Belinda Kissack

June 13, 2008

I was reminded yesterday, how important it is to attempt to see things from someone else’s perspective even when it isn’t at first obvious. While I was riding my bike yesterday a couple of small dogs started to chase me. I wasn’t all that concerned as they were very little dogs and they were not really keeping up with me. However, they ended up in the middle of a fairly quiet secondary road. Within seconds of my passing the small dogs, a driver came from behind and one in front of me. My first instinct was to worry about the small dogs with the two cars coming toward them. So, using hand gestures, I waved to the driver to slow down. Sometimes drivers are not all that curteous to bikers but I hoped that the driver would trust that I requested her to slow down for a good reason and not because I thought she was driving down the country road too quickly. I watched behind me and noticed both cars slowed down for the two dogs to safely get back home.

Sometimes when we`re out on country roads people can become angry with cyclists and sometimes, cyclists with motorists. I wondered how different the scenario would have been if the motorist had thought that I was telling her to slow down because she was going too fast - which I don’t think she was. Or if I had given the message to someone else who would have interpreted it negatively. Would they have gotten annoyed, sped up and accidently run into one of the dogs? I am grateful that the driver whom I came across yesterday saw my ’slow down’ message and the dogs.

I wonder in life how often we hear messages that are intended to protect other people, animals, or things and are interpreted negatively. When the messages are misread or misinterpreted we can end up straining our relationships and harming those we set out to protect. It’s worth considering when we hear a message, to ask ourselves what the positive intention of the message might be rather than becoming defensive toward the message.  I am happy that the driver considered my perspective and slowed down. Now I just have to ride past the dogs about five more times before my upcoming qualicum triathlon.

Belinda Kissack, M.A. is a Registered Clinical Counsellor working in the Cowichan Valley and in her free time trains for running races and triathlons.

June 9, 2008

I am happy to say that I ran my marthon last week and survived. I was very happy with my results as well. We had fantastic weather and a very flat course. There were camber issues at mile 13 which resulted in a sore IT band for me. I finally found the muscle causing the cramp 4 miles later and was then able to massage it intermittently. At mile 19 there were oysters to sample which I decided to try. I had been suffering from a lack of salt and reasoned that the oysters and cocktail sauce would likely help out my twitching muscles. The formula was perfect, until i had another sip of water which threw off my body chemistry again. I have learned from others that when the muscles on the verge of cramping to slow down which i did. I managed to stick to my 9 and 1 minute run and walk breaks. However, as I slowed down I only allowed myself to stop once per mile which was more like a 12 and 1. But that’s okay. I was happy to persevere and felt confident given the little amount of training that I did. In the weeks leading up to the race, I told myself that I would not do another marathon, but after experiencing perfect race conditions and a great race venue, I just might do another one. But not before I race my sprint triathlon in Qualicum coming up at the end of the month.

Belinda Kissack is a Registered Clinical Counsellor in the Cowichan Valley and trains for running races and triathlons in her free time.