All good things must come to an end...

...and so, too, our final day of the trip arrives. I'm glad we didn't have to run today, because it was even colder and windier! I think it's warmer in Sanikiluaq right now...

 

 

We all enjoyed a bit of a sleep-in after having been up at 6:00 am yesterday. We had a leisurely late breakfast, and then stopped off at the Inuit Centre to see the people from home one more time. Off to the mall for some last minute shopping, and then we went downstairs to enjoy a few games of bowling.

 

 Is there anything quite as styling as bowling shoes? I think not...LOL!

 

The students had lots of fun, and almost everyone got at least one strike or spare. There was some interesting freestyle form happening, but all in all, it was an enjoyable afternoon.

 

 

We had our celebration dinner at Red Lobster after. We got there before 5:00, thinking that we'd beat the crowd if we went early. Apparently all of Winnipeg had the same idea! Oh well! We did get seats fairly quickly after enjoying the joke with others as they waited. We took adjoining booths to shorten the wait time. So of course, the stealth mode appeared on the camera...

 

Ha ha, over-the-shoulder when no one expects it, LOL!

 

We ended the night with a movie at the Silver City Cinema, and a few games while we waited for the show to start.

 

Megan and Joe  riding "virtual" motocross bikes for their race.

 

It was a good ending to another great trip. Back at the hotel, bags were packed and stored in my room, ready for another early morning departure. Back home in Sanikiluaq and the successful completion of the Paatsaali Running Club's 4th trip. WOOT!

 

See you at home, everyone!

 

 

 



Race day arrives!

 

Into every life a little rain must fall, and onto every runner, as well. Our streak of perfect weather runs ended today, alas!

 

The day hadn't even dawned when we got up and had still not arrived when we made it to the race site.

 

 

As usual, there was a lot of hurry-up-and-wait involved. On the race coordinator's part, it was very well done, and line-ups were minimal. It's always just a long lag between breakfast, parking, arrival, bag-check, and start times. But imagine our surprise and happiness when we headed to the start line to see some friends and family from Sanikiluaq waiting there to cheer on the students! Well done! The kids were so very happy! Many thanks to Nikki who answered some last-minute posts on where the start line was!

 

The rain hit as we began the run, but fortunately ended at the halfway mark. All seven of the runners competed, all seven finished, and all seven earned their own special medallion or SMO: Shiny Metal Object, in runner's lingo!

 

 

Left-to-right: Brad Wutke, 5K; Noah Emikotailak, 10K; Joewillie Iqaluq, 5K; coach Terri Skinner, 10K; Joe Kudluarok, 5K; Maggie Megan Kowcharlie, 5K; and Ashley Appaqaq, 10K. Way to go, runners! Celebrate your achievement!

 

And a huge thumbs-up and thanks to Subway, who provided the runners with juice, coffee, milk, subs, bagels, fruit, yogurt and cookies! Perfect way to refuel after all that hard work. And then off to the football game. The players entered the field to the boom of fireworks and fireballs, which thrilled the students to no end.

 

 

 And even better, ours was the lucky row to win free Booster Juice smoothies! There we all were, up on the Jumbotron for all the world to see as we were televised live to the nation! One way or another, these kids are making national TV!

 

 

And the smoothies were delicious, albeit very cold in an outdoor stadium in October, LOL!

 

The evening ended quietly with dinner at the hotel, a swim, and an early bedtime due to us being completely worn out. A great day for all of the students who have put so much effort into fundraising and training. I'm proud of all of them!

 

That's it for today!



The adventure continues!

Apologies that the posts have been lagging...the internet at the hotel kept dropping the signal every couple of minutes and the posts kept getting lost!

Our second full day saw us heading out to the Canadian Mennonite University, where we picked up our race kits and met course director, Jonathan Torchia. He was delighted to meet the students from Nunavut and introduced us all around to the race crew. He was gracious enough to request a photo op with our group, and Nikki found this picture on the Winnipeg Fire and Paramedic Services web site!

