We are lucky living in Canada but...

Hi Everyone,

Happy Canada Day weekend.  We are lucky to live in this great big land.  We have unparalleled freedom to choose what we want to do with our lives, how we live, who we associate with and a tax system that gives us a safety net of health care and social assistance when and if required.  Yes, we all gripe about taxes and that the system is not perfect but I know how lucky we are to have what we have as many other countries do not.  I can't comprehend going to a hospital and being turned away as we can not afford it or do not have a coverage plan. So yeah to Canada.  But some of us are not as lucky and that is one of the reasons I'm swimming, biking and running for Gate 3:16. 

My goal was to have 3000.00 for my first three races but I'm stuck at $1,310.00.  Although we do live in a land that will help the less fortunate these people can not always access it.  In order to access funding a person must have a home address and in many cases the client's at Gate 3:16 are "renting" space somewhere or hopping from one place to the next to sleep under a roof.  When we think of homelessness we have a misconception that homelessness are those people on the street  but we have people who are below the poverty line, who are working and just don't have the financial ability to rent accommodations.  Gate 3:16 helps these people by providing them two meals per day, literacy skills, haircuts, access to computers, phones, faxes and help navigating social assistance.  Basic things the average Canadian takes for granted.  I appreciate you reading my blog and would ask you to consider a donation to my fundraising goal.  The link to the Canada Helps donation page is on the right.

Last weekend many of my Ironmotivation team-mates and I were in the Muskokas for a training camp.  I shared a room with two of my fellow athletes who will be racing in the 70.3 in September. It was a blast. Saturday we headed out for 90K bike ride and for days after we were talking about the quantity and steepness of the hills. As for Sunday it started with 2.1K swim which was followed by a 8K run.  I'm happy to report I did not freak in the water and was very comfortable.  The swim time does make me nervous as we only have 8 hours and 44 minutes to complete the race and I'm not the fastest when it comes to the swim and the run.  I did look at posted times for last years finishers and it does seem doable even with the length of time the swim will take.  The run is always tough as I fear the pain that accompanies it.  Although its less then during the race in Guelph its still there being a pest.  Dr. Jason's treatments are starting to work and I'm confident I'll be in top shape for the race. 

After tomorrow I'll be relaxing for three days and appreciating how lucky we are to live in Canada. 

Happy 145th Birthday Canada.

Liz