Here it is... the accumulated listing of our recent trials... Nobody asked for this, but we want you to know that a mission like this is not as happy-go-lucky as people think!!
The Window Incident: Entering Regina, Saskatchewan, Meghan, Sabrina and Myikka experienced the scary sound of a tempered window exploding!! I was running ahead of the truck and the girls were following close behind (as per the usual), when suddenly, the rear window in our beautiful Chevy Silverado blew out. We figure that it was a rock that got kicked up by a passing truck, but that is something that will never be answered with complete accuracy. After the shattering itself, the girls yelled for me and evacuated the vehicle. I turned around and tried to figure out why they wanted me to come ALL the way back to the truck (about 100 meters; I greatly dislike travelling East by foot these days...) A game-plan was necessary at this point, so naturally, we contacted the Boyer's and they worked their magic to get us fixed up THAT day. Therefore, we had to high-tail it to the South-end GM dealer to get things rolling. When we arrived at the dealership, we noticed our next "issue"... Another flat tire on the trailer: Yes another flat tire, which we addressed quite rapidly in the employee parking section of the dealership. We have a ton of practice with this, so it doesn't seem like a huge burden when we have to deal with it. We have exceeded 15 flat trailer tired since starting our journey... BEAT THAT! Propane Leak: The following day, after getting our auxiliary truck battery installed (to deal with the increased power demand of running the heater in the evening) we smelled propane, definitely a leak, "hopefully it's not us"!! Thankfully it was not the spare tanks... however, it WAS the apparatus that controlled the currently attached tanks. Somewhere in the directional control mechanism for the dual-tank set-up, there was a dis-connect and it was pouring out all of our propane (heat, fridge, stove-top cooking). We frantically called all of the RV centers in town and were kindly told to wait until mid-next week to be seen (let alone repaired). HELLO?!?!? It's like -15 Celcius overnight and you want us to wait for 5 or 6 days and nights)???? OK, I realize that we are not any special-case scenario compared to the rest of the RV-owning population, but really?? So, I did what any frustrated mid-twenties male would do... I MacGyver'd it. Yes, that's right, I stretched my legs in Regina's Home Depot and went to town on it. I successfully replaced the garbage parts with a makeshift (still extremely safe), but solid setup. No, Home Depot doesn't have a "RV replacement parts" section. You do the math. :) This will have to do for the time being, because nobody will help us out and take a look at it! Next, we head off in a North-Westerly direction (highway 11) with the intention of getting to Saskatoon by the end of the week. Guess again! --- Today --- Trailer heater stops working: Today we stopped for lunch somewhere past Bethune, SK, and the bloody heater wasn't working in the trailer. Well, with a daytime high comfortably under zero and wind to boot, we HAVE to get this addressed (this morning we started at -18 Celcius). We called around and have an appointment at Village RV in Regina tomorrow morning. Phew!!! Beyond this, the lights in the trailer are glowing slightly brighter than pitch black (this started at the end of the marathon), what the heck is going on here???? We are being tested, that's for sure. Okay, now for the good news. - We are already past our 8th provicial capital city!! Heck yes! - Connie and the wonderful team at West Harvest Inn Regina have put us up for the night in order to keep us warm!! Thank you to them!! - Lastly; it could be worse. We don't want to worry anybody, but this is what it is all about out here... It's a long and difficult road, but it is definitely worth it to make a difference in the lives of so many. Be well, Scott and TRTL Team
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Today saw the 6000km mark of The Run to Live. Pretty cool eh?
We passed it early in the day and it was a great milestone for us. The run will pass through Brandon, MB tomorrow and the Saskatchewan border is almost in sight (literally). Yesterday morning we woke up to snow on the ground... yes, I know... October 19th saw our first snow. With that said, we almost made it 6 months snow free!! May 22 saw our last snow fall for the previous winter. With the accomplishment of marathon 143 out of 209, we only have 66 marathons remaining! This is awesome!!! Lots of ground to cover, but we are getting close... Stay up to date on our progress through our facebook and twitter feeds. Best, Scott and Today was our third full marathon in Manitoba, and let me tell you, they weren't kidding. This place is flat! We had a couple moguls yesterday and a hill or two the day before, but today didn't have any elevation changes. How was it you ask? It was pretty uneventful (except for the torrential downpour at about 30km, followed by small ice pellets that felt awful).
