This morning I woke up to Steven proclaiming today was “the
beginning of the end”. And I thought I was
the glass half empty pessimist in this relationship!
As I pen this latest blog update I’m sitting in the back of
Dave’s car which is packed solid with anything and everything Ironman related.
The boys have “just ducked in” to Speed Theory (the local bike store) to pick
up some Pit Stop and I quote, “perve on the bikes”. So I’ve been relegated to
the role of ‘Bike Custodian’ and, consequently, I’m sitting here absolutely
paranoid some degenerate is going to steal the bikes (or the equally expensive
race wheels) off the back of the car. I’m giving myself severe neck strain
turning around every time I hear the slightest creak.
Today we embark on our road trip to Penticton (yes, with
beef jerky and pretty much an entire grocery store on hand), which will take
about five hours. It’s funny how our perception of a “big road trip” has
changed over the past two years. Back in Australia it was not uncommon for us
to veto a coast trip because an hour in the car to and from the coast was unfathomable.
And now? We don’t blink at a drive to the Okanagan. Anyway, the main
reason for our visit is Ironman Canada which takes place this Sunday, August 26th.
Steven and Dave are both competing and I’ll be joined by Missy, Dave B and two
other friends later this week to form the Team Cranelow support crew. We’ve got
some fun things planned and the weather (fingers crossed) is supposed to be
smiling on us so it should be a good weekend. A good weekend made all the
better with both boys crossing the finish line and then a celebratory wine tour
on Tuesday!
To keep you all updated, post-Ironman, our plans include a
week of cruising to Alaska, followed by a flight to Las Vegas and a return road
trip to Yosemite National Park in California. We then return to Vancouver for a week to do some local bits and pieces before taking
off to Eastern Canada at the end of September for 10 days in Montreal, Quebec
City, Toronto and surrounds. Following this, we’re back in Vancouver for a few
days (a weekend in Whistler perhaps) before our final flight from YVR – to
Kona, Hawaii for a week of sun, paddle boarding and snorkelling (oh, and the Ironman World Championship). We’ll
then head home in mid October. We’re undecided at this stage
whether to spend a few days in Honolulu and catch a flight back to Brisbane,
which may end up being cheaper – even with the extra days in Hawaii if you can
believe it! Needless to say we’ll be arriving home quite poor, but we’ll be
nicely tanned and full of fantastic memories we’ll never forget.
Last Friday we both finished up at our respective works. I
can’t speak for Steven but it was a sad day for me as I have truly enjoyed my
working life here in Vancouver. Irrespective of the fact I wasn’t working in my
“career of choice”. Still, as they say, all good things must come to an end.
Safe to say it truly was a “good thing” and I will miss my colleagues and
friends there immensely. Work put on a surprise lunch of sushi and cupcakes for
me (they know me too well) and they gave me a Lululemon voucher, which, you’ll
be pleased to know, I’ve already used.
To provide a brief update on local events of late (in other
words, while Steven’s been training…)
Nat’s been boating … in Howe Sound!
 |
| Leaving Horseshoe Bay. |
 |
| The boating team (minus Laura & myself). |
 |
| Seals just chilling out in Howe Sound. |
 |
| I took this photo right before we spotted two bald eagles. Then my camera went flat. Bugger. |
 |
| The entire team. |
We also drove out to Kelowna for the August long weekend so
Steven and Dave could do some training on the Ironman course and the rest of us
could actually make the most of it. We stayed at La Casa – a little holiday
lake cottage community situated on the banks surrounding Lake Okanagan. It felt a little like I was in one of those
North American teenage lake house summer movies – I half expected to see the
cast of American Pie stroll past with an esky full of Budweiser at some stage.
People really embrace the lake holiday here – just as we’d embrace the coast
holiday. Boating, lake trampolines, slides, golf buggies – awesome.
 |
| La Casa lakeside holiday cottages. |
 |
| The view from La Casa. |
 |
| More views. |
 |
| Epic post-training weekend dinner prepared by Shilo, Ben and me (well, I peeled the corn). |
 |
| A family of deer. Little Bambi on the right. Cute. |
On Monday
we did a mini self tour of a few of the local wineries – big and small – Mt. Boucherie, Quail’s
Gate, Little Straw and Mission Hill – all highly recommended. Unfortunately the
five hour drive back to Vancouver took us seven hours because of a three car
pile-up on the highway. The traffic was so bad that Ben even got out of his car
and went for a run session along the highway while Shilo stayed in the car,
crawling in the traffic. Steven and I entertained ourselves by switching on the
satellite radio 90’s hits station and belting out some tunes. Sadly (and
surprisingly), Spin Doctors was not on their playlist.
