excited!!

Heel’n’Wheel-A-Thon Toronto 2010 PSA

A couple weeks ago I talked about shooting the PSA for the Heel ‘n’ Wheel-a-thon… well here it is!

Wanna get involved in the Heel ‘n’ Wheel-a-thon?

Sponsor me! – After raising more than $1,700 last year I’m setting my goal at $3,000 this year and I need your help to get me there! Every little bit counts and I’ve already raised $650 which puts me at 22% to my goal!

Join my team! – The walk takes place on June 13 in Sunnybrook Park and I would love to have a big group of friends to do the walk with me on my team Dancing Through Life.  Not in Toronto? There are HNW events all across Canada!

Join our Facebook group and follow me and Toronto Heel ‘n’ Wheel on Twitter for the latest news and updates.

The Joys of Being the Honorary Chair

Many months ago I was asked to the be Honorary Chair for the 2010 Toronto Heel ‘n’ Wheel-a-thon in support of the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of Canada to which I happily accepted. With the event coming up on June 13, things are really starting to heat up and over the last couple weeks I’ve really started to enjoy my role as Honorary Chair!

Two weeks ago I was an attendee at the brunch held for the TPE’s (Top Pledge Earners) from last year’s event. The brunch was held at the lovely Miller Tavern in North York. The set menu wasn’t particularly Ashley-friendly (boo), so after starting off with a mimosa… the server was sweet enough to hook me up with some carrot ginger soup and a delightful green salad It was splendid! The soup blew me away, especially considering I love the carrot-ginger combination. I had a lot of fun speaking to the group about fundraising! TPE’s raise a huge portion of the money at the Heel ‘n’ Wheel-a-thon, so it was great to generate some fresh ideas for the rest of us to implement for this year.

Yesterday my duties as Honorary Chair led me to a visit with the boys at The Biz Media to shoot a PSA for the event. It was my first experience with a green screen – fun times! I have yet to see the final product (obviously, as we only shot it yesterday afternoon!), but everyone reassured me that I did a good job. Whenever I’ve worked on camera in the past it’s always taken me a few takes to get warmed up and yesterday was no exception. It’s a lot harder to be “yourself” on camera than it is in real life, but I think by the end I was finally coming off as ‘me’ on camera. We’ll see very soon!
I will definitely be posting the PSA on my blog when it’s ready to go and hope that you will pass it along so that we can spread the word about the event. I’m excited (and nervous!!) to watch it.

Wanna get involved in the Heel ‘n’ Wheel-a-thon?

Sponsor me! – After raising more than $1,700 last year I’m setting my goal at $3,000 this year and I need your help to get me there! Every little bit counts. Does anyone have any good ideas for alternative fundraising? I’m thinking about organizing a silent auction on the blog – please email me (wwleaderashley@gmail.com) if you’re interested in assisting in any way!

Join my team! – The walk takes place on June 13 in Sunnybrook Park and I would love to have a big group of friends to do the walk with me on my team Dancing Through Life. There is no minimum you need to raise in order to do the walk, and it’s a great opportunity to do a low-key 5km in a gorgeous setting for a good cause! Not in Toronto? There are HNW events all across Canada!

Join our Facebook group and follow me and Toronto Heel ‘n’ Wheel on Twitter for the latest news and updates