Day 357: Edmonton Marathon day

so, I didn't get quite a full night's sleep as I got woken up at 4am by the door bell ringing constantly and Cecilia's friend Eunice wanting to get in. my alarm then went off at 6am. Still, I managed to get ready and catch the bus downtown to the race in plenty of time. This is such a good race to be happening the weekend before I leave as I know so many people. Most of the pace bunnies are 109 street folk and most of the people I run with are doing one of the events.

I am especially glad I agreed to do the 10k instead of the marathon, I would have had to get up an hour earlier and I wouldn't have been able to cheer on the other guys I know.

I bumped into Cassondra from the store while I was sorting out my bag drop, she has taken Robyn's race number and is hoping to do 1:15 for 10k, this is her first 10k race.

I had been a bit worried about whether I could manage the pace and doing 10:1s, and this led to me setting off too fast at the start, but I managed to settle into a rhythm after a while. My fellow bunny Marcel disappeared straight away, speeding ahead.

I didn't have an actual group following me so i just tried to cheer on anyone i could.  i spoke to Murray at one point and Jacques said hello too.  When i reached the turnaround point for the 10k, i got to cheer on lots of folks i know who were a little behind (or technically way ahead if they were doing the marathon).  i had the kilometer split times written up my arm and the average pace times written on my hand, but i never saw the kilometer markers to check.  The pace seemed OK, but right before the finish line i wanted people to be overtaking me and feeling good, i didn't want to overtake anyone and put them off, so i slowed down a bit and ended up being a little bit over 55 minutes.  i still need to figure out how to do pacing i guess.  i do quite enjoy it though!

i got my medal, which is glittery and has the Edmonton skyline on it, and a whole bunch of free food including cookies, then went down to grab my bag so i could come back up and see people i know.  I also still had the pace sign even though the wind had made it difficult to carry, and wanted to return it.  Turns out they didn't really want it back and never expect to see them again.  Also turns out Cassondra came in at about 1 hour 5 minutes, way ahead of what she was predicting!  This meant i missed seeing her finish but she was very happy!

I changed my clothes and started wandering up the road as i was going to join Monique for some cheering.  I cheered as i walked and also bumped into Connie so i got to say goodbye.

Monique had signs and a cowbell and was standing just after a cheering station, so most runners came through with a big grin on their faces.

She had been cheering since 8am so an amazing effort.  When she left i wandered further back along the route as I'd seen some friends at a water station.  I found them and chatted to Wade and Gary for a bit.

Amro was now awake and replied to my message so i arranged to meet him in a Tim Horton's on Jasper ave.  As i was wandering back again, the last of the walkers were still going along.  One lady appeared to be struggling, so i walked with her and chatted a bit.  She has arthritis in most joints and shin splints and was told she would be in a wheelchair long before now, but she's still going!  Even if it takes her hours of torment to get through a 5k, she is determined to get to the finish line.  I am so impressed, i nearly went straight passed Tim's, but arrived at about the same time as Amro.  i still have a $5 gift card so got myself a free hot chocolate while he bought breakfast and we had a chat.  

There now wasn't too long until the 109 street group would be meeting up, not enough time to go home and back again.  Amro was going to pick up a friend from the airport so i went with him on the trip.  This meant having to take off the bunny ears for a bit, they won't fit inside a car, but Amro found Emily's pink wig in his car so he wore that.  

At the airport we saw the Brazilian triathlon team arriving.  So exciting that Cath will be here!! Such a shame that i won't be.

Amro and Ali dropped me off at the bar downtown and i joined a big group of 109 street folks.  I didn't want to spend too much money so i just ordered a Guinness and no food.  Turns out Murray accidentally ordered a very large tray of nachos, so i got to help him eat them.

It was great to hear how well everybody did today and what upcoming races people have.  especially the guys going to France for the wine marathon.  i wish i could go along and support them but i still won't have any money by then.  James referred to cartons of wine as "cardbordeaux" and this made me laugh a lot.  he also gave me a ride home after all the "farewell"s.

just as i got home, i noticed a text from Daniel inviting me to a fringe show at 7.  This didn't give me much time but i said i would go and jumped in the shower, finally.

we were cutting it fine and trying to figure out where we buy tickets when one lady offered me a free one as her daughter couldn't make it.  I felt like i should be offering her some money, but i didn't have any so i just said thank you and we whizzed off to try and get a second ticket for Daniel, just in time.

