That was the scene last Saturday April 18th at 6:30am underneath Astoria’s famous landmark, the Washington Bridge. Carla Oja and her Chief of Police husband, Alan, literally following us across the 4 ½ mile expanse between Oregon and Washington, with flashing red and blues.
How’d we get to do this you may be asking? The answer, just ask when you’re presenting to 500 kids in the town you shot a movie called “The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles-3” in, “if anyone knows the Police who can get us across the bridge”? Not even thinking for a second that it would work, when Carla (a teacher at Lewis & Clark Elementary) came rushing up with the news that her husband Alan was indeed, chief of Police and she’d already called him to line it up!
And she added that I’d kissed her daughter 16 years previous and said she’d send a picture later that day. I must add that Carla’s daughter was all but 4 years old 16 years ago and is now fully grown and attending University. My how time flies! See pictures.
So our visit to Lewis & Clark Elementary and St. Mary Star of the Sea was filled with more deep memories for Steph and I (and Amber), to process because of so many hospitable people in this Northern Oregon seaside town, helping us to spread our message of Action!
Time and time again we’ve been shown that acting “local” means living and doing on a grassroots level and the through-line being, people caring about each other because they’ve created community and the vision of how they want their community to be.
We were (dare I say again), welcomed in like old friends in a town I felt a kinship with because of a16 years ago filming event. And now, because this same community, saw something in our tour and our message that resonated with them.
Thanks Astoria, we think you’re all pretty cool (as Amber just stated) and look forward the next time our paths cross again.
Today we ran our last day in the USA!!! I can’t believe we finally reached this day…
After running since October 18th when we first ran across the border from New Brunswick to Maine, we have now safely arrived in Port Angeles, Washington, now awaiting our Victoria-bound ferry departing tomorrow morning at 8:00am. We will be sure to run to and from the ferry terminals too… just because 🙂
Excitedly, the home team support has started… as we sit here with Mr. Rob Kelly himself who zoomed down on his motorbike with Canucks bandwagon flag in tow. Tomorrow morning we will run off the ferry into Victoria to celebrate with a few more of you for the remaining 13 days of tour.
The past week has been filled with great excitement, as the momentum continues to grow towards our return on May 8th. From meeting our very original “road permit grantor”, Cathy Cooper, who Matt spoke with over 2 years ago to run on Washington State Highways (!!), to school presentations set up by referral from our time in Patagonia, Arizona, to sitting on the third base line as VIPs at Safeco Field to cheer on the Mariners, it has been another one of those banner Run for One Planet weeks.
The Serendipity Centre kicked off our day in Portland. This unique school for students with special mental/ emotional needs gave Steph and Matt a most attentive audience. Their glee at hearing Ed and Raphael (Matt’s character voices) was palpable, as was their enthusiasm for the environment. Meeting 7 year old Amanda who “loves recycling!” and ‘Giggles’ who was having a grand ol’ time helping read out the Top Ten Action Tips spread smiles across our faces.
And then there was Amy. This young woman was sitting as tall as she could when her teacher beckoned for Matt to come over to meet her, and sign her Ed, Edd, and Eddie poster. She was so struck and inspired that, according to her principal, she then did something she has never done before: volunteered to come up in front of the whole school and read aloud. What an incredible milestone in her life these two Run for One Planet-eers were part of!
As the days go, we were off to the next school, with Racy learning the lay of the land, and shuttling us into parking beneath a blossoming cherry tree outside of St Clare’s School. Inside, more than 400 students absorbed the presentation, and offered their insights into Eating Locally and Organically and Turning off the Lights. Another great crowd with great energy, this school is well on its way to becoming a certified Green School, thanks to the foraying leadership of Principal Marilyn.
Our time in Portland was packed fuller still, and this first day rounded out with a Whole Foods and lululemon athletica event. It was difficult to leave the next morning even, but a choice park job downtown near the river ushered us out of Portland on a friendly people high. Intent on a first run around the bridges, we were dining on breakfast when Drew (whose Carbon Offsetting office overlooked Racy, down on the street) came down for a meet ’n greet and donation.
These Living Harvest / Tempt! (http://www.worldpantry.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce/ExecMacro/livingharvest/home.d2w/report) marketing reps came bearing gifts too! A supply of hemp milk (made from BC, AB, and MB hemp seeds) to last a year, their new hemp ice cream product, and even hemp protein powder now adorn our cupboards. Sheesh. The astounding generosity of people is a constant presence in this tour’s day-to-day.
