Every month for the rest of the year, there was new information mailed to my house. There were forms, disclaimers, route maps, training brochures and "how to make the best of your day" brochures. This page was from the booklet that came in the mail to every home in Canada, telling us about the torch relay. This had the route map for my area where I lived at the time.
My very first Brochure said "Welcome to the team!" You are one of only 7195 Canadians
will have the honour of carrying the olympic torch. That was an amazing feeling. There wasn't another soul that I knew, who was to carry the torch. The brochure also laid out how I was to get into shape for my run, which consisted of 1 km (no matter what the weather, eeek!!) and I had to carry a 4 lb torch at shoulder's height. It gave you pointers on how to start a walk/run program now, in order to be in shape and ready for your 1 km. They gave a few samples of warm up exercises, and then advised you to carry a 1.8 kg weight with you as you did your walk/run, and flexed your arm up and down to build up strength. Geesh, I never really considered that I would actually have to RUN and CARRY a heavy torch!!!!
But like a keener... I started my walk/run practice routine, along with carrying for 2 little girls, a full time job and we bought a new house and moved into it during this time! We had moved to a new subdivision full of half built houses. I was pretty lucky because it was fairly unpopulated there, so people wouldn't see me panting and gasping for air!!!
Terry worked with metal lathes, at the time, at RMC (constructing custom made metal boxes for the computers to go into F18 aircrafts). He came home one day with a beautifully "lathed" brass bar. It weighed exactly 1.8kg and it became my practice torch. So, please picture this ...... a subdivision filled with construction workers, a tired ole mom of two, walking and occasionly running, gasping and sputtering, and branishing a 4 lb brass bar high above my head. The average "Joe" or "Jane" in the city (including lots of my friends) didn't know a thing about the Torch relay..therefore, not many would know what I was doing... resulting in me looking somewhat stupid. I still have my practice torch... I love Terry for making it for me. For a reality check, lift a bag of sugar up to shoulder height with one hand, and carry it for 8 minutes...ugh... heavy.
I was somewhat shy about the whole thing, so I didn't really tell many I was running. My closest friends and relatives all knew, but not many felt the need to come watch. Looking back, I don't know why Archie didn't come and watch me carry the torch. I wish he had been there. As the commercials started to play on TV, I started to get pretty nervous and excited. It just started to feel a little bit real. Have a look at the two commercials that played every day here and here. Some of you might remember them....
This appeared in the Herald just a few days before I ran, and having survived the old MicMac Rotary on many occasions (sometimes barely), this made me laugh hysterically. Only local oldies will know where and what the MicMac Rotary was
3 comments:
Too funny! People could get lost in the Rotary!
One of my former room mates also carried the torch.
Do you have the book with all the names of the runners in it?
Jill
I drove around and around that rotary many times too scared to make the agressive move to the outside lane to get off it - so glad it is no longer there!
This is so exciting to read about your special adventure - wish I had known you then - I would have been there crying and cheering for you the whole way!
Thanks for sharing all of this with us now
Debbie
Oh, that cartoon was cute. Where did you get it. At the time you were living in Ontario, but the MicMac Rotary was in Halifax. It's so nice that you kept all the flame stuff. Man, you must have had a strong arm at the end of it.
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