Marathon logo

Back when I had first planned to do the Goofy, my goal for the marathon was for a new personal best and to beat 4 hours, hopefully somewhere around 3:50. Having been out of commission for November and December, I had been uncertain whether I would even be able to run. After the half marathon, I had no pain and felt optimistic about the marathon. Somewhat cockily, I still set out with the goal of sub-4 hours, but really finishing would be the main accomplishment.

After Saturday’s half marathon, we eventually met up back at our hotel room, got showered, and tidied up. The smart thing to do would have been to relax and take the day off, but we were at Walt Disney World, so off to the theme park it was. We wandered over to Disney’s Hollywood Studios, got some food (an essential task, at this point) and enjoyed the park. We left early to head back to the hotel for our pasta dinner and an early bedtime (before 8pm!) for a second morning in a row of waking at 2:45am.

When we woke Sunday morning, it was much more perfunctory and run-of-the-mill: by this time, we were experts at getting up for early morning Disney races, and we were out the door without problems. It was a bit chillier than the previous day, somewhere around 6°C, so I decided to go for a long sleeve shirt underneath my short sleeve one, something I had been debating the previous day as well. I wrapped myself up in the mylar sheets we received on Saturday after the half marathon, and off we went.

Marathon race course Cecilia and I split up with Donna and headed to our start corral, with a judicious stop at the shortest porta-potty line we could find. Cecilia and I stretched and hung out together until just as the race started, when she headed to the rear of our corral (Corral B, this time) as she was planning a slower race than I was. Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Goofy were again on hand to count us down, and the race started. I had to wait a couple of minutes for the first wave to go, and then within 5 minutes I was across the starting line. I remember that the fireworks at the starting line were fantastically warm as I crossed, and then I was back into the cold.

Running through Cinderella's Castle The marathon course started us with a loop through Epcot Future World, then back along past the start. By the time I passed the start after about half an hour, everyone was gone and cleanup was underway. From there, we ran along one of Walt Disney World’s many highways, up towards the Magic Kingdom. The first third of the race went by very quickly, and before I knew it was already heading into the Magic Kingdom, through the same back entrance into Main Street USA that I had run through the day before. Since we’d started off with the loop around Epcot, it was brighter by the time I reached the Magic Kingdom and I stopped for a couple of photos in the park, including this picture just before I ran through Cinderella’s Castle with trumpeters announcing my arrival.

Me running during the marathon At the mile 11 water stop in the backstage area just outside the Magic Kingdom, I stopped for a gel and water. Given that I had depleted a significant amount of my body’s energy stores the day before, I knew eating would be an important part of this marathon. Fortunately, I was feeling good and was right on pace for a sub-4 hour marathon.

Me and Donald Duck From the Magic Kingdom, we had a long run down some back roads to the Animal Kingdom. I stopped for a picture with Donald Duck at one of the golf courses near the Grand Floridian and then got back under way. Not long after, I hit the halfway point and was still right on pace, at 1:58:43 for the first half.

For a brief time we passed the later runners heading up to the Magic Kingdom, and then turned off towards the Animal Kingdom. We ran through a quite large backstage area for the Animal Kingdom. Me and Minnie Mouse Just before entering the park, I got my picture taken with Minnie Mouse.

The run through the Animal Kingdom was very short and I don’t remember much of it. We entered in “Africa”, ran to “Asia”, passed “Mount Everest”, ran through DinoLand USA, and then exited through a back entrance. Me and Mickey Mouse We looped around towards the main entrance, and along the path was the Mouse himself, Mickey Mouse, all dressed up in his safari gear and waiting to take a picture with me.

From mile 18 at the exit of Animal Kingdom, it was 4 miles along highways until the next park, Hollywood Studios. Looking at the map the day before, Cecilia feared it would be the mentally toughest part of the course, and it certainly turned out to be hard for me. Just after mile 18, I started to feel really tired and worn out. Marathon splits I had been taking gels every 6 miles or so, but I took an extra one here and starting in on some other snacks I had with me (Clif Shot Bloks, they’re a gummy form of gels and now my favourite running food in the entire world!). The rest of the race was stop and go for me, with lots of breaks, sometimes every couple of minutes, for walking and stretching. My pace dropped substantially as you can see in this chart of my split times. My sub-4 hour goal was out of reach, but I was still confident I would at least finish.

