Run For One Planet Blog

Steph on the Argentia Ferry on our way to Newfoundland

After what was by far the longest ferry ride of our lives, taking us from the tip of Nova Scotia at North Sidney to the tip of Newfoundland at Argentia – a full 17 hours – we have made it to our 9th province! We’ll have to come back again to experience the full ‘screech’ and ‘kiss the cod’ effect when we don’t have two days of double marathons welcoming us right off the boat.

The ride over was quite nostalgic for the team, as we reflected back upon the large land mass of Canada we’d just run across. You see, reflection and downtime is not something we come by often, given the demands of our schedule; most nights I go to bed about 5 minutes after finishing work on the computer, and wake up bouncing in the spring bed at the back as the RV rolls down the highway after Matt who has been up for two hours and has started the first pull of the day, giving me 60 minutes to get up and down some eggs.

In any respect, the ferry ride was quite a pensive time for us all, our lean green team of three, as we looked back at the western horizon stretching, unobstructed for miles in front of us. As we near the 4,000-mile marker, we are about as baffled by the fact that we’ve run this distance as we are about the fact that we have about 7,000 miles still to cover.

It may sound odd, but it is really only now, at about 35% of the way into the Run, that we are all feeling in a real groove. It’s only now, at Day 143, province #9, nearing the first of four corners we will turn on, that we’re feeling like YES, we know how to do this (that is to say, if you ever really know how!). Needless to say, it’s a really great feeling.

Looking back at our vast, beautiful country, and the many ‘green times’ we’ve had, in some ways this was our friendly building grounds of how to share our message. And now, just four short weeks away, we will cross the border into our second and final country: America, before returning back to our native soil in early May 2009. I am seeing more and more that this is really a game of strategically allowing ourselves to project our sights forward, respectfully reflecting upon all that was, and most importantly staying intensely present in the moment unraveling before our eyes.

BUT until we reach the States, we’ve still got about another thousand miles to run in our own country to finish this leg of the tour. St. John’s here we come!