After I checked out of the hotel I dropped the car off at the rental place. It didn't open until 7am so I dropped the keys in the box and left the car there. I walked across the street to the bus depot as I had emailed them a few weeks before then to check if they had lockers. When I got there the guy at the counter said that they don't have lockers. Hrrrmph, I just emailed the person from Pacific Coach Lines today to let them know they gave me the wrong information. At first I slightly panicked but then I thought I'd try and see if my stuff would be able to fit at the Gear Check tent. I recalled reading online that your stuff had to fit in a certain size bag. Worst case scenario is I would just ask the Arthritis Society's special event coordinator to hold onto my stuff. So, I walked a few more blocks to the Marathon area. There was lots of hub-bub going on there. I was able to check my bags there no problem. Whew!

I walked a few more blocks and found the hotel where the JIMers were staying. I was 10 minutes early. We were supposed to meet at 7am and then all go to the start line together. I was still in disbelief that I had been up so early and had so much time to spare. It was surreal. A few photos were taken of the group and then we headed to the start line. It took a few minutes to get moving and then when I had some space I set my cell phone countdown timer to 10 minutes as I would walk 10 minutes briskly and then 1 minute slower as I had done for all the long Sunday walks in training. One of the JIMers was running so we didn't see her that morning. She was from Victoria. It rained the whole time. I was still wondering why I wasn't tired at all with such lack of sleep but it was much appreciated.

The slower Marathoners had started at 6:30 am and the Half Marathoners at 7:30 am. Then the faster Marathoners (who could do it in less than 5 hours) started at 8:30 am. After I was walking for about an hour and a half or so some marathoners started to run past me. Quite a few men went by and then when the first woman ran by everyone cheered!!! It was quite a rush being amongst all these athletes. The route was nice, along the seawall and also through some residential areas. I wasn't used to walking in the middle of the road and some parts were at an angle unless you walked right in the middle. It was nice not to have to pay attention to traffic.

I had my race # bib pinned to my t-shirt, so whenever I saw a photographer I had to unzip my jacket and other top to flash my bib #. Unfortunately only one photo of my bib # was visible but I managed to find 2 other photos of myself in the Lost and Found section of the marathon website. At least for Honolulu I won't have a jacket over my bib so should be able to find all my photos and hopefully be in a lot more. Other JIMers had up to a dozen photos taken of them as they had their bib #'s on their jacket or singlet.

I thought I had taken a photo of the finish line but it turned out to be just the ground :( The announcer announced my name as I crossed the finish line. I had no idea what my time was. I had my timing chip removed from my shoe and got my finisher's medal. The Arthritis Society's Special Events coordinator was there and said that she was screaming out my name to take a photo but I didn't hear her. I was too engrossed trying to take a photo of the finish line and also to see one of the female marthoners cross. I ended up finishing in 3 hours and 46 minutes, over half an hour faster than I thought I would.

There was so much food at the finish line: cookies, doughnuts, oranges, liquid yogurt, powerbars etc. I only had a yogurt as I was snacking all the way through the race.

Afterwards at about 1:00 I met up with my high school friend who lives in Victoria now. I hadn't see her for quite a few years so it was great to be able to spend the rest of the day with her. There are 2 Rotties who live at her house upstairs. They are so friendly and I enjoyed playing with them. I sure got my Rotty fix this past weekend!!! I took the 7:00 Superferry home.

The past weekend was an extra long weekend for me as I had Friday off as well as the stat. Had early Thanksgiving dinner in Nanaimo on Friday and then rented a car on Saturday and drove down to Victoria after doing a quick 2 mile walk close to home. Checked into the hotel and then went to the Victoria Conference Centre to pick up my race package for the Royal Victoria Marathon's half marathon. Got a cool purplish long-sleeve New Balance Tempo shirt included with the registration. Walked around and checked out the booths at the expo and ended up buying a pair of Crocs sandals.

Met up with the Arthritis Society's acting special events coordinator and her family and we headed to the Empress which was attached to the conference centre. This was where the Carbo Gala Dinner was being held as well as the a New Balance Fashion/Hip-Hop Dance show. There were some interesting speeches and a motivational talk. We met up with the other JIMers (Joints in Motion team members) who were also doing the half marathon. The one from Victoria was running it but the other 3 (2 from Van and one from Cranbrook) were walkers.

