Well, after 15 years of dreaming about this and the past year spent planning it, I sit in St. John’s, NL days away from beginning this run across Canada. As we took the ferry on Tuesday from Sydney, NS to Port-Au-Basques, NL, I watched the big swells of the North Atlantic and thought… “there’s no turning back now”! I have been overwhelmed the last couple of weeks with last minute details, stuff that should be ready that isn’t and things I should know but don’t! I am learning the true meaning of the 11th hour. And I am learning that fulfilling this dream and taking the message of getting children and youth outside across the country might take a very different shape than I envisioned. A project contact just emailed me and told me I better get used to flying by the seat of my pants… and in a way, that’s comforting!

[blockquote size=”full” align=”left|right” byline=””]As we took the ferry on Tuesday from Sydney, NS to Port-Au-Basuqes, NL, I  watched the big swells of the North Atlantic and thought… “there’s no  turning back now”![/blockquote]

When we arrived in St. John’s yesterday after a long drive across the province (our wonderful 1984 RV cruises best at 80 km/h!), the city was dry with no signs of snow. I saw the shoulders of the highway where I will be running and thought there’s no way it could stay like this. And sure enough, in true east coast fashion, it began snowing this morning. I sit looking out the window to about 20 cm of snow and wonder how I’m going to pull this off? Why oh why would I ever start this in
January?!

On Monday, I will begin from Signal Hill and run to Holy Family School in Paradise, about 20km from downtown. Here, 600 students will join me for a short walk/run outside in their neighbourhood. Snowballs will be thrown, snow angels will be made… and I will slowly start to find an answer to beginning this run in the heart of an east coast winter.