Me and the Toy Story Soldier One of bright spots — maybe the only — along this tough 4 mile stretch was the Toy Story soldier who was encouraging us on a run up a hill; he had been there yesterday and was one of the best characters along the route, so I stood at attention and got a picture with him this time around. Eventually I made it to the Hollywood Studios. Me at Disney's Hollywood Studios We ran through the studio backlot and then out on to the Streets of New York with the Manhattan skyline in the distance. By now it was past 9am, so the park was open, and it was fun to be running through the park while people were there. We headed down the main street of the park and I got another picture of me with the iconic Sorcerer’s Hat.

Me in Epcot From the Studios we ran through the many resorts in the area around the Studios and Epcot, including Disney’s Boardwalk, the Swan and Dolphin, and the Yacht and Beach Club. At last, I was at the final park, back where it all began, at Epcot. This time we ran around the World Showcase, then right down the main walkway of Epcot, and out to the right of the geodesic dome of Spaceship Earth. This was the last stretch of the race, and it couldn’t be over soon enough! Just outside of the park boundary as the finishing chute started, a full gospel choir was there encouraging us, and then the spectator stands and the crowd. I made it across the finish line at 4:22:07.

Cecilia and I after the Marathon At this point, I felt little sense of accomplishment. The usual post-race stuff followed — mylar, medal, water, food — including a special Goofy medal. I gradually made my way to the rendezvous point and a little over half an hour later Cecilia came hobbling up with ice on both her knees. I think we hugged each other, took a step back, and almost simultaneously told each other that that was the stupidest thing we’d ever done. A half marathon and then a marathon? Certifiably crazy! I didn’t feel a great sense of pride or accomplishment: it was just done. At least we were uninjured and managed to complete it. We headed back to the hotel room where Laura was waiting for us.

With Goofy in the Magic Kingdom We were definitely sore the rest of the day and for a couple of days afterward. Brilliant as ever, we went to a park that afternoon (Magic Kingdom). We took it a little bit easier on the park, but it still involved a lot of walking and getting up and down. That was the funniest part, actually: for the next couple of days, you’d see all these otherwise fit people wincing and groaning every time they had to get into or out of a ride, and we certainly did out share of wincing too.

Laura, Donna, Cecilia, and I with our medals We had a couple more days at the park, and proudly wore our Goofy shirts the rest of the time there.

With a bit of time between the day of the marathon and writing this blog entry, I no longer think it was the stupidest thing I’ve ever done. But it certainly was tough. I’m impressed that I did it, though it was more a matter of will than training given my training problems. I’m not sure if I’ll ever do something like the Goofy again, though I think I would enjoying running a marathon at Walt Disney World again (as much as one can enjoy running a marathon). But that can wait for a few years.

I suppose that wraps up this series of blog entries on the Goofy. Check out my complete gallery of photos from the Goofy 2011 Half Marathon and Marathon. Take a look too at Cecilia’s race report from the marathon. Check back in a few days for the rest of my trip to Walt Disney World.

Goofy logo

My friends Cecilia and Laura, normally upstanding members of society, peer-pressured me into signing up for a race at Walt Disney World in Florida. Every year in January, they have a marathon weekend, with a half marathon on Saturday and a marathon on Sunday. But for the extraordinarily athletic/stupid, you can sign up for both, and run the Goofy Race-and-a-half Challenge. This is what I was peer-pressured into doing.

And thus my training season began. I had two major races last year, the Gold Coast Half Marathon in July and a 10K in Brisbane in August, both of which went fairly well. The plan from there was to increase distance and eventually do a few “x, 2x” weekends, where I ran x km on Saturday and 2x km on Sunday. While training in September-December was expected to be complicated due to my busy travel schedule, it was completely thrown out by an iliotibial band (ITB) injury that developed in October. Tightness in my ITB was pulling things out of alignment, which would caused pain after just a couple of kilometres running. This resulted in me taking almost 8 weeks off of running from mid-October through mid-December. Not good when you need to run 63.3km in January. I was able to get in a little bit of running, pain-free, when I was in Windsor over Christmas; from November to the day of the first race, the longest run I had was 15km. While I was fairly optimistic that I would be able to run and complete the half marathon on Saturday, I had no clue whether the subsequent marathon on Sunday would be doable.