Today we also passed the longitudinal centre of Canada. How is it that we are a day and a half shy of the 2/3rd mark in our journey, but only halfway across the landmass that is Canada? Well, lets just say that we took the long way... Check out the picture of our route (located under the "route" tab) and you will see our roundabout pathway. We are pretty excited about hitting another capital city on our journey. There are many benchmarks for us, and they each carry significance, but capitals are exciting because they offer facilities to restock supplies AND typically boast a decent population (which in turn, could represent many people to give a little to our cause)!! Long story short, we are moving along in a Westerly direction and feeling great about our progress. Keep posted on our progress through facebook and twitter and don't ever stop believing!! - Scott and TRTL Team I realize it has been a long time since my last post, but... I've been busy!
We have had an incredible time since that post. Our passing through Quebec went well (and quick), and provided our team with the opportunity to meet some incredible people. When we entered Ontario (at Hawkesbury), we were greeted by our home province in high fashion. Ontario has been an absolute whirlwind for us. Police and Fire escorts through the majority of the large city-centers and much support from friends, family and complete strangers. Our fundraising is now approaching $30,000!!! That means that we have more-than doubled our funds raised since being in Ontario. I trust that we will make it there before the end of the province. If you haven't done so already, please check out our facebook page at www.facebook.com/theruntolive for a constant stream of information from our team. Thank you for your support and don't ever stop believing! - Scott and TRTL Team Today is our last full day in New Brunswick. This province has been good to us, but it is time to move on. Entering our 5th province is exciting for the team, AND it brings us closer to our families!!
We have now raised over $11,000 in online donations and an additional 10% of that value in hard copy road-side donations. We are spending our last night in a Wal-Mart parking lot in Edmundston because nobody was willing to provide us with a night in this town. We are still, however, feeding off of our pampered visit to Tannaghtyn B&B. It was the most at-home we have felt since our stay at the Stonehouse's in Dartmouth!! We highly recommend Tannaghtyn as a getaway point for R&R. 4 DOWN - 6 TO GO!!! - S Hey gang,
It has been a while and we have covered some serious ground since the last update! Today's run took us just past Truro, NS. We are heading East on highway 104 towards Pictou where we will catch the Caribou Ferry across to P.E.I. on Friday, June 24 (Happy Birthday Dad!). I have run 24 consecutive marathons as of today and 35 marathons since starting! We have been so lucky to have had so many generous folks provide us with accommodations over the last month. Check them out here! For this province, The Run to Live has traveled West on highway 105 from North Sydney to the Canso Causeway where we linked up with highway 104 West. From there, we made it as far as Antigonish and traveled South on highway 7 towards Halifax/Dartmouth. After making it as far as those cities, we started North on highway 102 towards Truro where we are staying for tonight!! We had an incredible stay with The Stonehouse's in Dartmouth a few days ago. They are incredible people and went above and beyond to make sure that we were taken care of. They fed us, provided showers, washed our clothes, drove us around to do errands and sent us away with a full fridge!! We cannot thank them enough. A couple days before Dartmouth, the time came to say goodbye to one of our team members, who headed back to Toronto from Halifax Airport. Keith was an enormous help over the first month and a half and his commitment to our goals was incredible. Thank you to Keith for your help and taking the time away from your life to make this venture successful. We have had a great time in this province, but we are looking forward to having province number 2 behind us in just a couple of days. Be well, Scott and TRTL Lots of action since the last post, please excuse the infrequency of the posts here, WiFi is tough to come by out here!! For a more consistent events-feed, please check out www.facebook.com/theruntolive
We finally have some media attention building. Our first interview since getting to the Rock, was by a sports writer named Matt for a local newspaper in Gander. He was very cool to deal with, and he even promised us good weather after the long weekend, because it was tradition for the island. We have continued slowly but surely towards the West, and have found ourselves in the Grand Falls-Windsor area. On Tuesday, we drove ahead to this city and had a small media event. We met Roger (a city councellor & VOCM radio interviewer), a CBC Radio representative came out to ask us a few questions and a local newspaper journalist came out as well. We were also joined by the local Canadian Cancer Society representatives, which was super cool of them. Francine brought her daughter Emily out who had made a sign for us which was so cute. It is great to have a support network building out here!! Physically, the foot is back on track and feeling great! However, in my recovery, I changed my gait a little too much and am now dealing with the outcome of overcompensation. My IT Band on the same leg is giving me some pain whenever the Quads contract (which is pretty often when you are talking about running). It will get better though, at least I can keep moving in a forward direction with this pain, unlike the foot issue. We are half way through the province now and I am getting excited to get closer to the Ferry. I love this province, but let's get serious, we have a goal here!! I hope everyone back home is enjoying our journey, through our pictures and videos. Be well, Scott and TRTL Today was the first day of running after a 6 day rest period. After the first 3 days of rest, I attempted a walk which proved to be too much for my foot. The second 3 day portion was very necessary for healing.
