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Day 146 September 29, 2011 Day off Kelowna

3 Oct

I love sleeping in!I tried to sleep in until 10am but I was wide awake by 8:45am. Still, that’s about 4 hours more than I usually get to sleep in, and there was nothing that I had to do until 10am so I lay in bed and red my book. Awesome!There …

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Day 146 September 29, 2011 Day off Kelowna

3 Oct

I love sleeping in!I tried to sleep in until 10am but I was wide awake by 8:45am. Still, that’s about 4 hours more than I usually get to sleep in, and there was nothing that I had to do until 10am so I lay in bed and red my book. Awesome!Ther…

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Day 146 September 29, 2011 Day off Kelowna

3 Oct

I love sleeping in!
I tried to sleep in until 10am but I was wide awake by 8:45am. Still, that’s about 4 hours more than I usually get to sleep in, and there was nothing that I had to do until 10am so I lay in bed and red my book. Awesome!
There are a surprising number of people that I know who live in Kelowna, something I was unaware of until I decided to run through. We drove up to Dana and Kent’s house and were served a delicious brunch. Dana used to be my family’s nanny and I haven’t seen her in ages. We spent a few hours eating and catching up and it was great to reconnect.
On the drive back from Dana’s we decided that we should probably get haircuts. My hair grows out of my head dead straight and likes to stick straight up when the wind gets at it. So the longer my hair gets the more ridiculously it stands straight up.
Tyler and Elaine had very generously lent us their car for the day so we could bomb around Kelowna and not use the gas guzzling beast that is the MCC. So once we were done with our errands we picked them up at their condo and went back to where we were staying to use its pool and hot tub. The strange thing though is that despite looking at the pool last night and it being in perfect working order, by this afternoon it was completely drained. One day too late I guess. The good news though was that the hot tub was still full and so we spent some time turning into prunes.
That night at dinner at Rose’s pub, which had a nice view of the water, we met up again with Andrew Best and Geoff Oliver. It was a great night with the best nachos I can remember having. For the first time ever I think, we ran out of chips while there was still cheese and sauces left. During dinner one of the other waitresses came by to say hi and it turns out it was one of the fire fighters who escorted us through Lake Country when we cause that massive traffic jam yesterday.
All in all a great day off and my last one now for the trip. Tomorrow I get to tackle my biggest single climb!

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Day 146 September 29, 2011 Day off Kelowna

3 Oct

I love sleeping in!I tried to sleep in until 10am but I was wide awake by 8:45am. Still, that’s about 4 hours more than I usually get to sleep in, and there was nothing that I had to do until 10am so I lay in bed and red my book. Awesome!There …

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Day 145 September 28, 2011 Vernon to Kelowna 61km

1 Oct

Not everyone tolerates traffic delays

The weather here is much warmer than it was in Banff and although Firstar has sent me a ton of warm weather gear I haven’t really had much opportunity to wear it. In fact, I think I may have gotten a little sun burnt today.
The morning began with a staged photo op of Mike stretching my hamstring. I don’t think he’s helped me stretch once this trip but that’s the photo the photographer from the Vernon Morning Star wanted so who were we to say otherwise.
I continued running from the military camp and almost immediately found myself climbing up a steep hill that began to offer a beautiful view of one of the lakes in Vernon. I continued on for about half an hour before I entered Lake Country and was met by a number of people.
First there was my cousin Mike Riley, who had brought another cousin of mine Kit Riley by for me to meet. It was the first time we had met and he told me his own personal story about prostate cancer. Second there was Andrew Best, a good friend of mine from camp whom I haven’t seen in a number of years, and who lives in Vernon. Thirdly were a reporter and cameraman from CHBC news who did a quick interview with me. Finally there was our fire escort for Lake Country.
The run through Lake Country was beautiful and warm and at the start was two lanes wide. Eventually though we found ourselves merging into single lane traffic which meant that with the fire escort we were completely blocking traffic and no one could pass us. This continued for around 30 minutes and a long line of traffic had formed behind us. When we finally found a turn off where we could pull over we found out just how angry some of the motorists were. The first couple of cars drove by with continuous pressure on the horn and their middle fingers extended. At the same time as this was happing though a woman pulled over to tell us her story about her own cancer and to give us all the money she had on her at the time. It was a strange contradiction. The fire fighters weren’t bothered in the slightest. In fact, I think they were kind of enjoying it!
Shortly after leaving Lake Country we entered the Kelowna city limits and were met by the Kelowna fire department. The made a very generous donation and then the two trucks escorted us all the way through Kelowna right up to the bridge over to West Kelowna. During the escort Elaine joined Tyler and I and the two of them ran the entire 10km portion we were escorted. We were also joined by Sarah Greenwood, a friend of mine from high school who I haven’t seen in ages.
All in all a great afternoon run.
We finished running somewhere in West Kelowna where we were met by Jennay Oliver, the sister of my brother’s good friend Geoffrey. Jennay gave us directions to her fruit stand where we met Geoffrey and were given a tour of their fruit stand and surrounding orchards, along with massive scoops of free ice cream! By the time we left Geoff and his mother had loaded us down with fresh apples, pears, plums, squash, tomatoes and basil. Incredible!
The remainder of the evening consisted of dinner at Earls where I held myself back from ordering three starters in addition to my main course and falling quickly to sleep in our friends condo that they very generously lent us for the time we were in Kelowna.
Tomorrow is my first non-running day in 12 days, since Calgary, and the first time since I can remember that I have nothing scheduled to do in the morning and I can sleep in!

