The Cruise to Run (www.cruisetorun.com) has sailed away for another year but we are filled with great fun experiences and new friends and a few more running miles under our belts. Jerry and Jody Friesen of Instride Productions (www.instride.ca) are the organizers behind this amazing cruise which hosts a run in every port we visit. The first day was a running race in St. Thomas (photo above) where runner predict their finish time and the best predicter is the winner!
The next day, was the big mountain run in Tortola where a King and Queen of the Mountain are crowned. It takes approximately 15 minutes to run to the top. Bonnie won Queen of the Mountain this year – she showed such grit and determination beating out some spry young ladies and many men in the process.
This is Bonnie in the rear and Bob in the front of one of the early packs heading up the mountain.
Here is me running up the mountain – notice the ship in the background!!
And here is Davey boy running up the mountain. Honestly, it is a huge accomplishment to be able to run up. Lots of people enjoyed walking up. Here is Marc Roy from Sportstats walking up with his gorgeous daughter, Leah.
And what goes up, must come down! This is everyone walking down the mountain -Doug and Shelley and Mike fromRegina (there are not many hills in Regina) and Davey and the Sharatta – you have to walk!
After the big run up the mountain, we went back for breakfast/lunch and then headed to the most amazing island off of Tortola called Virgin Gorda. It was spectacular – we had to walk through caves to get to the beach. It was the best off ship excursion we ever did.
The next day was a 13 km run in Antigua which began with the runners donating books to the library in Antigua.
After the run, Dave and I gathered about 20 runners and we all went to the beach for a swim.
Thursday was our run in St. Lucia. Every year, I enjoy this run more and more. At this stop, we all donated a pair of running shoes to the runners in St. Lucia without shoes.
And finally, we did our final run – a 5 km race – in Barbados. Many local runners and students join us for this run which makes it extra special. Then, in the afternoon, we all go for a swim at Carlyse Bay and of course, that is really a great excuse to socialize!
I was fortunate to be one of the three guest speakers for our Cruise to Run. Dick Beardsley gave his amazing speech on Tuesday night, I did mine on Thursday night and Bart Yasso, the CRO (Chief Running Officer) of Runner’s World spoke on Friday night. There were also a few socials for all of the runners. And there were even the spontaneous socials when Eon D’Ornelleas sang “Sweet Caroline” and Jerry sang “I am a Cowboy” at Karaoke. There was so much fun to be had – honestly, I need to do some training for the fun stuff for next year’s cruise (gotta get FIT – Fun in Training). Every night we would go to bed exhausted from enjoying our day and then wake up and do it again!
I was definitely using the warm salty sea air (and antibiotics) to try to get over a chronic CF related chest infection that has plagued me for about a year. I did feel better as the cruise went on, but unfortunately, I returned to a lower lung function than when I left. I will fill you in on all of that in my next post. But for now, check out www.cruisetorun.com for more info – I have been invited back again next year – so hopefully we can get some new athletes on board! And thank you to Mitch and Janet Fraser for sending me these amazing photos and for lots of fun!