I went to the car rental place and found out where to drop off the car and key as I would be there before they opened Sundy morning. Saw a sign on the counter about Airmiles. Hrrmph, I didn't know they were an Airmiles place. The guy said I could put my Airmiles number with the key when I dropped it off as he couldn't add Airmiles to the contract in the middle of it. He gave me a sticky to write the # on.

I drove around to check out where the half marathon would start. It was only a few blocks from the conference centre. Also the car rental place was across the street from the conference centre. I would need to drop it off before the race so I wouldn't have to find parking. Good planning if I must say so myself :) I topped up the gas in my car so I wouldn't have to do it in the morning. Hmm, after dinner it was raining out. Not a good sign I thought to myself :( Good thing I brought my water-resistant pants and jacket after all.

Back at the hotel I was using the computer in the lobby. Within a time span of about 10 minutes there was 1 phone call and 2 different people came in looking for a room. This was about 10:30 pm. I think all the accommodation in the whole city was booked up. I wonder if they ended up sleeping in their car? One woman was tall, lanky and lean. Looked like she could've been from Africa or somewhere as she was dark and spoke with an accent. Obviously a marathoner.

I called the front desk to ask what the light switch by my front door opened. I couldn't tell if that was a light fixture by the door and when I flipped it off and on nothing happened. Anyways the person didn't know as she said that not all the rooms have the same configuration and she wasn't sure. She said she had some spare light bulbs. I ended up using the bulb for one of the burnt-out light bulbs between the double beds. There were 2 tri-light lamps there but even with the new bulb only one lamp worked. My room didn't have much light as it was just that one lamp between the beds and one on the desk in the corne. Oh well, good thing I was only here one night. This hotel was an older one too.

When I booked online through Expedia they confirmed that I would have a kitchenette. Well, the front desk said that I should've called them directly to confirm as they didn't receive that request from Expedia. Plus she said that since they were booked full that she couldn't exchange my room either. Oh well, I didn't end up getting any yogurt since I didn't have a fridge. I put my baby carrots and soy milk in the ice container and filled it up with ice from the ice machine.

I didn't get much sleep Saturday night as I woke up about 2:45 am when nature called. I tossed and turned until 4:30 am and decided to get up since I couldn't fall back asleep. Considering I had less than 3 hours sleep I wondered how I would do in the half. I made my peanut butter, jam and banana sandwiches, rinsed off my pear, put my unsalted nuts, strawberries and other snacks together into my packsack. By the time I was about to leave it was 6am so I ate one of the sandwiches along with 2 deeelicious yummy Purdy's Hedgehogs and a soy milk. Note to self - eat this just before the full marathon too. I did my usual last look around the room to make sure I didn't forget anything. Good thing I did as I left my other jacket in the closet.

I went downstairs to check out. Another woman was checking out too. I was wearing my water-resistant pants, jacket and my cap. She had raccoon-like black stripes of make-up above her eyes. I told her it was raining. She looked at me in disbelief and said she had no idea. I guess some people don't look out the window. I was looking out the window a lot earlier hoping the rain would stop. Oh well I walked a long distance Sunday in the rain before so knew what it was like. She asked me if I knew where the start of the race was. Turns out she was doing the half too. I whipped out the map of the course I had printed out. I showed her where I parked the night before - as she was wondering where to park as well. Hmm, some people aren't very prepared as she had no idea where she was going. I told her I didn't need to worry about parking this morning and she assumed I was taking a cab. I told her I was dropping off my rental car just a few blocks from the start line. Heh heh heh.

Well, another 2 weeks has gone by. I was looking at my calendar to see what I've been up to. Besides the usual walking training I was shocked to see that I had 4 b'day dinners and 4 b'day lunches during the week surrounding my b'day. Of course none of the lunches were on the same day as the dinners as that would be just too much on a work day. Thanks everyone! During one lunch I celebrated our mutual birthdays with a new friend of a friend of mine. Not only is she born on the same day but the same year. She's older though as she was born in the morning!!!