On Friday, we walked around downtown Penticton doing a bit of shopping, mostly scoping out stores that I'd visit on Sunday when The Boy raced and I waited. We walked into the wierdest store EVER called Fruv which looks exactly like lululemon but is NOT lululemon at all. The Community board looks the same, the yoga wall looks the same, even the square black shelving to hold the pants looks thes same.. and their pitiful excuses for the scuba hoodies are ridiculous. It totally creeped us out. We were shopping for hats anyway, and I'm so glad we found one because i wore it on our lazy river ride down the channel between the Okanagan Lake and Lake Skaha. It was awesome. There was only one time where The Boy was paddling with his arms to get away from this raucous bunch of drunken idiots that we could hear for a full km after we'd passed them. But in whole, it was great. We tied our inner tubes together and just floated down the channel giggling and laughing and drinking gatorade (him) and water (me). When we got back The Boy had to go to the Penticton Convention Centre for his welcome banquet and information session and I went to Tokyo for sushi yakisoba. So good. We finished the night with mini donuts from the stand right across the street from our hotel.
On Saturday, we wanted to hang around and do as little as possible so The Boy could rest his legs. Jack Layton, rest his soul, passed away and his state funeral was televised, so, of course, we watched it. I cried my eyes out. I'm not crazy involved in politics but I pay attention to what I think are the important bits and I am so sad that we have lost an important piece of Canadian history. After the funeral, we dropped The Boy's stuff off at the race site, watched a few episodes of Dexter, an then headed to Villa Rosa, best Italian in South Okanagan. It was ok. i mean, it was buffet food and I could only eat some of it, and it was totally underseasoned. still, it was carby and good for The Boy.
Sunday was RACE DAY! We woke up at 5 AM so The Boy could eat and get ready for 12+ hours of strenuous physical activity and I got up because the people in the room next to us were making smoothies with an extremely loud blender and were on the whole very loud. I walked The Boy to the start line, kissed him, and then searched for a space to wait at the bag drop-off zone so he could give his pump back to me. He never came back! But I figured things were ok. I had my phone out and was refreshing every ten minutes to see where he was. His swim was good and after I picked up a breakfast sandwich from Tim's, I even got to see him leave for his 180 k bike ride! I then sat in the sun in a small park and read for an hour waiting for the shops to open at 11 but at 11:05, I realized that the shops down on Main Street are not actually open on Sundays. Wow. That would have been nice to know earlier. I was never able to go back and find that cute green lace dress I saw. :( Oh well. I went back to the hotel room for lunch and then came out with a pile of sidewalk chalk, expecting to find a space on the road to draw a heart and a note to him on the run course but the fasties had already come out! So i just sat down outside the hotel and cheered and cheered and cheered and cheered. When I expected The Boy to come out, he didn't. So i had a mild breakdown refreshing every three minutes (maybe less) trying to see when the heck he would finally finish the bike. Finally, FINALLY, an hour after I expected him to, he came off the bike and I could breathe again. And when he ran past me, he did the sweetest thing I always wanted him to do but never asked him to: he stopped to kiss me (*blush*). And then he said "five flat tires" and kept running. Yikes. From there, I rang my little ironman cowbell and said "way to go.. Shannon. Good job.. David. Excellent work.. Chris.." and cheered every single person who passed me for the next four hours. The way the run is set up, all the runners have to run by the hotel four times. After his fourth pass, I ran inside to watch him run across the finish line on Okanagan TV and then ran to the Athletes Village to welcome him in. He finished in 12:24! My hero! ANd we each got congratulatory ice creams from Ogo's. Best hokey pokey ice cream ever.
It was tough to get to sleep last night because our hotel is so close to the finish line. we could hear the announcer call in the last people who rolled in before the course closed at midnight. how those people were still going is beyond me. each and every IronMan, finisher or no, is incredible.
Today we slept in and then headed BACK to the big lines and tents for finisher gear. Oh IronMan, you have a phenomenal marketing team. We packed, went to the beach for one last go in the Okanagan Lake and then walked (slowly) to the Hooded Merganser, this amazing restaurant tucked behind the Penticton Casino that is literally on the water. We sat facing the lake and ate dinner to the changing landscape in the sunset. Absolutely gorgeous (the food and the view)! And when the sun went down and the air grew cool, The Hood' threw on their overhead heating lamps and we were toasty warm eating our little desserts. After that amazingness, we took a long moonlight stroll along the beach. What a perfect day.
Tomrrow, we get up early and head back to Van, and then back home. But the vacation isn't over. at least we get a few days at home to regroup. ok. it's a front; i'm devastated. I don't want to go home! :(
0 comments:
Post a Comment