Will and I had a fantastic weekend.

We started it off waking up at 3:00am on Saturday, as we were on the first shift for donut rolling for the MCC Relief Sale. We met up with others from our church, and some from another Mennonite church in a tent, and while the other church members made the dough, we were rolling it, and forming the donuts. This was quite fun once I got the hang of it, but quite uneventful, until the power went out unexpectidly! So, we finished off our rolling in complete darkness until our shift was done at 5:00. Apparently, we were such good rollers, we had run out of trays to put our donuts on! I only mention this fact, because apparently donut rolling is quite a competitive sport among some church members, so I only proudly mention this here, in the hopes that they might read this some day…..or something like that.

We then (after a “wake up” break at Timmy’s) commenced the tradition of “Making-like-a-turkey-and-stuffing-ourselves”, and ate to our hearts content; strawberry pie, rollgucken (sp?) and watermelon (Will was speaking Low German with the vendors, and with that they were so pleased, they almost gave us free extras), meat thingies, cream buns, pork on a bun, apple cider and papusas. We gawked at the quilts, ran into and mingled with friends and family (as is expected), and thought about eating some more. I even dropped my watermelon on the arena floor, picked it up, wiped off the dirt and ate the remains, that’s how much of a trooper I am…..maybe I shouldn’t have said that….

We then made our get-away from the hussle and bussle, and drove straight to my cottage, 30 minutes from Bancroft. We spent the afternoon enjoying the heat on the dock, chatting with other cottagers, canoeing, catching frogs (actually, just me), kayaking, and getting eaten alive. I think mosquitos are evolving and becoming smarter. I have more bites than I remember being bitten!

We woke up earrrly and made the 2 and a half hour trip to Ottawa, for the famous Ottawa Marathon, as we had friends running in it. Was that ever a sight to see! I realized it’s worth a seein’ even if you don’t know anybody in it! There were many races going on that day, but our friends were running in the marathon, which was 42kms (I learned that a marathon is ONLY 42 km’s, and anything less is just a race). In the marathon, there were 7,000 runners, from all over the world. I couldn’t even comprehend seeing 7,000 people go by! Using a map we had of the route, we went to where we thought they would be, based on how fast we thought they were running and how soon we’d get there. We parked at the 10km check point, and clapped for every handful of runners that went by (as did other on-lookers). After watching hundreds of runners go by, we eventually saw our friends. We then parked downtown, and eventually saw our friends go by again. To think we saw them twice amongst 7,000 runners! The next part of the route went over the river and into Hull, so we knew we had some time to kill.

We went to Darcy McGee’s pub for breakfast and watched the stream of runners go through town, a stream which seemed endless. Then we explored the “backyard” of Parliament Hill and enjoyed the view. We then walked alongside the canal to where the finish line was. This is where it became intense (both in events AND heat!)

It was mesmerizing (like watching a fire place) watching thousands of people running by, each with their own style; Some running stiffly, some running loosely, some with their wrists limp, bobbing here and there, some holding torches, one dressed like a rabbit with a tutu holding a magic wand (okay, she was the pace bunny, but still!), some wearing kilts (complete with Scottish hats and wool socks to the knees), some waving to the crowd like they were celebrities, and some with other awkward ways of running. As I sat on the bleachers, it occured to me what these people were doing. They were completing a task that they had spent the last few monthes and years preparing for, a task that is not “normal” for a human to do. In fact, marathoners only train for 32 km’s or so, and no more, because beyond that it’s all mental. After 32km’s, the body begins to tell you to stop, but you have to keep going despite that. So, it is in fact “abnormal” to run a marathon, as you cannot train your body any better than to go 32 kms. Just knowing this fact made it all the more incredible to witness.

We saw a man whose body had literally turned to jello, as he had pushed himself too much. We saw a first aid person run by, motioning for a wheelchair, then they slid his jelly body into it. Some over-zealous people in the crowd were yelling, “Take him to the finish line! Take him to the finish line!!” Of course they did. But he couldn’t even hold his head up or keep his mouth closed. His body had shut down long ago. What determination! My eyes watered at the sight of him. Imagine training so hard for this moment, only to fail that close to the finish line. Although, he DID technically finish.

We saw couples holding hands as they neared the end, and we heard over the speakers that one man was proposing to his wife, just at the finish line. We saw first aid people holding runners up, just to get them to the end. We saw men running with bloody nipples, from their shirts chaffing so much. Wow. One could come up with some metaphors for life from all this. We eventually saw our friends finish, and they told us some crazy stories from the marathon (such as people puking in all directions, running into the bushes because of intense diarrhea–again, this isn’t natural for the body, and the body tells you so in it’s own quirky little ways).

Afterwards, we met up with our friends and their parents, and went on our way for a picnic. But first, we had some more adventures. On our way to the picnic, we got into a car accident! It was the first actual accident I had ever been in, but it was so minor, that it didn’t even merit stopping (but that was because the people who hit us drove off right away). I have NEVER seen such STUPID driving in my LIFE! We were heading through an intersection, with a GREEN light, and some idiot in a black car decided he would turn left, even though we were CLEARLY coming. Will had to slam on the breaks to avoid hitting him, and honked. Then, we sped up again to continue through the intersection, when a white car, having slowed down for the black car in front of him, decided it was a good time to turn left as well. We had to swerve immediately to the left to avoid T-boning them, and our front bumper nicked their back bumper, with them speeding away. We were both so in shock, we just laughed with incredulity. How STUPID was that?!? Were they even LOOKING? Will and I were just thankful it wasn’t worse, and admired the new white paint on our bumper.

All in all, it was a marathon of a weekend.