Donna, Cecilia, Laura, and I bundled up before the race We arrived in Florida on Thursday and spent Thursday and Friday casually wandering around Epcot and Disney’s Animal Kingdom. We turned in early on Friday evening as we had to be up at 2:45am Saturday morning to be in place for the 5:35am start. Starting line Corral A We were out the door by 3:20am and at the course by 4am, although it took us until past 5am to make it to the starting line. It was chilly, but not so cold that shorts were not in order. There were about 27,000 runners, broken up into 9 corrals of 3,000 runners each. Cecilia and I were both optimistic when we registered for the race, and our optimistic target time placed us in the first corral together.

Cecilia and I at the starting line of the Half Marathon Cecilia and I planned to run together for a while. We planned for a fairly slow pace — slower than what we listed during registration — in part to save ourselves for the marathon the next day and in part due to us both having ITB injuries in the months before the races. At 5:35am, Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, and Donald counted down to start the race with fireworks and less then a minute after the start we were across the starting line and running!

Tunnel to enter the Magic Kingdom The race started on a road outside Epcot and headed up to the Magic Kingdom on one of the — I was to discover — many, many highways in Walt Disney World. A few kilometres later, we ran through the tunnel from the parking lots to the Transportation Centre (at left), around the Seven Seas Lagoon, past the Contemporary Resort, and then came through a back entrance to enter the service areas of the Magic Kingdom. For me, getting to see the backstage areas of Walt Disney World was one of the best parts of the race course.

Running into Main Street USA in the Magic Kingdom After a little bit of running through the backstage area, we ran through a gate and suddenly were in the Magic Kingdom, right in Main Street USA, just inside the entry to the park. Runners on Main Street USA It was awesome — beautifully lit — with cast members and spectators cheering us on. We turned the corner and ran right down Main Street USA. It was dark when Cecilia and I ran through, but light the next day during the marathon, which is when these pictures were taken.

Me at Cinderella's Castle We continued up Main Street USA and turned right in to Tomorrowland. We ran through there — at 6:45am, the park was not open yet so it was quiet — then around into Fantasyland, straight through Cinderella’s Castle as trumpets on the balcony announced our arrival, and out the front to adoring crowds. Cecilia and I stopped for a picture in front of the castle.

We ran through Liberty Square and Frontierland, then exited the park through another out-of-the-way gate and into more backstage areas, this time the area where the floats from the Main Street Electrical Parade are stored. At this point, just about halfway through the race, I stopped at a water station to take a gel and some water, then Cecilia I split up as I ran ahead.

Although I knew rationally I should try to take it easy as a precaution for the marathon the next day, I also had a mental block about wanting to beat 2 hours. While my best half marathon time is 1:39:59, something just wouldn’t let me run slower than 2 hours for this race, even though Cecilia and I were both planning “personal worsts” for the half marathon. I increased my pace substantially to make up time: the first half of the race had taken me 1:07:25 (average speed of 9.4km/hr), so I needed to run the second half in less than 53 minutes (average speed of at least 11.9km/hr).

Me with Eeyore and Tigger The second half of the course took us past the Grand Floridian and Polynesian Resorts, then back along many of the same highways to get back to Epcot. To keep us entertained and motivated along the way, there were marching bands, groups of spectators, and Disney characters cheering us on every half mile or so. Since there was no line up, I stopped to get my picture taken with Eeyore and Tigger and then got back underway.

Half marathon race course I’ve included a map of the race course so you can see where the race took us.

For the last half kilometre of the race, we ran into Epcot’s Future World, up past Spaceship Earth, back down the other side, and out to the finish line in a nearby parking lot. I put on a small burst of speed at the finish, motivated especially by looking down at my watch and seeing just a few seconds left before it ticked over to 2:00:00. I rounded the corner, the crowds were cheering (for me, and not for the other thousands of people running the race, I’m sure) and I crossed the finish line at 1:59:59 on my watch. (When I checked the official results, my chip time was 1:59:29; I don’t know where that extra 30 seconds came from, but I won’t complain.)

Me after the Half Marathon After collecting my medal and some refreshments, I headed to our agreed-upon meeting point, where Cecilia joined me some 25 minutes later. We were both in good spirits and feeling alright, although we both got ice for our knees to ward off any swelling around our ITBs. We hung out in the finishing area for quite a while, but our friends Laura and Donna, also running the half marathon, didn’t show up; due to a mixup in communication, they went to a different meeting point, but we all rendezvoused back at the hotel a few hours later.

