Bringing in reinforcements

Today started early for the first time in a long time. Tyler was up early on his last day making eggs and toast. I was running by just after 7am and had done 20km by 9:30am. I stopped to give my legs a quick rest and when I exited the MCC to start running again I noticed a black SUV had pulled up behind us. I figured it was someone coming to see if we were ok or to ask about what we were doing, but all at once the doors started opening and I instantly recognized Roger Hatch, my high school rugby coach and Trevor Thomas, a buddy from high school. In total seven people emerged from the car; David Speirs my other rugby coach, Josh MacLean, Rob Snowden, Bryce Quan and Alim Abdulla.

Apparently there are five stages to grief, but I think there must also be five stages to joy, and I experienced them in rapid succession; confusion, disbelief, understanding, acceptance, joy. They had driven in from Vancouver last night, stayed at a hotel in Merritt, and driven out to find me this morning. I can’t describe how awesome it was to see everyone there.

We said some quick hellos and then got back to running, this time with an additional five people. Snowden couldn’t run because he forgot his running shoes back at the hotel and Speirs was driving. They all ran varying distances throughout the day, some running multiple times, others just once. Elaine showed up at some point during the morning to collect Tyler and take him back home to Kelowna. It was awesome having him with us!

On the way into Merritt was a very steep descent, which caused some trouble with lots of legs including mine. This also set us up for a steep ascent out of Merritt to be tackled after lunch.

Snowden and I started running at the base of the hill out of Merritt. It ended up being an 8.5km ascent at a fairly steep grade, something that Snowy didn’t enjoy too much. He was red faced but determined not to stop. The boys started taking shorter shifts in the afternoon and I always had someone to run with.  By the end of the day Bryce had run 38km and then walked 2 to cool down. This coming from a guy who says he hasn’t run in 3-4 years.

All 9 of us piled into the MCC and drove back to the visitor info centre to pick up Josh’s car and upon stopping were greeted by a bus load full of British tourists who came over to talk about the run. I was sitting in the MCC when I was told that I had to come out to meet some people. Some of the guys had been talking to the tourists about the run and when I came around the corner they just started taking my picture, but no one really asked me anything at first. It was kind of awkward and I felt a little like an animal at the zoo but I was tired and didn’t really know what to say. Eventually though we got a dialogue going and it wasn’t so strange.

After enjoying the hot tub at the guys’ hotel we all wandered over to a nearby pub to eat dinner and watch the Canada vs New Zealand rugby match. Before the match had even really started a free pitcher of beer was sent over from a kiwi who was also watching to soften the blow of the loss that was expected to happen. Needless to say his prediction was somewhat accurate as we were beaten 79-15.

Watching everyone walk back to the hotel was priceless!

Bringing in reinforcements

Today started early for the first time in a long time. Tyler was up early on his last day making eggs and toast. I was running by just after 7am and had done 20km by 9:30am. I stopped to give my legs a quick rest and when I exited the MCC to start running again I noticed a black SUV had pulled up behind us. I figured it was someone coming to see if we were ok or to ask about what we were doing, but all at once the doors started opening and I instantly recognized Roger Hatch, my high school rugby coach and Trevor Thomas, a buddy from high school. In total seven people emerged from the car; David Speirs my other rugby coach, Josh MacLean, Rob Snowden, Bryce Quan and Alim Abdulla.

Apparently there are five stages to grief, but I think there must also be five stages to joy, and I experienced them in rapid succession; confusion, disbelief, understanding, acceptance, joy. They had driven in from Vancouver last night, stayed at a hotel in Merritt, and driven out to find me this morning. I can’t describe how awesome it was to see everyone there.

We said some quick hellos and then got back to running, this time with an additional five people. Snowden couldn’t run because he forgot his running shoes back at the hotel and Speirs was driving. They all ran varying distances throughout the day, some running multiple times, others just once. Elaine showed up at some point during the morning to collect Tyler and take him back home to Kelowna. It was awesome having him with us!

On the way into Merritt was a very steep descent, which caused some trouble with lots of legs including mine. This also set us up for a steep ascent out of Merritt to be tackled after lunch.

Snowden and I started running at the base of the hill out of Merritt. It ended up being an 8.5km ascent at a fairly steep grade, something that Snowy didn’t enjoy too much. He was red faced but determined not to stop. The boys started taking shorter shifts in the afternoon and I always had someone to run with.  By the end of the day Bryce had run 38km and then walked 2 to cool down. This coming from a guy who says he hasn’t run in 3-4 years.

All 9 of us piled into the MCC and drove back to the visitor info centre to pick up Josh’s car and upon stopping were greeted by a bus load full of British tourists who came over to talk about the run. I was sitting in the MCC when I was told that I had to come out to meet some people. Some of the guys had been talking to the tourists about the run and when I came around the corner they just started taking my picture, but no one really asked me anything at first. It was kind of awkward and I felt a little like an animal at the zoo but I was tired and didn’t really know what to say. Eventually though we got a dialogue going and it wasn’t so strange.

After enjoying the hot tub at the guys’ hotel we all wandered over to a nearby pub to eat dinner and watch the Canada vs New Zealand rugby match. Before the match had even really started a free pitcher of beer was sent over from a kiwi who was also watching to soften the blow of the loss that was expected to happen. Needless to say his prediction was somewhat accurate as we were beaten 79-15.

Watching everyone walk back to the hotel was priceless!