Day 69 July 14, 2011 Parry Sound to Pointe au Baril 53km – Mike’s View
14 Jul
This morning was another early and difficult morning. We had been up late chatting to the neighbours then working on our own stuff, which made this morning extra difficult.
As we pulled out of the parking lot, Jacob came running outside and waved goodbye as we passed! His mother later wrote on Facebook that our waving and honking back made his day!
Running that morning was interrupted around the 15km mark by construction, which by km 20 had turned into a full highway closure. We were forced to detour along a smaller road. About 3km down this new smaller road, we were stopped by a woman who said that we would be passing by her camp, and that we had to call her when we would be nearby so that she could bring all her kids out to cheer us on. This sounded great, so I had organized to call her in about 5 kilometres to let her know where we were. When I called, it quickly turned into an offer for lunch, and interestingly enough, Riley had just reached his lunch break at that moment, so needless to say, in we went.
As we walked into the dining hall, we were escorted to our seats at the end of a table facing the hall, full of 80 kids. On the menu: Hot dogs! A true camp food! Riley and I enjoyed chatting to the counselors and the kids about camp and the different activities etc. After the meal, we were kindly asked to do a short talk about Riley's run.
I spoke about how Riley and I met at camp. In fact, he was my counselor my first year at camp. The kids couldn't believe it! I told them to look at their counselor closely, because they could be working together in 14 years.
Then Riley took over the stage and talked about why he was running across Canada. It was really interesting listening to a doctor who knows all about the human body and how Prostate Cancer affects it, trying to simplify it so that 7-13 year olds might be able to understand it. "Only boys have prostates. But if you're a girl, your dad, or uncle or brother could get it."
The kids loved it, and they had so many questions! The best part was that they were kids! They didn't have technical or deeply personal questions about this venture, just simple cute questions. It was really a lot of fun!
After lunch was a quick photo op with everyone in front of the MCC, and I even looked over as Riley was signing people’s hats and shaking hands. He looked like a true celebrity!
It was back onto the road for the afternoon 20km, where Riley said he suffered and put up with sore feet before we arrived in Pointe Au Baril.
We had arranged to stay in the Marina for the night (thanks to Riley's aunt Leslie and uncle Buzz). Dinner was a combination of different leftovers and food filling our cupboards. I surprised Riley with beer for dinner tonight. It is a local beer called Georgian Bay Dipper, and was quite good! I may have to pick up a few more.
Riley soaked his feet in hot water under the table while eating, and then we both wrote blogs to help him catch up. It is now 9:47pm, and I am going straight to bed now!
Good night!
-Michael Downie
As we pulled out of the parking lot, Jacob came running outside and waved goodbye as we passed! His mother later wrote on Facebook that our waving and honking back made his day!
Running that morning was interrupted around the 15km mark by construction, which by km 20 had turned into a full highway closure. We were forced to detour along a smaller road. About 3km down this new smaller road, we were stopped by a woman who said that we would be passing by her camp, and that we had to call her when we would be nearby so that she could bring all her kids out to cheer us on. This sounded great, so I had organized to call her in about 5 kilometres to let her know where we were. When I called, it quickly turned into an offer for lunch, and interestingly enough, Riley had just reached his lunch break at that moment, so needless to say, in we went.
As we walked into the dining hall, we were escorted to our seats at the end of a table facing the hall, full of 80 kids. On the menu: Hot dogs! A true camp food! Riley and I enjoyed chatting to the counselors and the kids about camp and the different activities etc. After the meal, we were kindly asked to do a short talk about Riley's run.
I spoke about how Riley and I met at camp. In fact, he was my counselor my first year at camp. The kids couldn't believe it! I told them to look at their counselor closely, because they could be working together in 14 years.
Then Riley took over the stage and talked about why he was running across Canada. It was really interesting listening to a doctor who knows all about the human body and how Prostate Cancer affects it, trying to simplify it so that 7-13 year olds might be able to understand it. "Only boys have prostates. But if you're a girl, your dad, or uncle or brother could get it."
The kids loved it, and they had so many questions! The best part was that they were kids! They didn't have technical or deeply personal questions about this venture, just simple cute questions. It was really a lot of fun!
After lunch was a quick photo op with everyone in front of the MCC, and I even looked over as Riley was signing people’s hats and shaking hands. He looked like a true celebrity!
It was back onto the road for the afternoon 20km, where Riley said he suffered and put up with sore feet before we arrived in Pointe Au Baril.
We had arranged to stay in the Marina for the night (thanks to Riley's aunt Leslie and uncle Buzz). Dinner was a combination of different leftovers and food filling our cupboards. I surprised Riley with beer for dinner tonight. It is a local beer called Georgian Bay Dipper, and was quite good! I may have to pick up a few more.
Riley soaked his feet in hot water under the table while eating, and then we both wrote blogs to help him catch up. It is now 9:47pm, and I am going straight to bed now!
Good night!
-Michael Downie