And thus concluded my exciting race weekend at Walt Disney World!

Wait a second… that’s not right… I had a whole ‘nother race to run, a whole marathon, less than 24 hours later. But to hear about that, you’ll have to wait until I write that race report.

In the meantime, head on over to Cecilia’s blog to check out her Disney half marathon report.

Brisbane 10km

The goal for the 10k race was to work on increasing speed. My friend Ken and I had gotten into a bit of a training glut — well, not a glut, but at least a routine — with our “fast” runs not much faster than our long runs. The 10k was an attempt to pick up the pace a bit.

Although the weather has been cool here the last few weeks, this weekend was quite warm, and the temperature during the race was 19C at 8:30 in the morning, the hottest it’s been in several months of running. The course was also a bit hilly, with two bridges to cross and some intermediate hills along the way.

My final time was 44:33, nearly four minutes faster than last year’s Twilight 10k run, which lead to an overall placing of 58th out 862, and 17th out of 125 in my age category (M 30-34). I’m fairly happy with the result, though I’m confident I can improve that time in the future.

For now, though, that PB will have to stand. For the rest of the year, I will be switching back to distance running in preparation for the Goofy race in January.

Looking across to Whitsunday Island

Our lunch break on South Molle Island On Good Friday, I went kayaking in the sea around the coast. Apparently even though I’ve only been kayaking a few times, I’m apparently an experienced kayaker, or at least my canoeing experience makes me a relatively experienced kayaker compared to your average tourist. We had a few island stops. Butterfly at a flower We had lunch on one of the islands, South Molle Island, with some spare time on the beach after lunch. Rather than lounging around, I set out with my camera for a bit of hiking in the hills of the island, and came across fields and paths filled with butterflies. They seemed to enjoy posing for my pictures.

Me scuba diving at Luncheon Bay, Hook Island, Queensland One of the main purposes of the trip was to do a bit of scuba diving. I got my PADI Open Water Diver certification in February and this was my first dive since the course. While the Great Barrier Reef does stretch as far south as we were, it is quite a bit further out from the coast than it is further north. Blue water above the reefs at Luncheon Bay I assumed that the boat I was on, entitled “ReefJet”, would go out to the Great Barrier Reef, but in fact it did not, which was a bit of a disappointment. We ended up going to a place called Luncheon Bay on Hook Island (Yar!) which has a reef just off the island. I still got a good dive in and got to practice my skills, and, as always, I enjoyed swimming with schools of fish.

Sand dunes on Whitehaven Beach Our last stop before heading back to shore was Whitehaven Beach on Whitsunday Island, considered one of the most beautiful beaches in Australia, although the day we were there the weather was cloudy and the beach was not very photogenic. Apparently the sand from that beach is quite pure (98% silica) and was used in the construction of the Hubble Space Telescope.

The rest of the weekend was quiet and relaxing. I took a bus way out of town to go to church on Easter Sunday. (While the church was packed for Easter, the church and community were a bit underwhelming: the “choir” was a tape player.) And mostly I just read, having found a nice used bookstore in town. Sadly, I succumbed to a book every tourist is required by law to read at least once on vacation: The Da Vinci Code. Mildly entertaining, but no masterpiece.

I even managed to fit all my scuba gear back in my suitcase — and relatively dry too — to get back home.

More pictures from the trip are available in 2010′s Australia gallery.

Gold Coast Half Marathon

The race started at 6am in Gold Coast, about an hour’s drive from Brisbane. My running partner Ken drove me down (though he did not run in the race that day), and a PhD student from the office, Chai Wen, also came along to cheer me on: the biggest cheering squad I’ve had since high school cross country. (Though sadly I didn’t see them, nor did they see me, the entire race.)

I was not particularly thrilled about running that morning. I didn’t sleep well the night before, and when the alarm went off at 4:00am I seriously thought about skipping the race. I managed to get myself up and out the door though.

The temperature before the start of the race was around 8°C, so I decided to run in long sleeves. I started off at the front of the 1:40-1:50 time block, and that was fairly close to the front of the race. I crossed the start line within a minute of the start of the race, with U2′s “Beautiful Day” blaring over the loudspeakers.

