PEI In 200 Days!

On Friday, my Dad's 73rd birthday (That should give you a rough idea of my own age.  If it should score me any more points or sympathy, I am closer to 50 than 40 at this point.), I completed my 8 week program AND I successfully ran 5 km STRAIGHT!  No stops, no walking.  A whole 5 km straight!  You have no idea how many false starts I have had over the past 14 years, or how many programs I have attempted but could never quite make it.  But, this time, I did it!  I don't even remember where I found the program - somewhere on the internet?  It was a Word document that I downloaded and will never be able to return to the site from whence it came because it is on my computer which is officially toast.

T, before you start harping on about "you should get a MAC", let me just tell you that I got a new iPhone last Saturday and it hasn't worked properly since I got it.  A phone isn't much good unless you can actually hear what the other person is saying and I can't hear a thing.  Although, it is sort of nice that I can get my point across without having to hear "no" or the plethora of excuses.  You see, they can hear me at the other end.  So I can call the SF and say, "I'll be home in 10 minutes.  My dinner better be on the table!", and he can say whatever he wants back, but I don't have to listen to it.  Or, I can call him and say, "Can you stop at the grocery store and pick up....."  Same thing!  Better yet.  "Can you pick me up a coffee?"  You remember that new bike he just got?  Well, it means that Momma deserves a little payback.  I'm just wonder how long I can milk it?

What the iPhone has been good for is recording my run times/distances while I'm at the gym.  Instead of taking pen and paper, I can just make notes right then and there.  Although the drips of sweat all over it aren't that great and my hands shaking from exhaustion make it somewhat difficult to hit the right letters and numbers, but you get my point.

So where am I?  Well, at the end of my 8 week program, I have landed just short of Murray River, PEI.


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Murray River is, yet another picturesque, town on PEI.  I'm probably going to get tired of saying that.

Located in Murrary River is the Maclure Dam which was built in 1808 in order to provide power to the local grist mill and sawmill.  The Dam happens to be the largest body of fresh water on the island.  In the past, it served the community well in the summer months.  I Because the community did not have any refrigerators until after the 40's, the community members would cut blocks from the ice that accumulated at the dam in the winter and would cover it in sawdust from the mill which would allow the ice to last through the summer.  This sounds familiar to me as the people of the community of Ulukhaktok, where the SF and I lived for two years, would cut blocks of ice from the surrounding lakes.  They would actually melt the ice and use it as their drinking water.

Ulukhaktok.  Loading the kamik with ice.

Hmm....you tell me?  Would you rather live your days in the picture above or below?  No question where I would rather be.

Murray River Wharf
Photo courtesy of /www.pointseastcoastaldrive.com

The community of Murray River is also known for its grove of old wood white and red pines which provide a great backdrop of colour come Fall.  Some of these trees date back to the 1870s.  Spectacular!

Photo courtesy of www.pointseastcoastaldrive.com

That's all I've got for you on Murray River.  As for me, I have now completed 98.25 km!  Well....I've gotta run!