My Life on The Blue Planet Run....

It’s amazing how our jobs sometimes take us in directions that we never expect, exposing us to interesting people and cultures, curious new places and unusual experiences that really give us an entirely different outlook on life.

My job managing our company’s sponsorship of the 2007 Blue Planet Run has done just that – and even more importantly, has contributed greatly to the enhancement of my blog, because even though it was for work, it definitely gave me an opportunity to add some great travel experiences to my journal.

If you’re not up to speed on the Blue Planet Run, you will be soon. It is a global relay run around the world, being run by a team of 20 fantastic runners – non-stop - 24/7 across 16 countries for 95 days – to raise awareness and funding about the problem of access to clean, safe drinking water. Each runner runs 10-mile legs each day, with an exchange of the baton at the end of each shift. The run kicked off from NYC on June 1, with Hilary Swank lending us some celebrity caché at our event. It was a fantastic start to an amazing initiative and we are all hoping for success as the run circumnavigates the globe.

The runners have actually been on the road for just a month now (hard to believe after nearly a year of planning), and I was fortunate enough to be able to travel with the team on the first leg of the route through Europe, which was a great experience – first, the run team itself is just fabulous – some amazing folks of all ages and all ethnicities, which makes it very diverse and interesting, and second, the route goes through most of the major countries in Europe, so it was really cool to get to explore Europe a little more off the beaten track – although I think the runners truly got the full experience! While the teams were rising at midnight to plod through the French and German countryside on the 2-6 am graveyard shifts, I’m happy to report that I was admiring the inside of my eyelids!

To Ski or Not to Ski - there IS no question!

Time for my annual trip out west to visit family and make sure my ski legs don’t get too rusty – although I did have a major wipeout at Lake Louise my first day that left me with a battered knee. I haven’t had a good wipeout in years and I must say, it’s not something I’m really missing. I was bouncing down a great run on Ptarmigan on the backside of Louise and must have caught an edge or something b/c I really fell hard and twisted my leg. I figured a couple days of ice and some Advil would do the trick, so hopefully that’ll be the case. The snow was so great that it was totally worth it.

I met two of my Irish friends in Calgary who flew over from Dublin for some real snow here in Canada and true to our word, we did not disappoint. The snowfall this year has been spectacular with more than usual, so the mountains were in amazing shape to impress my visitors. We spent a couple days in Banff with some friends of mine, skied a couple days there and then headed to Panorama, which is in the Columbia Valley, the next set of mountain ranges over from Banff National Park. It’s great there – a little less touristy, generally warmer (although not always as much snow), and a little more off the beaten track so it’s worth the extra hike to get there. In any case, my brother lives there, so it’s a good excuse for a visit. He is starting to teach my 3-year old niece to ski and once she’s on skis I think we’ll all have met our match – I can just tell that she has her aunt (and her dad’s) passion for skiing and the outdoors, so we can all hardly wait til she’s zipping around on her own.

We had several good days of skiing at Panorama, although my friends had a few mishaps that provided some challenges for them, including a bad case of agoraphobia, which resulted in my brother having to make a toboggan rescue to get one of them off a steep slope – somehow I don’t think taking up skiing is probably the best thing for someone who is afraid of heights AND of wide open spaces… unless you master skiing blindfolded, I think the general concept is going to be challenging. In any case, we made the best of it, and I still got a ton of great skiing in, so that’s what counts.

We headed out for a day of cross-country one morning, but with the spring thaw and cold temps at night, the track was sheer ice – and given that you have pretty much no control over x-country skis in a narrow track at the best of times, trying to manage it on mountain trails (aka big hills) with an icy track didn’t seem like the best plan – unless I wanted to ensure my knee injury lasted a bit longer… We settled for drinks on the deck of the ski chalet in the sun, watching the ice melt – an excellent compromise.

Perfect Spot to Greet the New Year

There's something about basking in 30 C weather (90 for all you Americans out there), sipping mojitos and doing absolutely nothing that makes celebrating birthdays relatively painless.... not that I'm particularly hung up about birthdays or numbers of birthdays anyway, but everyone else seems to think it's a huge deal, so I thought my annual trip to Grand Cayman would be a great place to ring in the new year AND celebrate my birthday... and it was!

My friends there continue to keep upgrading their home and environment, so it's become like a 5* resort now... they have a great boat, a lap pool and are about a stone's through down the canal to the ocean - I never have to leave the property now!

As usual, I had a fabulous, very relaxing visit, and was re-energized after a crazy and hectic fall... it was really nice to just be lazy, visit, cook, swim and bake in the sun... I did get some great diving in towards the end of my visit, b/c there were quite gusty winds for the first few days, which made it difficult to get out. I met some new friends down there, who are avid divers, which was excellent, because it's always nice to have someone you trust down there as your buddy. I did 2 boat dives the day before I left, off a very small boat, which was a cool experience... there were only about 7 people so not a lot of commotion under the water and everyone knew what they were doing, so they were really good dives. We swam along one of the long fingers of coral that run perpendicular to Cayman, and there were tons of cool swim-throughs, and loads of fish - the visibility is amazing there too, at least 100 ft, sometimes more on a good day....

Anyway, we rang in the New Year, playing Cranium and drinking champagne and setting off fireworks on the back dock. It's great to watch the fireworks from all the neighbours and the big hotels there - especially b/c there is no artificial light so it's very dark and you can see the lights really well..

We got out on the boat several times, which was great - it's nice not being at the mercy of tour-boats - we went out to a couple of great sandbars and to Stingray City one night after all the crowds had cleared - we were the only boat out there, with about 50 rays... it was very cool.

Anyway, there are definitely worse ways to celebrate a birthday, that's for sure (like staying in grey, gloomy, snow-bound, sunless Michigan - for one)

Happy New Year! Nuovo Anno Felice