Looking to Stay Active Over the Holidays? You Will Love This!

“Grab your bubble and run!”

The HoHoHoliday 5K Run is happening all across Canada! It is not only a great way to stay active, but is also super fun! You can do this with your family (your bubble) or on your own.

You will be joining more than 10,000 people virtually to support Make a Wish Canada. We may not be able to all run together, but it is still an amazing way to support your community, running to raise money to grant wishes for children with critical illnesses.

The great thing about this festive virtual run is that you can do it more than once. It starts Nov. 25, 2020, and goes until Dec. 31, 2020.

As a matter of fact, I registered along with a friend. Our team is called “Two Chicks in Santa Suits”. Yes, they give you Santa suits to wear — how fun is that?

Before I talk more about the run and give tips on how to get yourself ready to run, let’s chat about Make a Wish Canada.

I personally found the Make A Wish mission super inspirational and eye opening. I found myself very moved by what they do for children battling illness. Children are dreamers and so very innocent about how tough life can be. When put in the situation of having to fight for their lives at such a young age, it seems so unfair. Make a Wish grants wishes to these amazing little ones to give them hope and happiness.

The stories of the wishes granted will warm your hearts (you may want a tissue box by your side). Check out some of the wishes granted over the years at https://makeawish.ca/all-wish-stories/i-wish-to-meet.

The positive impact on the mental and emotional health of children by granting these wishes is what helps them deal with all they endure. Fundraising for this cause by participating in the HoHoHoliday Run is a great way to help others this holiday season, the children and their families.

Now back to the run!

Create your own 5 km course through Burlington, around your neighbourhood or on one of our fabulous trails. Not one for the cold? Then you can do it on your treadmill at home or at the gym. Take it at your own pace and make it fun.

Make a Wish has partnered with Runkeeper so you can track your run stats. If you decide to do it more than once, you can try to beat your previous time.

Take some selfies, raise some funds, challenge yourself! There will be prizes for best photo, top fundraisers, fastest Santa and even best-dressed pet.

Never done a marathon before? That’s okay, you can walk, do a walk/run, or a combination of both. Here is a simple but effective way to train for this 5 km run to prevent injuries:

Aim for two to three times a week to keep it simple. The stage you start at will be based on your current fitness levels. If you have never jogged or run before and aren’t currently exercising, I would stick to just increasing the length of your walk, especially considering the marathon is something you would be doing within the next few weeks. Get out and walk every day, each day adding a bit more time. On the day of the run/walk, aim to ramp it up and see how fast you can do it.

Participating in this run gives you something to aim for — register and schedule a date near the end of December and you can use the time to stay moving with a goal!

If you are an advanced runner, you know what to do, so go for it! You most likely do marathons all the time. So why not do it twice?

Remember to do some dynamic stretches before venturing out for a longer run/walk and definitely on run day, to avoid injuries and avoid or lower your chances of extreme muscle soreness.

The bottom line is to make it fun. Challenge yourself to move more using this 5 km run for charity as a goal. Whether we will get to celebrate the holidays how we usually do is up in the air right now, so doing something positive during this time is such a great thing for your mental and emotional health.

You can get more information on the run at www.hohoholiday5krun.com and more about Make a Wish Canada at www.makeawish.ca.

Be festive! Get moving! Have fun!