The show was called "this is cancer", which sounded a bit depressing and i was in such a good mood, but it turned out to be pretty funny and silly.

It started in the dark, then the guy appeared wearing a gold spandex suit with weird lumps.  he was playing a personification of cancer but he thought that he was really popular and everybody loved him (more hits on google than Jesus).  he sung songs and told stories, and then discovered that we all hate him, which caused him to strop quite a bit (because he loves us)  eventually he got a guy from the audience to fight him, live on stage, and beat cancer.

The main case study that "cancer" kept bringing up was actually the actor's story.  he and his father had both had eyes removed due to retinoblastoma.  He also encouraged us to write our own obituaries, right now, as an exercise in focusing on life and what you want to be remembered for.

When Dan was driving me home afterwards, i suggested he could come round for dinner, and i messaged Cecilia to check this was OK.  i like that i can invite people round again.  On the drive home, there was a parked car with a full skeleton sat in it.  bizarre!

We had a lovely shared meal with Cecilia, Michael, Tamas and Lee as well.  Some pasta with chicken and salad and hung out chatting and listening to music.  that was a pretty full day!

Day 356: hangover bunny

it was a bit chilly so I didn't sleep much and ended up getting up to stop my alarm going off at 8:30. One of Emily's friends was awake and offered me a ride home, then I had to shower and change and head out to catch a bus downtown. I wasn't feeling too bad but definitely tired and a bit worse for wear. Getting the bus over the river made me feel quite nostalgic (not quite the right word), I will miss views like that.

I arrived just in time, picked up a bunny hat and listened to Randy giving a speech before we all got called up to take a picture. I think there were more pace bunnies there than normal runners. There were a lot of people I know from 109 street bunnying!

We headed slowly outside and went on a run along the gravel and tarmac trails, but it was quite undulating and I was struggling enough at 10 mins/mile pace, let alone the 8:30ish i'll have to do tomorrow. I met my fellow 55 minute 10km bunny, Marcel, who I have definitely seen in the store before and chatted to other 109 street folk.

When we got back they were setting up some food for us so I got some cakes, fruit, yoghurt and juice and sat down with some of the other bunnies. I even managed to give Ed the cheque he needs so they can pay me after I close my bank accounts.

Next I went into the expo to pick up my race number, but I had to do this carrying my timing sign, which was awkward, especially when I wanted to try the free samples and needed a free hand.

When I got back home, I was intending to shower and head down to the fringe or maybe meet up with Amro while he's in town, but I ended up hanging out with Cecilia and Michael for a bit as they had just got up (about 2pm) and we ate some of the left over chicken and salad from the BBQ before they both had to go out. Then I mostly lazed around and didn't really have the energy to go down to the fringe. I tried to get a few things done on my computer but it made me very sleepy so I had a bit of a lie down on the sofa. I made some chicken soup and chatted to Tamas (who got up impressively late) and then there wasn't long until dinner time.

We had a nice big shared dinner of my soup, some pizza Tamas bought and salad Michael bought. The rest of the guys were planning on going out to a bar or two for a bit, but I needed to get ready for tomorrow and get some sleep.

Day 355: Leaving party!

Today I was meeting Fabio for breakfast as he is then going away for work so can't make my party. We drove downtown to his favourite breakfast diner, Rick's and I ate crabcakes with poached eggs on top, shredded potatoes and fruit. I was still tired after another fail at catching up on sleep so I had tea as well. Fabio had steak and eggs and it looked really juicy. We chatted about his travel plans for next year and stuff, then he dropped me back home so I could get ready to run over and meet Aimee.

