What a week for WoW Power Walkers

The Olympic torch and the Boston Marathon had a way of making our hearts swell this past week.

WoW Power Walker Jeff Guthrie brought his Olympic torch to our annual Winter Solstice Coffee and Muffin walk. Here we are snuggling close to feel a little Olympic love.

Jeff ran (gasp!) 300m of the torch in Kingston last Tuesday even though we suspect he was chosen for this honour as word has spread of his great walking feats.

All torch bearers wear the official white workout suit you see above, including the white beanie and red mittens. Dropped off at his designated exchange location, he was told to stand with the torch in his right hand crossed over toward his left shoulder. A small Canadian flag on the torch would then be located over his heart. O Canada!

After completing his 300m portion of the route, the torch was immediately dismantled so that it can never be used again. He gets to keep it - just keep it flameless.

Jeff says he really has no words to describe the emotions of being part of the Olympic dream. I understand. Watching the torch being passed from Olympian Adam VanKoeverden to Olympian John Woods last Saturday, I found my heart growing large. No matter how cynical we get about drug doping, politics, and overspending in difficult times - there should always be a place and a time in our lives to aspire to excellence. At its core that is the essence of the Olympics.

Jeff is no stranger to working hard at his own athletic pursuits of personal excellence. Never considering himself an athlete prior to power walking, he has worked consistently every year since his first marathon in Niagara Falls in 2002 to improve his form and his speed. Last year he walked a 50k ultramarathon in Niagara - winning the walking division in the blink-of-an-eye-time of 5:51:49.

Speaking of excellence - what about Boston? Walking the Boston Marathon is usually thought to be impossible for walkers since the qualification times are virtually impossible to achieve when walking - even for the fastest walkers.

Defying all odds in their quest for marathon walking excellence, WoW coach Jill and her husband Jay - both of whom started their walking journey with us in 2005, training for the Honolulu Marthon - have been given two coveted walking spots in the 2010 Boston Marathon!! Jill, who won the walking division of the Ottawa Marathon last year and who has finished a couple of marathons under 5 hours and her husband Jay (who is closing the gap to five hours) will be heading down to the famed race in April. Just like Jeff with the Olympic torch, we're at a loss for words. You've done us all proud Jill and Jay!

Please post any words of excitement for all of this walking excellence!

Rockin Las Vegas Marathon

We missed Cher!!!

I know it's churlish to complain about the one thing I missed on Sunday....but really...when one has been awake since 4am, eaten breakfast at 4:45, and been ready and waiting in the start area since 5:40 only to discover that Cher has come and gone - singing the national anthem while the speakers were malfunctioning - is just so very disappointing.

Surrounded by a thousand imitation Elvi, we had one of the real queens of Vegas singing for us, and we didn't catch even a glimpse of her on the mother of all jumbo screens outside of the Mandalay Bay Hotel. A search of the Internet proved fruitless - not one photo of her at the start platform - although I did learn that Celine Dion sang America the Beautiful before Cher took the stage!

I'm not sure I believe any of it happened. In a city of copycat Eiffel Towers, pyramids, and Italian cities and palazzos, not to mention thousands of copycat Elvi, there really is no real here.

Mind you, all the fakery does add up to some effective distraction. If a person suffers from any sort of attention disorder, Vegas is the half marathon to enter.

I have included some of the pics here and more on facebook.

P.S. I walked only the half marathon with Team Prevention so can't speak to the full marathon route but my first instinct is that the half marathon offers the best of Vegas - covering the Strip from beginning to end.

I know there were several WoW Power Walkers out on the course and it would be great if you would post some of your thoughts on the race.

Vegas does it zany

I love, love, love the wonderful and zany marathons I have walked over the past decade as a power walking coach - wine in Bordeaux (!), gladiators in Rome (!), pigs in Cincinnati (!). I fully expected Vegas to take zaniness to heretofore uncharted territory. Thankfully, it has exceedeed my expectations and I haven't yet made it to the start line. When the entrance to the Rodeo Cowboy Show is barely two walking lunges from the race expo, I figure we're in for some fun. The indoor plaza/casino/food concourse is feeding tens of thousands of people (and I'm not exaggerating the numbers) into one of these two doors - one for cowboys and one for marathoners. I have seen some marathoners enter the cowboy show but I have yet to witness one cowboy brave the marathon expo.

Personally, I'd like to see more cowboys take up marathoning. I think they could teach us a thing about good hats.

More on the marahon itself after the race tomorrow!