Gold Coast Half Marathon path The first kilometre was slow for me, as it always is, with so many people crowded into such a small area. By the second kilometre I was on my target pace of 4:45/km, or 12.6km/hr. I did not have much of a plan for the race, beyond “run at or slightly better than my target pace the entire race”. I was able to do this easily for the first few kilometres and was feeling quite good, so by kilometre 5 I was confident I had a good chance at achieving both a personal best and my stretch goal of 1 hour 40 minutes.

At around kilometre 7 or 8, I noticed someone ahead of me running exactly my pace. I stuck with her, just a few feet behind, for over 10km. I felt solid straight through to kilometre 18, with very consistent split times, no more than a few seconds off my target. At around 18.5, I started to feel a bit tired, and noticed my pacer was fading a bit too. I left my pacer behind to ensure that I stayed at my target pace. Kilometres 19 and 20 were a bit tough, but I picked it up in kilometre 21 and finished strong, albeit without much of a sprint.

My watch showed a finish time of 1:40:08, which I was quite happy with, but it was just a tad over the elusive 1:40:00. When I got home and checked the “chip time” results, which corresponds to the time the race coordinators recorded for me as my timing chip crossed the start and finish lines, it was 1:39:59. Who am I to argue with that?

I was quite surprised, really, to have achieved that personal best and to beat 1 hour 40 minutes. Analyzing the data when I got home, I was pleased to see that I had a strong negative split, with the second half of the race being a full minute faster than the first half of the race. I’m very pleased with the result and enjoyed the training leading up to the race.

My next race is in four weeks’ time. Ken and I are going to run a 10k here in Brisbane, with a goal of speed. I haven’t run for speed in a long time — ever, really — so this will be literally and figuratively a change of pace.

Me with the Olympic cauldron

Flames lighting the crowd at one of Robson Square's nightly fireworks celebrations Fast forward to February 2010. I spent the first weekend of the Games camped out on the couch, watching the Opening Ceremonies and waiting for Canada to win its first gold. I watched speed skating and ski jumping and checked out pictures from friends in Vancouver on Facebook. It looked fantastic. And then Monday evening I had the spontaneous thought: “well, I could just go”. The Olympic countdown clock, counting up The genie was out of the bottle. I looked up flights and checked the availability of event tickets. An hour later (when the Eastern timezone was awake) I ran the idea past a couple friends and my parents to see if I was crazy. Another half hour later, my flights were booked, event tickets purchased, and accommodations arranged. It was hard to sleep that night as I was so excited. The clock was ticking.

Me with the crowds on Granville Street Over the last two weeks, I’ve written about my time in Whistler and the various events I attended. It’s fitting to close with a little bit about what Vancouver was like.

During the first week of the Games, I heard and read a lot about how Vancouverites were embracing the Games, and how everyone was enjoying themselves so much. When you encounter a story in the news, it’s hard to know whether it’s something that reporters are blowing out of proportion — something that the average person on the street wouldn’t even notice — or whether it truly is like that on the ground.

Flames lighting the crowd at one of Robson Square's nightly fireworks celebrations Let me tell you, downtown Vancouver was crazy during the Olympics. The centre of the insanity was the intersection of Granville and Robson streets. Both of those streets were closed to traffic throughout the Olympics, and Robson Square, one block north of that intersection, was a major outdoor gathering point. Each night during the Games, there were fireworks at Robson Square, and I met up with fellow Waterloo alum Ian to see the show one night.

Crowds celebrating the last night of the Olympics on Granville Street I ended up downtown a few nights, including the night that Canada defeated Russia in hockey and the last night of the Games after the Closing Ceremony, the day that Canada was gold in men’s hockey. As you can see the streets were packed! Filled with a lot of young people dressed in Canadian hockey jerseys or Team Canada clothes, wanting to do nothing more than high five everyone in sight. Hockey fans on Granville Street The last night I was downtown there were a few spontaneous rounds of O Canada to be heard while walking up and down the street. The only experience I can even remotely compare it to is being in Ottawa for Canada Day, except this was every night for two weeks in February. It was truly incredible and one of my favourite memories from the Games.

Was it the patriotic expression of a newly confident Canada emerging on the world stage as the newspapers were debating? During my life, I think Canadians have always been great fans of the Olympics and the Canadian team — the prevalence of maple-leaf-covered Roots and now Hudson’s Bay clothing being just one example — and this was just the next step. From what I read about at Dundas Square in Toronto and the constant interest from friends across Canada on Facebook, it seems the excitement stretched far beyond Vancouver, across the entire country.

