Edmonton

Tuesday, 7 August 2001 | Edmonton, The World's | Day 5: Today we are happy - Lisa flew-in this morning! She had a terribly bumpy trip over the Rockies and is now sleeping... my goodness, she had to get up before NOON!

The newspapers this morning are entertaining as usual. Oh, why do we have to read that old, boring Oregonian every morning? And, Hello People! There IS a little track meet going on at Commonwealth Stadium!!! But, no one cares about track & field because The Great One is in town and it was his face plastered on the front page of the newspapers! No, I am NOT kidding! Like the Royals (Prince Edward and Countess Sophie went back to the Mother Ship yesterday), Gretzky also visited with admirers and awarded medals to the 100m women winners.  There was a big dinner here Monday night billed as "The Dinner of Champions" or something like that, for ONLY US$250 per person... but you were guaranteed to be seated no less than 2 tables away from a sports hero!  The newspapers have only reported on the fashions at the dinner, so I can't tell you what was served (for all that money) or who attended, but from the photos they were dressed smartly. A visiting British reporter has referred to Edmonton as "Deadmonton" in his column and is saying "horrible" things about the city. This sorry bloke is being trounced on TV, radio and the newspapers - he may have to make a quick exit.

After Lisa's nap, DT's run and my walk, we took Lisa on a "driving tour" of Edmonton. The black skies and cold chill of the morning were gone - it was another hot, sunny day. We drove her around the downtown and along the beautiful parks on the river's edge and then over the river to the University area; past Lister Hall, the dorm where the athletes are quartered and then to the Old Strathcona area. Strathcona is like Portland's 23rd Street... just a little "hippier". We had a delicious very late lunch at a Greek taverna. After lunch, we drove back to the Park-n-Ride, caught the shuttle and were in our seats at 6:00 pm for the first event.

While we were walking to our seats, there was a small crowd of people around a very, very teeny woman with a camera crew in her face. It was our old friend, Tegla Laroupe, the Kenyan Marathon Mistress. Kenya has refused to let her run in The World's because she did not return to Kenya two weeks before the meet for training camp. Tegla seemed very excited to see us and interrupted her interview to say hello. She is very warm and friendly woman - hugs and kisses - and she won't let go of your hand while speaking with you. The happy reunion was caught by the cameras - so maybe we will be on television??? Tegla, who lives in Germany, is now training for the Berlin Marathon September 30th.

Every night we sit near Brian, a high school teacher and sprint coach from Toronto. Brian is a knowledgeable track fan and a patriotic Canadian! He fills us in on all the Canadian track facts - and he is a nice man. The most exciting race of the evening was the women's 10,000m. A huge field of talented women - with a huge 20-year age span, age 17 to 37 years - won in the end by a gang of Ethiopians - but not a tactical race because it was so slow. Amazingly, nearly the entire crowd stayed to watch the long race. For the first time tonight, maybe because the crowd was sparse in our area, a beer vendor climbed all the way up to our seats to sell us a beer! She was delightful and chatty and told us she had just completed a 125-mile relay race with a group of her friends. She had run 12 miles, over a water-logged trail. 85 runners ran the race solo, but most had to be rescued from the mountains because of hypothermia! Seems they started the race on a hot sunny day in tee-shirts and shorts and ended up freezing at the top of mountain hours later. That will teach you to run 125 miles - at once.

TEAR JERKER MOMENT OF THE DAY: A runner from Ecuador was lapped TWICE in the women's 10,000m. She didn't quit. The crowd didn't leave. It was very late and the meet was over, but they stayed as she completed two laps alone on the track. She PR'ed by over a minute!

RV Park: Glowing Embers RV Park in Spruce Grove, Alberta