Congratulations Wellness Challenge participants: Apollonia Fan, Arthur Savage, Bala Raman, Chris Jeffery, Darren Brown, Doris Allen, Feliciana de Leon, Harish Raisinghani, Iman Sharif, Jeff Broster, Larry Sawchyn, Liam Rust, Paul Goddard, Rick Godkin!

Our second Fransen wellness challenge wrapped up on December 8, 2009 with a lunch provided by Fransen.  We started out with 28 participants committing themselves to eight weeks of physical, mental, social, and nutritional wellness.  The goal of the wellness challenge was to turn simple lifestyle changes into lifelong, healthy habits by increasing your activity level, adhering to a healthier diet, managing stress, and making improved lifestyle choices.

Successful participants earned their choice of a Fransen aluminum water bottle or a Fransen leather portfolio.  Arthur Savage earned 10 personal training sessions with Fitness Essentials as the Most Improved” in the fitness assessments, with Rick Godkin and Liam Rust coming in at 2nd and 3rd respectively.

“Most Improved” in the Personal Wellness Logs was Paul Goddard with an award of five personal training sessions with Fitness Essentials.  Robert Jackson, RMT of Vancouver Mobile Massage who gives massages on Fridays at Fransen awarded two complimentary massages to Paul Goddard and Rick Godkin for their unfailing attendance during (3 times a week) during the eight week challenge.

Our second Fransen wellness challenge kicked off October 6 with 28 participants committing themselves to eight weeks of physical, mental, social, and nutritional wellness.  The goal of the wellness challenge is to turn simple lifestyle changes into lifelong, healthy habits by increasing your activity level, adhering to a healthier diet, managing stress, and making improved lifestyle choices.

During these eight weeks participants are expected to:

• Team up with a Health Buddy for accountability
• Perform a fitness assessment before and after the challenge
• Attend lunch n learns on 8 key areas of wellness
• Attend selected weekly seminars on alternative healing practices by various guest speakers
• Use their Personal Wellness Guide to follow along with the program and record their daily progress
• Exercise and/or keep active each day for eight consecutive weeks

On successful completion of the Wellness Challenge, participants will earn their choice of a Fransen aluminum water bottle or a Fransen leather portfolio.  The most improved participant will also receive 10 personal training sessions compliments of Fitness Essentials Personal Training Inc.

The Spring wellness program kicked off in March with a pilot version of the “Moving into Wellness” assessment and life-balance program facilitated by Maxine Lowe.  Twelve adventurous participants responded to the call for wellness and stuck it out for 12 consecutive weeks!

Each person was required to do an online assessment in 12 key lifestyle areas: Self Responsibility & Love, Breathing, Sensing, Eating, Moving, Feeling, Thinking, Playing & Working, Communicating, Intimacy, Finding Meaning and Transcending to identify their areas of strength, satisfaction and the specific areas they were most motivated to change.

This was followed by personal coaching sessions to help them understand their assessment results and explore their “change readiness” in key areas, in addition to gaining personal insight into their state of physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual wellness.  Based on Dr. John Travis’ Wellness Energy System detailed in The Wellness Workbook, 12 interactive lunch ‘n’ learns were conducted at Fransen to educate, motivate and provide accountability for high levels of wellness.

SunRun 2009 was a great success.  We ran, jogged, walked and sprinted our way along the beautiful 10km course.  It took us through Downtown Vancouver, over the Burrard Bridge to Kitsilano, along False Creek and over the Cambie Bridge to the end (finally…) at BC Place Stadium where we found lots of water and snacks waiting for us! 

Once the dust settled, the Fransen SunRunners placed 13th in the Engineering Division coming in ahead of 47 other teams in the category! Also we improved on our average time by one minute from 2008.  Way to go everyone! Thank you to our Captain, Bindy Grewal for getting our registrations and shirts organized.

