Walk: Wed. July 1, Canada Day

As our thematic picture, here's a little blast from our Canadian past: when we used Canada as our theme for the 2007 Relay for Life. It was an all-night night to remember!

On Canada Day, we will be walking in the morning, at 9 am. It's a 6K walk. Only the place is undecided. Please voice your vote:

a) Shoppers as usual
b) Tim's.

The ice cream store had been suggested, however unfortunately Carter's doesn't open till noon. See you at 9 am -- please check the comments section for the location.

Walk: Mon. June 29 @ Loblaws

The Beach Garden Tour was a lovesome thing yesterday, despite the rain. Thanks so much to Norma for organizing the tickets. If you're curious about the gardens, you can see my slideshow on our Toronto Gardens blog or if you'd like to be able to see larger images with captions, visit my Flickr site.

Do you think the rain will hold off today for a lovesome 6K? Maybe we should get rid of our walking shoes and develop slime feet, like slugs and snails. I suppose that was a bit disgusting. However, seeing how active they are right now it might be just the thing. Hope to see you 7ish, no matter what you have on your feet.

And a heads-up about our Wednesday walk on Canada Day – the suggested plan is to do our 6K in the morning. How about 9 am at Shoppers? Voice your preference here.

Walk: Sat. June 27 @ Tim's

Appropriate refueling is an important facet of the training regimen. Here, we illustrate proper technique. Very tricky unless you know how. We'll be glad to demonstrate again, if required.

Let's get together on Saturday for a nice 8K. Usual time and place.

Walk: Wed. June 24 @ East Lynn Park (Raindate)

As we were rained out last week, let's give it another try, and meet at East Lynn Park (Danforth west of Woodbine) for 6K, followed by ice cream at Carter's. (Above we have the Kawartha Dairy founder, Mr. Crowe. Sir, you make great ice cream!)

A happy birthday shout-out to Dawn B. -- and, oops, a very belated one to Rebecca. Bec, we'd love to have you come out and walk with us, girl.

A reminder that the Beach Garden Tour is this Sunday, June 28, 1-5 pm. Norma still has tickets (they're just $10). Please contact her directly or reply to this email if you want some. I'll be going as early as possible if you'd like to walk round with me.

Question: is anyone doing the Canada Day 10K or the Nissan 10-Miler in July? Please let me know of your upcoming races.

Walk: Mon. June 22 @ Loblaws

It's summer -- in name and deed! Hope lots of you come on out tonight for a friendly 6K. (If Bob and I don't make it, it'll be due to last-minute 16th birthday party emergencies... otherwise, see you at 7 pm.)

When I wrote about Julaine's experience in the Ride to Conquer Cancer, I hadn't realized that Libby was also braving those hills and 200+K distances. Here's her story:

As Julaine stated it was quite the awe inspiring experience. We rode as a tribute to my brother Robin, a keen recreational cyclist who died last summer in his 50th year.

Our team BFCC Robin's Ride consisted of my sister-in-law Cindy (riding Robin's bike), Jay and Cathy, Robin's close friends from Vancouver, and myself. Jay and Robin had been scheduled to ride a stage of the Tour de France last year before Robin's cancer spread.

We raised over $16,000 for Head and Neck Cancer research in Robin's name. It was a big family event and my son came from Halifax as a surprise to greet me at the finish line of day. With 3500 riders including numerous survivors, we were all linked with a common bond of having family and or friends touched by cancer. Quite the experience.

You're awe-inspiring, too. Congratulations to all the finishers.

Walk: Sat. June 20 @ Tim's

Pray the rain guys are wrong for our first official summer weekend walk. Let's make it 8K again. Hope to see you out, dressed for the weather. With luck, it'll be like it was last Saturday.

Happy birthday to Rainer. Our thoughts are with you and your family during your mother's illness.

Debbie, we're thinking of you, too. You know where we'll be when you're ready.

"O Day after day we can't help growing older.
Year after year spring can't help seeming younger.
Come let's enjoy our winecup today,
Nor pity the flowers fallen."
- Wang Wei, On Parting with Spring

Walk: Wed. June 17 -- Change of venue

For tonight, Bob has proposed that we end our walk with ice cream. Mmmmmm, says anyone he has proposed that to.

