The Changes

My sister is officially in charge of fundraising in front of liquor stores. That may sound like a small designation, but it's one that will make all dealings going forward exceptionally easier for me anyways.

I wrote on Facebook last night that I was off to yoga class and then a 16 K run and then a nap, but what actually happened was that I went to yoga class, realized that I had forgotten my yoga pants and then went home and had a nap. That's usually the way I like to do things - skip right to the good stuff.

So we - my sister and I - did our first fundraising event for our run this weekend. We did a 50-50 draw at Pat's Pub on Hastings Street and while it was good practice and a good first run at things, we need to do a lot better at the next events. (Here's where, if you have a really good fundraising idea, you write it in the comments!)

Getting ready to go to Halifax on vacation, my focus switched from running to beer so I completely forgot to mention that this blog won 3rd place in the Change Everything 'Viva la Resolution' contest!

So stoked about that! I won $50, so that will be going right into the donation pot to go towards my run. Yay! Good work little bloggie.

So I ran one-fifth of the Vancouver Marathon yesterday, my part being a relatively flat 10 K. I went as part of a relay team, the very awesome "Ligers" and it was super fun and I think I did OK considering I haven't run anywhere for about the last month or so.

Howevah, it was also a supremely huge wake-up call for how much longer I have to go on this marathon! I did my bit, went to BC place to get my jacket, went home, showered, had breakfast and coffee, played with the dog, and THEN went back to the stadium to meet up with the team. And somewhere along the way it occurred to me that come November that will be all me, all running that entire time. And it suddenly seemed very hard and very long and I had a little mini freak-out.

So I did it! I booked my European adventure! I also now have a friend coming with me (Christianne) and we are going to have a blast! We leave September 16th flying into Glasgow and are in Europe until November 28th flying out of London. I can’t wait! I have been looking up places to go, things to do, people to see.

Last night my sister and I attended the Joints in Motion information session for Athens, and I have to say that even though I am so crashed this week, it was pretty awesome. We watched a video on arthritis and heard from a woman who walked a marathon in 2004, got the details on fundraising and training and saw a slideshow of Athens travel pics. I didn't ever go to an information session before I signed up, so lots of it was new for me too and of course meeting the team is always great.

Check out fellow JIMmers Kim and Ralph Van Bruggen in the Oak Bay News (Victoria)! What an inspiring story! I've copied it to my flickr because the OBN doesn't archive their stories online, so follow the link to read it. I'll be running with them in Greece.

Here's a photo of Mladin (rhymes with Alladin) at Kerrisdale dropping off a 3lb. bag of dead batteries to compost. The batteries are being picked up with an electric pickup (bad pun, huh?)

This is the electric pickup that runs on Revived Batteries, being put to good use.

Your support of the Solar Power Roadshow makes this possible.

So I have come to the decision that I am going to be going to Europe in September of this year for 3 WHOLE months all by myself! It’s something I have wanted to do my whole life and I am finally going to do it! The past month I have been looking into it and seeing if my money situation would allow it to happen and it looks like it’s a go! It all started when I wanted to go for the month of September to visit my friend Candice in the UK where she is staying with her dad for 6 months but then turned into, if I’m going to go, I’m going to go all out! So it is not going to be from about September 12th to December 12th, days may vary but that’s the general plan.