REMEMBRANCE DAY CEREMONIES 2010

I attended Sir Wilfrid Laurier High School today as the Guest Speaker. It was an amazing experience; 1500 students, staff and honoured guests. The gym was packed. I am very glad that I went to speak with the students last week to gain an appreciation of what it is they feel about Remembrance Day and its relevancy in today's world. When I initially asked the question, what to you think of when you remember…and, why do you remember…to my surprise the answer was, 'its too difficult a question to answer!'. So I decided that I would help them find a small part of their answer. I focused on the journey of the injured soldier.

There is no Highway of Heroes for the injured soldier. There is no ticker tape parade celebrating their return. No on really knows who these people are or how they are doing? Its like the injured are hidden away from the public eye, never to be seen again. While this is not entirely true, we rarely remember the injured because we rarely see them. I secretly wish that someday we will see injured soldiers in uniform in the main street parades atop military pattern vehicles specially draped with wound stripes or some other sort of insignia denoting those that have survived serious injury and sitting atop this vehicle. Its a way for the faces of injured to come forward. Its a way for the injured to be integrated and welcomed back into their units. Its all about INCLUSION.

I believe that the definition of the ultimate sacrifice needs to be broadened somewhat. I believe that the definition should include the sacrifices of the injured. When a soldier loses an arm, leg, both or all four limbs, or with a traumatic brain injury - these are parts of their bodies that are never coming back. Is this not part of the ultimate sacrifice?

I remember because I can. I remember because I do not want any injured soldier to feel that they have been forgotten and that their sacrifices have gone unnoticed or even worse, forgotten. I have decided that I will take notice and I will remember them. I am still on active duty because I decided that I am STILL FIT TO FIGHT for my country.

Kim on Oprah

Yes, seeing is believing !! 1Leg (me) appeared on Oprah in Oct 2008 in a segment with Alicia Keyes and the cast of Life According to Bees. It was an awesome experience. My picture is featured at the very end of the song & video - look out for the yellow bike jersey. Caption reads, "Kimberly / Amputee Triathlete / Captain / Canadian Air Force". My two seconds of fame is the greatest ever but only because it was on OPRAH !!

COLD WATER SWIM TRAINING

At zero dark buffalo this morning, icky here dawned her wetsuit for the last
of the seasons open water swims. Its October 8th and I am about to step
into the lake at Petrie Island.

To be honest, the water is not that cold. About 14 celcius so not that bad.
I would not want to stay in the water any longer than 25-30 mins though. It
was 6:45am a few minutes before sunrise when I took my first step into the
water. I was pleasantly surprise; not too bad at all. The water was as
still as ever this morning. As soon as the sun broke the horizen, the most
beautiful hue of orange and pink streamed through the clouds and onto the
water. It made for a picturesque camera shot for sure.

The best time to do cold water training truthfully in the fall. I truly
dislike the early spring swims because the water is infinitely colder. I
forgot my ear plugs this morning though...my only regret. Ear plugs do a
great job to stop cold water getting into your inner ear and causing brain
freeze. Very annoying particularly when you are trying to get up out of the
water. Its like having vertigo - inner ear imbalance. Good thing I
remembered them for Budapest.

It was a beautiful morning and I feel refreshed. Mind you, I just took a
long hot shower so I am feeling awesome. A hot cocoa in front of the
fireplace and by lunchtime, I should be ready to go for a run.

Have a great long weekend everyone.

Kim got the Bronze!!!

I've got a soaking wet, slightly disappointed, but overall content Kimberly upstairs here in the hotel.  She had a great race, but just couldn't run as hard as she wanted to - the mind was there, but the leg(s) couold only do so much.  Once I look after the care and feeding of my little triathlete, I'll write more!!

Day 5 in Budapest

Quiet day in Budapest.  Lots of race prep.  Getting ready to head down to the transition area to drop off Kim's bike - it's rainy, so we are going to get wet!!  Got some nice emails from CF members (including the CDS - thanks sir!!)  Kim seems pretty calm and ready to race, so all is good!!

End of Day 4 in Budapest

Well, it was a long and busy day here in Budapest.  Got up early for a team breakfast, followed by a trip (for Kim) down to the race site for registration.  I headed into Pest to recce out the other spots we would be visiting today.  We linked up for the Paratriathlete Briefing at 1330 and went to the Team Canada Meet and Greet at a local sports bar (owned by an expat Canadian and, supposedly, Wayne Gretzky).  This was followed by the Team Canada photo.  While the rest of the team headed out for the opening ceremonies, we headed over to the Hotel Intercontinental to get Kim classified.  So, according to the experts, Kim is actually missing her right leg above the knee - can you see the sarcasm at all?  Anyway, she has officially been classified and can qualify for medals now.

We will head down to the race site again tomorrow, to check out the newly-set up transition area and to drop Kim's bike off.  After that, it is all race prep, all of the time...

I think I will go and drink a tasty beer now...

2010 Accenture USA Paratriathlon National Championship