So -- as long as it isn't thundering and lightninging -- this Wednesday only, we'll meet at East Lynn Park on Danforth, one block west of Woodbine at 7 pm for 6K and finish with a dip at Carter's, the new Kawartha Dairies ice cream shop. (If it rains, we'll defer till next week.)

Speaking of burning off calories, today's picture is of Julaine, who completed the 100K Ride to Conquer Cancer last weekend. Well done, Julaine! Here is her story:

Attached is a photo of me with my cousin and my riding partner, Beth Gherson (Jean's Marine walker & runner) at the 62 km mark with only 40 more to go on Day 2 of the ride. Little did we know then that a hellacious hill was waiting for us 10 kms down the road and on the day that was supposedly "flat" after the first day of hills! We made it though & still felt strong to the end.

The weather was great, food good & plentiful, the volunteer crew was so supportive, gorgeous scenery & we made the best decision to stay in a hotel instead of at the camp in a tent! The last turn of the course presents a breathtaking view of Niagara Falls - a very welcome sight and the mist was quite refreshing to say the least!

The best part of the story though is that there were 3,500 riders this year who raised $14.5 million for cancer research. It was too late for my Dad and the loved ones that so many of us have lost but there is hope for our children. It was so inspiring to see the riders who had survivor flags attached to their bikes & to be cheered by so many along the road that had I conquered t-shirts on & signs that read things like thank you for helping to save my Daddy.

Thanks to the Shore Things for their good wishes and I plan to be back in the Fall if not sooner!

Walk: Mon. June 15 @ Loblaws

Great class with Lee Scott on Sunday. She took us through four fundamentals of good form, gave us real-time feedback and filmed us to immortalize our strenghts and weaknesses. (Our DVD will shortly be on the must-see list at Blockbuster.) It was a really worthwhile session.

The technique tips sheet posted on the blog is a good overview of what we reviewed. After today, we're all resolved to focus more on technique.

I'll soon be posting the new schedule for the Toronto Island Women's Half. If you're doing that race and haven't been out for a while, you can consider following the front end as posted. Most of us will ignore the first week when the distances are 3-5K. Yes, 3-5K! Instead, we'll keep to 6K in the evenings for the next couple of weeks.

Hope to see you out at 7 pm.

Walk: Sat. June 13 @ Tim's

Hope to see you for a friendly 8K on Saturday, this time along the Boardwalk. The schedule for our September half marathons would have us going a much shorter distance, but we've been at it for so long it's good to keep up our momentum. At the same time, 8K or less won't be too daunting for our new or returning members. Please join us!

A few things coming up -- first a reminder about the Beach Garden Society garden tour on June 28th. Bring $10 per ticket for Norma if you want to attend. I'll be going, along (I hope) with my sister Sarah. We're both pretty knowledgeable gardeners, so there's a suggestion that we meet to go through the gardens together, in case we can help answer your questions. The gardeners themselves will of course be great resources for Qs&As.

Next, Olwyn has passed along this link about a music festival night in Toronto's newly rechristened Riverside District. Here's a link and some background:

Have you heard of the Riverside District in Toronto? Well, the Queen Street East area wants to make sure that everyone knows about it, as the Riverside District Business Improvement Area (BIA) presents ‘Sounds like the Riverside’ on Thursday, June 25, 2009 from 6:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m.

Twelve venues along Queen Street East between the Don River and Degrassi will celebrate the resurgence and revitalization of the Riverside District (formerly Queen/Broadview Village) by hosting a night of free live contemporary-eclectic music, while showcasing the area businesses, shops, eateries, pubs, galleries, popular venues (many of which will be open late) and historical significance.

But wherever you are, and whatever you do over the next little while, hope you'll take my advice and Bee Happy.

Walk: Wed. June 10 @ Shoppers

Thought you'd want to meet the Grizzly Family, newest members of our group, recruited by Norma and David while they were in Jasper. Mrs. Grizzly was sorry to have missed the Toronto Women's Half.