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Day 145 September 28, 2011 Vernon to Kelowna 61km

1 Oct

Not everyone tolerates traffic delaysThe weather here is much warmer than it was in Banff and although Firstar has sent me a ton of warm weather gear I haven’t really had much opportunity to wear it. In fact, I think I may have gotten a little sun burn…

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Day 145 September 28, 2011 Vernon to Kelowna 61km

1 Oct

Not everyone tolerates traffic delaysThe weather here is much warmer than it was in Banff and although Firstar has sent me a ton of warm weather gear I haven’t really had much opportunity to wear it. In fact, I think I may have gotten a little sun bu…

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Day 144 September 27, 2011 Sicamous to Vernon 64km

1 Oct

I feel like I’m getting close now

Neither Mike nor I drink coffee and this is often a problem for the people that come and join us to drive the MCC. This was the case for Tyler. While we were filling with propane at the gas station Tyler hurriedly went to the nearby A&W and came out with a tall cup of coffee and a breakfast sandwich. He also had the biggest single piece of beef jerky I’ve ever seen. I really wish I’d taken a picture of it but it was easily the size of his face.
Mike started running with me but kept having to stop to answer the phone. Eventually he gave up and spent about an hour answering phone calls from Vernon and Kelowna. By the afternoon Tyler was running with me and we passed through an area of construction about 5km long. Earlier in the day we had met two family friends of Mike’s who had warned us about the construction. Once again though, the construction provided Tyler and I essentially a brand new empty two-lane highway all to ourselves for 5km. Perfect.
Over the past couple of days the same two cyclists have been passing me. Today, for the third consecutive day these cyclists rode past me. Three days ago it was in the morning during a steep uphill so we just waved at each other. Yesterday they passed me while I was running with the fire escort. Today they passed us while we were eating lunch. I haven’t had the chance to talk to them yet but I find it odd that I keep getting out in front of them. The only thing I can think of is that they are sleeping in and starting late. (And because I’m writing this blog from the future I can say that tomorrow I will see them again for the 4th time!)
As we approached the Vernon city limits I was met by two fire trucks waiting for me by the side of the road. Two firefighters joined in and ran with Mike and I while the two trucks escorted us through the city. Tonight was the first time that I ended up running in the dark and it was even cooler to have a fire escort with lights flashing in the dark.
The final few km of the run saw us running up a fairly steep hill, past the new Vernon hospital where Tyler’s fiancée Elaine works, and ending in the parking lot of the military camp. When we arrived we were met by Lloyd from the local prostate cancer group and a number of volunteers. They had brought foam hands, a huge banner, and a number of shirts for us. It was a great reception.
We spent the night at the fire hall where they let us plug our RV in and provided us with some of the best showers we’ve had so far this trip.  Sean, another friend of ours from Camp met us at the fire hall and we all went out to dinner at Boston Pizza.
Tomorrow I should make it to Kelowna!

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Day 144 September 27, 2011 Sicamous to Vernon 64km

1 Oct

I feel like I’m getting close nowNeither Mike nor I drink coffee and this is often a problem for the people that come and join us to drive the MCC. This was the case for Tyler. While we were filling with propane at the gas station Tyler hurriedly went …

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Day 144 September 27, 2011 Sicamous to Vernon 64km

1 Oct

I feel like I’m getting close nowNeither Mike nor I drink coffee and this is often a problem for the people that come and join us to drive the MCC. This was the case for Tyler. While we were filling with propane at the gas station Tyler hurriedly wen…

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