Road Trip

This week-end my Mom, Susan, Angela and I are going on a road trip to Penticton.  We'll be up with the birds on Friday to leave by 6am.  Mom, Susan and I will take turns driving and we get to take the nice vehicle - my parents' Pacifica - that drives like it's on rails.  We'll be camping, except my Mom will sleep in the vehicle.  It's going to be a whirlwind trip - returning on Monday - and I'm excited about it.

I am going to be volunteering at Ironman Canada taking care of the special needs bags.  Those are bags where the athletes put any ... well ... special needs that they may need for the bike or the run.  One year, I put a package of sesame seed snaps in my run special needs bag as a treat at the half way point of the marathon.  Mind you I couldn't stomach them by the time I opened them up and I could barely eat one.  Athletes put anything from cookies to PBJ sandwiches or an extra T-shirt or socks in their bags; some put extra tire tubes in their bike special needs bag.  The bags aren't returned, so nothing of value is put in the bags.  On race morning before the race starts, the athletes drop off their bags in specially marked boxes (sounds like a cereal commercial), more the size of bins, and the run bags are then trucked out to the half way point of the marathon and the bike bags are taken to their designated spot.  When the athlete approaches the bike or run special needs area, a volunteer yells out the athlete's bib number to another volunteer who collects the bag to give to the athlete.  It's a very smooth operation.  My shift is from 4:30 am - 7:00 am, so I'll be up at 3:30 am.  Crazy you say!  Maybe... but instead of waiting in long line-ups to register for next year's race, I will get to go to the front of the line because I volunteered.

Fruit is another purpose for our trip.  Since we're going down there anyway, Mom plans on bringing back a lot of fruit.  Last time we were there, we could barely see out the back window because there was so much fruit.

Last forecast I heard was mid 30s for the entire week-end and my new hat will come in handy to keep me cool, or as cool as a person can get in 30 degree weather.  I'm going to have to get a couple of runs in to prepare for the Aussie heat.  If you are interested in reading about Ironman Canada, check it out here.