While I'm tempted to welcome them in our usual friendly way, perhaps we should keep our distance, at least at first. I hear that Grizzlies have funny ideas about what is appropriate race nutrition.

More enticingly, Norma also passes along this info for garden lovers. The Beach Garden Society garden tour is on Sunday, June 28th from 1-5 pm, and many of the gardens are ones we pass frequently on our Loblaws routes. Tickets are only $10, and we can arrange them through Norma's friend, the Society Chair. Please reply to this email or contact Norma directly if you are interested. The details:

Here’s your chance to view some exquisite gardens of the Beach. Get a few gardening ideas or just enjoy a summer’s afternoon strolling along winding paths and under wisteria-covered arches to 12 elegant gardens located on Swanwick, Lyall, Glen Oak and Benlamond.

Tickets are $10.00. Norma will arrange to pick up the tickets for distribution to the group on Saturday, June 27.

For Wednesday, we'll stick to 6K till I get around to re-doing the schedule for September's half marathon(s). See you out at 7 pm.

Walk: Mon. June 8 @ Loblaws

First, let me quickly invite you out for 6K on Monday night, starting at 7 pm. It's the start of a new race calendar, which I'll post later this week. Hope to see you there.

Now, let me introduce the first-place female and male finishers – and the 2nd- and 1st-place walkers overall – in the RunWalk 4Patrick Half Marathon in North Bay on Sunday. Mind you, they were the only two walkers in the race! Imagine that. Well done, anyway, Bob, with a 2:35-ish finish.

It was a small, friendly race, rather like Alfie Shrubb. The organizers were Christian and Christine Fortin, who went to high school with Bob in Kapuskasing. At age 7, their son Patrick, who had severe hemophilia, contracted HIV from a blood transfusion. Before he died at age 23 he did a lot to raise HIV/AIDS awareness in his community. His family organized this race in his honour.

A bit about the medals: they were created by an entire village in Africa, whose citizens made each one by hand over a period of three months. Each medal is different. The village was paid what it would have cost for standard finishers' medallions, which earned the village the equivalent of three years of income. These are very neat medals.

This week, we're going to be thinking of Frances (come out and join us for a walk, birthday girl). Have a happy one.

We'll also be sending bon voyage and god speed to Debbie, who is doing the amazing Tofino Edge-to-Edge Half on Vancouver Island next weekend. Enjoy yourself out there, and watch out for sea monsters.

Walk: Sat. June 6 @ Tim's

Follow the yellow (unbrick) road
Originally uploaded by theshorethings

Let's start at the very beginning. It's a very good place to start. When you sing, you begin with do, re, mi. When you walk, you begin with... 8K.

Let's also make the focus conversational and take The Spit, which gives us more room to spread out. Nevertheless, the sun will be shining, and the bikes will be out, so stay alert. Hope to see you out at 8 am.

Question: do we want to stick to 8 am in June, or begin earlier summer hours after this weekend? Post your opinion on the blog comments.

Later on Saturday, Bob & I will be heading to North Bay so that he can do the RunWalk 4Patrick Half Marathon. They don't have a walker category; I don't *think* they have a blackfly category. We'll see.

A reminder about the Wow Master Class with Lee Scott on June 14th. I'd like to have at least 6 in the class to make the cost per person about $65. If we can't get that number now, she has given me two back-up weekends, June 27/8 and July 4/5. Please reply to this email to let me know your interest.

Walk: Wed. June 3 @ Shoppers

Mary Lou, Cora and Stacey!
Originally uploaded by theshorethings

Another memory from the Toronto Women's Half. You think this is a picture of three women, but it's two sisters, an aunt, a niece, a mother, and a daughter... make that three daughters. Plus a first-time half marathoner, Cora.

Here's an invitation to come out to walk 6K. See you at 7 pm.

If anyone is interested, we have Lee Scott lined up for a 2-hour master class on Sunday, June 14th. Let me know if you're interested by replying to this email. I think I'm going to ask her to just focus on walking form.

And happy birthday to the first two of our many June birthday Things: Trish and Susan!