 

 

Jonathan is in the front, on the left side as you look at the photo. Then Noah, myself, Ashley and Megan. At the back on the right are Brad, Joe and Joewillie. I do apologize, but I don't remember the names of the others who belonged to the race crew.

 

Afterwards, we headed out to the Assiniboine Zoo. It was not very crowded, safe to say! It was the perfect day for a stroll, cool but sunny, and very little wind. Everyone seemed to enjoy it, but the younger ones appeared to have the most fun!

 

 

Climbing the observation tower.

Hopping a "ride" on Hudson's replica. He's the resident 2-yr old polar bear.

 

 



 

 

Sheriff Joewillie has got things under control. No need to panic, folks!

 

 

A little fall fun with the leaf piles. Ah, memories!

 

We grabbed some lunch, and shopped. And shopped...and shopped some more! There was quite the pile of packages making their way back to the rooms that evening! Renting the van was an absolutely BRILLIANT idea...it saved so much money on cabs, and so much time waiting, and allowed us to wander from here to there at our whim.

 

 

We finished the evening with some swimming, and then gathered together for a pizza party and a movie. Only the best quality cinematic productions would do, so naturally we all watched "Sharknado!" And yes, it was exactly as it sounds...a huge hurricane spawns a tornado that sucks up 20,000 hungry sharks that subsequently get dumped onto Los Angeles. I'm expecting to see SEVERAL Academy Award nominations here... :-D

 

So off for now, and on to the race tomorrow!

 

Running Trip #4, amazingly enough!

I cannot believe how the time has flown, and the Paatsaali Running Club is on its fourth running trip! This time, we are in Winnipeg to take part in the Fire and Paramedics 5K/10K/half marathon on October 19th. There are five students running along with two teacher/chaperone runners.

 

 

The weather cooperated beautifully this time, and the day of departure came with sunny skies and light winds. Couldn't ask for better! Well, I guess I could have asked that maybe the runway could have been repaired on a different day...the pilots spent over an hour circling while the ground crew finished!

 

Waiting patiently...and waiting...and waiting...

 

 

...but not at ALL excited when the plane finally prepared to leave at 4:00 pm!

 

We arrived in Winnipeg after a brief pit stop in Pickle Lake, and were quite surprised that the airport had moved! To be more exact, only the portion that Kivalliq Air leases, but it was a momentary panic to think of picking up a van and driving to...well, I had no idea! Luckily, the pilots and crew were very helpful, and pulled up a Google map and I picked up our van. It is a lovely Town and Country 7-passenger, with auto everything from doors to hatch. I love the car, and it has already paid for itself in saved taxi fares and stress alone!

 

 

We did get to the Inuit Centre after check-in and a late Subway supper, and it felt just like home with so many neighbours from Sanikiluaq to visit. We'll visit again on Sunday.

 

Today, we all awoke to enjoy a delicious breakfast at the hotel. There was an entrée called "The Big Joe", and our Joes (along with the rest of us) enjoyed it!

 

 

Everyone was holding their bellies!

 

We then went to the Manitoba Museum, where we toured the Museum, the Science Centre and the Planetarium. I am fascinated by the travels of the Nonsuch, who may have been the first ship to contact the Sanikiluaqmiut in the late 1600's.

 

 

This is a replica of the ship that sailed down the western coast of what is now Nunavik and from there went into James Bay to today's Moosonee.

 

 

I wonder what Scott would think if this fish came out of the water on the end of his line, at about six feet across!

 

 

 

The mirrors make us look like Oompa-Loompas, LOL!

 

After the museum and lunch, we shopped...and shopped...and shopped! Outlet Value store, Walmart, Dollarama...I have some great goodies for the Christmas Table Sale! Dinner was what has become a Running Club signature meal: All-you-can-eat sushi...yummmm!

 

 

After dinner, we returned to the hotel to enjoy a swim, a soak in the hot tub, and a ride down the water slide.

 

 

We are all safely tucked in for the night. Tomorrow we pick up our race kits, tour the Assiniboine Zoo, and enjoy a bowling game or two before the big race day. Stay tuned for further adventures from Terri, Brad, Noah, Ashley, Joe, Joewillie, and Megan!