 |
| The view from Little Straw. |
 |
| Wine tasting at Little Straw. |
 |
| Reflecting on how much food he'll be eating on the Alaskan cruise buffet in just a few short weeks... |
 |
| The gorgeous view from the carpark at Quail's Gate winery. |
 |
| Mission Hill - very European. |
Two weekends ago Ben and his sister Sonya competed in the
Lululemon half marathon (for those who don’t know – Lululemon is like the Lorna
Jane of Canada – it was also started in Vancouver - a little fun fact for you). Dave B and I
joined Shilo to cheer them on. It was a great morning out, despite us having to
witness a guy who ran the entire race in a mankini (and yet still managed to finish
in the top 15!). That afternoon we decided we’d all catch up for a BBQ at third beach (just off the Seawall). As the number of BBQ attendees
outnumbered the car seat availability, Dave B rode Ben’s bike and Dave C
roller-bladed (yes, he man-bladed!) down to third beach. All I will say is that it was a sight
to see! Dave C hasn’t heard the end of the homo jokes either.
In between all these little local adventures we’ve been
trying to get down to English Bay as much as possible – while the weather is
still good and the sun goes down at 9pm. We’ve been frequenting Pho (local
Vietnamese) quite a bit lately – when you’re looking for something remotely
nutritious on Denman Street, it's safe to say Pho will win over the alternatives of
Fat Burger and Vera’s (also a burger place). The funniest thing about our
visits to Pho is that the waitress knows Dave and his order off by heart and
she knows us as “Dave’s friends”. We walked in the other day to her greeting us
with “Hi, Dave’s friends!”.
 |
| Dave B's birthday BBQ on the rooftop at his bachelor pad in Gastown. Amazing. |
I’m not quite sure how I feel about leaving Canada yet to be
completely honest. While I will be glad to see my Brisbane-based friends and
family, I thought when the time came I would feel a lot more certain about
where I wanted to settle. Yet, when I think about returning to Brisbane my
heart feels heavy. I love Vancouver and I am truly thankful to all the Canadians we
have met and to the city itself – we have truly been embraced with open arms. Every
time I hear “Oh, Canada” I can’t help but feel a sense of patriotism. And then
I feel like a massive traitor. Every day for the last two weeks walking to work
I've had “Oh Canada” stuck in my head. Then I feel so guilty I make sure to
recite Waltzing Matilda on the way home. I love my surrogate city and I’ll
never forget the amazing adventure we have had. My greatest fear is returning
home, slipping back into the life we once led and forgetting everything we have
experienced and learned over the past 18 months. I am determined this will not
happen.
I know what Steven means when he says it’s “the beginning of
the end”. These past 18 months have really been a “pause” from our regular life; an
escape from responsibility and reality, if you will. I certainly think this whole experience has
changed me for the better – I do not for one second regret the decision and I
think we’ve done a great job at making the most of this self-inflicted "leap" out of our comfort-zone. I don’t
believe in the “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” theory. While it may be nice to
stay in the one spot and feel “comfortable”, this isn’t as fun as pushing the
boundaries and challenging the mediocrity that our life could have become. While
I am sad to leave I am so grateful for the experience and I will be forever
changed.
For now, I prefer to think of today as the beginning of
another amazing adventure. Onwards and upwards for Team Conlow. But first,
there was a "little" Ironman to conquer.
A few GOPro photos below from our road trip to Penticton ...
It seems so long since Ironman Canada weekend, even though
it was only just over a week ago. I won’t go in to too much detail with this
one – fortunately this time the lead up to Steven’s third Ironman was
significantly less traumatic than the last (
Read: Mexico 2.0 Heaven & Hell in Cozumel).
We rented a three-bedroom house in between Penticton (where
the race began) and Okanagan Falls (the run turn-around point – approximately
20 km in), which was situated on the banks surrounding Skaha Lake. The views
were stunning and for the most part, the weather was agreeable. Steven, Dave and
I arrived on Wednesday afternoon. On Friday night Dave B, Missy, and Dave and
Missy’s holidaying friends Nawar and Jess joined us for rest of the weekend.
 |
| Stopping for some fresh local fruit (the Okanagan is known for its produce as well as its wine!) |
 |
| House kitchen - epic. |
 |
| Upstairs lounge. |
 |
| Dinner on our balcony overlooking the lake. |
 |
| Local wildlife - Aww Bambi! |
We spent most of Thursday, Friday and Saturday doing the usual things like checking out the expo, the boys registered and just generally soaked up the atmosphere! Although my atmosphere was slightly dampened when I spotted this guy ....