He is the perfect candidate for the tour’s “local hero” category. In fact, this guy named Don could be awarded with the title of, “the originator of what it means to be a local hero”.
You see our friend Don Grant has all the qualities of what a local hero brings to the table.
Lives local (Burnaby BC),
Has a family (an awesome wife and kid to match)
Works with many people in the community (way beyond 9-5)
Coached Hockey for many years (pretty Canadian eh)
Goes way out of his way for anyone in need of his talents (often)
Is humble in his ways, but way beyond what most in his profession profess to do
Is the kind of guy you know you can always count on, when you really need him
These are but a few of the criteria that give the guideline to be a “local hero”.
Like I said, our most trusted and valued friend Don, is from our hometown of Vancouver and has treated me, (Matt) for the last 16 years, starting with the multiple Ninja Kicks to the head filming of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (and subsequent triathlon crashes, strains and mis-alignments). And since that first visit to his office on 6th St. in Burnaby, he has been a huge and sometimes, only reason why I’ve been able to compete in Ironman and all the other crazy things I’ve done over the years.
When Steph and I came to his office in early 2007 with this crazy dream to run across Canada and around America, with the honest question of, “what do you think Don?”
His answer was a simple (Don-like), “sure, you can do anything you want. When are you leaving?” His answers are sometimes so simple that it begs your ego brain to question weather there’s a hidden meaning or something you’ve missed in the simplicity of the “sure”. But with Don, you always get the honest goods and the commitment to get you to the start line (and finish line), healthy.
I know I haven’t said what Don does because I needed to give you a solid background on his character traits and a few examples of what makes him our local hero.
Don Grant is (in official title) a Doctor of Chiropractic with a list of attachments that go along with his years of training and other chiro symbols after the DC/AK signitories and the like. To us (and the hundreds on his patient files) as well, the hundreds still waiting to experience the “magic functionality of a Don Grant adjustment”, he is a lifeboat (many times) in a sea of athletic crashes, whacks to the body and in my case, a baaaaaad sprain just before our year long run endeavor.
Don had been treating Steph and I since the day we told him what we were planning on doing and helped us get over the start up over distance training we had to do in order to get our bodies ready for the year’s marathons. Like any long distance endeavor, we had our share of “tweeks” and “niggles” as we ran an average 80-140 miles per week for the year leading up to May 4th.
We knew we were but a phone call away from the friendly voice of Marriann, (Don’s faithful and “I’ll see if I can squeeze you both in”, receptionist). And when we couldn’t see Don for the better part of six months because of having to recover from his own big surgery, we were treated by his nephew, Stephen Sigalett, an up and coming, gifted Doc of all things Chiropractic.
Now you have the background on Dr. D and our journey with him. So now, I’d like to let you in on the latest in ‘local hero” adventures. It happened a few days ago while we were stopped in Portland for 2 more school presentations (St. Claire’s and Serendipity school’s respectively).
Don drove all the way from Vancouver (and must be mentioned he had just been in Portland 2 nights earlier to visit with his son Brandon, who’s attending Western States Chiropractic Program and carrying on the tradition). Don saw (or heard in my voice) the need to get us strong and straightened for these remaining 3 weeks and spent over 2 hours, adjusting, re-setting stuck bones, stretched ligaments and nervous systems, a bit low from a year’s worth of marathon’ing.
He even worked on Amber, to ensure she was strong for the impending madness that will be a busy run and events schedule until we run home on May 8th.
This is Don. No extra strings attached. No hidden costs,a guy who usually is the only person able to diagnose an ailment and subsequent solution over a cell phone call from the road. For example, Steph started having much pain in her foot from her arch dropping (Morton’s Neuroma) way back in Perth, Ontario. Our 1st call was to Dr. Don, who set up many chiropractor’s to try to alleviate her pain, keep her arch from dropping and striking the ground on the wrong (painful toe) with each step she took. None of them were able to fix it, and we still had many miles to cover.
So Don went searching for the solution in another direction. He figured a way with nutrition (and sent some way strong supplements), to keep Steph’s brain “thinking” her dropped arch was fixed. Some might think “crazy solution”. But I’m here to tell you, she ran on it all the rest of the way across Canada and now around America! Placebo effect or not, she ran and ran and is still running!
