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!

Week 7 - PEI in 200 Days

What a week! It has been a busy one around here and the running seemed to be a challenge for me this week. The last two weeks of my program, 7 & 8, don't actually have a time goal to reach, just to work toward running 5 km's non-stop. So, my thought was to attempt to run a mile, walk, run the 2nd mile, walk and complete the 3rd mile which would have put me somewhere near the 5km mark. Not so easy it turned out. I really struggled with the first two runs of the week and was feeling quite frustrated with myself. Come Friday I was in desperate need of some stress relief (more later on that subject) and decided to just run. It worked! I ran half an hour straight and completed 4kms running and walked the last. Not too much longer and I will have reached that 5km goal!


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With this week's run totalling 14.9km, I have now landed in Murray Harbour, PEI.

photo courtesy of Points East Coastal Drive

In the late 1700's, Murray Harbour became a formidable working harbour and continues to do so to this day. During the Depression when the fishing industry was in decline and prohibition was in effect , rum running became a mainstay of the harbour.  The community is made famous by the history of the rum running vessel known as Nellie J. Banks which managed the elude the authorities for quite some time.  Eventually, when she was seized and the owner was taken to court, it was deemed that the seizure was illegal and he actually won damages from the government.

Photo courtesy of museemccordmuseum

When the railway opened in the early 1900's, Murray Harbour was the final stop for the day of a 22 stop line.  The train was put to rest in the rail yard for the night and would star back up again early the next day where it would make its trek all over again.  Today Murray Harbour is the home of  Rail Head Park where this significant industry is memorialized.

There is some great information about Murray Harbour at this community access program website. 
As well, if you are interested, please check out the Points East Coast Drive website.  This is basically the route I am following and there is far more information there than I am providing here.

Communities passed through:
20. Guernsey Cove
21. Beach Point

I'll fill you in on the rest of the week's drama tomorrow, but for now, I've gotta run!

I Must Have Been Drunk

....because by my meagre calculation, using the path I intended, it is 730+ kms around the island?! What the hell was I thinking? Perhaps I should just tackle the Trans Canada Trail which horizontally crosses the island?

If my math is correct, I have to complete 4+kms each day to even come close to that goal? And we all know, that is not going to happen.

Since yesterday was Good Friday, the gym was closed so I had to complete my run today. Not an easy feat after spending multiple hours yesterday with my dear friends, Itchy and Scratchy, drinking sparkling wine and making jewelry. Well, my only contribution to my new bling was selecting the stones and cutting the chain. Scratchy assembled it for me.

With today's run, I have now completed Week 6 of my 8-week program. Today's run was supposed to be my first attempt at running a mile non-stop, walk 2 minutes and then walk/run a 2nd mile. Instead I ran a mile, walked 2 minutes and ran the 2nd mile! Yeah Me! With that, my total distance for this week was 12.97 km which lands me just short of White Sands, PEI which is located in southern Kings County.

White Sands was a prospering community...in 1880.  LOL!  At one time it was the home of two thriving businesses, a pop factory and a lobster cannery but these businesses are long gone.


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Along the way I passed through the following communities:

17. Little Sands
18. High Bank
19. White Sands

Is it just me or does Tignish seem like it is a long way from here?  Gotta run!

PEI in 200 Days - Update 1

If there’s anything we immediately noticed about PEI, it is that you can drive five minutes in any direction and have driven through 10 different townships making it somewhat difficult to get to know the island. Can you imagine a poor police officer having to learn the names of them all? You can probably hold your breath and drive through 3 towns. Don’t believe me? Let’s track that too! I have now completed 5 weeks of my run/walk program. My run/walks are 30 minutes long and as of today, that run consisted of 25 minutes of running and 5 walking. Not bad, if I do say so myself. In these first 5 weeks, I have now run from Stratford through Wood Islands.