I left a bit later than I intended so I had to run quite fast and I don't think breakfast had entirely settled in my stomach yet, so I did end up feeling a bit ill. It was great to run along the Belgravia trails again though, they are lovely and shady and green and i'd forgotten just how hilly. With the bridge to the museum being rebuilt, I wasn't sure of the best way but managed to find trails taking me there and only arrived a couple of minutes late. Aimee's colleague Sean was running with us again as well. We did a lovely route round some trails I haven't been along before, but I was much slower than them and struggling. I really will miss all the trail running and the beautiful river valley. After our run, me and Aimee went to the cafe over the road from her house, Vi's for Pies and I got to catch up on what she has been up to recently. She even insisted on paying for my tea and cake. This time I was a bit more sensible and went to wait for a bus instead of attempting to run right after eating.

Cecilia had suggested we have a BBQ before going over to my leaving party, so that didn't leave me with very much time to get all my errands done. I rushed out and got half way up to the Running Room before I realised I didn't have the blank cheque with me that they needed. I got my watch back from Andie and set it to run to see how loud the beeps were. I could barely hear it at all so I think I will just have to use two watches for the race on sunday.

I wandered down whyte ave as I wanted to go to Save on Foods for shopping to see if I could use up my store card points but I also stopped into one shop to try on dresses! Luckily they didn't fit or I might have been tempted to buy one.

Turns out I can't use my points as I don't have enough yet so the long walk was a waste but I got salad things and rolls for the BBQ (Michael would be buying meat) and then headed home.

I had to quickly straighten my hair, get my laundry out of the drier, put make up on and decide what to wear (I texted a photo to Emily) and managed to get everything done within half an hour, in time for the “official” start time for the BBQ, but as nobody was here yet, that gave a bit of extra time so me and Tamas wandered up to the liquor store. Both Alanna and Malcolm were working but Alanna was finishing very soon and would still be able to go to the party.

It feels kinda strange to be having a leaving party, Emily had even chosen the same dress that I wore for my leaving party in England, but I was mostly just excited about having a party for ME.

We got home a couple of minutes after everybody else arrived. (except Cecilia who ended up being quite late back)

There were only five of us so there will be lots of leftover food for later or tomorrow and between us we did a really good job. Michael did most of the barbecuing and the meat was delicious. 

 I was very keen to leave and go to MY party, but we ended up hanging about for quite a while and chatting. Octavio arrived as well and offered a ride to the liquor store for those that needed it. Me and Salim declined and walked straight to Steve's house.

Steve is so good at hosting parties, he had gone to a fair amount of effort decorating with union jacks and a few people had got dressed up. An australian guy was in a tuxedo but with really jazzy trousers. We chatted, we danced, we did poi, it was great to see people. Then, the lights went out and Steve came in with a cake with sparklers on top! Wow!! the cake had even been decorated especially and when I cut it, I found out it was ice cream cake!! then everybody sung happy birthday, which was amusing. This time though everybody knew my name, unlike on my actual birthday. 

There was lots of hat swapping and then Cecilia decided she wanted to swap clothes with me. She was less amused later on when I then swapped with Amro so he was wearing her tiny clothes, but I thought it was hilarious and he looked pretty good.

I was having such a great time, and so touched, I just couldn't bring myself to leave the party with the rest of my house so I stayed and crashed in Emily's room for a bit but with an alarm set nice and early so I could still make the Friendship Run for my pace bunnying duties.

Day 354: last day of work

the weather was cooler today so while I was working outside I was wearing a hoodie and a jacket. I didn't bother bringing a different t-shirt for table moving but I did get myself an iced coffee to make it fun. I topped up the caffeine later with a mocha under the pretense that it would warm my hands up.

I felt like I was counting down the minutes with glee but I have enjoyed working here and spending time with all the wonderful people. Office work will come as quite a shock! Still, its my last day so I spent quite a lot of time trying on sports bras and comparing them. Andie had forgotten to bring in her computer to fix my watch but instead she offered to take my watch away and I could come and pick it back up again tomorrow. I also found some really cheap shoes I may have to buy... oh dear.

It was a fun day and I was being quite silly a lot of the time. I got caught helping an old lady with shoes right at the end of my shift which meant I ended up staying 15 minutes over.

As I was leaving I realised how tired I was and decided I really wanted to get some junk food for dinner, but I didn't know what. I started wandering but nothing was jumping out at me and I ended up walking quite a way before finding some noodles I wanted. This meant I had used up a lot of the evening already and I had intended to go to the fringe show in Cha Island before the couchsurf meet up. When I finally got home, I didn't have much time and I still felt really tired, so I decided to just stay in, have a bath and go to bed early. I feel bad as its my last Thursday in Canada and I wanted to go to the meeting and see everybody.