 |
| Collingwood supporters. Ugh. They're EVERYWHERE! |
 |
| Happy athletes! |
 |
| Registration complete. |
 |
| Posing with the bikes on our drive of the very scenic bike course. |
 |
| Ironman cooking duties. |
 |
| Nat's bowl vs. Ironman bowls. Hehe. |
 |
| Bike check-in. CHECK! |
Ironman Canada is a fantastic race over a truly stunning
course. Over 2000 athletes competed so the swim start was a sight to see! Thankfully
I didn’t have to ride or run those monster hills (mountains) but from a
spectator’s viewpoint, the scenery couldn’t be more spectacular. True to their
fluky form, Steven and Dave managed to sign themselves up for what was the 30th
anniversary of the event and, what was to become the final Ironman Canada in
Penticton (we hear next year it’s likely to become a Challenge-branded race).
As per usual, I spent most of the day in numb petrification (until
I saw Steven at all my little checkpoints along the course - you know, heart in
throat stuff every time you hear an ambulance siren), but it was, again, nice
to have some company while I did so. The support crew had a fun day out driving
to and from different spots along the course (although it is certainly the
least spectator-friendly course I’ve come across during my support crew
career). We also made chalkboard signs and wrote messages of support for our
athletes. We cheered long, hard and loud for as many people as we could,
cowbells and all. Though I’ll be glad if I never hear another cowbell for the
rest of my life! I’m happy to report that both our Ironman competitors finished
the race in very respectable times (not that any finishing time in an Ironman
event isn’t respectable!!). Although I know Steven wasn’t 100% happy with how
his day eventuated, he still pushed through to the end. While it would be nice
to have a perfect race every time, I think the more accurate measure of the
heart and success of an athlete is their ability to overcome the unanticipated obstacles
and still tough it out (physically, but more so mentally) to the end. He did
that superbly well and I couldn’t be more proud.
 |
| Posing in our Ironmate's supporter shirts. |
 |
| The back. |
 |
| Off to the swim start! |
 |
| Swimmers getting ready for the start. |
 |
| The streets surrounding the swim start were packed! Kona was worse, but IM Canada isn't far behind! |
 |
| Swimmers preparing for race start. |
 |
| One of our many supporter signs (handmade chalkboard so we could change them up!) |
 |
| Playing it up for the camera and cheer squad. |
 |
| Supporters. |
 |
| Me and our chalk signs. |
 |
| Steven on the bike. |
 |
| On to the run. |
 |
| Dave on to the run course |
 |
| "You got this" - the supporter catch cry of the day. Pity it only sounds cool when you have a Canadian accent. |
 |
| Steven approaches the finish line... |
 |
| Coming in to cross the line. |
 |
| Finished! |
 |
| All that effort for a little maple leaf. It's pretty cool though. |
 |
| Finished and pretty happy about it! |
 |
| 3rd time Ironman and his medal. |
While over the 15 hours of supporting we did encounter a few
irritating people (inevitable), the funniest thing I saw all day was a group of
people running 100 or so metres with their athlete not too far from the finish
line. I was waiting to see Steven at the time and with each passing competitor
that wasn’t Steven, the more frustrated and agitated I would become. Anyway,
this group of people was running with a corgi that belonged to their
competitor. When the crowd saw the corgi running along, one of the more vocal
bystanders in our area called out a rousing “Yeahhhhhh! IRON-CORGI” and the
surrounding crowd within earshot started cheering for the Iron-Corgi. Funnily enough
I think Iron-Corgi probably got more support over the 100 metres he ran than
his Ironman parent did over the entire race.
 |
| Incredibly annoying lady holding a rainbow duster. The most annoying part was the fact that she kept stepping out in front of everyone else so no one could see and then, when she cheered, she'd swing the stupid duster around in such a lethargic manner it was more depressing than inspiring ... not that I understand how one might be inspired by a rainbow duster in the first place .... |
We also amused ourselves throughout the day by taking photos of people on the run who we
thought were Steven before they were actually close enough for us to get a good look. Unfortunately we picked up this game a bit too late (a few minutes after Dave B triumphantly called out "I think this is Steven!" ... only to find that the man
- phew, it was a man! - approaching us was, in fact, African-American).
 |
| We thought this guy was Steven... |
 |
| Another shot for good measure. |
 |
| This guy too. Haha. |
We returned to Vancouver late Tuesday afternoon and within
24 hours we were boarding the Island Princess on our maiden voyage to Alaska,
which is where our next adventure begins…
