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The texts have told me it is another long run weekend, with Carroll and Tamara getting ever closer to their races in Portland and Niagara Falls. Do you want to join them? I hear the first digit is a three while the start time digit unknowningly rhymes with heaven. So if by chance the two of these digits work with yours, join us at Eau Claire for a very early morning trot. If you would rather rhyme with hate (funny how the earlier is heaven and the later hate?) we will try to trot back and pick up the late morning stragglers. See you at Eau Claire, heaven or hate!
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This Saturday is also the public grand opening of our new buildings at SAIT (heeyyy, that rhymes with hate too!). I would be honoured to give you a tour of our fantastic new buildings. I will be on campus from noon to hate-err eight, to entertain, inform, and enlight. Maybe you would like to play with a drilling simulator or a welding torch???
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Well, what a lovely two weeks of trotting the trails. Starting waaayyy back two weeks ago when Carolyn, Peter, and myself ran away from the Eau Claire trio of Joy, Lorianne, and Willie to trot the Upper Kananaskis Trail. While they ran a lovely route which ended at the Barbecue by the Bow, we attacked the mountains with vigour and rounded the lake with a comfortable 16.2 km trail trot. No bears, elk, or moose, but we did find a waterfall from the middle of the lake, lots of beautiful view checks, and a great patio finish line at the Lodge at Kananaskis. Where could you go wrong dancing with dirt then cleaning your palette with ice cold beer? I think there are few other reasons not to attempt this day!
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| Peter and Carolyn hanging out at a waterfall |
As many of you know Joy, Sadie, and me took the drive up the Banff to Jasper highway for a visit of the Canadian Rockies highest peak. Did you know that while it is the tallest in the Rockies, it is only 21st in peak height when you include the mountains in the north. It is almost 7,000 feet shorter than Mount Robson!
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| Oh, the view checks! Falls of the Pool. |
The reason for our visit was to attempt the Mount Robson Marathon. We came, we saw, we conquered! After 5.5 hours and 46 km, an elevation gain of approx. 1 km (and then down!) my legs were a bit shredded from the application of brakes on the decline. While this type of event is not for all, Joy and I could not fathom the beauty of the Mount Robson Provincial park and the natural watershed that the mountain has created.
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| Some of the wit written on signs |
From our wonderful stay at the Mountain River Lodge to the lovely drive up and back, all points along the way were stunning. If you ever need a weekend away with little distraction (but satellite TV!), the lodge would fit the bill. We are both rested with stress levels back to low. Now if we can get the roof, ensuite, and garage doors fixed...
Staying at a bed and breakfast you get to meet some wonderful people. Our first night we had dinner with a couple from Fort McMurray via Ontario. He like many who lost their jobs in the east followed the oil up north and now drives a bus to the various camps. Our second night we dined with two fellow runners, John and Isabel Ostrom, and another couple from Australia via England. They too followed work from their original home to AUS and now were retired. The ability to meet interesting people from around the world is what makes a B&B a great place to stay.
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Our friend Carolyn above is doing an interesting race this weekend. Rather than cutting and pasting I thought I would just let you hear - and read - her words.
Hey Everyone,
As some of you know, I am participating in a run this Saturday - MitoCanada "Running on Empty" - to promote awareness for MitoCanada, a Foundation dedicated to the awareness, support and research of a condition called Mitochondrial Disease. Have you heard of it? I wanted to take this opportunity to educate and forward information on about this disease. Blaine Penny is the founder of MitoCanada and the father of a young boy diagnosed with it 4 years ago. I don't know Blaine personally but am looking forward to meeting him. He's more a friend-of-a-friend-of-friends but I was very inspired when approached to participate - he is so driven, positive, passionate, hopeful and dedicated to his son, his family and the entire Mitochondrial Disease cause. I couldn't help but want to participate.
We all know people who have kids - whether they are your own, nieces, nephews, grandkids or even friends kids - I encourage you to watch the short video clips on Blaine and his story. Imagine taking your child to the hospital and having him diagnosed with appendicitis - no real biggie right? Well, in this case it was - imagine your child goes in to surgery to have their appendix removed and the next day they can no longer eat, speak or walk. Turns out it wasn't appendicitis but Mitochondrial Disease. How quickly ones life can change, as we all know, but if only one person reads this e-mail and watches the short clips it will still be one more person who knows about it. . .
Thanks.
Carolyn
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Background on Running on Empty:
Runners and cyclists will use their mitochondria to the max, taking advantage of their health knowing those suffering from mitochondrial disease don’t have that opportunity.
Blaine Penny’s son Evan suffers from a severe form of MITOCHONDRIAL DISEASE that 4 years ago left him with significant brain damage. Overnight, Evan went from a typical little boy to a spastic quadriplegic bound to a wheel chair and can no longer eat or talk and struggles to generate enough energy to hold his head up or put a smile on his face.
Two years ago a group of 20 runners ran the inaugural “Running on Empty” 100 km ultra marathon, which has now become an annual event and expanded to include a riding event (mountain and road biking), and a post event party – Rockin’ on Empty – in Canmore. It’s a great parallel for the disease.
Here’s a 22 min documentary made by award winning Calgary film maker Neil Webb about the inaugural run that explains Evan’s story and why we are doing this run.
Documentary: http://www.statinpro.com/RunningOnEmpty.html
A note from Blaine:
Sarah and I have tried to keep everyone up to date on our son Evan's status and progress since he became suddenly ill with Mitochondrial Disease 4 years ago. We wish we had better news to share regarding progress, but unfortunately we are still searching for answers and doing more testing to better understand the genetics piece and hoping for better treatment and a cure in the future. Fortunately, Evan has been stable over the last year and still continues to smile.
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There is also a couple of fun events this weekend that I would love to do but have too much on the plate. The first is the Glenbow Ranch Music and Motion Run. Killer hills but what a view. Do it if you can cause it's a first ever!
The second event I will get to...the annual Westie Walk. Over one hundred of Sadie's siblings will be in Confederation Park to walk with their fellow Westies. If you don't have one just come stalk the grounds like Christine did many years ago. Ahhh, no dog would ever stop her!
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