So here goes nothing.
RBF MEETUP!:
First I went to Toronto. And met this cool and charming guy:
(Blogger friend Adeel)We spent Thursday night hanging—no CLOSING DOWN—a Starbucks. We talked about elephants, qualia, words, running, and what the hell the name of his blog means. (Which I now know.) Then he got up and ran the Detroit half-marathon in the time it takes me to tie one running shoe.
RUNNING/NOT SWIMMING:
Thursday morning I hauled myself out of bed after about one minute of sleep and ran a few miles toward Parliament, Queen's park and back. The weather was just this side of cool. A dense fog covered everything, which, though beautiful, worried me because I was a) asleep, and b) could see nothing. I didn't actually realize I was running by Parliament at the time that I was running by Parliament. I ran around the park twice, solely by mistake, since I couldn't see a thing. Let the cursing commence. I saw quite a few runners out.
Torontonians are not so big on telling you anything much about their edifices. I ran by this:
which didn't really fill my need for info. The South Building, most excellent!
The hotel had an Olympic-sized indoor-outdoor pool, so I thought I'd try some laps during Friday lunch, and allow myself a glorious sleep-in 'til 7:00ish. Only to discover that the pool was closed for repairs. What to do? Well, obviously, there was only one thing to do: Follow the signs pointing to massage. So I did. Glorious. Then back to work 'til late Friday night. (We didn't win the Online News Awards, but we were finalists.)
Saturday morning dawned breezy. Like hurricane level-breezy. Like blow my freakin' head off breezy. I headed out toward Lake Ontario (quick: name the Great Lakes! Clue: SHMOE) for what I hoped would be six miles, or an hour-long run. Loads of construction and traffic lights kept stopping me but I did some kind of running.
I also made it to Union Station and to St. James Cathedral—two sites that Adeel had suggested. Actually, I had to go thru Union Station due to street closings. I headed over to the Cathedral dressed in my finest running duds. All locked. I noticed two people shuffling in a back door so I politely knocked and asked if I could come and look around. A very elderly man explained in broken (what sounded like Russian-) English that they were mopping and could I wait 10 minutes until they opened at 9 a.m.?
As if! Listen, buster, you're talking to an American. Do I LOOK like I have 10 minutes to wait to WORSHIP GOD? NO? Right. Next!
(Both buildings were actually worth looking at, if you are into old buildings, as I am.)
WALKING:
The conference ended Friday night, so I planned to spend Saturday visiting the city. After running, showering, changing, and checkout, I took myself and my trusty camera to see the sites.
Four hours later it was time to leave.
I visited Chinatown, Kensington Market, The Royal Ontario Museum, Queen's Park, and walked until I thought my feet would fall off. It's a terrific city, there are recycling bins everywhere, people are so polite. I did NOT get the feeling that everyone was running around angry all the time. Which is kind of the feeling I have here.
(Queen's Park)
(They knew I was coming)
(This is the main building.)
(Royal Ontario Museum, Michael Lee-Chin Crystal. Only had time to visit the gift shop.)Well friends, I had many more adventures, too numerous to recount here.
I find I am so D-O-N-E with running. I mean really. I am done! I haven't run since Saturday. Let's see if It can force myself to lope around 3 miles in the a.m.
Meanwhile, have I mentioned that I'm going to sign up for this?
I hear that all the cool kids are doing them.
