216 results for author: Colin Harris

Day 33 – day off (total – 628.2 km)

A place can become home quicker than you realize.  Over the last 3 nights, amidst running and our little adventure in the ditch, we have gotten to know the Irving gas station quite well.  The restaurant is quite popular in these parts, and because the RV currently doesn’t have heat, we’ve been spending quite a bit of time in a booth.  I can tell you that their soup is amazing and their homemade pies… delicious! It seems as though this is the hub of Deer Lake.  Granted, we have spent the majority of our time here.  We got away today to go for a lovely walk along Deer Lake with the dogs, and the local massage therapist had an opening ...

Day 32 – 39.3 km (total – 628.2 km)

  Our family moved around a lot growing up – the nature of my parent’s work.  One of the more difficult moves was from Winnipeg to Toronto.  I was going into grade 10 but had missed that first year of high school, which in Ontario starts in grade 9.  That summer was a tough go on my social life.  Another family who worked for the same organization as my parents lived 5 houses down the street and had a son my age as well.  Our mothers conspired, as I needed some friends and Dave needed some new friends – the crowd he was hanging out with wasn’t a positive influence!  So one July afternoon, there was a knock on the door and my ...

Day 30/31 – 12.3 km (total – 588.9 km)

Yesterday, I embodied my personal 3 R’s… Rest, Recover and Refuel. A brief snapshot of today: Couldn’t find anywhere in Deer Lake to get our propane refilled.  The one place that could do it had plowed all the snow over the tank so it was inaccessible.  I suppose that’s indicative of how many RV’s travel Newfoundland in the winter!  The TCH was in rough shape – a lot of blowing snow and poor conditions.  We thought we’d try the drive… we didn’t last long.  We pulled into a gas station that thankfully had a restaurant and warmed up a bit.  After waiting the weather out, it turned into a beautiful later half of the ...

Day 29 – 47.3 km (total – 576.6 km)

Well, this entry is being posted on day 30, but I thought I’d still share with you day 29…. because it was that adventurous!  Valentine’s Day will take on a whole new meaning for me for wondering where the love is!! We took our generator in Monday morning to see if we could get it fixed.  They said they might be able to look at it that day, but couldn’t commit.  So I looked up the place where we bought the generator and it appeared to me as though there was a dealer in Deer Lake where we were headed (it turned out there wasn’t).  So we decided to hold out and take it to the place we bought it at.  We then went to the propane ...

Day 28 – day off (total – 529.3 km)

  Brrr… it’s cold. Soon, I will tuck myself away in my sleeping bag, rated -11, blankets on top. Propane is low – again. A decision will be made soon as to how cold we sleep throughout the night. Normally I sleep with my window open in the winter - I hate my head being too warm. But it’s freezing. I’ll pull the sleeping bag over my head, but I’ll still be able to feel the draft from the original 1984 windows that were never intended for Newfoundland winters. I’ll listen for a faint click. A few seconds later, the fan will come on.  Step 1 successful. I’ll wait. I feel like I’m always waiting ...

Day 34 – 39.5 km (total – 667.7 km)

I think I’m tired… and grumpy! I woke up this morning after another mediocre sleep and could see my breath in the cold air surrounding my bed.  Putting my running clothes on was not fun… it’s just one notch of comfort away from putting damp clothes on.  The cold permeates my body in the RV.  I almost relish getting outside for my run, because I know I’ll warm up.  Today started off alright, but the knee started having pain again.  I was able to put in 21k without having to stop too much, but the afternoon run was tough.  I finished 39k later this afternoon, which put us in Pasadena.  Sarah cooked Pat’s rice for dinner, which ...

Day 27 – 33.3 km (total – 529.3 km)

  Let me tell you a little bit about Sarah Powell… aka – SP. If you don’t feel like you’ve seen many pictures of her or know much about her, it’s because she prefers it that way!  The picture above pretty much sums it up!  She prefers to be in the background… anonymity suits her just fine. When I asked her a year ago whether she’d consider doing this run across the country with me, I’ll admit I was a little shocked when she said yes.  Friends who knew us asked openly whether this was a good idea… “You’ll probably kill each other!”  This perhaps paints a picture of our friendship!  But given the fact that ...

Day 26 – 42.4 km (yes!) (total – 496 km)

Today, I ran my first marathon distance for the TMO Project.  I don’t want to bore anyone with too much running talk, but today is significant to me for a couple of reasons.  My training over the past year had been twofold – to increase my distance and to be able to run that distance consecutive days.  By early January, I was able to run about 30k, 3 days in a row.  So arriving at the marathon distance today is one step – the trick now is to do it again tomorrow!  Today is also significant because my right leg, which has had pain over the last couple of weeks, didn’t today (relatively speaking).  I’ll admit to being stubborn at ...

Day 25 – 25.8 km (total – 453.6 km)

  Today’s visit with Millcrest Academy in Grand Falls – Windsor was fun!  329 students from grades 4-6 filled the gymnasium and seemed engaged in our message of getting outside. It was interesting to hear the gasps when I told them the number of hours that most youth spend in front of screens in a given week.  They were eager to volunteer in the discussion and had many questions! I’m thankful for these interactions with students.  I’m not sure we’ll ever know the full extent to which this project impacts students… I think of Emilee in Paradise and her speech to the school about getting outside.  Will that experience ...

Day 23 – 30.3 km (total – 427.8 km)

We’re in Grand Falls-Windsor on a Tuesday night and again, the snow has found us!  The 15 cm that was expected a couple of days ago turned into a foot and a half.  The snow banks in town are over my head!  And tonight, the snow falls again – locals say another 10-15, but they seem amusingly skeptical based on the last forecast.  So yet again, the snowplows will visit us in the wee hours of the morning… seems to be a trend in the last couple of weeks. Yesterday, I decided to duck off the TCH and run through a community called Norris Arm.  It was the same distance to Grand Falls, so thought it might be a nice change of pace to run on a ...