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Wood Islands, named for several small forested islands located just off of the shore of PEI, in the Northumberland Strait. Wood Islands is also the home of the Wood Islands Ferry. This ferry takes you across the Strait and lands near Pictou, Nova Scotia which is where my kin arrived when they emigrated to Canada from Scotland. (Oh! That’s another thing I should track. Documenting the McLean family tree! Maybe I’ll get on that in the winter.) Wood Islands is also the home of one of my favourite nurseries, Island Pride.

Wood Islands is the starting point for the 70 mile yard sale which takes place annually and it is exactly as it says. Hundreds of families and businesses set up yards sales along a designated route on a given weekend in the Fall. A great way to spend a couple of hours, or the weekend if you are an avid garage sale aficionado!

In my journey from Stratford to Wood Islands, I have now run through the following communities:

1. Stratford
2. Alexandra
3. Pownal
4. Waterside
5. Mt. Mellick
6. Cherry Valley
7. Vernon Bridge
8. Orwell
9. Orwell Cove
10. Lower Newton
11. Eldon
12. Mt. Buchanan
13. Pinette
14. Flat River
15. Belle River
16. Wood Islands

16 communities in 54 km! And you thought I was exaggerating?

Another couple of things that are in abundance on PEI. Lighthouses and Churches. I would have passed the Point Prim Lighthouse , as well as the Wood Islands Lighthouse along with 5 churches.

See y’all next Friday! I’ve gotta run!

My Marathon Run Around Prince Edward Island in 200 Days

Not that this is news to me, but it might be to you, but I am all about the numbers. Perhaps the ticker count down on the sidebar of my blog are an indication to you. How about the tally for the number of years, months, days and hours we spent living in the Arctic? Better yet, the mileage tracked on our trek from the North to PEI? Or what about the poll for the now defunct, “Mugshot Monday”? And then there is my pathetic and unsuccessful attempt to beat the SF by 3 games? I love tracking money...how much, how little, where it’s going, where it’s been and where it is. Even better I am a sucker for a spreadsheet. I can lose myself for hours inside one. You can track any number of things – budgets, knitting stash, weight, fitness – the limits are endless...and no, I did not attend band camp.

You see the theme? I also like a little competition, even if it is by myself. It inspires me. It motivates me! And I love to track my progress. So I ask myself, “Self? Why don’t you set yourself a running goal and track it?” And I agreed. So my goal is to ostensibly run around Prince Edward Island in 200 Days. My start date was the 14th of March making my finish date October 9th! I hope you’ll join me as I track my progress on google maps and I’ll give you all some of the highlights of the island as I virtually pass them by. Check back each Friday for an update.

Since my starting point was our home in Stratford, I thought I would give you the low-down it. Stratford was not named Stratford until 1995 when several villages and communities amalgamated to form one. (Check out Aerial 4 in this photo gallery.  The long drive with the turnaround is the park next to our house.  Our house is just off camera in the bottom right corner of the shot.) Stratford is located across the Hillsborough River from downtown Charlottetown. It is an up and coming community filled with a mixed population of elderly and young families and a few of us middle-aged people. Before the bridge(s) were built, it was strictly cottage country. In fact, a ferry used to shuttle people back and forth in the summer, while horse drawn sleighs crossed the ice in the winter. The first bridge constructed to connect Stratford to Charlottetown was built in 1905, later replaced in the 60’s and again in the 90’s. The piers from one of the old bridges remain and are frequented by seals and annually migrating cormorants.

Stratford is a mix of modern suburban and rural homes, summer use cottages and farms. An eclectic mix but it all works well. Our home is located right next to one of Stratford’s parks, Tea Hill Park. It serves as the border between rural homes and some farm land.

Oh...and Stratford is also the home to my new workplace (insert free plug here) Stratford Physiotherapy! Did I mention that it takes me under 4 minutes to get to work, even with a road stop for some power pole replacement going on in the hood?!

Please come back tomorrow for my first progress update!