I had a badly jammed foot since Houston that started feeling like my foot was driving my fibula and tibia apart with each step (because it was, as Don so honestly put it). Not a nice feeling, especially with marathons each day and the number of times your foot strikes the ground. I ran (hobbled) my way across the south and finally got some relief in LA by another of Don’s AK alumni. It was relief until we could see Don in Portland.
That’s the through-line, Don is the most committed person to ensuring you keep going, in health. He’s been with us the whole journey, ready with advice on what to rub for pain, what to take to heal and always comes from the viewpoint of, “you’re succeeding, just keep it slow and your body will go”.
So we would like the world (or at least our Run For One Planet blog world) to know about a guy named Don and how much he means to us. He never takes the spot light for himself and always shuns attention. But we felt the need to let you all in on who he is and why he is in a category all by himself in the category of“local hero”. Thanks Don, for your friendship, your passion to heal (us and the hundreds of others) and honoring us with your brilliance.
Can we make an appointment for May 9th, say, around 10:00am? We might want to sleep in.
Isn’t it interesting that regardless of what we do in life, there will always be someone who can do it better. There will also always be someone who cannot.
We live in such a comparative society and judgmental era. Magazines, broadcast programs, heck even the papers are proof of this. The internet is probably the greatest culprit in our 21st century.
I think the ability and desire to strive to compete against no one but ourselves, and seek to please our own goals instead of those of our neighbors is a dying trait. And, I think there is no time such as this when this trait should be sought. I would say that is the greatest comfort that I, and likely many of us seek in our God.
He created Me.
He wants Me to be Me.
He’s not looking to me to posses the same qualities as a friend of mine.
He’s not wanting me to attain the same accomplishments as that Mum who lives down the road, or that friend I’ve known or admired for years.
Doing more doesn’t mean doing better or being greater.
He wants Me to seek after Him.
That’s it. No strings attached.
I am wonderful in His eyes, as is.
All that said, there is always an innate desire in all of us, I believe, to want to grow. This is good. This is vital. Without growth we wilt, shrink, fade into less than who we should become. We each have these different areas of our lives in which we feel and likely know that we can be better.
As my Dad says, “Good Enough Isn’t Good Enough”. And, I think this holds true. However, Good Enough for one person is often Great to another.
I have always loved running…ah hem, jogging. There’s nothing run-like about it. I’m no sprinter…have you seen the length of my legs?! People ask how long I’ve been at it and I can easily guesstimate it’s been about 16yrs…which is a long time to be doing anything. Yet, when a person grows up with parents who run often, it’s not a hard routine to follow.
As the years have passed, so too has the distance. I love this. Each year I think I can’t add another 1/2 or 1 km to my runs. And I do. A year and a half ago, I completed the RVM 1/2 Marathon which I never thought I’d be able to do. And I swore I’d never do it again. (Stay tuned…this will change.) I never thought I’d be able to run just over 21 km all in one go. But, Good Enough wasn’t Good Enough and so I did what I thought was Great.
Lately though, I’ve had this desire to go further. I’ve not trained, nor do I have any immediate 1/2 or full marathons on the near horizon. Maybe it’s that I have wanted to do something just for Me. Maybe it’s just that I’ve wanted a challenge.
So, the other day without any build up other than my 4x weekly runs…ah hem, jogs…I went out with a friend who is training for an upcoming Marathon. And, together we kicked 28km in the butt.
It Was Great.
And then I came home, not extremely sore but a little tired. And the next day I got up and was neither sore nor tired.
I turned on my computer and found out that while I did a Great thing for me…for this guy…it would have been only Good Enough – which as you now know, isn’tactually Good Enough.
As if his regular, daily mileage (of 42km) wasn’t enough, I would like to take this time to remind you that this is after 11 months of running a marathon a day. He has completed the Ironman several times. He’s breezed through Marathons many times over. He has now just about completed a year long run around our entire, beautiful continent, (and so has my own flesh-and-blood sister!). However, Good Enough wasn’t Good Enough.
And, on a slight publicity note, R41P (Run For One Planet) will in fact be stopping by not only Vancouver Island but they will be dropping in on little ol’ Crofton on April 29th. I know they love crowds who want to run with them…so check them out and let me know and I’ll hook you up.