Results

Fransen Engineering Ltd - 13th Place Engineering Division

37:47 - Mike Elsinga

40:42 - Robert Thompson

44:28 - Mark Abbott

46:04 - Jordan Hewer

49:20 - Jason Meyer

51:24 - Soheyl Soltani

53:54 - Harish Raisinghani

101:58 - Darren Brown

103:38 - George Mitchell

103:58 - Ian Cook

105:27 - George Coelho

114:47 - Richard Hernandez

137:27 - Marlena Mason-Brown

Fransen Sunrunners are pounding the pavement in preparation for the Vancouver SunRun this coming April. All ages and experience levels are welcome to join the team. The SunRun will take you on a scenic tour of Downtown Vancouver, False Creek, and part of Yaletown along with 50,000 other Vancouverites. For more information on the SunRun, check out www.sunrun.com and talk to Bindy Grewal. If you join the Fransen Team, 50% of your fee will be reimbursed. As an added bonus, you get a souvenir t-shirt to keep!

Congratulations to Fransen’s marathon man, Rob Thompson, who has successfully completed three marathons this year! Rob began the year with the Vancouver Marathon in May with a time of 3:16, followed by the Tofino’s Edge To Edge Marathon in June with a time of 3:17 and the Royal Victoria Marathon in October with a time of 3:10. Rob has also run two half marathons and was part of this year’s Fransen Sun Run 10km team. Congratulations Rob!

Our first Fransen wellness challenge kicked off October 20 with 33 participants committing themselves to eight weeks of physical, mental, social, and nutritional wellness. The goal of the wellness challenge is to turn simple lifestyle changes into lifelong, healthy habits by increasing your activity level, eating a healthier diet, managing stress, and making improved lifestyle choices.

On Friday, December 12, 2008, the Fransen 8-Weeks-to-Wellness Challenge wrapped up with a delightful potluck lunch, prizes earned and prizes drawn. We started out with 38 eager beavers in October and after the dust settled with all the whining about the fitness assessments and wellness activities to complete, the periodical excuses and absences from the workshops, and failed attempts at getting a free lunch without doing the work, only 18 survived!

Congratulations to Fransen’s fittest who earned their choice of a Fransen aluminum water bottle or leather portfolio for their perseverance in accomplishing their wellness goals!

Colleen Xiang, Rob Thompson, Jason Meyer, Malcolm Paterson, Soheyl Soltani, Mauryne Berman, Liam Rust, Simon Lau, Doug Morris, Kevin Liu, Apollonia Fan, Tobi Pettet, Jim Snow, Rick Pasqualotto, Kris Hardjono, Glenn Morgan, Ali Madadi, Bindy Grewal. Prizes were also drawn, compliments of Capers Whole Foods Market; Raintree Day Spa in Steveston; Dr. Kris Bentz, Naturopathic Doctor; Maki Riddington, fitness professional at Sport Central; and Fransen Engineering.

A series of lunch ‘n’ learn workshops on mental wellness was facilitated by Maxine Lowe, who has a wellness counseling background.  Living Large From the Inside Out ran for four sessions from June to July and focused on stimulating awareness of how our minds create our reality, whether it be hardship or happiness, and the various strategies we can use to take control of our lives (and lifestyles).
Comments from attendees:

“… mental wellness workshop helped me learn more about myself and how to actively improve my life.  It brings to the forefront, ideas and thinking strategies we know are positive but don’t necessary actively think about each and every day.  It’s really brought me more awareness about how I feel about myself and what I can do to improve myself in areas of work and play.”
“The sessions I had attended were well presented … they were organized, fully discussed, especially the information and experience we exchanged with each other.  Besides the delicious lunches that were provided, let me congratulate you on a job well done.”
“I found the workshops thought-provoking and they assisted me in dealing with daily challenges.  I will attend future events as well.”

Thanks and congratulations to the Sun Run team including all participants and those who trained but were on site during the event. A special thanks to Bindy for organizing the team.
We improved over last year, placing 12th in our category with a total time of 8:18 for our ten runners. Our average time was 49.54.