Cecilia did go, and when she came back she said everybody was asking about me (so I felt guilty) but that they were all going to the party tomorrow (so I felt better again). She had also met up with a couchsurfer who would be coming to stay with us, Tamas from Hungary, then Irish Michael arrived too, then I got sucked in to staying up, chatting and drinking.  which was nice!

Day 353: Fringe day and reunion

I took my time getting up and made myself a boiled egg for breakfast, while introducing myself to the Germans: a father and teenage son and daughter. The father had met Fred in a bar in Germany, then ended up spending a couple of days with him. He had lived in Edmonton a while when he was younger and was going to take his kids to the mall today after meeting some old friends for breakfast, then they would go camping in the mountains. Once they left, I went in and reclaimed my things, moving everything into Cecilia's room. Later on I found out they were only staying one night and going to the mountains straight away so I moved my stuff again.

My plan today was to hang about at the fringe until it was time to go to run club. I texted Daniel to see if he wanted to join me at some point and he said there was a show at 12pm he wanted to see, so that worked out well!

The show was called “no tweed too tight” and was the adventures of Grant Canyon – a high profile insurance investigator in the 70s. With major memory problems caused by heavy drinking and PTSD, in way over his head, leaving a trail of bodies and even a brief scene in space. It was a one man show which reminded me a bit of Sir Digby Chicken Caesar. It made me laugh out loud most of the way through. We then got some food and took it with us to find a cherry tree that Daniel had spotted, so that sorted dessert. Another show was about to start and I decided I also wanted to buy an “elephant ear” (deep fried dough with strawberries and stuff). We sat on the grass near the front and really got into the spirit of cheering and wooping at the acrobats. Towards the end of the show, when they were preparing for their finale, I got grabbed from the audience and dragged on stage to help out. This has never happened to me before and I would never volunteer, but it was fun and possibly the start of a slippery slope to running away and joining the circus...

The next show I wanted to see was the “flo bros”, who were living in Michael's house and their show sounded interesting. They did improvised hip hop and rap based on audience suggestion and they were also being filmed for CTV at the start of the show. For the first game they asked people to hold up an item and they went around making up rhymes about whatever they grabbed. The third guy with them was a local who was making tunes in the background for them. He was pretty amazing. For one of the “games” a guy called Neil was pulled from the crowd and they recorded him saying various things then used those words as part of a song, but the best bit of that was his impression of an orangutan. They ended up saving that sound onto the keyboard permanently and kept bringing it up again throughout the show.

After that, there was nobody waiting at the glitter tattoo stand so I went to get one ( a squirrel) and Daniel got a phoenix. Then a new show was starting – an Australian contortionist with a red mohawk. He was pretty amazing but I had to miss the big finale so that I could get back for run club.

I got distracted on the walk back and bought an ice cream too.

I was supposed to be testing my polar watch out to do 10:1s for sunday's race but couldn't get it to work, despite instructions from Andie. It seemed overly complicated but I still couldn't see what I was doing wrong.

All the run club groups were doing an easy 6k as it was taper week for the race, but Darcy wanted to do hills as his race isn't til November so I agreed to go with him. I feel pretty out of shape right now and i'm a little bit worried I won't be able to do the pace needed for sunday. The hills were hard work, but apparently we were fairly consistent at least.

Andie said she would bring her computer into work tomorrow if I brought my watch in and then she would help me set it up, then I headed back home to eat and shower.

I was just going to have a bowl of cereal but Cecilia had cooked so i got to have steak and pasta.  much better!

Today i had arranged to go back to my old house for a reunion with Oscar the Cat.  I texted Tim to let me in as Oscar would just run and hide if i rang the doorbell.  Turned out he would still run and hide and is still just as much of a scaredy cat.  i spent ages waving a shoelace around near the edge of the sofa to try and entice him out from underneath.  each time i looked he was a little bit closer, then his paws started appearing to grab the rope.  eventually he did come out and i was even allowed to stroke him and rub his belly.

it was great to have that time to catch up with Tim and Salim as well, even Nikola came home a bit later.  Salim was keen to share some of the free alcohol from his liquor store (he is still working two jobs trying to sell it!) so i ended up having a few drinks too and persuading them to come for a BBQ on Friday as well.

i wish i could've just stayed in that house.  Any issues i had living there were nothing compared to what i had to put up with at Michael's place.  it was great to go back and visit again.

