More Walk Talk

Sunday dawned cold and windy with a dusting of snow. The perfect day for a 10k walk for Multiple Sclerosis (yeah, right). I hauled my winter coat out of the closet, pulled on a turtleneck and gloves and joined my team, the Globetrotters, for the 8am registration.

Maybe the weather should have clued us in that this was not going to be a memorable walk for any of the right reasons. When we arrived at the "launch site", we discovered that the registration desk -- donuts, coffee and all -- was being packed up and moved from the parking lot. Apparently, the "drinking establishment" (Barrie radio station's way of saying "bar") was not available as planned and everything was being moved to city hall. Now, if I was in Toronto, this would seem like a big deal but in Barrie, it's only a couple of blocks away.

When we got to city hall, we had to wait for the volunteers to set everything up again before we could register and get some breakfast. Unlike the previous year, there were no maps of the route or t-shirts for every participant. My son was getting surly without his tea and our momentum, which had started out high, was flagging. And, when we took a glance outside, we noticed that a nice little snowstorm had blown in. Staying in bed seemed like it would have been a great idea.

Western half of Kempenfelt Bay, Barrie

However, we waited out the politicians, the radio hosts and the warm-up and finally took off for our brisk walk. When I mean brisk, I don't just mean our pace, I mean the weather. The Walk for MS in Barrie takes the path around Kempenfelt Bay which includes a lovely breeze off the lake. This was not the case on Sunday. On Sunday, it was a north wind which assaulted unsuspecting ears and made us glad hoods had been invented. Of course, the wind moved from our right side to our backs as we rounded the bay and the sun was peeking from behind the clouds, so when we reached the 5k turnaround, we decided to soldier on for the full 10k.

Our first clue that this was not a great idea should have come when we realized the route was not marked. Unlike the earlier 5k, there were no arrows pointing us in the right direction. Since Zac and I had done the walk in 2010, we knew which way the route was supposed to go so we followed a few other stragglers determined to stick it out. Of course, we had no idea if those stragglers were on the walk or not since there were no identifying t-shirts. Halfway around the route (at least, we think it was the route), we realized the other participants, and there were only about half a dozen, were following us.

Soon, it was just the 3 of us on the path. I don't know what happened to the other 10k walkers. Maybe they got somebody to pick them up at some point or went to Timmy's. As we passed the 5k turnaround on the way back, we saw the MS volunteers packing up and taking down signs. We figured we had to be the last ones coming in.. With the last kilometre stretching before us, we looked up towards our destination and saw that a friendly little blizzard had struck up just ahead of us. Beauty. We walked with our hoods pulled down over our heads, blinded by snow but determined to make it to the end. I felt like something out of a movie, when we finally made it back to city hall, shook off the snow and emerged from our "traveling" clothes.

So there you have it. Borgtrotters Adventure #1: Walking on the Wild Side. Will we do it again next year? Of course. In fact, I'm walking for Kid's Help Phone on May 1. Hopefully, there won't be a blizzard.