Saturday in Vancouver

Hello everyone,
Well, we are at the 4th annual Walk to End Breast Cancer in Vancouver. We are so happy to have Marion join us for this walk. One of the things that I did not realize was how lonely we would get at these walks. So while it fantastic to meet all these new friends and see the country, you do miss your home. It was very nice to have a little bit of "home" walk with you. So the three of us help make up the 2012 walkers who raised and incredible 5.1 million dollars for breast cancer.
The opening ceremonies take place at UBC Thunderbird stadium and as we are waiting for the ceremonies to start a lady walks in holding her husband's arm with one hand and her dog's leash in the other. She is blind. It made me think of the lady I saw walking a couple of years ago in Toronto who was blind. Incredible. Imagine walking 60 kms blind. I realize that she has coped with this condition for some time now ( I am assuming) but there are some points of the walk that are quite congested. You stutter step around people, slow up slow down and it is sometimes difficult to get your normal gait going. It is like trying to walk in a mall during the busiest day of the Christmas season. When you can not do this, it makes the walk that much more difficult. Now do this blind. We have not even started yet and already I feel energized.
So we start out from Thunderbird Stadium and head towards Stanley Park. They have changed the route this year for two reasons, first, the sea wall is still not repaired from the wind storms last year and many of the paths are still closed because of fallen trees. Second, the route in the past has been very tough apparently. We can only walk a short distance through Stanley Park which is too bad because I would of loved to seen more of it. I am a little nervous about this walk because I heard it was a tough walk and we had just walked in Edmonton the weekend before. Edmonton was not an easy walk but it was a beautiful one. So we start out Saturday morning with a little rain. It is more than a mist but not a downpour...more like a light consistent rain. I have my rain jacket on and it keeps me dry on the outside but I am sweating underneath it. So I manage to keep it on for the first hour and a half but I am dying from the heat so I have to take it off and put it in my knapsack otherwise I will dehydrate myself!! It is still raining while I am doing this but it is the strangest thing...it is still a constant rain but I am not wet. We walked from 7:30 to approximately 11:30 in the rain but never got wet. I was damp and it was warm but not soaking wet, which is what you would expect. So although this was nice, dampness and my body do not get along, as with most people. Since this is our second walk in a row, my body is still a little sore and this rain is not helping. As I am walking in the morning all I can think of is the "Tin Man" in the Wizard of Oz. You remember when Dorothy firsts meets him and how stiff he is until she oils his joints and then he can walk again....that was me. Except my "oil" was Advil. I starting taking Advil around 10 am which was usual for me but my joints were not well "oiled". So I popped a couple and after a short period of time, I was skipping down the yellow brick road. Then they would were off...creak, creak, stiff, stiff, metal on metal and then "Advil".... and off we would go skipping down the road again. I repeated this all morning.
I told Marion and Pat to walk ahead of me because I would not be able to keep up to the two of them with their long strides and faster pace. They agreed and their "faster pace" was about 30-50 yards ahead of me and one of them would turn around every 15 minutes to make sure I was OK. Then could of walked much, much faster but do not and I really appreciated it. I have been walking with "walking poles" since Sunday in Calgary and Marion and Pat now have a fear that I will bring these poles to work with me to poke/beat everyone at the office. I had not thought of that before and thanked them profusely for the idea. For those of you wondering what "walking poles" are they look like ski poles but have rubber tips on the bottom of them. They help reduce the shock on your knees and feet. They have helped me tremendously and highly recommend them if you plan to do a lot of walking.
We arrive at lunch in fairly good time around 11:30. The one problem that you have when you are doing this walk for now the fifth time, is that the lunch is the same each and every time. The first time it is not bad but by the fifth time...not so much. So Pat and I ask Marion if she is OK if we ditch lunch and find another spot for a very quick lunch. I have not mentioned yet that Vancouver is in the mist of a 23 day garbage strike and civil workers strike. The city is still remarkably clean and does not smell however the grass has not been cut in 23 days. There is also another law that is not "Murphy's law" but rather "M.J.'s law". Now M.J.'s law is that in the end it always works out but it just does not always go smoothly. Here is an example...we have agreed to find a hot dog/hamburger joint for lunch and we just past one. So we are very excited to grab a burger or hot dog and we go up to the front door to go in. Except we can't...it is locked. The sign says..."closed due to civil workers strike". Now can any of you think of ONE hot dog/hamburger joint in the city of Toronto that is NOT privately owned and operated. How many of these places do you know of that is operated by the government? Well, I can tell you exactly where one is in the whole city of Vancouver. So, we walk on and as I mentioned in the end it all works out because we come across the "Granville Brewing Company Pub". Their outside patio is decorated in pink ribbons so we pop in and ask how long it would take to get some sandwiches. We are told 10-15 minutes...perfect....we order two roast beef dip's and one chicken fajita sandwich and a couple of cokes. It was the best lunch we have had. It was soooooo good. So as I say M.J's law....it does not always go smoothly but it always works out in the end. So as we are having lunch in this pub....five firefighters walk in and they too are doing the walk. They have eaten their "walk" lunch though and have just come in for a quick drink. Why is it firefighters are all so good looking and these fellows were no exception. We found out at the pub they were walking in honour of a fellow firefighter named Dave who lost his battle to breast cancer in 2001. They have done the walk every year in his honour. They were great guys and I had a lot of fun walking behind them about 25 yards for most of the way after lunch. Not sure where Marion and Pat were but that was OK too. The scenery of Vancouver was just fine where I was. Thanks fellas.
With love and thanks,
M.J.