Go Canada Go!

As a country, Canada could not ask for more than what we have already accomplished in 13 gold medals, the most (by 3 I might add) by any host Winter Olympic Country; however, we are asking for more, we want just 1 more. We want Gold in today's hockey game. The war is on all you USA fans :P It is a friendly war of course; however, we REALLY REALLY want this one gold.

The pre-game show is on and my HR is already rising. The nerves are here and I have no idea how I am going to get through 60 minutes of hockey. The only thing I have left to say, at the moment of course, is GO CANADA GO! Come on Luongo, be unstoppable today of all days!

Where to start!

Warning: This post might turn out to be lame as I am pretty unmotivated to write it due to just updating a whack load of information for the past 2.5 weeks of workouts for my coach; however, I know if I don't write this tonight, it will get put off until after the weekend.

So where the heck to start! How about those Canadian women who are dominating our medal haul. Talk about an inspiration, with the latest being the Canadian Women's Hockey team taking gold (Sorry USA), and then our own Joannie Rochette who had her mother pass away earlier this week in Vancouver skate her way to a bronze medal in the figure skating! This added onto an amazing day yesterday, of the Canadian Men's Hockey team with a BIG win over Russia, then a gold and silver in the women's bobsled, Clara Hughes (the only person to win multiple medals in both summer and winter Olympics) win's a bronze in the women's 5000, and the women's 3000m relay team takes silver. Wow. Let's just say that when I haven't been running or at work, I have been glued to my TV.

As mentioned in my last post, my weekend was crazy busy. I was off work Fri-Sun and barely had a free moment. It all started with grocery shopping and errands on the Friday followed by dinner at the Keg for my step dad's birthday. Then my buddy Chris came over at about 10pm and we ended up playing Super Mario wii until 1:30am.

Saturday started early with my long run at 9am, a short bit to relax before heading to baby Maggie's Baby shower. After that I came home for dinner (an hour) and then we went back out to Matt and Karen's (Maggie's parents) until late. We watched the movie 2012 which turned out to be longer than expected and full of horrible special effects. Here are some photo highlights of Maggie's shower.

Maggie and her casts due to foot issues upon birth

Cake!



3 Generations and the littlest one who found eye liner in the bathroom



Daddy cutting the cake and Jake wanted to help out. Little did he know, his face would soon be hitting the table after leaning to far forward and daddy couldn't catch him. No major injuries tough, just a few tears!



Mom and oldest daughter Hailey opening presents

It was my intention on Saturday to be in bed early; however, that didn't happen due to that darn movie. When my alarm went off on Sunday at 5:30am, at first I thought it was my work calling or that I had set my alarm accidentally. Luckily before turning it off, I realized that it was set for the right time as I was heading to Vancouver for the day on the 6:30am ferry.

We were intially going to head out on the 8:30am ferry, but we had heard the day before about 400 walk ons got left behind as the ferry was full so we opted to go earlier. Little did we know, everyone else had the same plan. It was the first time ever that I have been on a full 6:30am ferry. That one is normally the emptiest. We did get to see a beautiful sunrise though.

Kristin, Caitlin and I on the ferry



Ads in Vancouver (thanks to RBC for selecting me as Torch bearer!)



Line up for the Cauldron viewing platform. Not that long of a wait



Cauldron Photos







Security over the Olympic Rings



Crowds at the Cauldron



Did you know we were a bobsled team?



Line ups at the Royal Canadian Mint to see the Olympic medals and a 1 million dollar coin (no idea how long the line took as this is only PART of the line)



Huh?



Crowds everywhere



Oh Canada!!!



Zip Line over Robson Square (no idea of how long the line was)



Security working hard



Molson Canadian Hockey House





Count Down to the next Winter Olympics in Russia



Looking back towards downtown Vancouver (BC Place and GM Pl...oops Canada Hockey Place)



Athletes Village



Inukshuk with Science World AKA: Russian House in the background



Kristin and I



Lots and lots of inukshuk's



Athlete's Village: Canadian Headquarters I assume



Looking back towards Science World



Crowds



We took a break from Olympic events and went into the BC Sports Hall of Fame. Here we found Canadian Olympic Bronze Medalist from the 1984 Summer Games in LA I believe, Pamela Rai (part of a swim relay)



Simon Whifield's Torch



Yay I won

Okay I think that is enough with the photos. They have made this post pretty long. I have a ton of photos and the rest are on my facebook (for those who are on my frineds list). It was a gorgeous day when we went, getting quite warm in the afternoon sun. I even got a slight sunburn and it's only February! Overall it was a pretty fun day. A LOT of walking was done and although it was my day off running, my feet and legs were tired and sore by the end of the day, which concluded at about 11pm when I got home (9pm ferry, which also was packed).