The last big Olympic experience I had was flying out of Vancouver airport on the day after the Closing Ceremony, the busiest day in the history of Vancouver airport, with 39,000 people departing. While I wasn’t expecting chaos — they made a big deal out of being prepared for this — I was at least expecting a bit of a crowd. But I guess my flight, at 11:45pm, was too late for much excitement. When I arrived (4.5 hours early, as recommended), there was no line up for check-in, no line up at the Olympic souvenir shop, no line up at security; it was a run-of-the-mill quiet Monday evening at a medium-sized airport. How disappointing!

Me with Dutch gold medallist speed skater Sven Kramer at Vancouver airport As it turns out, I had forgotten to bring the card that gave me access to one of the lounges at the airport, so once I got through security I wandered the terminal a bit to see what was going on. There were still some athletes there waiting for flights, including a few folks from Great Britain and a sea of orange jackets from the Netherlands. As I went over to Tim Horton’s to get my last Tim’s hot chocolate for some time, I recognized one of the Dutch athletes (who was the only one not in orange): Sven Kramer, presently the best long track speed skater and gold medallist in the men’s 5000m. I watched him (on TV) win gold during the first day of the Games. He kindly indulged my request to take a picture with him. It was a great way to end my trip to Vancouver.

I’m so glad I went to Vancouver and Whistler for the Olympics. It was one of the best experiences of my life!

Getting to Sochi in 2014 may be a bit more difficult than Vancouver, though. But London’s conveniently accessible from anywhere on the planet, isn’t it?

Me at the end of the Closing Ceremony

Watching the Canada vs. USA hockey game before the Closing Ceremony When I arrived in the stadium, the first order of business was to catch up on the Canada versus USA hockey game, which was playing on the big screen. What an exciting game that was! I don’t follow hockey much but even I could tell — without commentary, as we got the raw feed in the stadium — that it was a really well-played game. A sea of red leaving the hockey game next door Not knowing the rules of Olympic hockey, I didn’t realize that it was sudden-death overtime; while I was excited at Crosby’s overtime goal, it took another minute for me to realize that the game was over. I was thrilled for many reasons: for the success of the men’s hockey team, for Canada winning 14 gold medals, and for that being a great note on which to start the Closing Ceremony.

My seat for the Closing Ceremony After the game finished, I started wandering around the stadium to take some pictures and see what was going on. One of the best pictures I took before the show started was this panorama. On the left side of the picture, you can see: my seat in the bottom left corner (as noted on the detailed image at right), the podium where speeches were given, flag poles; in the centre: the VIP seating and the three-legged cauldron, and closest to the camera the beginning of the athletes’ seating; and at the right, the Olympic rings and another stage. (If you’re reading this on Facebook, click “View Original Post” at the bottom of the post to see more detail.)

BC Place before the Closing Ceremony began panorama

Me with my moose antlers at the Closing Ceremony At 4:30, the audience participation rehearsal started. At our seats was a custom kit with a number of items to use during the ceremony, including elegant foam moose antlers, as you can see, to wear during the spectacular Canadian stereotypes segment. Audience members in their white and light blue ponchos We also had ponchos — white or light blue (mine was light blue) — to wear during the ceremony so that we looked better on television when they projected lights onto the crowd.

Clown mechanic repairing the cauldron And then, at 5:30, the ceremony began, with what ended up being my favourite part of the whole ceremony. When I arrived in the stadium, I noticed that the cauldron in the centre only had three legs. I figured that they had just decided to go with that after the fourth leg hadn’t come up during the Opening Ceremony. When the clown mechanic appeared at the start and started “repairing” the fourth leg, everyone in the stadium roared and jumped to their feet. That and Catriona Le May Doan lighting the cauldron made for a perfect start to the ceremony. Although the heat coming off the cauldron didn’t reach me, it did cause the curtain screens hanging in the centre of the stadium to billow a lot.

Joannie Rochette carrying in the Canadian flag Team Canada in the stands Next was the Parade of the Athletes. Joannie Rochette carried the Canadian flag in through the entrance just next to where I was sitting. The athletes made their way in and to their seats, also near where I was sitting. Since I was sitting right on a pathway, I was able to get up and take a picture of Team Canada in the stands.