Day 352: crazy tea shop and lonely movie trip

I had all sorts of intentions of what I was going to do today, but I took my time getting out of bed, pootling about and having a nice bath. Two of the bedrooms here are en suite and there are currently just two of us here so I may as well make the most of it.

I then texted Cecily to see if she could go for lunch late as I was still not ready, but she had to take lunch at 12 so I wouldn't be able to meet her. Oops.

After faffing on the internet for some time (some of it was necessary planning but mostly facebook – Brenda published her race report from CDR, which was an interesting read) I finally ventured outside to the post office and discovered it was a bit cooler today. This meant I changed clothes into my long skirt to go out again as I was due to meet Brenda for tea at 6pm.

“Cally's Teas” was a cute little tea room with a very dotty woman and lots of little trinkets and things. There was a fringe festival show there at 7:30 so we would have to leave before then as we didn't have a ticket. We must have been asked 50 times whether we were there for the show, and its a small place so there were only about ten people who asked, repeatedly. It was very odd. I had scones and jam and it actually resembled “proper” English scones. Brenda explained that she has accidentally entered the Iron Horse 100 mile race, even though it is not long after her wedding. It was great talking through Death Race with her, and discussing me potentially returning to try one of the races again next year. Ultrarunners are an awesome bunch.

When we got kicked out, the dotty woman gave us both hugs for saying how fun and friendly her cafe was, then I went to wait for a bus downtown.

My plan was to go to the free cinema in Churchill Square to see Frozen, meeting up with Aimee and/or Ian in the process. I ended up waiting around for over an hour for it to get dark enough for the film to start, all by myself as they both flaked on me. Somebody gave me a film magazine to read, which filled in some of the time, the rest was filled in exchanging text messages about how delayed they both were. Still, the film was good.

I got some slightly frantic messages from Cecilia, as the German visitors, who were due to arrive at midnight, had arrived early. I was planning on moving all my bags out of the way when I got back from the film so now it was too late and she had had to try and move what she could quickly. The internet on my phone wasn't working so I couldn't reply.

When I got home (via train – I love living back near the train), the Germans had already gone to bed as they were jet lagged and my toothbrush/contact lens stuff etc. was in the en suite bathroom. I borrowed a toothbrush and slept with my contacts in. the house was full so I was sharing with Cecilia, which meant setting an alarm for 7am as she had to get up for work.

So, a nice lazy start to the day, followed by a bit of a messy evening. I'm really glad to be not working.

Day 351: ten days til Iceland and UK

today has been designated as a lazy recovery day.

I had an alarm set for very late so I could just wake up when I wanted, snooze for bit and eventually get up. Hooray for sleep!

I made myself an epic breakfast of scrambled eggs, spicy tuna, tomatoes and mushrooms on toast and eventually got myself ready and wandered back to Michael's house. Fabio had agreed to help me move as he's not working at the moment, so I had plenty of time to pack (badly) before he arrived at about 1pm. This has made it abundantly clear how much stuff I have and how much I will probably have to get rid of before I leave!

After we dropped all my bags off at Fred's house, we headed out to cha island. I had realised this morning that monday at cha is cheap waffles day! Fabio said he wasn't hungry and would just have tea, but once the waffle arrived he helped me eat it!

Once we finally headed home, I was feeling pretty lazy so spent the remains of the afternoon doing very little until Cecilia came home. The two of us then wandered up to safeways and got back just in time for Cecily to arrive.

I was cooking leftover beef stew and some veggies for us, and Cecily was bringing “baby duck”, a very cheap Canadian fizzy wine similar to lambrini.

It was lovely to just hang out and chat, although stew is much better in the winter and it was a bit too warm for today!

Irish Michael popped round too as he just lives round the corner, but eventually we all headed to bed.