Day 7 - April 18th

km: 42                to date: 215
End point: TCH exit 26

bottles/cans: 140     to date: 529
cups: 57                     to date: 124

$ from empties: $5      to date: $5

Money spent: $18    to date: $74

Temp: 5C sun am, colder & snow pm light winds

Had a pretty good sleep last night (midnight straight through til 7am) and a very vivid dream. Later in the afternoon, I gave the dream some deep thought and mighy write about that in another blog. Perhaps not to be published quite yet though. I have a feeling the dream has a lot to do with what I call the battle of Newfoundland so best not to jinx it until I'm safe on the mainland again. : )

Sleeping straight through was definitely a bonus....usually I wake up cold or uncomfortable  a few times per night while tenting. That too will change when I  get used to it however.

Was on better terms with the weather man this morning. He was wrong again but in a positive way. Sun was shining and dare I say it even felt kinda warm. Comparatively anyway. Foot and knee felt better too so I made great time into Clarenville  (26km away). Once in town my first stop was to see the good folks at the recycling depot. Like the staff from Irving, they remembered me from last year so it made for a warm welcome. I think I'm going to really enjoy this aspect of the return trip!

I'll also make more of an effort to return bottles and cans to these depots whenever possible. Then will keep track of, and donate the proceeds to charity once finished. That being said, if Oskar is overloaded with hundreds of empties with no depot around, any method of proper disposal will suffice (giving them to people who donate to thier own local charities or the good ol reliable Tim Horton recycling bins). Much can be said about this Canadian turned American company when it comes to the environment but in just about every town all across the country if there's a Tim Horton's I know I can drop off recyclables there. Even if no other businesses or residences around that particular community recycle.

Sorry got off on a bit of a tangent  there....occupational hazard.

After getting some friendly goodbyes and a few extra recycling bags from the depot staff, my next stop in town was the local salvation army to buy a beautiful (lol) five dollar orange rain jacket. I've been pushing my luck not having one for the first week. This is Newfoundland in April after all!

Next was grocery shopping - $11 on some more rice, tuna, oatmeal, 3 apples and a bag of carrots. This, along with my supply of great supplements from Isagenix (protein shakes & bars, sports drinks far better than anything else out there, etc),  will get me through the next 3 - 4 days of little or no services.

As much as I like interacting with great Canadians on a daily basis, there's always something adventurous about stocking up and preparing to go into the wild for a stretch of time. Even if 'the wild' is really just a provincial or national park with no stores, restaurants or gas stations for many miles.

Last stop in Clarenville was McDonald's. I don't frequent the fast food giant to eat meals while running across Canada but it is a handy place to go for their coffee and muffin special ($1.69), use free Wi-Fi and most importantly stock up on drinking water.

That all taken care of, I headed back on the highway around 4pm. Just as it was  starting to snow. The morning sunshine gave away to cloudy and cooler afternoon so some kind of precipitation was enevitable.
I was in great spirits and continued on for another 15km quite content. (For the record, snow is indefinitely more enjoyable than rain is on the road).

The earlier sunshine did power my phone back up so I was able to take a few more pictures and even made a quick singing video which will be shared later. Yes I'm becoming that guy again! Just a fun filled product of a wonderful environment.

'Battle of Newfoundland' or no, I'm back in my happy place again!

Day 1 - April 12th

km: 30      to date: 30
End point: Mount Pearl area

bottles/cans: 87        to date: 87

Money spent: $42    to date: $42
(Not counting initial costs, tent, shoes, etc)

Temp: 0 C , cloudy, westerly winds

4 hours sleep and a light breakfast of cereal and tea before heading down to the Terry Fox Memorial downtown for 9am.
About 30 local runners showed up on a run of their own. Participating in the 'Celebration of the Marathon of Hope' a Canada wide event put on by the Running Room stores across the country.

(I just found out about it late last night and decided to begin by running up to the local Running Room to dedicate my first 42km and a  $42 donation).

Always planned on this starting day and location as I knew it was 35 years ago to the day when Terry began his run. Recently finished the book 'Terry Fox - His Story' and brought it along to read again while on the road.

After a few pictures, many high fives, handshakes and well wishes from the awesome group of runners, they were off and on their way. Next came the telephone interview with CBC radio  (local Weekend AM show). Thanks to the Host and producers and to Ben Dalton for talking me into reaching out to the media but I'm not much of a press guy I guess. Terrible at public speaking and have mixed feelings about most forms media... especially when it comes to anything that concerns the environment. Will leave it at that for now.

Funny side note: when wrapping up the interview the host mentioned to the listeners that they can follow me on my Million Dollar Pledge Facebook page. I get that a lot.

A few more pictures with a more local runners and it was time to head up the road. Up a steep hill at first but then leveled out a few blocks away from the water. Some snow flurries on the way to Running Room but only lasted a few minutes.

At the running room I went inside to sign up my planned 42km and to make my donation. Word had spread and a lady asked if I was the one running back across Canada. When I said yes she introduced me to the Fox family. I was near speechless. After my donation I hesitated but eventually worked up the nerve to ask for a picture with them. Glad I did. Definitely a lasting impression.

Feeling great I continued on and asked a gentleman for directions to the highway. Trying to save on power, I'm hoping not to use my phone to much for things like GPS, Google Maps, Facebook and anything else that requires a signal. The cold weather really affects the life of the battery and the use of my solar charger. Drawback is not being able to constantly confirm directions. Perhaps still caught up in emotion from the morning meetings I  took a wrong turn somewhere and ran about 5km in the wrong direction. Seeing the downtown and bay getting closer I finally broke down and used my phone for a few minutes to get myself on track

A tough climb up Avondale rd and it was past noon before I got on the TCH
I could tell it wasn't going to be easy as a strong cold wind blew was in my face. I stopped for a lunch break (apple, muffin and protein bar) plus a half hour of stretching.

Continuing on for another 10km I may have ran the uphills a little too much but didn't want to take any walking breaks. Eventually some pain in my right quad forced me to do just that. More stretching helped a bit but I knew my running was nearing an end for day 1.  Of course walking breaks just made me feel colder and I was a little worried about a sore throat and cough that had developed in the afternoon.

Decided to call it quits around 4. Wanted to set the tent up before it got too close to evening. New tent took almost 30 minutes to set up with cold hands and the wind blowing hard. Finally got inside and in the sleeping bag shivering. Changed into dry clothes and did some stretching, reading and reflecting on the day. Tomorrow will be better. Each day should get warmer and sunnier for awhile.

Dinner consisted of four chewable vitamin C. Might regret that later but it's all I felt like eating. Made two family  phone calls and started this blog. 10:00 now and time for bed.

Today's few pictures and posts drained my first battery completely and has the second one at about 60%. Not sure how much warm sunshine I'll see over the next few days so really need to cut back. 

Only managed to clean up 87 bottles and cans today. Will also improve on that.