Employee Stories

My foot and back problems began when I moved to the Vancouver area after living in the Yukon for nine years. I am convinced that they were caused by my having to walk on concrete, asphalt, and other unforgiving surfaces. After years of exercising on Mother Earth’s more forgiving skin, my feet, legs, and lower back found the pounding they took from man-made pavement a major stressor.

Over the last 15 years I’ve been fitted for two different pairs of orthotics but gained only temporary relief in both cases. I had reluctantly resigned myself to a life of discomfort and limitation until friends told me about MBT shoes earlier this year.

A Swiss engineer who was tired of living with constant back pain discovered that the Masai tribe in Africa does not have a history of foot and back ailments. He was immediately intrigued. As he researched their home environment, he learned that their secret is walking on uneven ground. This keeps the muscles in the ankles, legs, and backs in excellent working order. Those of us who spend our days on flat ground gradually lose this muscle tone which eventually results in painful symptoms.
Having unlocked the mystery, the engineer spent the next eight years perfecting a shoe design that would simulate the uneven ground conditions of the Masai. The result was the MBT (Masai Based Technology) shoe.

I purchased a pair in August of this year from Foot Solutions here in Ottawa. While it took me two or three weeks to get used to their radical design, which does not allow you to remain still even when standing in one spot, I can now wear them for 12 hours at a time without discomfort. For me, this has been a delightful, but totally unexpected outcome. The hard, flat surfaces of southern Canada no longer rule my life.

For me, being active is all about doing things that fit into the cycle of my day. In other words, being active cannot be yet another thing to add to my daily “to do” list. If it was, it would surely fall off the list. Instead, I have made physical activity something that I have to do in order to get through my day.

So, for the past several years, I have biked to and from work; I am fortunate that I live a bike-able distance from the College. The benefits have been many — I am invigorated and pumped up at the start of each day after an early morning ride in. The cares and stresses of each day peel away as I ride home, allowing me to call upon that reserve of energy to address the demands of evening home life. The money I save in parking fees more than covers the costs of an annual tune-up for my bike, the purchase of biking clothing and paraphernalia, and a new “winter bike” every 3 or 4 years (check out One Less Car on for great second-hand bike deals, www.bikedump.com).

It didn’t take long for biking to become a habit for me. I now use my bike rather than my car to run errands, to go to the library, to go downtown for appointments (again, parking is cheap and readily available) and to go the Gatineau Hills to enjoy the fall colours.

We all know that being well and keeping active can be challenging. I think that the more we make exercise a necessary part of each day, something that we need to do to get through each day, the easier it is to ensure that we do it!

Ruth and I have been walking for a few years now. It’s been long enough that I’m not sure how or exactly when we started. However, at this point, we do it for many reasons.

One hears about the health benefits of walking more and more frequently, and it seems to be beneficial in small spurts and longer treks, walking fast or slow. Although we are entitled to our breaks, many of us don’t bother taking them, unless you have a reason to get up and move. Having a walking partner is great. You may not feel terribly motivated one day but your partner is so you get up and go for a walk. It not only gets you moving, but also clears your mind. You go back to work feeling more alive. In a short time, walking every day becomes a habit.

Walking with a partner is a great opportunity to talk about anything and everything (work, children, spouses, last night’s television shows, etc.). You can rant and rave, get it all out of your system, put things in perspective and get on with your day.

There are no “weather” excuses. When the weather is nice, you can walk outside, when terrible, Algonquin has miles of hallways to explore. You are able to meet and greet a lot of people in the hallways that you may not otherwise see for weeks.

The annual “Run for the Cure” is a way to give back to the community. A fundraising initiative for breast cancer, its arms opened up to my sister and helped her family throughout the last four years.

The exercise part is a bonus….it gives us a chance to raise money for breast cancer research while walking or running through some of Ottawa’s finest scenic areas.

It’s like celebrating Fall by taking a brisk walk with a few thousand of your closest friends.

I encourage everyone to either start your own team or join an existing one….Lori’s Ladies and a Few Good Men is always welcoming new recruits!

Vicki Smart