Presentation of Sochi 2014 Michael J. Fox's speech during the I Am Canadian segment As the ceremony progressed, we had the beautiful presentation from Sochi 2014, followed by speeches by Canadian actors William Shatner, Catherine O’Hara, and Michael J. Fox.

A spectacle of Canadian stereotypes Next was the peculiar but amusing spectacle of Canadian stereotypes and Michael Bublé. The ceremony concluded with a concert by some of the biggest names in present-day Canadian music. I was looking forward to hearing Alanis Morissette for the first time in person, but didn’t much care for the song she played. Bouncy balls at the end of the Closing Ceremony Simple Plan put on a good show, as did Hedley. The concert ended with a bunch of huge glowing bouncy balls being released for the athletes to play with and then eventually send into the crowd. The bouncy balls reminded me of the beautiful Sony BRAVIA bouncy balls commercial.

Crowds leaving the Closing Ceremony After the ceremony I joined the crowds and headed towards downtown Vancouver to see the chaos on Granville Street. I’ll write more about what Vancouver’s been like during my time here, but the crowds on Sunday night were bigger and happier than any of the previous nights, and why shouldn’t they be: Canada just won gold medal hockey against the United States, had its best Winter Olympics ever, and showed the world a great time! Thanks, Vancouver!

See the rest of my pictures from the Closing Ceremony in my Vancouver gallery.

Me at the Pacific Coliseum for short track speed skating races

The start of the men's 500m final There were three finals being held that night: men’s 500m, women’s 1000m, and men’s 5000m relay. For the shorter distance races, they first worked through quarterfinals and semifinals of each, before having the B and A final races.

Short track races are crazy and exciting. It’s such a small rink to be racing so fast on — just a normal hockey rink, I believe — and the racers stay so close. A single slip up by one of the racers can cause a crash that takes out another racer and ends their chance at gold, so it’s a really nail-biting event when you’re there in person.

Charles Hamelin and Francois-Louis Tremblay celebrating their gold and bronze medal-winning races All of the events had Canadians racing. Two Canadian men made it to the final of the 500m race: Charles Hamelin and Francois-Louis Tremblay. Hamelin spent most of the race in the lead but on the second last lap was overtaken by Si-Bak Sung of South Korea. Coming out of the last turn, Hamelin regained the lead, and then suddenly there was chaos: the South Korean fell, bounced off the pads, taking out Canadian Francois-Louis Tremblay; an unstable Charles Hamelin crossed the finish line on one foot just before spinning around on his skates off balance, with Apolo Ohno right behind him. The crowd erupted having seen that Hamelin crossed first, but then uncertainty set in as the referees consulted. After a tense minute with an entire coliseum holding its breath, the results came in: gold for Hamelin, silver for South Korea, bronze for Tremblay, and Apolo Ohno disqualified for interference. Crazy! If you haven’t seen the race, I highly recommend watching it. On CTV Olympics’ video player, scroll down to “Golden Moments”, hit the arrow to go to page 2, and select “Men’s 500m Final: Hamelin wins gold”.

Next up was the women’s 1000m final. Unfortunately, Canadians Kalyna Roberge and Jessica Gregg didn’t qualify from the semifinals, so they skated in the B final, which Roberge won. The gold medal was won by Wang Meng of China who had dominated her quarter and semifinal races.

Transitions during the men's 5000m relay The last race of the evening — and indeed the last short track speed skating race of these Games — was the men’s 5000m relay final. The qualifying races had taken place more than a week earlier, with 5 teams of 4 making the final race: 20 skaters on the ice, which is pretty chaotic, so chaotic in fact that they scared the on-ice cameraman off the ice! In the relay race, one member from each team races on the outer part of the track while the remaining members of the team circle on the inside of the track waiting to take over. They switch about every lap and a half, and the race is about 45 laps long in total.

China took an early lead, but about half way through Canada managed to squeeze in front. Canada opened up quit a gap with about 10 laps to go by changing their relay timing — continuing skating while all the other teams passed off — but the other teams managed to make up the distance. The last few laps were pretty tense, as the Koreans and Chinese stayed in close. The Canadians maintained their lead all the way to the finish line, but in the last turn, the Chinese skater slipped a bit, leaving the Koreans with the silver and the Americans with the bronze.