I am glad that I went over to Vancouver as I initially wasn't going to go. Unfortunately Canada lost to the USA that day, but we will meet again and next time will be different (hopefully). I was on the bus back to the ferry when the game ended so I missed seeing the reaction in Vancouver, but apparently it wasn't the greatest (as expected). A once in a lifetime chance to hop on an hour 35 ferry to Vancouver to the Olympics. Chances are, this will be the only Olympics that I attend. Time will tell though! Definitely worth the trip, even if I didn't get up getting to meet up with D and Sam.

Falling behind

Wow, has it been almost a week since I last posted? Time has flown by. Needless to say I had the weekend off work and was busy almost non stop. Friday included my workout, household chores, dinner at the Keg and having a friend over for a bit. Saturday included my long run, a baby shower and then a friends house and Sunday was spent in Vancouver. Now after 2 days of work, I am looking forward to my 2 days off and with that, I will update this blog with some more details about my fun filled weekend! In the meantime, I am off to bed!

They actually listened!

Last Saturday during my long run, I once again went through Westwood and Morrell as usual. It had been 2 weeks since I bailed on my face on the wooden bridge. I met the bridge a week afterwards, slowed right down and managed to cross without incident. This past week when I returned to the bridge I was surprised to find that the bridge was now covered with wire! Thank you Morrell Sanctuary!!

As you know, I sent an e-mail to the park right after the incident. As of yet, I have not heard back from the park; however, they obviously at least read the e-mail and acted on it. That in itself, is better than a response via e-mail! I didn't have my camera with me so I returned to the park today in order to take some photos to show you the scene!

I did that!



Close Up



The corner that has taken me out twice. Once going into the bridge, sliding my left hip right into the rail on the corner. And most recently, coming out of this bridge on the corner, landing right on that nice cement at the end.

Not a lot of time left to blog as I just got home from my workout and have to shower and get ready for work. So I will leave you with a photo of Socket. He has a new favorite place. Whenever I opened the dryer, whether it is empty or has clothes in it, Socket makes himself at home.

Make that 2 Golds!

Congrats to Maelle Ricker for taking Gold in the Snowboarding Cross event earlier today to become the first female to win gold on home soil! I was able to see the race just before heading out for my workout, so that gave me some extra oomph today. Then Team Canada with their 8-0 win over Norway in the hockey.

I don't have much to say tonight; however, I noticed that I forgot to include my favorite photo Alex Bilodeau's medal ceremony last night. I somehow left it on my camera which is why I never noticed while uploading to the blog. So I will include it today! (Sorry for all the Go Team Canada posts; however, I am proud to be Canadian and it's even more special because the Olympics are so close to home)

A better update will come tomorrow, I promise. I have to get into town to take a photo for me to be able to blog about it and I forgot my camera when I went to town the other day. So provided I remember tomorrow, I will update with more info tomorrow ;)

▌♥ ▌ GO CANADA GO ▌♥ ▌

I am completely jealous of my sister who not only attended the Opening Cermonies on Friday, but also due to the fact that after the ceremonies, she then drove to Whistler and has been staying there all weekend taking in the Men's Apline Skiing today and I believe also the Men's Luge yesterday. Lucky bum. Once again though, I didn't apply for tickets so it is my loss.

Anyways, tonight I had the pleasure of watching the medal ceremony for the Men's Mogul Skiing in which Canada's own Alex Bilodeau won the gold. I, being the dork I am, took some photos of the celebrations on tv.

Alex made history yesterday, being the first Canadian to win a gold medal on home soil. Congrats to Alex, he made all of Canada proud! I must add that the silver medalist (Dale Begg Smith) used to compete for Canada until he moved to Australia in 2001. Traitor! Then again, he was kinda pouty and made accusations that Alex didn't deserve the gold, so maybe Australia can have him ;)

Pout much? Look how happy the Canadian and American are...who is the odd man out?