“STAY THE BLAZES HOME” – that simple but powerful statement from Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil says it all.
If you have ever done a Sole Sisters Women’s Race (and over 22,000 of you have since we began) then you know we have never been “just a race”. Instead we are a community of women and girls that support each other throughout the year. We even coined the term “SOCIAL” to represent those events we offer that are focused on fun (our Supporter Parties), education (those Smart Socials) or training (the weekly run/walk SOCIALS we hold in three provinces).
Our not-for-profit has the mandate “to positively influence the mental and physical health of women, children, youth and their families” which we do for Girls Gone Gazelle Run Club and Sole Sisters. That singular focus is why we work so hard on these events that are always free. It is also why our events happen all year instead of just a race weekend. Of course now it is particularly obvious that all of these events occur outside the home.
We know the impact our SOCIALS have to local communities so it is especially difficult for us to have to cancel our forty plus (40+) Sole Sisters SOCIALS that were due to start this month in five communities across Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.
This means we will not be holding socials in: Dartmouth, Nova Scotia; Truro, Nova Scotia; West Pubnico, Nova Scotia; Fredericton, New Brunswick or Summerside, Prince Edward Island. Thank you to all the Ambassadors that were going to be leading these events for us. There is so much work to organize these events and it is disheartening to have to cancel them.
The two remaining Supporter Parties: Kaitlyn’s Kitchen Party and the Cellar at Lightfoot & Wolfville Party are also cancelled. However, Tara MacDonald assured us she has already rescheduled at least one event. The Cellar at Lightfoot & Wolfville wine event is now scheduled for April 30, 2021.
In an ever changing and completely unprecedented time, it is hard to know what we should be doing to best support our Sole Sisters community aside from the obvious: STAY THE BLAZES HOME.
When we started our Sole Sisters W(h)ine Wednesdays on March 18th it was our first idea, a heartfelt desire to connect to our community safely. Days earlier we had learned about how important SOCIAL DISTANCING was and how we needed to stay home (if our jobs allowed it). But it was still early times as our Province hadn’t yet called a State of Emergency and many of us were still learning just how serious the Covid-19 situation was.
Here we are now, a few weeks later and we’ve had three W(h)ine Wednesdays in which we’ve tested out facebook live, zoom and gone back to facebook live posts. Like many we are learning what sort of digital interaction works best. This week our live facebook feed will be for W(h)iskey Wednesday and Race Director Stacy (a/k/a “Coach Stacy”) is going to walk you through how to make her favorite southern comfort drink – she is proudly an AmeriCanadian now but she grew up in Nashville, Tennessee. And she’ll tell stories or answer questions about training, racing… really anything you want to know or that flies into her head. We’ve heard from one Sole Sister that has asked Stacy to talk about her first marathon. But Stacy’s done 64 marathons and even lost a tooth in one marathon so there are limitless topics.
Feel free to send us questions or topics before Wednesday, April 8th or simply tune in at 6pm on our facebook page (www.facebook.com/sole.sisters.race).
Coach Stacy is the most comfortable helping you with training questions but now isn’t the time to focus on that. Instead her goal is to virtually encourage you all during this difficult time. With nearly 800 views on the last live post and despite her belief that with humor “you get what you get” she’s gonna bring her A-game. Or maybe it is her W- game for Whiskey Wednesday!? Now you bring your Q/C-game (“Questions/Comments”). Stay safe, wash your hands a lot and remember to STAY THE BLAZES HOME!