The injury itself was never really "confirmed"; a hospital visit in Clarenville, NL, (complete with an x-ray) concluded that the injury was not a stress fracture. The visit, however, offered no advice as to how I should deal with this "unconfirmed injury". So, a chat with a friend in Peterborough, ON, who is absolutely fantastic, said that it could be a sprain and from there I made the decision to take a rest. The sprained ligament is located on the posterior-lateral side of my right foot ---NOT my ankle--- I just had to clear that up, everybody assumes ankle, but thankfully, this is not ankle. With that said, it still needs ample rest!!! Today's run took me through Clarenville and just past Thorburn Lake, NL. It was raining all day and was significantly colder than expected. It was fairly typical of the past couple of weeks. An injury like this is incredibly frustrating because there is very little that can be done about it, except taking some rest. I am keeping my head high and hoping for no pain in the morning. Be well, - S Alarm clock ringing, we began our day at 6:30am. From the moment we woke up you could feel the excitement in the air. We dressed in the clothes we had set out the night prior. We had been staying with Dave and Tony, locals to Newfoundland and friends to Scott from the running community in Peterborough. They were generous enough to open their home to us and even let us use their shower. Once dressed, Dave had made us a hearty breakfast of oatmeal. We all ate and finalized the details for the day. We wanted to be the first to arrive at the starting point so we were sure to leave the house early (7:50am). The Run to Live began promptly at 9:00am in a part of St. John's called Quidi Vidi. The area was surrounded by mountains and had an inlet from the ocean. While we waited, we had many supporters come out. Jon and Steven were the first to arrive. They have been with us since we first left Peterborough and wanted to follow us through Newfoundland. Scott had his Uncle Ross, Aunt Cindy and Grandma Sheila fly out to show support and him off. There were many other friends who came out to support Scott. Some were locals who we had just met, while others had made a special trip out to Newfoundland. It was truly amazing to see the support from everyone. Despite not all of our friends and family not being able to physically be with us, our cell phone was buzzing with people sending their well wishes and positive thoughts. The Canadian Cancer Society was also there, represented by Al Pelley. He shared some inspiring words with Scott and made his support of the run known to anyone who asked. Once everyone arrived and we had a quick photo op, Scott was climbing down an embankment towards the water. We all watched and cheered as he dipped his toe into the Atlantic and before we knew it we had hit the ground running. With the truck and trailer following, Scott ran the route we had perfected months ago and before we knew it we had reached the city limits of St. John's. Scott ran beautifully and only encountered a little bit of ITB soreness from sitting down for the last four days of travel. We did have our first meeting with Newfoundland's RCMP, and were stopped around 20km. The officer was mostly interested in giving us some safety tips for Scott and the vehicle. After learning about what Scott is doing and our cause she left and we continued. Before we knew it we had reached Butter Pot Provincial Park, our stopping point for the day. We all ate dinner and were in bed by 9:30pm, after such an eventful day we all were exhausted, Myikka included. TRTL Team Today was an incredible day. We woke up in Clarenville, NL, and made our way to St. John's. We met up with Dave & Tony (friends from Peterborough), and finally got our much needed showers. We were also welcomed with freshly baked buns and other tasty treats.
After a day of running around, in search of media contacts for the kick-off, we were hosted by some incredible people who reached out to us and provided an incredible dinner and even better company. Thank you to Bonnie, Gerard and family for their hospitality and it was absolutely wonderful to meet Katie and Jeremy as well. An absolutely incredible time, that The Run to Live team will not forget. We have a big day tomorrow with finalizing details and heading out to the starting point. I can't wait to get this started!! - S |
Scott Cannata"I live to run and I run to live, now it's time to run so others can live." Archives
November 2011
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