Day 4

Lance Armstrong once said that pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. In my case my feet and quads are revolting on me, but if Lance can do it so can I! 45 minutes of extra sleep in the morning, which does not sound like much in the grand scheme of the infinite plain of time, but how sweet it was to not have to get up until 5:45am. The dart tournament the night before at the Charlottetown Legion was a good time and a welcome excuse to get off our feet between throws. Nobody’s arms were too badly tortured during the run yesterday to toss the darts, but the trip down to the retrieve the darts from the board seemed a little slower than normal.

Grundel cream applied, we started the day off at Woods Island ferry terminal. The weather seemed to continue to cooperate with our jolly posse of runners with cool temperatures, little wind and broken cloud cover. We were joined for the day by Jess Macdonald and Aaron Myers which reduced our pavement pounding work load. I am also pleased to announce that Janis MacDonald did indeed survive her courageous efforts to clean the toxic waste pile that some may call our soiled laundry. The Center for Disease Control has cleared her house once again as fit for human habitation. The village of Belfast went all out with signs of encouragement and lots of people out to run and bike with us. It was great to see, a real boost to our spirits.

The afternoon brought with it rain showers and the K-Rock cruiser with the continually good natured Amber. She insists the fund raiser at St. James Gate tonight will be a boat load of fun, even though she is going to miss part of the evening to go play soccer. It has something to do with her being the Island’s female version of David Beckem. All the same we all wish her luck, and hope to see her out after a triumphant match!

The downside of the rain showers (besides the running in it) is the fact our MRSP now has all the windows up, which means the air onboard is remaining onboard. Considering the amount of body odour with which a group of runners produces this is not an ideal situation. Busie has give up any hope ridding the bus of the repugnant scent. Odour eaters placed on the bus have sized up the situation and decided collectively to leap to an honourable death under the wheels of the bus rather than do battle with the revolting stench. The ‘tiny odour trapping bubbles’ of Febreeze simply burst into flames as soon as the liquid droplets leave the nozzle. The run on the road is our one and only escape; it is the overriding motivation to stay on the road.

A huge thanks has to go out for Bikie, who braved the wet conditions on the Harley to control traffic as we headed through the busier parts of the highway. We all feel a whole lot better knowing that he is out there doing this for us. Our pain has been replaced by something better; the excitement of kicking our shoes off at the St. James Gate tonight for our fund raiser. Well, I may not kick my shoes off has the horrible reality of the condition of my feet is liable to case panicked rush to flee the immediate vicinity resulting in countless injuries! But the pints will be cold!

CU at the Pub, and on the road tomorrow

WolfMan