Flags being raised during O Canada for the men's 500m short track medal ceremony We were very lucky that they decided to do the medal ceremony at the venue right after the race. For most of the events during the Vancouver Olympics, medals have been presented at victory ceremonies — at either BC Place in Vancouver or Whistler Medals Plaza in Whistler Village. However, for a few events, such as figure skating, they have been doing them right at the event venue. They did the short track medals at the venue as well, probably because they needed to start preparing BC Place for the Closing Ceremony two days later. Team Canada on the podium with Korea in silver and USA in bronze Regardless, it was a bonus for us: we got to see three Canadian medals presented in one place — more than at any other medals ceremony at these Games — and got to sing O Canada twice that night. During one of the singings of O Canada, I gave my friend Katie a call on my cell phone so that she could join in.

Although I’ve enjoyed all the events I’ve attended at the Olympics, short track speed skating was my favourite. Overall, it’s just a fantastic, exciting sport to watch. And two O Canada’s in one night made it all the more rewarding!

Take a look at the rest of my pictures from short track speed skating.

Me at the aerials venue at Cypress Mountain

Canadian aerialist in a training jump Twelve athletes had qualified from the earlier rounds — 3 Canadians, 2 Americans, 3 Chinese, 3 Belorussians, and a Swiss athlete. When I arrived two hours before the event started, they were doing their training runs. During training, they start with easy jumps and work up to the harder jumps. In fact, in training they must achieve the same difficulty level as their hardest jump in the competition or they cannot do that jump in the actual event. The attention of the crowd was split during training, however, as the video screens showed the women’s gold medal hockey match while the aerialists trained.

Preparing the jump for training It was interesting to see the ongoing maintenance of the hill during the evening. After every other jump, the Smurf Shovel Brigade (the venue maintenance volunteers in blue jackets) fixed up the landing area, filling in where jumpers landed hard, corrugating the landing area by walking down the hill sideways with their skis, and tossing out pine boughs to give jumpers depth perception.

Aerialists fly up to 60 feet in the air In the finals, each athlete gets two jumps. Canadian Kyle Nissen had a fantastic jump with a really solid landing in the first round, taking the lead by 7 points. Unfortunately, the other two Canadians both had slapbacks, “a poor landing in which the skier hits the snow on his/her skis and back”.

Chinese aerialist in the air With a Canadian in the lead, the crowd was really excited going into the second round of jumps. Because the best athletes go last in the second round, we had to wait until the very end to see whether Nissen would hold on to first. He had a good jump but not as good a landing, and a lower degree of difficulty, which pushed him back in to 5th place. The gold went to Alexei Grishin of Belarus.

Flower ceremony for the men's aerials This was my first event in Vancouver and a bit different from the events in Whistler. Getting to the event took a while, just because getting around Vancouver takes a long time — but I never had to wait longer than 5 minutes. Leaving the event, there were really long lineups for the buses down Cypress Mountain; they had to fit some 9,000 people onto buses back to Vancouver, so that took a while. All in all, though, it was a well-run event, made even better by fantastic weather the whole time.

Take a look at the rest of my pictures from the event.

Cecilia and I at biathlon

Canadian skiier practice shooting In the biathlon relay, there are 19 teams, each composed of four people. Each person does a 6km relay leg: 2km skiing, a shooting round lying prone on the ground, 2km skiing, a shooting round standing up, another 2km skiing, and then a transition to the next skier. In the shooting round, they have 5 bullets and have to hit 5 targets. The carnage in the transition area They also have an additional 3 bullets in case they miss some of the targets, but they have to reload those bullets manually. Finally, if they still haven’t hit all the targets, they have to do a penalty loop.

Russian fans cheering on their winning team As with the ski jumping event I attended the day before, the Canadians and Americans were the lowest ranked teams heading into the competition. At the top of the field were the Russians, Germans, and French. The German and Russian fans were out in full force, wildly waving their flags. Our team did decently, considering we’re not a northern European powerhouse: the Canadian women improved from their rank, finishing in 15, three spots above their rank, and two spots ahead of the Americans.

Canadian and American skiiers embracing after a tough ski The Russians won the race (and their fans were happy about that, let me tell you!). The French had been in the lead but then had a bad shooting round and had to take two penalty laps. Remarkably, the French fought their way back from ninth place back up to second in an amazing recovery from their penalty laps.

Today I leave Whistler and head down to Vancouver to enjoy a few more events and the closing ceremonies.