What a wonderful trip I had to Vancouver, BC this past weekend!
With the ocean, snow covered mountains, and the city's Stanley Park, Vancouver should be a destination for everyone! I was out in Vancouver on behalf of the New Balance Shoe Company.
Stewart Weepers the NB rep for that part of Canada was my great host! Friday, I had much of the day to myself to run in Stanley Park and even do a little sightseeing.
Friday evening, I gave a talk that was open to the public at the Roundhouse Community Centre. The Roundhouse is an old railroad building that is now renovated and used for a community center, and they have a wonderful theater area where I give my talk.
Before I spoke, one of my friends, Bruce Deacon spoke to the crowd and did a great job! Bruce is a two-time Olympian for Canada, competing in the marathon. Bruce is now a Masters runner and can still really get after it!!
I spoke for about one hour and then chatted with folks and signed many of my books, Staying the Course.
Saturday morning, I went to Port Moody (a suburb of Vancouver) and gave a short talk at Paul Slaymakers, The Runners Den's, a running specialty store. Afterwards we all went out on a beautiful run along one of the bays.
Saturday afternoon I spent a few hours at Peter Butler's, Forerunners, another running specialty store. I chatted with folks, signed books, and many got a kick out of watching the tape of the 1982 Boston Marathon, The Duel in the Sun. Watching the tape, even to this day, still makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up!
Peter was a 2:10 marathoner and also represented Canada in the Olympics and other International running events.
Saturday evening had a great time with a bunch of runners, we had a pasta buffet and then we had a panel discussion for everyone about running.
Sunday morning was the 20th Anniversary of the First Half- ½ Marathon, what a great event this is! It is hosted by the Pacific Coast Runners Club, this race limits itself to 2000 runners and it fills up in about four hours! The race starts in downtown Vancouver and then works its way to Stanley Park, you follow the sea wall around the park and finish back downtown. I ran 1:20:49 and was pretty tickled as that was what I was hoping to run.
This I can't even begin to thank everyone enough for their generosity, over $2,000.00 was raised over the weekend for the Dick Beardsley Foundation! I'm speechless!
A huge THANK YOU goes out to Stewart Weepers and Mark Rosenthal from New Balance, Paul Slaymaker and his wife Penny from "The Runners Den", Peter Butler and his wife Karen from "Forerunners", and all the great people of Vancouver for helping make my trip so enjoyable!
Keep a smile on your face, enthusiasm in your voice, and joy in your heart,
Dick
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